Ah, Yesterday’s Flicks

By John Carusone

Porky V, Johnny C & Joe D

By John Carusone

The guys who were there are all still active in some ways. My close friend and baseball and softball teammate, Paul “Topsy” Del Gobbo, talked well into the evening about our experiences as players, Army buddies, professional colleagues and just plain lifelong friends. With us was Southern Connecticut State University great Leon Inglese, whose daughter Cathy, BC women’s coach, nearly upset UConn a couple of years back. Leon was a great basketball player at SCSU. Waterbury’s Ron Diorio, a University of New Haven great and pro with the Phillies, and I had a great conversation about Waterbury mayors.

Nothing more to be said about that.

Shelton’s Joey Benanto, longtime Yale coach and a baseball opponent of mine, still looked like he could get back on the diamond. My old Coca Cola battery mate, Joe Yotch, was back after knee replacement and still has the same trim body he had when he was catching me. George Hanchette, Hamden Townies third baseman of the ’50s and longtime West Haven High coach, promised me if we had another old-timers game he would show up.

Back to Topsy for a bit.

We reminisced about a player who probably would have been the greatest left-handed pitcher of all time had he been able to get his personal life in order. I’m speaking of New Britain’s Steve Dalkowski. His fastball was once timed at 102 mph. By today’s standards with accurate timers he probably threw regularly in the 105 mph range. Recently, TIME magazine ran a story on him and concluded he was the hardest thrower of all time, but he was so wild. I faced him one time before he left for the Orioles camp. He threw four pitches to me -- all balls -- the last one so high I could have stood on a ladder and held the bat over my head and still not reached the ball. He and Topsy and Guilford’s Bob Palmer were teammates on that Oriole team.

Here’s a Porky story.

He formed a team called Vieira’s all-stars. We traveled around the state and were unbeaten. He wanted to play a game at Rochford Field. I got the field. He asked me to hire umpires. I hired Hamden legends Bill Gerosa and John Shanahan. We got to the field and Porky said he forgot to bring baseballs. I had a dozen Townie baseballs in my trunk so we used them. When the game ended, as only Porky could say and I will clean it up, he had no money and could I pay the umpires.

His reputation was so roasted the other evening as the man who had the deepest pockets ever. Main speaker Bobby Valentine had the crowd in stitches with his Vieira stories. Channel 12 will be showing the entire event. Don’t miss it. I’m so proud to have played against him and played with him. He is a legend.

There are no leagues today like we had as young men. The Greater New Haven League, the Shore Line League, the West Haven Twilight League were regional. The granddaddy of all the leagues was the Connecticut State League organized by New Haven Diamond Club Hall of Famer Frank Berlanger. Pictured below are Berlanger and Joe DiMaggio. I’ll never forget Berlanger presenting me with the 1959 batting champion trophy.

No matter what league you played in, there always was a crowd. TV was in its infancy so the public always showed up at our games. That’s why Porky’s night was so important to all of us. Believe me the homeruns were longer then, the fights were worse, the bean balls were more prevalent and the batting averages were higher. These men were all so special to me. I have dozens of clippings from those days. You can’t beat the memories and the camaraderie between players that still exists today. As I said in a previous column, we were Connecticut’s Boys of Summer.

John Carusone was mayor of Hamden from 1987-1991, assistant school super from '69-'82 and a legislative councilor from '65-'69. The Hamden native is now retired but stays active in town affairs -- and has a lot to say about them. (Note: The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the Hamden Daily News.)

What a ’hood!

By John Carusone

Right down the street from Nate was Ernie Barcella, who became head of the Associated Press and regularly traveled with Richard Nixon. He was with Nixon when the president was attacked during his 1959 South American trip.

On Webb Street was Hamden High All-State QB Dom Balogh, who was recently inducted into the Hamden High School Hall of Fame. Next door to Balogh was Naval Academy grad Gene Rosadino, who later went on to own and manage the largest hotel supply company in New England.

Next door to us on Benton Street was Wallingford superintendent-to-be Frank Soldan. Across the street was Bob Scelzo, who became the principal of North Haven High School.

