The Long Way Home: It Wasn’t Easy Being an OCHS Athlete from Sea Isle
Dr. Joseph LaRosa Jr.’s high school graduation photo.
Two years ago, I had the honor of sitting on the Ocean City High School football field as the district feted the school’s class of 2021. Also included were some old folks who had graduated 50 years earlier, the class of 1971. That is why I, along with some of my classmates, had a seat of honor on the field.
Since that event, I have been thinking about being a student-athlete for Ocean City High School who happened to live in Sea Isle City. First, let me say that this story is not told to relive old gridiron exploits … I was mediocre at best. It is merely an attempt to share the unique circumstances that living in Sea Isle and attending high school in Ocean City created.
Well into the 1930s, Sea Isle City students were transported to and from Ocean City by train. My father (class of ’36) took the train, as did seven of his siblings. In fact, my Uncle Rodger (class of ’37) made an almost fatal mistake one day on the train by drinking water from the on-board water cooler. That drink resulted in him contracting typhoid, losing half of his body weight, and hovering near death for about a week. It seemed that the water in the cooler had not been changed in a very long time. By the time his youngest brother was in high school, the train had been abandoned and students were finally being transported by bus.
Throughout the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s, any high schooler from Sea Isle was on his own (the school had no female athletics at this time) to find a way home after practice or a game. Sea Isle City did not provide an after-school activity bus until the 1969-70 school year. For me, that meant two years of finding rides home after school. My parents both worked, and an early-evening trip to Ocean City was usually not an option for them. Remember, this is way before cellphones, so even getting a message through was almost as difficult as getting home.
Getting to school was an interesting event. For my first three years of high school, I did not ride in a school bus. Remember the train that took my aunts and uncles to school? Well, when the train line was abandoned, Public Service (the forerunner of NJ Transit) provided a bus to connect train riders from Avalon, Sea Isle, and Strathmere to the rail station in Ocean City at 51st Street. Each morning, after dropping off the train commuters, the bus would double back to 44th and Landis Avenue to pick up Sea Isle’s OCHS students who lived between 1st and 44th streets. A regular school bus owned by local entrepreneur Lonnie Peterson would transport the students from 93rd to 45th streets. The gray Public Service bus would pick up the same children at the end of the school day and drop them off at the various bus stops in Sea Isle.
The Public Service bus was interesting. The bus (with the same driver) usually passed through Sea Isle on its final run after 7pm heading toward Avalon. I never thought about it back then, but that was a very long day for the driver. The bus and the characters who rode it to school would make for another very interesting story.
For students staying after school or competing in sports, getting home was when the fun began. Before I share my experiences, I asked student-athletes from the 1950s about their experiences. Steve Libro, class of ’58, played football, basketball, and baseball for all four years at OCHS. His brother Dan, class of ’54, also had trouble getting home while playing football and baseball. Steve shared his experiences:
“There were no late buses in those days, we did the best that we could to get home — bummed rides with Sea Isle people who worked in Ocean City, hitchhiked, rode with people who had their license. The police helped, they sometime would take us to the Strathmere bridge and the Sea Isle City police would meet us. Our coaches sometimes would drive us home, and the coaches would often take us to the 51st Street Rail Road Station and we hopped the train connection bus to Sea Isle. Our coaches were really good about making sure we had a ride. Coach Fenton Cary and Dixie Howell were really great guys. I was lucky, I could always call my father and he would always come and get us especially after night basketball games.”
The North Brunswick football field is named after longtime coach and Ocean City High School Hall of Famer Steven M. Libro. Steve had a long and storied career coaching in North Brunswick.
LaRosa as a member of the Sea Isle City Beach Patrol in the mid-1970s.
Joseph LaRosa prepares to cross Atlantic Avenue to the OCHS football field (now Carey Stadium) to play Mainland Regional on Oct. 31, 1970. Mainland won, 8-0.
My own experiences mirrored Steve’s. In the late 1960s, hitchhiking was not as taboo as it is today, although at times it did make for some interesting rides. Hitchhiking was also complicated when Daylight Savings Time ended and it was dark. Even the people who would normally pick you up would pass by, as it was dark and quick identification was not easy. There was a person from Sea Isle who worked at a food market at around 4th Street in Ocean City. He could usually be counted on for a ride home. Nothing was more deflating as walking home in the dark and seeing that person speed by you, not being able to recognize who you are.
One memorable ride came when I was hitchhiking home after football practice, and it was getting dark. At this time, only two avenues went the length of Ocean City – Asbury and Central – so these were the only direct routes to Sea Isle. At 11th and Asbury, a man came out of a storefront and offered to take me home. The store was on the southeast corner of the intersection and was called Bennie’s Market. The store owner was Bennie Mazzella, a former Sea Isle resident who was a friend of my family.
He immediately recognized me as he looked out of his store window. I did not remember him. Anyway, he was insistent that he take me home, but he was also insistent that he call my parents to see if it was OK. After finally tracking down my dad, who had just gotten home from work and was waiting for my mom, they spoke – I seem to remember it was in Italian, but I cannot be sure as my father rarely spoke the language unless he had to.
After chatting with my dad for a few minutes, Bennie closed his store early just to drive me home. Bennie has since passed away and the market was closed. His recipe for bread is still very much around as the business with new owners moved south one block and is now known as Bennie’s Bread.
Being an athlete at OCHS and living in Sea Isle City certainly required more sacrifices on the student’s part than those who lived in town. Most of the coaches, teachers, and other athletes were unaware of what it took for us compete as Red Raiders. That may be part of the reason that for more than 100 years, no Sea Isle City resident was inducted into the Ocean City High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
In 2021, for the first time ever, Sea Isle City was finally represented on the OCHS Hall of Fame selection committee. As a result, two Sea Isle City athletes – Steven M. Libro and Terry Tracy – were enshrined.
Unfortunately, other student-athletes’ achievements have been lost to time. Athletes such as Johnny Lepore, Edward “Buddy” Adamczyk, Rocco Morano, Dan Libro, Steve A. Libro, George Town, Dave Farina, Charlie Dalrymple, and Mike Baldini are some of the names that come immediately to my mind. Their athletic accomplishments are fading away. Incidentally, that is how my OCHS athletic career ended on Thanksgiving Day 1970.
Mario “Chip” Conti was a childhood friend who grew up next door to me in Sea Isle. On that day, we each were having a great game. Midway through the final quarter, Ocean City was well in front of Pleasantville. We went into a defensive huddle and Chip called out the play. We both looked around, and then at each other, and laughed. By now, coach Mike Slaveski was freely substituting underclassmen and those who did not play much throughout the year. We were the last two starters. As we looked and laughed at each other, Chip called a timeout. We substituted out and walked off the Ty Helfrich Field together, still laughing. I believe that was the last time either of us played any “official” organized sports.
By my senior year, the Sea Isle City School District started an after-school activity bus. Owned and driven by local residents John and Blanche Mazurie, the bus signaled an end to walking or hitchhiking home in the dark. John was Sea Isle’s fire chief and Blanche was very active in the community, so they knew all the children. In fact, they were family friends with most of our parents. Because they were part of the community, they understood how hard it was to find a late ride home. This knowledge was extremely helpful if practice ran long, as they would not depart until you were aboard.
Ahhh … the joys of a small town.