I met David in sixth grade. We seemed to hit if off from the start. I had forgotten that we played against each other in Little League. Funny how some things escape us while other, more insignificant ones, stay with us seemingly forever. Not only were the two of us in the top echelon of our class scholastically, but we also excelled in sports. Check that, not in ALL sports, just in football and secondly perhaps baseball. But it was football that was indented in our shared psyche. The two of us loved the NY Football Giants ( until of course I fell in love with Joe Namath and the Jets in 1964). In the schoolyard David emulated quarterback YA Tittle, and I the great Philly Eagle split end Tommy McDonald, #25.
In Cunningham Junior High School we played in Mr. Cooper’s intramural touch football fall league. David had this ‘ Gun’ for an arm, and I bragged that I could catch anything coming at me, no matter how many kids hung off of my back. We were fantastic! As we matriculated into the 8th and 9th grades at Cunningham JHS we even played three on three touch football games in the alley behind David’s apartment building on Ocean Ave. Honestly, the dimensions of that alley had to be no more than ten feet wide and twenty yards long. Yet, the magic that we both exhibited was unreal! Talk about learning in a tiny environment, that was it! They talk about boxers who fought so close they could have been in a phone booth for the entire 10 rounds. Well, we honed our skills in such a tiny place.
Here is how the scenario went for our football workouts: I would get home from school, rush through some of my homework and quickly call David on the phone. ” Let’s have a catch around the corner from your building on East 21st St.” David would turn me down with ” I have too much homework to do, and a test tomorrow I need to study for.” Then the begging and pleading would begin. ” Come on Davey baby, we need to practice pass routes. Saturday we have a game at Kelly Park scheduled with Irwin and his pals. Come on, just for a half hour.” No way, he would say. Can’t. Got to study this afternoon.” Again I would come at him with such platitudes. ” No one can throw like you man. I need to run some routes with you. Just 30 minutes. Come on Davey!”
If it was autumn we most likely did our passing game on that street corner until the sun was setting. We were on a roll for at least 90 minutes. Perfection! That is what it felt like when we bid each other adieu until tomorrow’s classes. My walk home had me fantasizing about how deadly we would be on Saturday…. And we were just that! Too bad that David had no desire to go out for the Madison High football team when we both wound up there. He chose the Tennis team and I waited until my senior year to take the plunge. At 148 pounds I just chickened out from getting my ass pounded from guys who looked and played like men around a boy like me.
David decided to attend SUNY Buffalo and I took the ‘ Free tuition’ route at Brooklyn College. By my junior year I had helped a few other football fanatics to get the petitions signed and get Brooklyn it’s first football team since the mid 1950s. By our 2nd season I did a bit of begging to get Davey to transfer to BC and be our QB. No way Jose! David had his fill of football and whatever we both had as dynamic duo was in the past. Man, if I had his gun sending out rockets to me…
PA Farruggio
August, 2025