Dream Season

By John McDermott

John McDermott was born October 25, 1956 in the Hells Kitchen section of New York City. His first move was when he was five-years-old to East New York, Brooklyn. There, he attended St. Fortunata Grammar School where he was introduced to strict nuns as teachers. In May of 1965 he moved to Hazlet where his dad put a basketball in his hands and its still there today. At Raritan High School, John started on the Varsity Basketball team all three years, setting the alltime single season scoring record his senior year with a 24.1 points per game average. Forty-three years later that record still stands along with scoring forty points in back to back winsforty away against Toms River North and then forty-one in a home game vs. Matawan, both were wins. The following year was even better at Brookdale Community College where he led the team to the championship game in the Region 19 tournament. The Star Ledger named John the best point guard in the state that year while earning first team all- Garden State and all-Region. Johns college career ended sadly two years later as a junior at Bloomfield College while he was always bumping heads with the coach. Despite this, he still led the conference in assists. John was married by the age of twenty-three in 1980 and within five years Renee and John had three lovely children, Lori, Val, and Tom. Today, thirty-three years later, all three have grown into successful adults and Renee has also reestablished herself in the work field. John was forced into early retirement due to his health and lives with his new puppy, Little Mac, a mini Dachshund in the Pt. Monmouth section of Middletown within a few miles of his kids who have stayed very close through the years. John is a devoted member of St. Anns Catholic Church where he volunteers to be a lecturer once a month or whenever called upon. He also goes to A.A. meetings on a regular basis. His hobby of writing letters and eulogies has started him on the idea of writing his first published book

A Legend in His Own Mind

and he now spends a couple hours every day in the Middletown Library to use their computers. Maybe one day he will get his own, but for now things are working out just fine, ya think!! Lastly, John still assigns refs to games and will teach 2nd and 3rd graders the fundamentals of the game.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 25, 2013
• ISBN: 9781479788996

Book preview

DREAM SEASON

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By JOHN MCDERMOTT

Copyright © 2013 by By JOHN MCDERMOTT.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Edited by Kayla Helfrich.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

129960

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter 1 Opening Night

Chapter 2 Kirgan’s Foul Shooting Clinic

Chapter 3 Shootout At The O.K. Coral

Chapter 4 Ba-Humbug

Chapter 5 Happy New Year-1974

Chapter 6 Middletown

Chapter 7 The Neptune Scarlette Fliers

Chapter 8 Charge

Chapter 9 Nixon Impeached

Part 2: Glory Days

Chapter 10 Sleepers

Chapter 11 Long Branch

Chapter 12 Raritan-70 Middletown-67

Chapter 13 Enter Bird And Magic

Chapter 14 65-63 Trs

Chapter 15 Showtime

Chapter 16 First Prediction

Chapter 17 The States

Chapter 18 Finishing The 80’S

Chapter 19 1974-Dream Season Recap

Part 3

Chapter 20 Brookdale Jersey Blues

Chapter 21 The 90’S

Chapter 22 The Freehold Vets

Chapter 23 Enter The Three

Chapter 24 Players Who Deserve Respect

Part 4

Chapter 25 Top 10 Pro’s Ever

Chapter 26 1993-1995

Chapter 27 Close Out The Century

Part 5

Chapter 28 The 21St Century’s First Thirteen Years

Chapter 29 The Rest Of The County

Chapter 30 Sandy

Chapter 31 By Far The Best

Part 6

Chapter 32 Volunteers

Chapter 33 Why I Dislike Aau

Chapter 34 The 80’S Tindall Park

Chapter 35 The 90’S- Normandy Park

Chapter 36 The M. F. B.

Chapter 37 One Last Curtain Call For 3Rd Place

Part 7: County Results

Chapter 38 Part A

Part C

Part D: The Coaches That I Have Seen In Monmouth Cty.

Part E: The Best Teams In The County

Chapter 39 How The Game I Love Has Changed

Chapter 40 Time To Move On

FOREWORD

I met John McDermott in the fall of 1974 and learned that he would be the starting point guard for the upcoming 1974-75 Brookdale Basketball team, which had a dynamite season going all the way to the finals in the Region 19 tournament. The Star Ledger and Daily News called John the best point guard in the state and he was named to the first team all-region and all-Garden State.

After some bumps in the road, I had heard through the grapevine, while playing at Upsala College, that John had left the Bloomfield team and dropped out of school due to major problems with his coach.

Fast forward to 1984 when John and I were teammates on the Vets men’s basketball league and in numerous other leagues and he finally put the plug in the jug and for the next seven years had a rebirth in playing the game he loved so dearly and reached the height of his playing career alongside some great teammates like Dave Kirk, Wayne Yoda, Kim Davies, Pete Jeremich, and myself. He was in his early 30’s and at the top of his game, playing smarter and better than I’ve ever seen. For one season he would be rewarded and log some minutes with the Shore Bullets, a local team in the Eastern League.

