Thirty-One Years of Boro Things

I never saw this coming.

Honestly, being inducted into any kind of hall of fame was the last thing on my mind.

I’ve been the sidelines, watching and supporting as my amazing wife was inducted into three different halls of fame over the course of our marriage. It seemed like every time I turned around we were off to another celebration. There’s more halls of fame sitting at that table then I can count.

Now, it looks like it’s my turn. I feel incredibly lucky to share this moment with my family and some of my closest boro friends.

Thank you to FRHSD for giving me the chance to serve this wonderful community for thirty-one years.

And a big thanks to all the incredible coaches (list coaches that are there) and administrators (list those who are there) who made my job so much easier.  Jerri, Heshy, Linda, Ben, Bizz, Dave.

I was fortunate to witness the incredible athletic skills and wizardry of these amazing women who are being inducted tonight. Those years were some of the most enjoyable of my career.

Brief History

After high school, I didn’t have clue about what I wanted to do with my life. I thought I was going to work on cars like my dad, but my mother (God rest her sole) had other plans for me. “You’re good at building things. Why don’t you try electronic engineering?” she said. SO, I started out in community college, and as it turns out, electronic engineering included way too much math. “How about Phyisical Therapy? You love sports and exercise” OK, that’s more like it.

I transferred to Kean for PT and started taking all my required classes. Long story short, I befriended this guy Ed who was in the AT program, and he convinced me to pursue AT. (I didn’t even know such a thing existed). It seemed like this could be the perfect career.

I graduated from the Athletic Training program at Kean College (at the time was one of 2 accredited AT programs in the state) passed my NATA exam in June of 1990. My head trainer, Tim Sensor, said he had gotten a phone call from Freehold Boro High school and they need an AT. At this time, not all high schools had, or required Athletic Trainers.

I made the phone call, went in for the interview and was hired on the spot. I remember my interview with the assistant superintendent, Walt Zuber like it was yesterday.

Jumping Right IN

I was thrown right into preseason on August 15 of 1990 on a 98-degree day. If you were involved in high school sports at that time, you know everything was still pretty old school. We didn’t have the heat protocols, or any protocols in place for that matter. Coaches were still limiting water intake (because it made you tough) and rubbing spit and dirt on things. Double sessions were still thing. Everything that was going on went against all I just learned as a student AT.  I had a feeling it would be like this from the conversations a had with principal Frank Penn and VP Al Jacklas. SO, this 24-year-old kid had to try and educate the coaches and gain their respect.

My first training room was an 8×10 bathroom, equipped with a urinal, adjacent to the main gym and right down the hall from the auto shop where my golf card was stored. I believe it’s now a custodian closet. I was in that room for 2 years before the new athletic wing was finished which included a training room.

We had no Athletic Director for my first year and a half, so the vice principal, Al Jacklas was doing what he could to help out.

Once the legendary Cal Wilson came back from a heart transplant, I had someone I could confide in. He was an old school character, but he cared about the kids.

The first bit of advice he gave me was to “stay the hell out of that teachers’ lounge” and don’t get involved in any of the drama or gossip.” So, I pretty much took that to heart.

Whenever I walked into his office, he would immediately say “The answer is NO! Whatever you’re about to ask me, it’s NO! Then I’d have to state my case about getting basic supplies that were needed to do my job. It’s like a teacher not having paper or pens and pencils. I’m pretty sure I was around for his amusement. I know he was just messing with this 25-year-old kid and I appreciated his humor. It gave me thick skin.

Athletic Training was a fairly new field at the time, so I really had to do my best to explain to coaches and administrators the importance of certain supplies resources.

Being an Athletic Trainer at The Boro

Being an Athletic Trainer at the Boro was probably the perfect job for me. I was surrounded by sports, spent most of my time outdoors and was able to help thousands of student athletes including some of my favorites that are here tonight getting inducted as well.