Local businessman Jim Manfredi began with his food market and developed the entire State-Ridge corner. He became one of the first Italian-American businessmen to get a membership in the New Haven Country Club. State Street’s Pat Hedge became Stonington’s police chief. On a much sadder note, Atlas Street produced two World War II fatalities: Angelo Travaligno and Frances Hearn. State Street had two more fatalities: Pierce Robertson and Bob Bush in Vietnam.

How about some athletes? I have already mentioned Dom “Sonny” Balogh. George Heg of State Street was an All-District and All-New England hockey defenseman and also an All-District baseball player. He was a teammate of mine on the 1957 Hamden Collegians before being signed by Cardinals scout Tim Finn. Finn also signed his son Fran, also a stellar player. Johnny Hogan, son of Democratic Selectman John Hogan Sr., went on to Holy Cross where he starred for that team. He also was my teammate with the ’57 Hamden Collegians. He was later president of the Connecticut Bar Association.

Tom Jones, my classmate and teammate, was Hamden High’s first stellar African-American athlete. Bill Walsh left Hamden Post 88 for a Milwaukee Braves tryout. I replaced Bill on that team. Webb Street’s Don Dextradeur was one of Hamden High’s great hockey players of the ’40s. On that same street were the Valalik brothers: George, a noted basketball and baseball player of the ’40s, and younger brother Fred, a solid football player in the early ’50s. Tom Sacramone of Welton Street was recently inducted into the SCSU Football Hall of Fame. His 8.2 yards per carry is still an SCSU record. Ralph Barbero and Howie and Brenda Reilly were inducted into the Connecticut fast-pitch softball Hall of Fame, with Brenda Reilly also being inducted into the national women’s athletic Hall of Fame.

In a previous column I mentioned how State Street was always looked down on by other parts of Hamden. It was always you were going “down” to State Street, but “up” to Spring Glen and Mt. Carmel.

But we had so much going for us in our neighborhood. To my recollection, there never was any crime. Very few people had locks on their doors. We had the clay pits to swim in and ice skate on. We climbed up the giant steps of East Rock. We could catch some of the largest soft shell crabs in the clean water under the train bridge. We had the Welton Street “back lot” to play sports. Although I was too young to remember, there was the Scheutzen Amusement Park, which my mother and father talked about often. It was located right where the Porcelain-Spec Rail (formerly Botwinik Bros) stood.

This was a great neighborhood to grow up in. Isn’t it amazing that today I still live within a one-mile radius from the Welton Street homestead on Daniel Road? That’s why Preservation Magazine did its May 2000 feature on our family.

John Carusone was mayor of Hamden from 1987-1991, assistant school super from '69-'82 and a legislative councilor from '65-'69. The Hamden native is now retired but stays active in town affairs -- and has a lot to say about them. (Note: The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the Hamden Daily News.)

Race Matters

By John Carusone

Well, guess what? Fox News is at it again. No wonder its ratings continue to plummet. John Q. Citizen has finally seen through its masquerade of “fair and balanced.”

As a sideline to this sorry tale, the Rev. Al Sharpton on MSNBC’s Tucker Carlson show was extremely critical of comedian Michael Richards for his offensive racial comments and opined that Richards should apologize to everyone imaginable, probably even to his barber. The list was endless. Sharpton couldn’t stop naming people, groups, etc. Yet when asked by Carlson should Simpson apologize to the Goldman and Brown families, his unbelievable response was, “I have yet to see convincing evidence that O.J. was guilty.” Are you kidding? As offensive as Richard’s remarks were (and they were extremely offensive) he didn’t murder two people and/or try to capitalize on their deaths in such an abhorrent manner.

Now for the second Fox News “fair and balanced” reporting.

Can anyone tell me what is the ethnic background of House Speaker Dennis Hastert? I doubt it. Why did I ask this question? Well, how many times have you heard that incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi is the first woman to hold that post? Fair comment. But now how many times have you heard from Fox News that she represents the “gay” community of San Francisco and that she is ITALIAN. As we all know if you are ITALIAN you must be related to the Sopranos.

