Lynn Thanksgiving football rivalry turns 100

LYNN – A lot of turkeys have met their maker since the Classical and English High football teams first clashed in 1911 for what has become an annual rite of Thanksgiving.This year, the longstanding rivalry will celebrate the anniversary of the 100th game, and, not surprisingly, there?s no consensus which game was the best. The answer depends on who you ask – English fan, Classical fan, old, young, in between, someone with a horse in the race or a person who just enjoys a great game.For those counting (and there?s always someone counting when it comes down to this game), Classical has won 53 times, English 37 and there have been nine ties (7 of them were 0-0). The game wasn?t played in 1961 (the year the two teams combined as the Lynn Lions) and it wasn?t played in 1913 or 1914 after a rumble of sorts broke out following the 1912 game.Eighty-year-old Tom Muckian of Lynn attended his first Thanksgiving game as a 4-year-old back in 1937 – the day Manning Bowl opened. The facility, which hadn?t even been named at that point, wasn?t completed until the following June, but it opened Nov. 24 for the English-Classical game. English won, 13-6, on a 33-yard pass from Joe McNulty to Henry Pazik, father of future Major League pitcher Mike Pazik.Muckian went to Classical, but his father and a couple of uncles were English guys, and an uncle and a couple of other relatives were Classical guys. They would all come over to the Muckians? house before Thanksgiving.?The din was terrific. They would all be yelling and screaming at each other,” Muckian recalled.Muckian?s vote for the best game is the one in 1940. Whichever team won was going to be the state champion. Classical was leading late in the game when English put in a player, Alan Delaney, who caught a pass and tied the game, 6-6. The problem was, the Classical people knew Delaney was ineligible because they had his birth certificate. English had to forfeit the game, giving Classical a 1-0 lead and a share of the state championship with Everett.?My father was a very sane man, not subject to shouting, but on the subject of (Classical coach) Bill Joyce, he was not sane,” Muckian said.Family traditionAttending the Thanksgiving game has been a tradition for many families, including George and Glenn Potter. The father and son will celebrate their 50th year of attending the game together (Glenn was actually playing for English one of those years).?He started taking me when I was seven,” Glenn Potter said.Although George Potter went to Classical, his children went to English. They sit on the English side Thanksgiving Day – a practice that dates back to when the games were played in Manning Bowl and English fans sat on the sunny side.?I go over and pick him up at 9 o?clock. He likes to get there early. We go around the 50 (yard line) and then up as high (in the stands) as we can get. We talk, enjoy the morning. It?s a great tradition,” the younger Potter said.George Potter doesn?t hesitate when asked which game was his favorite.?That?s easy for me. It was the 1946 game, the 27-27 tie. That was the greatest game I?ve seen,” Potter said. “It was just one of those back-and-forth games. That?s what made it so exciting.”Potter has certainly seen his share of great games – including many from the Harry Agganis era because his older brother, Hal, played with Agganis.?I remember having to sit in the aisle on a step for the whole game. There wasn?t a seat to be had. You can do that when you?re 10-11 years old,” he said.Potter has kept all the programs from the Thanksgiving games he attended and is a wealth of information when it comes to the rivalry. He recalled how he and his brother went to visit legendary Classical coach Bill Joyce when Joyce was quite ill and how Joyce talked about some of the history of the game.Potter said Joyce told them how before Manning Bowl was built, the game was played at various locations. That first 1911 game was played at Ocean Park, which was at the foot of Washington Str