I was taught by my mentors to treat the athletes like they were my own kids. In many crucial situations, I would ask myself what would I do if this was my own child?

Many of the athletes still stick in my mind. If I remember you, it’s because you were in my office frequently for either a legit injury or hiding to try to get out of practice. It was groundhogs’ day!

Certain athletes would NEVER come into my office because they were probably afraid I would take them out of practice and send them to a doctor (and then they wouldn’t be able to play).

Athletes like Emily would come into the training room and sit in the ice tub after practice to help recovery. This was way before ice baths were cool.

Then there was the other extreme. Many times, I had to convince athletes they were OK and make up fictitious or “magical” treatments to get them back onto the field.

It was part my job to educate the coaches. I remember getting frequent calls from Mr. Gill down on the track thinking that an athlete was having a heart attack every time they had chest pains after running “Monmouth Regionals”.

I would check in with the football coaches each day to give them the report. There were always funny stories. Dave Ellis told me I should write a book and call it “Boro Things”

Some Boro Things

Freehold Boro was known “the best kept secret” in the district.

The smallest of all the district schools. At the time I was hired, we had 880 students.

I loved the diversity of Freehold Boro. There was minimal drama in the building, especially when Linda Jewell was in charge (the iron fist).  I used to tell my wife that I wanted our kids to go there. She would kindly reply “But we live in Manasquan which has great school system”. I would say “Not as good as the Boro”. I bleed blue and gold.

The medical science program has some of the brightest kids in district. I used to listen to the tennis team discuss their SAT scores and getting early decision into MIT, Princeton and Harvard.

We had that cool barn in the back of the building which housed the “buildings and grounds” and a really old school weight room that used to be an old classroom. I’m a sucker for grungy weight rooms. No heat or AC. I taught many kids how to lift weights the right way in that barn. We trained in all elements. It’s now a parking lot.

Expect the Unexpected

Over the course of 31 years, I had 3 golf carts stolen. The first time it happened, I was getting tips from the students. “I saw your cart going down center street last night”.

I learned that kids could get injured at any time and it doesn’t have to be during sports or while at practice or game. Injury can occur during Spanish class (concussion). I had a band kid tumble down the hill at band camp with his tuba and got a fat lip. One of my favorites was during a pep rally right before football state finals. They were doing a skit where one player tackles the opposing team mascot (in this case it was the Middletown South Eagle), and our player (2-way starter) takes the eagle beak to the face and split his eye open. Somehow, we got doctors clearance for him although I had to constantly patch him up during the game at Rutgers.

There are less injuries when you’re winning!

Freehold is home to many legendary athletes and coaches. I’ve got way too may Heshy Moses stories to tell. I remember when Jack Kuhnert would send his assistant, Jack Skellinger (Skelly) over to players houses to wake them up for practice. Coach A, Jerri, did an amazing job with Field Hockey and softball.

Pete Erndle is legendary! (I was hoping he’d be here) One of the best coaches I’ve come across for frosh football and track. I remember one time the bus didn’t show up for a track meet, so Pete took it upon himself to go to the bus yard, take a bus, pick up his team and drive to the meet. He solved the problem.

We had legendary NBA player Daryl Dawkins as a girts freshman basketball coach for a season. He used to call me Money Mike and would have to duck under my office door when coming in. I would stretch him.

I enjoyed getting yelled at and told what to do by our fans on the sidelines at football games. I actually got a kick out them and became friendly with many of them AKA the Smith crew, Miss Haddy, Crooms crew. They understood that I had the best interest of the kids.

Miss Haddy gave me a magic spray and told me to apply it to kids’ calf muscles for cramps. It was magnesium spray and I actually used it. Some of the kids would ask for it.

I never knew what to expect each day at work, and that unpredictability was one of the things I loved about working at Freehold Boro. We should all be fortunate enough to have careers that feel less like “work” and more like a calling. I truly enjoyed my time at Freehold right up until my very last day there!