When Mario Cuomo came to Hamden in 1988, he told me that his being ITALIAN was a deciding factor in not running for president. Remember my first comment here. What is Dennis Hastert’s ethnic background? No one knows and no one cares. I will never forget my battle with ABC reporter Sam Donaldson who stated on national TV because Cuomo was ITALIAN he was bound to investigate to see if Cuomo had “mob ties.” He stopped that offensive tirade when then-New Haven Mayor Ben DiLieto and I protested to the president of ABC. It’s interesting to note that Republican Rudy Giuliani has yet to feel the sting of being Italian-American.  My prediction, however, is that even though Giuliani has a solid crime-fighting background and is a 9/11 hero, he will not head the Republican ticket.

Is there any local prejudice against Italians? I can recall the mall hearings of 1989 when an unsigned flyer appeared in a local neighborhood claiming that if the mall should pass, the “mafia” would be in Hamden because Carusone and Fusco (mall developer) are both Italian.  I can also recall when former Superintendent of Schools Julius D’Agostino was belittled by a School Board member for “wearing shiny black suits.”  Thankfully, that kind of citizen makes up a very small minority in Hamden.

John Carusone was mayor of Hamden from 1987-1991, assistant school super from '69-'82 and a legislative councilor from '65-'69. The Hamden native is now retired but stays active in town affairs -- and has a lot to say about them. (Note: The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the Hamden Daily News.)

I’ll Name that Street

By John Carusone

I’m pleased that local veterans groups are planning to name streets for soldiers killed in combat. Most Hamdenites today have no idea where their street name came from. The real Town Hall (now abandoned) was built in 1924 as a memorial to those who served in World War I. As the years passed, names of war dead were inscribed on the walls of the rotunda. The names began with World War I fatalities. There were none etched on the walls for the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Civil War or the Spanish-American War.

Yet there are streets in Hamden honoring war dead from the Revolutionary and Civil wars. Hamden historian Rachel Hartley listed those names in her book, “The History of Hamden, Connecticut.”

Let’s list them from the Revolutionary War: John Bassett, Joseph Benham, Elisha Booth, Moses Ford, John Gorham, Jabez and Levi Munson, Joseph Tuttle, Amos, Benjamin and Ebenezer Warner, Jarvin Woodin, Aaron Bradley, Waite Chatterton, Chauncey Dickerman, Amos Peck, Joel Todd, Joel Cooper, Alling Ives, Moses Gilbert and Samuel Woodin. From the Civil War: Charles Johnson. Another Civil War fatality whose name does not appear on a street is Wilson Wilcox, uncle of Alice Shepard after whom Shepard Avenue is named.

Many other streets in Hamden have historical roots, although not military. Dixwell Avenue of the three judges fame; Whitney Avenue for inventor Eli Whitney; Davis Street for Edward Davis who operated the Whitney Avenue Horsecar Line; Foote Street for Chauncey Foote, Hamden postmaster; Webb Street for Judge James Webb; and Selectman John Hubbard, Congressman Arthur Woodruff, Elizur Goodrich and many others.

In the 1950s when Town Engineer Pat Zullo came to Hamden, it was his idea to name streets in new developments after deceased vets and today probably the vast majority of names on the rotunda wall have had streets named after them.

I have had experience in naming school buildings. Both Ridge Hill and Shepherd Glen were my recommendations to the school board in 1969 and 1971. Ridge Hill came from Mrs. Hartley’s book describing early Ridge Road known as Ridge Hill, and Shepherd Glen came from a description of that area in Mrs. Hartley’s book, “Shepherd’s Pen,” at that time a common sheep grazing area. I did not like the word Pen as it gave the impression of confinement. I substituted the word “Glen” as the school sits at the base of a glen. Then-Superintendent Dr. Frank Yulo named West Woods School after the one-room school that closed in 1954.

For some time the Hamden Board of Education named buildings after notable citizens, such as First Selectman Michael Whalen, Superintendent M.L. Keefe and educator Alice Peck, but has discontinued that practice for some years, now using a combination of geographical or neighborhood designations such as Dunbar Hill, Bear Path, Church Street and Helen Street.

