The Year was 1965
Revisit Norwood in 1965 through the pages of the Norwood Messenger.
Norwood News
…there was a lot going on in Norwood. The Oldham school opened as well as the Oldham and Ellis Garden playgrounds. Groundbreaking began on a new regional high school in Canton, Blue Hills. (Read more.) The Neponset Street exit to Interstate 95 was opened to drivers with predictions of traffic problems on Neponset Street. (Read me.) Norwood High School graduated 377 students while St. Catherine’s graduated 188 from its 8th grade. (Read more.)
Norwood High School Spring Sports
There was a lot going on in sports in 1965. The Norwood HS hockey team had a magical run to the State Finals where they faced Walpole in an improbable final. In baseball, the Norwood HS team finished 8-10 with 6 1-run losses. There was no Norwood Legion team as dropped the team in 1963. Where did Norwood kids go to play — Walpole! Norwood HS Track team were Champions of the Bay State League for the first time in school history! There was a local semi-pro team called the Norwood Nitros that played their games at the Civic Field. Below are a few Norwood Messenger pages focused on these teams. The pages also include Frank Wall Sports Slants and Little League write-ups. There are a lot of these to come. The All-Time Norwood Baseball teams is selected – remember it’s 1963! Wonder what an All-Time team would look like today?
Norwood loses to Walpole in 1965 State Hockey final at the Boston Garden…
It was a magical State Tournament run for both the Norwood and Walpole high school hockey teams back in 1965. The tourney as it was known included all teams eligible for tournament play. There was no Super 8 or any divisions, it was a free-for-all. To qualify for the tourney you had to have won or tied 75% of your games. There was no win half your games and you’re in. Norwood started the tourney by knocking off 2 league champions – undefeated Lynnfield in the 1st round, 2-1, and Christopher Columbus 3-0 in the 2nd round. In the quarterfinals Norwood knocked off a tough City League team – Boston Tech. For Walpole, to get to the semifinals, they defeated Hudson 3-2 in 6 overtimes! They played 3 periods and 2 overtimes on a Tuesday night and came back early on Wednesday afternoon to complete the game. The semi-finals were held in the Boston Garden and featured 2 powerhouse teams from the much heralded Greater Boston League, Arlington and Newton, versus the Norwood and Walpole of the Bay State League.
March 10 – Front page of the Norwood Messenger features Norwood preparing to play Newton in semifinals. Read about it. Page 10 – recaps the first 3 games of the state tournament. Read about it.
March 12 – Front page features Norwood vs Walpole for state title. Read about it. Page 3 features Sports Slants and Walpole’s win over Hudson. Read about it.
March 17 – Front page features the state title game and fund raiser to send team to Washington, D.C. Read about it. Page 11 continues recap of title game. Read about it.
As the season winds down Norwood beats Dedham in baseball… Sports Slants salutes the Norwood HS Championship Track team. Read
Norwood HS baseball wins season finale… Sports Slants reviews accomplishments of the Class of 1965… Read
Review of Norwood HS Track team’s Championship season… Little League game write-ups… Read
Norwood’s All Time Baseball team is selected… Little League and Babe Ruth League write-ups … Pre-WWE, small blurb on World Championship Wrestling match at the Boston Garden with Bruno Sammartino defending his title against Gorilla Monsoon! Read
Walpole Legion upsets Quincy Legion with Norwood’s Richie Hebner leading the way… Little League updates… Read
Walpole Legion plays at Norwood Civic Center… Norwood Nitros begins season with win over Norfolk Prison team… Read
Sports Slants and Youth Baseball
This flashback to Norwood Messenger pages is primarily focused on Little League (LL) and the Colombos All Star team created and managed by Frank Wall. Also, included in these pages are: Sports Slants, Babe Ruth League (BRL), Nitros semi-pro baseball, Norwood Sting Rays swimming meets, Playground baseball and softball updates and box scores. The next look back, Part 4, will focus on the Norwood Playgrounds with box scores of baseball and softball along with the weekly updates. The below articles are chronological.
June 25 – Sports Slants has a tidbit on a how a blessed Pope John medal aided the LL White Sox in their upset over the Indians. Read.
July 2 – Front page preview of LL Town Championship with team pictures of Giants and Indians. Read. Also, Sports Slants with more on upcoming LL Town Championship game. Read.
July 7 – LL Town Championship results for Majors and International Leagues along with Babe Ruth updates. Read.
July 14 – Front page preview of LL All Stars with pictures of both American and National League teams. Read.
July 21 – Walpole Legion Baseball update. Read.
July 23 – Picture of Babe Ruth League All Stars; Nitros update and Playground – Boys Midget update. Read.
July 28 – Front Page LL All Stars lose; Rodent problem; Norwood Debonnaires picture; Policemen bitten apprehending youth. Read.
July 30 – Sports Slants review LL and BRL All Star teams. Read.
August 4 – Colombos begins season – picture; Sting Rays win 2; Playground Boys Pee Wee update. Read. Also, Eddie Feighner – King and His Court comes to Norwood; Nitros update; Playground – Girls Intermediate softball update. Read.
August 6 – Sports Slants talk about Colombos. Read.
August 11 – Colombos update – Lang and Travers lead way; Nitros update. Read.
August 13 – Colombos update 8 game winning streak; Nitros update; Playground – Boys Pee Wee and Midget updates. Read.
August 20 – Colombos update – picture; Summer Basketball update. Read.
August 25 – Colombos update; Picture of LL Summer baseball coaches; Twilight Baseball update; Playground – Girls Intermediate. Read.
August 27 – Sports Slants talks about upcoming NHS football season; Sing Rays end season with impressive win; Playground – Girls Intermediate update. Read.