On a personal note, although John could be a wise guy to me, we had a sit down one day and he told me he considered me to be like his big brother and was so proud of how I overcame all my adversity to become a real good player and if I ever wanted to tell my story he would offer his help.

THE CAPTAIN

Walter Friedauer

INTRODUCTION

A Legend in His Own Mind opened up the windows to my brain that were clogged so bad that I needed a case of d-w 40 to loosen up all the shit up there that it eventually poured out of my mouth, ears, and nose. You’d think I was a brain hoarder. But now that it is unclogged, it feels like a cool breeze is blowing through it with memories of the past and if I don’t get them saved at the computer library with the help of John or Ellie, I could lose them forever. I always believed that my small athletic accomplishments and being a good father are what I’d be remembered for. But, now at the young age of 56, I’ve embarked on a whole new journey of becoming an author of a few books.

In my first book, A Legend in His Own Mind, two mistakes were made. First, my website www.thelegendfromleocadia was not publicized due to my changing the name of the book and secondly, being a new writer, I did not realize that it was my responsibility to have it edited. So, you got the unedited version and had to use Barnes and Nobles or Amazon to order my book online which cost me dearly!

Other than hiring a proper editor, my other goals for Dream Season were for it to be 200 pages and to bring the players from the past back to life so their children would believe the stories only they remember. With each game of my dream season, I will leave the game and tell the story of a time to give these players the recognition they truly deserve. In Dream Season, we will start at the beginning of the 1973-74 seasons and, while going over each game, I will doze off into the past and bring back to life players of a time in the mid 60’s when Raritan started its fifty year history; I will explain what is happening in history. For example, I will talk about the 60’s as a time of cultural change. Then, through the 70’s, right in front of your eyes on national T.V., we will watch our President be impeached. This was a time of financial struggle in this country despite Jimmy Carter’s effort to open the door of employment with the C.E.T.A. Program.

The 80’s were known as the decade of prosperity with the biggest growth in our history. Reganomics, as it was called, seemed to say that Ronald Reagan was a smart president, which was not the case for Jimmy Carter even though he had opened all the doors for this new president to collect the accolades.

In the 90’s, technology was here for good and it seemed everyone except for me knew how to use a computer. Getting thrown out of typing class by a good teacher, Mrs. McKintrick, was deserved. But, don’t I regret that now because when the new century arrived, I was still handwriting letters, journals, and eulogies. It was tough to keep asking people to type for me.

Enter Middletown Library, where, in 2008, I took my first computer course. Then, I followed that up by teaching myself to type. People would laugh at how slowly I was looking up and down the keyboard for letters.

In the beginning, it took the full two-hour session that the library gifted its members to type one page. Today, it takes about fifteen minutes and I’m getting quicker. So I wish I could write history, but truth be told, you will only see small excerpts from books I read to describe time lines to go along with sports. I’m just finishing up the book Killing Lincoln, which tells the story of Good Friday 1865 and because of my love for the cinema, I can’t wait for the movie. Jeff Bridges is my choice for Lincoln who stayed alive after being shot in the brain because a young doctor had the courage to put his two fingers into his head and hold back the round bullet so it would keep the pressure off the brain so he could get a little relief.

This took real bravery; how many of us after a minute of this pain would have waived it off? It’s getting late so I must tell you there will be some nightmares in your life.

But for that you’ll have to wait for my next book called simply, The Blues. For now, sit back and enjoy reading Dream Season.

Enjoy the ride.

Dedicated to Mac

CHAPTER 1

OPENING NIGHT

As the clock is ticking down on the J.V. game, I remember that day in front of Krok’s house and when the idea of recording the hours I practiced up to this season came. My thought went to thinking about any other player who could have matched this obsessive behavior besides Giloon of Memorial and Hungrecker of Hudson and nobody else came to mind. So, I was more than ready as Dave Niles, a jubilant sophomore, came running off the court after a one-point win in the J.V. game as we slapped each other five.

Then, after the custodian swept the floor, a loud, rowdy sold-out crowd greeted the rival team, Weehawken from up north with a deafening ring of boos. Being captain, I got the team together one more time and then we entered the court to some loud rock which was drowned out by our students all standing screaming, DEFENSE! If that doesn’t make the hair stick up on your neck, nothing will.

Defense was one of the main things coach Urich instilled in us, plus conditioning. You’d think he was training us to be S.E.A.L.S. As we are shooting around, the captains are called to mid-court to shake hands and get the final instructions from the refs, who, for some reason, think the game is about them. I asked Bronson to take my place so I could loft up about ten more thirty footers. It was just a habit to con our opponent into thinking they had to cover me from