Marblehead-Swampscott grid dinner gives football fans chance to celebrate

MARBLEHEAD – Fifty years ago, only a small throng of 32 attended the very first Marblehead-Swampscott Old Timers’ Banquet. Last night, well over 170 people showed up at Marblehead’s Gerry 5 to not only celebrate the 104th meeting between the Magicians and Big Blue this coming Thursday, but their passion for high school football.Daily Item Sports Editor Steve Krause, last night’s guest speaker, and former lineman for St. John’s back in the early ’70s, stated the love he has for Turkey Day football.”The very first (Thanksgiving) game I did was in 1979 between Swampscott and Marblehead at Hopkins Field (in Marblehead, a 19-10 Swampscott win),” he said. “Frank DeFelice coached Swampscott, and Esso (Haines, one of the members of the Marblehead Gridiron Club) was doing the PA. Every time there was a penalty flag, Esso would say over the microphone, “‘There’s laundry on the field.'” The show was better in the press box than it was on the field.”Krause lamented the fact that when he was at St. John’s, the school didn’t play on Turkey Day.”Our big game was against Catholic Memorial,” he said. “That was our big game every year, with the only exception being Halloween of 1970 when we went into Blocksidge Field and snapped Swampscott’s 31-game unbeaten streak. Perhaps the reason why I love Turkey Day football so much is because I never played a game on that day.”There’s a great intensity in this game every year, and Krause explained, “All the drama’s on the kids. They exult when they win, and cry when they lose. The rivalries get so much buildup every year, and all these games give experiences that I continue to relish.”(Swampscott’s) Chris Cameron intercepting a potential game-tying two-point conversion in 2008 to (the Big Blue’s) Brian Sullivan knocking down what would have been a game-winning two-point conversion (in 2010), as well as Marblehead’s Ray Forbes seeing the ball in the middle of the snowstorm late in the game for the game’s only points in 1985, that’s what Turkey Day football is about.”Sports, and football in particular, provides many life lessons, according to Krause.”It bothers me when some school administrator maybe doesn’t see what football can do,” he said. “It gives everyone accountability on doing your job. When you work in an office, you have to learn to work with others, and sports teaches athletes how to do that when they get out in the real world. Sports are all about learning life’s lessons, and I see that in here (the banquet). People come back to this every year, no matter what their walk of life.”Swampscott’s Scott Faulkner was awarded the Monsignor Carroll Award by former Big Blue assistant coach Dick Lynch for all the work and dedication he’s given to Swampscott youth sports over the years.”What I do is really nothing spectacular,” said Faulkner. “I had wonderful role models, and what they did before me is what I do now. That’s why I do it.”