John Carusone was mayor of Hamden from 1987-1991, assistant school super from '69-'82 and a legislative councilor from '65-'69. The Hamden native is now retired but stays active in town affairs -- and has a lot to say about them. (Note: The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the Hamden Daily News.)

‘They Paved Paradise and Put Up a Parking Lot’

By John Carusone

My resolutions specifically dedicated the former seventh hole of the Meadowbrook Golf Course for the monument site. Also included was a plot plan of the former hole. There was no confusion here. School authorities chose to completely ignore the facts and steamrolled the building, taking almost 90 percent of the land we deeded for the memorial.

The strategy of school authorities was clear from the beginning. They counted on the fact that no judge would order the building already under construction moved. The School Board’s strategy was akin to the famous battle cry, “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.” Instead it was, “Damn the veterans, full speed ahead.”

Our resolutions gave the veterans total control of what went on the site. The town still owned the site and had to maintain it exactly as the rotunda in the original town hall. The state grant of $100,000 was specifically given to the town on the condition that the veterans would in perpetuity control the site. School authorities chose to ignore the grant stipulations in order to continue the building project, thereby thumbing their nose at the veterans. I’m surprised the state hasn’t asked the town to return the grant. If the state ever does, I trust the town will demand that the school system hierarchy pay it back.

The veterans went to court to try to block the land takeover and lost on one of the flimsiest judicial decisions in recent memory. Those kinds of decisions are called “results-oriented decisions.” The decision had no legal merit.

First, by claiming that veterans had no legal standing to sue and that the decades-old agreement of vets controlling the rotunda and the monument site was not in writing. For the historical record, I had ready to testify former mayors, town officials and representatives of every vets group of the past 40 years that the control of the rotunda and the Meadowbrook site belonged to the vets. This raises the issue of contract law. Let me quote the definition of a legal contract: “Any enforceable agreement, either written or oral, or implied by the actions or intentions of the parties.”

Veteran Ron Bergami was badgered and insulted by lawyers and school authorities. This man, a veteran of the South Pacific, was dying of cancer but that did not stop those in authority from spreading tales of how his court action was part of a hidden political agenda. Those who read this column know who you are and what you did and said.

John Carusone was mayor of Hamden from 1987-1991, assistant school super from '69-'82 and a legislative councilor from '65-'69. The Hamden native is now retired but stays active in town affairs -- and has a lot to say about them. (Note: The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the Hamden Daily News.)

The Party’s Over, George

By John Carusone

Way back in 1952 when Hamden was getting ready to change its form of government from the Town Meeting to the RTM (Representative Town Meeting), my father, Dom, ran as a Democrat in Hamden’s first-ever district election.

He said something to me then that has resonated with me my entire political life: “In a campaign always tell people what you are for, they know what they are against.” In effect, always be positive. He won four elections in a row. I wonder what he would have said about this year’s elections, all of them loaded with downright negative dishonest ads.

First, it must be understood that pointing out a candidate’s public record is not a negative ad. If it’s truthful, it’s OK.

Let’s talk about former Connecticut Congresswoman Nancy Johnson. Her ad claiming Democratic challenger Chris Murphy voted “27” times to raise taxes is probably true and not negative. But her two unbelievably negative ads, I believe, led to her loss. The ad depicting Murphy as hesitating to tape a terrorist’s phone call from Pakistan to New York was just plain dishonest. The FISA court gives the government 72 hours to visit a judge after the call has been monitored.

Another Johnson ad had Murphy hugging a drug dealer. That was way off base. In Tennessee the racist ad depicting Ford, a black man, attending a Playboy party and courting a white woman was a clear attempt to pander to the Tennessee rednecks -- and it worked. Shades of Willie Horton in the 1988 presidential campaign.

Commentator Rush Limbaugh hit a new low -- if that was possible. His mimicking of actor Michael J. Fox was revolting. Limbaugh, the Viagra king (hmm, caught with 27 Viagra pills and four men), should be ashamed of himself, but people of his kind very rarely are. Did Fox have an impact? Apparently, yes. He campaigned in five districts and all won.

