The Dreams
There was something about the 1960 and 1961 teams and their back-to-back wins that shifted how the school, and the town, thought about sports. Hatfield had always had its fair share of winning teams, but now it had new champions. For some of the players, the big games took on special meaning.
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"Mike Cahill played on the JV team and one night before a home game, Mike came up to me, handed me his class ring and asked if I would hold it for him. Well, I did and he never got it back! I still have that ring. A few years later...it was replaced with an engagement and wedding ring." -Jane Pelc Cahill, SA '64
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"Tony Symanski and I were married three years after that 1959-1960 season...He often talked basketball with his daughters, instilling in them a love of sports...all three girls successfully participated in Smith Academy girls’ sports - field hockey, basketball, and softball. He proudly watched as Lori and Lynn played basket-ball on the same Hatfield Town Hall Gym floor on which he played."-Carol Maslanka Symanski, SA '61
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Decades of teams to follow had big shoes to fill, and the knowledge that a good team from a small school could win it all pushed student athletes in many sports to excel. The Smith Academy boys’ basketball team won the Western Mass conference again in 1968, and in 1990 and 1992, the team won the state championships for Division III schools! The 1990 team had a direct connection to the 1960-61 teams: Marc Mulherin, son of Joe and Rose Mulherin and nephew of Bob “Jingles” Kovalski, and Kyle Cahill, son of Mike and Jane Cahill.
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Going to "the Big Dance" of basketball also shaped the lives of the people directly involved, giving them wider horizons than they may have had without that incredible team effort and exhilarating time that culminated with playing at the Boston Garden.
Over the winter of 2020-2021, Kathy Godek collected stories from a wide range of people involved in the 1960 and 1961 seasons to create a book of memories.
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In February 2021, the Hatfield Historical Society hosted a reunion on Zoom of participants, from the 1960 and 1961 seasons, as a precursor to its March 18, 2021, program. The March program will soon be posted to our YouTube page, so you can check there or check back here.
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"After all is said and done these victories have greater meaning than my experiences but, as a whole, for what it did for Smith Academy, its students, and the loyal fan base of wonderful supportive people in town. The '60 and '61 teams may have won, but the town and high school were the real winners. You have brought that out marvelously. Lest we forget."
- Jim Southard, from an email after the ZOOM 2021 reunion meeting.
- Jim Southard, from an email after the ZOOM 2021 reunion meeting.