City of Champions, by Hank Gola

You don't write a book like City of Champions simply because you're an experienced sportswriter who majored in history at college and now have some time on your hands. You write such a great book because you have a passion for the subject and you're on a mission to share it like no one else can. And, that's exactly what Hank Gola did in his very well written and thoroughly researched book about the 1939 Garfield High School football team and the events leading up to their national championship game in Miami that Christmas Day. 

Hank has been promoting his book in New Jersey and Florida and parts in between this winter. His schedule included a presentation at the Morristown and Morris Township library in Morristown, NJ this afternoon during which he shared stories from his book and displayed some very well-preserved varsity sportswear from 1939 (above). I was happy to see my former Herald-News colleague for the first time in nearly 40 years there. A friend of mine and, like Hank, a fellow Garfield H.S. graduate, Roy Pelcher, was also glad to be there and learn more about the legendary football team and their hometown's history.

In my review of City of Champions on Amazon earlier this winter, I wrote, "If it were possible to give City of Champions six stars, I would. If you are a sports fan and history buff interested in reading about a high school football team from a working class town that went undefeated and laid claim to the national championship, you might, too. (And if you're not, you might just give it five stars.)

"Hank Gola's research of the people and events leading up to Garfield High School's Christmas Day 1939 title game in the newly-built Orange Bowl is as comprehensive as that of any history book I've read. His writing skills make the personalities involved in the big game jump out of the book's pages. As you might expect from a distinguished journalist, Hank's descriptions of the teams' suburban New Jersey and Miami hometowns and life during the Great Depression, before World War II, is fascinating. I almost felt like I was reading a movie script. The people were real, however, as were the forces that brought them together and then apart.

"A story like the one chronicled in City of Champions could never happen again. Too much has changed in the United States and scholastic sports during the past 80 years. Thankfully, Hank Gola made it a labor of love to capture it like it happened with his thorough research and strong writing so we can all enjoy reading it."

Among my favorite parts of the book were the references to Garfield's fierce rivalry with my alma mater, Bloomfield High School. From Hank's book I learned just how powerful and important to the community those Bengals teams coached by Bill Foley were during the 1930s.

Thank you and congratulations, Hank, for authoring such a great book! 

Below: Hank Gola flanked by fellow Garfield H.S. graduate, Roy Pelcher (left) and former Herald-News colleague, Charley Bruns (right)

The sportswriters

I’ve had the fortune of being in the right place at the right time during much of my life, especially in my professional career. This was never more true than the two years I spent working part-time as a sportswriter for The Herald-News in Passaic, NJ, while finishing my studies at Seton Hall University.

It was a time of technological transition in the newspaper industry. When I began at The Herald-News, articles were still composed on typewriters. By the time I left, we were inputting our stories on computer-like machines called video display terminals, or “tubes” as we called them.

During my time there, The Herald-News changed from a traditional broadsheet format, complete with an American flag in a top corner, to a radical easier-to-read horizontal-format design with lots of green color. Unlike computer technology, however, this change didn’t prove beneficial, and the newspaper reverted to a more traditional layout before merging with The News of Paterson in 1987 and, eventually, The Record of Bergen County.

Technology and design changes aside, what made my timing particularly good at “the product,” as we called it, was the interesting and gifted array of staffers I had the good fortune of working with. To an aspiring journalist, a paying gig at The Herald-News was a dream come true. The evening in January 1976 that I reported to work at the since-demolished Main Avenue office was one of the best in my life, despite a rather inauspicious start.

“Hi, I’m Charley Bruns,” I announced to my new boss as I held out my hand for him to shake. He looked up at me, tooth pick in his mouth and yardstick protruding from the back of his shirt, and replied, with some annoyance in his voice, “Sit down.” Fortunately, it got better when I proved that I belonged on his talented team.

Mike Moretti, a fellow Bloomfield resident and Seton Hall guy, recommended me to his bosses. A rising star and a cool cat among New Jersey sportswriters, Mike could make anything interesting to read. His written words had style, and years later he was described as “perhaps the most lovable sportswriter in the state” and, after a long career of contributing articles to The Star-Ledger about volleyball, bowling, track and field, girls lacrosse and sports memorabilia, “the utility man of the sportswriting set, the jack-of-all-trades.”

Equally talented and stylish with his written words was Hank Gola, on the verge of graduating Montclair State and launching a successful career which would land him at The Daily News of New York, where he covers the New York Giants and has been recognized as “by far and away the best golf writer of all the greater-NYC papers combined.”

When it came to sports knowledge, no one could top Jim Dente, who covered the New York Yankees when the Bronx Bombers of Reggie Jackson and Billy Martin regained the headlines and won a few championships. Jim’s probably working as hard as ever today as sports editor of The New Jersey Herald of Sussex County, and no doubt could still teach anyone more than a few things about sports and journalism.

Greg Schmalz also had an encyclopedic knowledge of sports, and would freely share it with a broadcaster-quality voice that years later helped him land assignments with ABC Radio. As The Herald-News reporter who travelled with New York Jets, Greg claimed to be pals with Joe Namath and even shared the legendary quarterback’s phone number, “212.555.1212,” with this gullible college kid.

When I started with The Herald-News, the biggest personality on the staff was Eric Mortenson, whose pen name was Kurt Ericson. A larger than life figure, Eric was the director of the Verona Recreation Center for 30 years while working part-time as a sportswriter.

Mark Everson and Jack Bell joined the sports department shortly after I began with The Herald-News. Mark’s baptism of fire was covering the New York Rangers, an assignment he took to so well that The New York Post hired him to do it for them years later. Today, he reports on the New Jersey Devils for the Post.

Jack had just graduated from the University of Wisconsin and, after a stint on the news desk, began covering the Cosmos with a knowledge of soccer that few American sportswriters could match. For the past 20 years, Jack has been a staff editor at The New York Times while continuing to write about soccer in blogs and columns.

Randy Lange and Pete Brophy also joined The Herald-News while I was there. Randy went on to cover the New York Jets for a dozen years, and today is editor-in-chief of newyorkjets.com as well as the team’s director of publications. I believe Pete, formerly The Press of Atlantic City digital editor, is now the newspaper’s local content editor.

Back in the day when women sportswriters were virtually unheard of, The Herald-News had Carol Sakowitz, who went on to write for various other newspapers and now may be the same Carol who is in Florida with The Charlotte Sun and Weekly Herald.

Two high school kids also launched their careers with The Herald-News during my time there. Barry Gramlich was a stylish teenager who went on to The Record of Bergen County, where he has been an editor and writer for 25 years. John Kobylt eventually found a niche in broadcasting and today is hugely successful in The John and Ken Show, a southern California program which is one of the most influential and listened to local talk radio shows in the United States.

Interestingly, the two college students who worked part-time in the sports department did not pursue sportswriting careers after graduating. While I used the wisdom gained from my experience at The Herald-News to launch a corporate communications career, Bill Mezzomo decided to go to Rutgers University School of Law and practice law in New Jersey. He is currently an associate with a Morristown law firm.

Not everyone who worked in The Herald-News sports department was a young stud, however. The eldest member of the staff was John Hayes, a former sportswriter with the Philadelphia Daily News. John was winding down his career in the mid-1970s and rarely had an assignment out of the office – but he was the only one of us guys who sported a goatee and an earring.

And then there was Bruce Keenan, our boss, The Boss before Bruce Springsteen laid claim to the title. He was the man who greeted me that January 1976 evening with a bit of indifference and skepticism. Bruce remains one of the most fascinating characters I’ve met in my life. Ah, but he’s the subject of another blog post.