And did you see Lynn Cheney, the VP’s wife, on the CNN Wolf Blitzer show railing into Blitzer for asking her about her book “Sisters,” which has explicit lesbian sex scenes?  And she had lambasted Webb about the sex scenes in his book. And what was her response? “There are no sexual relationships or encounters in my book.” Are you kidding? Actual passages from her book were read publicly. She just plain lied. She apparently learned from her hubby that it’s OK to fudge the truth.

Amen.

And have you noticed that every Republican commentator or strategist is calling for bipartisanship now that Dems are in control? It’s amazing that their memories are so short. In 1994 when the Republicans took control, they began a series of “investigations” on everything Clinton ever did. Over $250 million were spent, which eventually led to the impeachment hearings concerning a consensual sexual affair with an adult woman.

Was that bipartisan?

The Republican majority adopted a scorched earth policy that led to two government shutdowns.

I hope the Dems start with hearings on the war profiteering that has been going on. Where is the $12 billion that’s been lost? Who did lie about WMD in Iraq? Who actually had their phone calls monitored? Were Dems on that list? Did Condoleeza Rice know about the impending terrorist attacks on 9/11 and do nothing? This looks to be a two-year period where finally the American people are going to find out what really happened, and I do not believe it’s going to be pretty.

John Carusone was mayor of Hamden from 1987-1991, assistant school super from '69-'82 and a legislative councilor from '65-'69. The Hamden native is now retired but stays active in town affairs -- and has a lot to say about them. (Note: The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the Hamden Daily News.)

Baseball Recap

By John Carusone

Now that the major league baseball season is over, allow me to add my two cents to the postseason commentaries. All of the key commentators are currently eating a large dose of crow.

Let’s start with Mike and the Mad Dog. Remember, “The Yankees will cream the Tigers. No way can they beat the Yankees.” What we now know that smart baseball men knew before the series is that strong young arms will most often throw the ball past free-swinging batters like A-Rod. Where was Mattingly, the Yankees hitting coach? Why didn’t he shorten up A-Rod’s swing like Matsui so he could just make contact with the ball and put it in play? The Tigers young pitching just overwhelmed the Yankees.

And how about the Mets? Did Willie Randolph goof by not allowing Glavine to bunt and move the runners to second and third? The Mets still ended up with the bases loaded, but Carlos Beltran violated one of the most fundamental rules of baseball I learned in 1948 from Matt Barberi, my physical education teacher in Hamden who started the elementary baseball program. He taught us never to keep the bat on your shoulder with two strikes on you. Anything close -- swing!

Now to the eventual winners: the St. Louis Cardinals. At the beginning of the playoffs the “experts”-- all of them -- picked the Cardinals to be knocked out in the first round. Peter Gammons, Tim McCarver, Dusty Baker, etc., all failed to mention -- or pay attention to --the fact that for most of the season Scott Rolen, Albert Pujols, Jim Edmonds and David Eckstien were injured. When those four came back for the playoffs, St. Louis was a vastly different team and a better team. The Cardinals pitching led by Cy Young winner Chris Carpenter was able to easily match up with Detroit’s hitters who feasted on the Yankees’ older arms.

Let’s not fail to mention Cardinal manager, Tony LaRussa, now the third manager to win the series in both leagues. In total wins he ranks only behind John McGraw and Connie Mack. I saw Connie Mack in 1947 at Yankee Stadium when his Philadelphia Athletics played the Yankees. He is the last manager to wear a suit and trademark straw hat in the dugout.

Now about La Russa. He is a master of small ball. No one plays it better than he does. Just look at David Eckstein in the series, the MVP. Every one of his AB’s was small ball: bunt, hit and run, hit away, hit behind the runner. All of those decisions came from LaRussa.

And how about the Yankees and the Red Sox next year? In my opinion, the Red Sox will go nowhere and probably finish behind Toronto. The Yankees should unload A-Rod and hunt for some of the strong young arms that could be available. Phil Hughes is coming up and the Yanks are in the hunt for the No.1 pitcher in the Japanese leagues. A-Rod has become a major distraction and although his numbers are impressive, his clutch performances are sadly lacking. He will do better in a different market where the pressure will not be as great.

