SWAMPSCOTT — Thanksgiving is all about football and family and the two worlds often merge in high school football stadiums across the state. At Blocksidge Field Thursday, the legacy and tradition of Turkey Day football was represented by three generations of the Bush family — one in the stands and two on the Big Blue sideline.
Bill Bush coached football at Swampscott High for 25 years, including 12 seasons as head coach from 1987-98 after 14 as an assistant. His teams went to two MIAA Div. 3B Super Bowls, in 1996 and ’97. His quarterback on the ’96 team was an extremely talented multi-sport athlete named Peter Bush, whom you might say was destined to follow in his father’s footsteps.
Peter went on to play at UNH and got an assistant coaching job at a high school in New Hampshire right out of college. Five years later, he was hired for the same position at Danvers High and in 2011 he came home to work under Steve Dembowski at Swampscott. After 12 years as an assistant and defensive coordinator, Peter was named head coach earlier this year when Bob Serino retired.
Now, he truly would pick up the torch carried by his dad.
“I’ve been roaming the sidelines long enough to be ready for this,” Peter said before the annual clash with Marblehead, won by the Magicians, 28-21. “I was fortunate to get into coaching right out of college.”
Peter became very familiar with the intensity of the Swampscott-Marblehead rivalry as a child, when the family would head to Western Massachusetts immediately after the game to visit Bill’s family.
“The mood of the ride would depend on the outcome of the game,” he said. “Two hours on Route 2. If we won, there would be music and some banter. If we lost, it was pretty quiet. I started to get the idea of what the rivalry was all about at a young age.”
Fast forward to 2023 and Peter has someone with the surname Bush following in his footsteps. Will Bush is a sophomore linebacker and running back on the Swampscott squad, and he, too, grew up immersed in this rivalry, which may or may not explain why he was the first player out of the fieldhouse at 9:10 a.m. when the Big Blue came out for warmups.
“It means a lot,” Will said. “My dad played and my grandfather coached. I want to keep the tradition alive. I used to watch the games and go to the practices and I couldn’t wait to play. It’s very special.”
There are always plenty of proud grandparents in the stands on Thanksgiving morning, but you would be hard-pressed to find someone more fulfilled than Bill Bush, watching his son as the leader of a proud program that dates back to 1906 and has won 11 state championships, and his grandson as a fiery two-way player.
“I’m very proud of Peter,” Bill said. “I never in a million years thought it would turn out this way, but he did all the hard work you’re supposed to do. He does some similar things, but he’s his own coach. Unless he asks for advice, I don’t give it.”
As someone who coaches his son, Peter has the advantage of having been on the other side of that dynamic, though he said his interactions with his dad/coach were not as extensive as you would think.
“When I was a freshman, the freshman team was pretty separate,” he said. “Then my sophomore year he went out and hired Peter Beatrice to be my (quarterbacks) coach. That was the best thing for both of us. He’s a fiery competitor and I am, too.”
Peter recalls his father leaving football at the field house for the most part and he tries to do the same with Will.
“I learned from my dad,” he said. “It worked for us.”
TURKEY TIDBITS: Faces in the crowd included standout players from the 1993 Swampscott High state championship baseball team and 1995 American Legion state champs, Jason Calichman, Todd Kline and Traeger DiPietro. Calichman is principal of Swampscott Middle School, Kline is chief commercial officer and board member for the Tottenham Hotspur Football Club in England, and DiPietro is a renowned artist on Martha’s Vineyard … The 50-50 raffle was worth $640, with a generous winner donating his share back to the Swampscott High band … It was a beautiful day for football Thursday with the temperature in the low 50s, prompting Peter Bush to wear shorts … There was the usual huge crowd of about 3,500, with the stands full and fans lining the fence at field level all the way around.
