Back in the Fall of 1962 Belleville High School stunned the New Jersey High School Football world when it won eight straight games on its way to the best record in the school's history. Its final ranking of #3 in the old Saylor/Collington ratings signaled something special had occurred in the modest blue collar town.
Yea, today it's the same place where bad-boy, but beloved Tommie DeVito of the Tony Award-winning Jersey Boys clears things up when speaking of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons: "... it all started here, in Belleville, New Jersey."
Well, this blog entry is not about Tommie, Frankie, Gaudio, or Massi of the legendary Four Seasons. Rather, it's about a natural leader who strolled back into Belleville, some 45 years after he led that great Belleville football team to victory. His name is Joe Latore
For the last 24 years, those of us who loved growing up in Belleville and Nutley, and may have played football at the arch rivals, get together for a Reunion Dinner the night before Thanksgiving. The place is Tommie Apicella's Chandalier Restaurant in Belleville. When both schools moved their game to Thanksgiving Day, the old Italian Fiorente Club of Belleville-Nutley Old Timers thought we should follow the example of Barringer and East Orange High Schools and have a dinner for old time sake. Well, we've been doing it since 1984.
The stories are without end, everybody sooner or later made All-State, women are not present so the language is less than what the good Lord would like, the food is classic Avellino/Bloomfield Avenue, ... yes Tommie Apicella and his boys always have to bring out seconds of the TRIPE, (I don't have time to explain here), we give out awards and scholarships, ... and it's the best night of the year for the 200 plus guys who kiss each other on both cheeks, even if you're from the opposing high school.
Yea, I wrote about this phenomena in my first book, Bad News on the Doorstep, but you have to be there to believe and appreciate it. But each year, it was never quite complete for me. Why? Because the young man who was my example of the perfect Student-Athlete when I was a kid at Belleville never was in attendance.
Joe Latore was a quarterback in Belleville from the day he started as a fifth grader in the town's midget league. He was always quiet, studious, and effective, both in the class room and on the field. He played basketball and baseball as well, but it was as our quarterback on that legendary 1962 team when we all learned what leadership was all about. You see, Joe Latore epitomizes this definition of Leadership: "Leadership is like beauty--difficult to define, ... but you know it when you see it."
Joe's best friend was Rich Luzzi, our town's most prolific football player. He was the running back in Joe's backfield, and it was Joe who called the plays that helped Richie become a 1962 Scholastic Magazine High School All American. But when it was all over, and as we look back on that fairy tale fall, we all agree: we could have never done it without our cerebral quarterback, our true leader, Joe Latore.
As fate would have it, Joe went off to Rutgers, walked on the football team for a cup a coffee, received his engineering degree, got married, raised a family, and has led a productive life. But it wasn't all very fair to our Student-Athlete model. The All County teams in those days picked only 11 football players, and Joe made all the teams, but as a Second Team Selection. You know, they picked 4 running backs, or somebody's dad knew the writers at the Ledger or the old Newark News. Then when some well-meaning Belleville people create the school's Athletic Hall of Fame, the rule is you have to make at least first team All County. (Not as difficult today when they pick offense, defense, all purpose, punter, etc., etc... not the 11 best, but maybe 25 or so??!!) So, you can see how even the most deserving can get lost in the shuffle. That happened to Joe.
But just the other night, on Wednesday, November 21, 2007, Joe Latore returned to Belleville, attending our Gridiron Classic Belleville-Nutley Football Reunion Dinner for the first time. And the modest man of 62 years old now could not sit alone. Countless of us who knew the truth had to enjoy his presence (and that of his older brother Larry who led the Bellboys on the basketball court) and sit at the side of a natural leader who brought respect and dignity to all of us so many football seasons ago in 1962. He was modest, soft-spoken, handsome, dignified, ... and you saw in his eyes a sincere conviction to be himself, making each of us feel we were more special than him. Ah, ... drinking the pure wine of leadership did we all, being with Joe Latore!! He is still all about trust, integrity, humility, compassion, yet still a will of steel.
Of course, it's ironic, but in Bad News on the Doorstep I tried to pay my respects to the leaders in my life by making sure their names were used somehow in the fictionalized memoir. And how did Joe's surname appear? The Four Seasons were all over the pages of my book, but my name for them was ... Lenny Latore and the Four Loves. Some of you know the connection to DeVito's and Valli's Four Lovers, but only a few knew of the LATORE connection.
Great Leaders? Not too many of those around these days. But on this past Wednesday, I sat with one of the great ones in my life: Joe Latore, Captain of Belleville's greatest football team, 1962. A scholar athlete who set an example for so many of us. My blessings in life today are due greatly to old #25.
God bless you, Joe Latore!!
Joe Cervasio in Jersey, the day after Thanksgiving, 2007, 45 years since Joe Latore was our Leader at Quarterback.
JOE, YOU DID NOT MENTION THAT YOUR FRIEND AND MINE, JOHN SENESKY, WAS ALSO AN IMPORTANT MEMBER OF THAT BACK FIELD WITH LUZZI AND LATORE. HE HAD A HISTORY THAT IS WORTH WRITING ABOUT.
Posted by: RAY | July 07, 2008 at 10:58 PM
Ray, yes, our old buddy John Senesky made that backfield even more special. He was the "Junior Sensation" of that #2 ranked team, but best of all, he was your best friend and mine...and still is. His own impact on Belleville (NJ) football is immeasureable, as he led the kids he coached from the seventies to the nineties to victories on and off the field. And then our friend received his dream job at the young age of 60 to lead the Trojans of Castle Park (San Diego, California). Now, retired again, he finished with a 7-4 record this year, with lots of memories, his Beach Boy albums in tack, his wonderful wife Carmela still at his side, his son Danny Commander of one of the US Navy's finest ships, his son Michael still holding down the fort in Jersey, and his two grandsons grateful they have such a wonderful God-fearing man for a Grandpa.
And Ray, the best to you and the girls. How can we forget your own impact on Belleville baseball back in the sixties.
Joe Cervasio
Posted by: Joe C. | December 12, 2008 at 11:43 AM
I was 10 years old watching that 1962 team. It's great you bring back the memories of an era we will never see again. God bless you and the members of that team.
Posted by: Dom Giuliano | June 18, 2009 at 10:56 PM
Dom, it was a magical fall of 1962. I suppose it proved to the state that the Belleville kids could play championship football. The senior class was so special, led by the likes of Latore, Luzzi, Pomponio, Byers, Zinna, Zarro, Horvath, Tomaczeski, Bade, McGowen, Orsini, Recsiniti, Valese, and a couple others ... I have to go back to the program. Richie Luzzi and Bobbie Byers are now gone, as is Ken Zarro. The Juniors and Sophs special too. We will write more about it in the future. In meantime, thanks for writing... and may only good thoughts arise when you look back, ... glancing and not staring.
Joe Cervasio
Posted by: Joe C. | June 20, 2009 at 07:39 AM