John Carusone was mayor of Hamden from 1987-1991, assistant school super from '69-'82 and a legislative councilor from '65-'69. The Hamden native is now retired but stays active in town affairs -- and has a lot to say about them. (Note: The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the Hamden Daily News.)

Where There Was War, There Was a Hamden Hero

By John Carusone

“Hamden’s history is America’s history. The country did not pass us by as we grew up, rather we grew together.” Those words were the closing lines in my 1976 film, “The History of Hamden, Connecticut.” The meaning, of course, is that Hamden men and women have taken part in every major national and international event.

Those words came to life the other evening as I viewed Clint Eastwood’s World War II masterpiece, “Flags of our Fathers,” the story of the famous Second World War battle for Iwo Jima. Four famous Hamdenites came to mind immediately and a fifth has a Hamden street named for him, as he never came back from that battle.

Hamden Mayor Bill Adams served with the Marines on Iwo Jima and survived the entire battle unscathed. Certain characteristics of Bill Adams have always stayed with me. If you see the movie you will certainly hear the Marines using every known expletive -- and even inventing some. I knew Bill Adams for over 20 years and his favorite “expletive” was “Good gawd.” He never swore.

Moon astronaut Alan Shepard and Mayor Bill Adams (right) being interviewed at the dedication of Ridge Hill School. Courtesy photo

A second famous Hamdenite was North Haven’s longtime First Selectman Walter Garwych. He was a graduate of Hamden High School. Walter was a close buddy of Guadalcanal hero John Basilone, who won the Medal of Honor on that famous island, but was killed on the first day of the invasion of Iwo Jima. Former Mayor Dick Harris flew dozens of combat sorties in the South Pacific flying the legendary fighter plane, the F4U-Chance-Vought gull-winged corsair, recently adopted as Connecticut’s own plane since it was built here during World War II. One of the most famous political photos of Hamden’s modern history showed Harris next to his fighter plane. That photo helped Harris defeat Republican Lucien DiMeo in the 1979 election. The plane is highlighted in the Eastwood film.

Former Councilman and mayoral candidate Floyd Atchley landed with the second wave of Marines at 0800 with the 5th Service Battalion. I interviewed Atchley for my book on Hamden history and he provided info that was just plain mind-boggling.

He was pinned down in the water due to increasingly accurate enemy fire. He eventually was able to move inland when the battleship North Carolina fired point blank into enemy positions on the island. He was at the base of Mt. Surabachi when the flag raising took place. The first flag raising was with his buddy B.C. Cleveland of the 28th Marines and with Ira Hayes, his Native-American friend who later took part in the second flag raising photographed by AP photographer Joe Rosenthal. Those two along with 11 others charged up Mt. Surabachi and reached the top. Cleveland had been hit 17 times, yet once the flag had been hoisted walked down to the beach and onto a hospital LST where he was treated and survived. He died at age 75 in Alabama.

Actor Tony Curtis played Hayes in the first movie and Adam Beach portrayed Hayes in Eastwood’s film. Atchley was a buddy of Basilone and described him as, “He believed in a life of immunity. He took unnecessary chances. He had a fearless attitude to the point of stupidity.”

On a lighter note, after the battle Atchley and many of his buddies hijacked 30,000 cases of beer bound for Japan and a lot of Marines found relief from wartime tension. And I believe that Fallon Drive is named after former Hamden Chronicle editor Bud O’Connor’s high school classmate who left school early to join the Marines and was killed on Iwo.

I trust that my opening statement is now much clearer, so let me repeat the meaning. Every major world event since our incorporation in 1786 has seen Hamdenites taking part in those events. And don’t miss Eastwood’s film. It is spectacular and just as powerful as “Saving Private Ryan.” Remember, Hamdenite Ray Calandrella was in the real 506th parachute regiment as was the fictional Private Ryan.

John Carusone was mayor of Hamden from 1987-1991, assistant school super from '69-'82 and a legislative councilor from '65-'69. The Hamden native is now retired but stays active in town affairs -- and has a lot to say about them. (Note: The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the Hamden Daily News.)

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