September 1 – Colombos season ends. Read.
Playgrounds and Box Scores
In 1965 Norwood was infested with kids. Kids were everywhere. What did they do in the Summer time? At one time or another most kids made their way to the nearest playground. The playgrounds opened the week after the public schools closed and stayed open until Friday of Labor Day weekend.
There were 14 playgrounds in 1965. They included:
-Callahan School (The Best); Pleasant Park (known as Murphy Field today); Prescott School; Elliot Park (Balch School); Endean (where the Coakley is today, there was no school); Wilson Street (Gormley Field ); Cleveland School; Fr. Mac’s; Shattuck School (Today it’s an elderly housing complex at the corner of Nahatan and Fulton); Winslow School (Winslow Medical Building); Bond Street; Civic (across from the Guild Medical Building where the newest addition to the hospital exists. Included 4 clay/dirt tennis courts along Washington St., Civic Center Building, and major league diamond. Home plate was located at the corner of Broadway and East Hoyle); Oldham School new in 1965; Ellis Gardens new in 1965.
Every playground had a Boy and Girl playground instructor although Bond Street only had a Girl instructor and the Civic only had a Boy instructor. The instructors were mostly high school athletes some where in college. They would show up to work at 9:00 a.m. and be greeted by a variety of kids from ages 5-15. The older kids wanted the baseball or softball equipment so they could have a game. Most playgrounds had more than enough kids to field 2 teams. In a lot of cases, if you were not at the playground by 9:15 you might not get in a game. You played until almost Noon when the playground closed for an hour. The afternoon session went from 1 p.m. – 4 p.m. Unless there was a scheduled playground league game, a lot kids took it easy and some kids cooled off by going to either Fr. Mac’s or Hawes pools.
There were 5 Playground Leagues: Boys Pee Wees (age 10 and under); Midgets (12 and under) and Intermediates (15 and under). Girls had Midgets (12 and under) and Intermediates (15 and under). Each team played a couple of games a week against other playgrounds. Were there buses traveling all over Norwood to get the teams to games? No. Anywhere between 5-12 kids would pile into a playground instructors car to drive to the opposing teams field. Sometimes it took 2 trips. Seat belts? Yeh, right. Some kids road their bikes. The Norwood Messenger published box scores and write-ups of the games.
Below are some of the scores and write-ups of the games. In doing our diligent and comprehensive investigative research, we discovered the most ruthless and merciless ball team to ever play on the fields of Norwood: Prescott Girls Midget Softball team. They defeated most teams very handily but their 60-3 destruction of Endean is unparalleled in the annals of Norwood sports.
Norwood Messenger pages – there is some duplication from previous ‘Parts’ of 1965
July 7 – Playground League July schedules released. Read.
July 14 – Boys Midget scores along with BRL All-Star game. Read.
July 16 – Boys Pee Wee and Girls Midget scores including Prescott Girls 60-3 win over Endean. Read.
July 16 – Boys Midget scores. Read.
July 21 – Boys Midget and Intermediate scores. Also, Sting Rays win. Read.
July 23 – Boys Midget scores. Read.
August 4 – Girls Intermediate scores. Read.
August 4 – Boys Pee Wee scores. Also, Sting Rays meets. Read.
August 6 – Girls Midget scores. Read.
August 15 – Boys Midget and Pee Wee scores. Read.
August 25 – Girls Intermediate scores. Read.
August 27 – Girls Intermediate scores. Read.
Playground Write-Ups
As we said before… In 1965 Norwood was infested with kids. Kids were everywhere. What did they do in the Summer time? At one time or another most kids made their way to the nearest playground.
Beside the regularly schedule baseball and softball games…
…highlights of the summer included the trip to Paragon Park/Nantasket Beach in Hull. Paragon Park was a full-blown amusement park with a wooden roller coaster. Years later I had the pleasure of meeting the person who operated the roller coaster. He informed me that his workday began by walking the entire ride with a hammer, hammering back in loose boards. Of course, he only did this when he wasn’t too hung over from the night before. Glad we didn’t know this back then.
Other highlights included the annual trip to Fenway Park to see the Red Sox lose. They were dreadful in the early-to-mid 60’s. There were arts and crafts days where you made potholders or gimp necklaces or bracelets. If you had a water faucet , there were water balloon fights. Horse shoes, dodge ball and hopscotch were other activities. The arrival of the Ice Cream truck in the afternoon was a great way to end the day.
Through the years creative writing has evolved into an important subject within academia. Well, the roots of creative writing in Norwood began on the playgrounds. Every playground was responsible for providing a weekly update. The write-ups included inside scoops on games or activities, debates on who was the most/least – toughest or fastest or intelligent as well as discussions about solving world problems. The nicknames created could be cruel, but, once you met the individual or knew of their exploits, you realized that they were fairly accurate. There were nicknames such as Monkey, Beaver, Pigeon, King Swamp and Weasel. I think every playground had a Beaver or Weasel. Not all the information was true. These so-called weekly write-ups were definitely creative writing. But remember not all creative writing is good. But some were classics.
Who did these write-ups? In most cases, these were written by self-proclaimed, over-worked and under-paid, playground instructors. In other cases, the ‘inmates’ would take the opportunity to express their thoughts about their playground, feeling the instructors did not quite capture the essence of playground life. Either way these weekly write-ups were enjoyable to read.
Here are the Norwood Messenger playground write-ups in chronological order:
July 9 – Playground Opens Read
July 16 – Playground Write-Up Read
July 23 – Playground Write-Up Read
July 30 – Playground Write-Up Read
August 6 – Playground Write-Up Read
August 15 – Playground Write-Up Read
August 20 – Playground Write-Up Read
August 25 – Playground Write-Up Read