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McQuaid
Hockey Knights Celebrate Reunion by John Tallie, '79 On the
weekend of June 24-26, 2005, the McQuaid Hockey Championship Teams of 1978-79
and 1979-80 held a 25th Anniversary Reunion in Rochester. In all, 17 former players took part in the
festivities, traveling from as far as Sahuarita, AZ, Fort Worth, TX, Seattle,
WA, San Francisco, CA, Chicago, IL and Atlanta, GA. The
weekend began on the evening of June 23 with an informal gathering at our
favorite watering hole from 25 years ago - Thirsty's in Pittsford! It may not be called that any longer, but I
don't remember seeing a sign on the place! Formal
events began on Friday morning with a round of golf on the world-renowned East
Course at Oak Hill, hosted by Mike Shane ['80], Jim Post ['80] and Mike Doyle
['81]. In all, 11 golfers participated
in the event. Although it was clear
that those who remain in Rochester have picked up their game [and their country
club affiliations], those of us living in other parts of the country have
apparently discovered better things to do, at the expense of our golf
games. In the "some things never
change" department, it was particularly enjoyable seeing Mike Shane and
Chip Kitchen ['80] continue their personal rivalry begun about 35 years
ago! It was also nice to see that Tom
Baglio has picked up his pace of play!
In my group, we were also fortunate enough to have two upstanding young
caddies who are current students at McQuaid.
I think they were impressed that we still communicate with each other
after 25 years! On
Friday evening, Stuart MacKenzie hosted a family picnic at his home in
Penfield. Besides alumni and their
families, we were joined at the party by special guests Mrs. [Bobbie] Post and
Mrs. [Pidge] Bower! The evening ended
appropriately with an uninvited road trip to Tony Solazzo's ['79] estate in
Pittsford where a formal yard party was being hosted by Tony and his wife
Melinda for families from his children's school. I hope we didn't embarrass him too much by showing up unannounced
- eh, on second thought, who cares after 25 years! The
weekend climaxed on Saturday morning with an informal pick-up game at ESL. Legendary McQuaid Hockey Coach Al Vyverberg
made a special pre-game appearance to visit and show off his State Championship
ring! The alumni wish to offer their
sincere congratulations to the 2004-2005 team members on their championship
season! Special thanks also to McQuiaid
eighth grade varsity goalie Evan Casamento and St. Lawrence University women's
freshman goalie Megan Guckian, whose brothers, Conner and Dan, both played for
the Knights for tending the nets during the scrimmage. Again, it was clear that several players
have continued to keep their skills sharp [read Crai Bower ['80], Tony Solazzo,
Stuart MacKenzie and Don Bergmann ['79], while the rest of us were working,
raising families and generally being productive citizens at the expense of our
hockey skills. Anyhow, it was good for
a few laughs, as always, and it felt great to put on the McQuaid sweater again! As a
memento from the weekend, a special album was composed with articles from the
1978-79 and 1979-80 seasons, current family photos and a special "where
are they now" section. Anyone
interested in obtaining a copy of the album should contact John Taillie at
jtaillie@cox.net. Special
thanks are in order to Stuart MacKenzie and Crai Bower for their diligent
efforts in putting this event together and the following individuals for
participating: Class
of 1979 - Tom Baglio, Don Bergmann, John Herzog, Jim Kelliher, Tony Solazzo Class
of 1980 - Crai Bower, Chip Kitchen, Stuart MacKenzie, Jim Post, Mike Post, Mike
Shane Class
of 1981 - Tom Frisina Class
of 1982 - Mark Adkins, Tim Keelan, Mike Doyle, Bill Post, Lloyd Palum The
following members were not able to attend - John Shane ['79], Tim Keegan ['79],
Tim Kelliher ['80], Mark Howard ['80], Mike Lortie ['82], John Altier ['82],
Jim Herzog ['81], Jon Serr, Ed Lepkowski and Kevin Cummins. Each
attendee received a pull-over jacket commemorating the 25th anniversary and
funds collected were donated to the Robert Schwartz Scholarship Fund at McQuaid A
proposal was made, seconded and approved to have a Second Annual reunion in
2006 with the members of the 1978-79 and 1979-80 teams from the class of 1981
in charge. We will be looking for some
alumni who were unable to attend this year to make an appearance next year! |
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