Page 6 THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, April 25, 2025 ~ Malden Musings ~ Greg Oliva’s Tales from Ferryway Green By Peter Levine G 425r Broadway, Saugus Located adjacent to Kohls Plaza Route 1 South in Saugus at the intersection of Walnut Street We are on MBTA Bus Route 429 781-231-1111 We are a Skating Rink with Bowling Alleys, Arcade and two TV’s where the ball games are always on! PUBLIC SKATING SCHEDULE 12-7 p.m. Sunday Monday Tuesday $10.00 Price includes Roller Skates Rollerblades/inline skates $3.00 additional cost Private Parties 7:30-11 p.m. Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday $11.00 Price includes Roller Skates 18+ Adults Only After 7 PM - ID Required Private Parties Private Parties 4-8 p.m. $10.00 8:30-11 p.m. $11. 18+ Adults Only After 7 PM - ID Required 12-9 p.m. $10.00 Everyone must pay admission after 6 p.m. Sorry No Checks - ATM on site Roller skate rentals included in all prices Inline Skate Rentals $3.00 additional BIRTHDAY & PRIVATE PARTIES AVAILABLE www.roller-world.com Like us on Facebook advocate newspaper Facebook.com/ Advocate.news.ma ANTHONY’S OF MALDEN 105 CANAL STREET MALDEN, MA. 02148 THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2025 6:00PM COCKTAIL HOUR SAVE THE DATE LA MORA CONTEST FEATURING SAL “THE BUMBLE BEE SWALLOWER” BARRESI rowing up at Ferryway continued... “My name is Greg Oliva. I have been reading your columns for years. They are great for remembering old Malden. I grew up in Malden. MHS Class of 85. Four years Varsity Hockey 82-85. Also played baseball from Little League through Babe Ruth. A quick little story about Ferryway Green I remember to this day. It was 1980, I was playing on the Brewers. Then a Prep League team in the 13-year-old prep division. One night, my parents had gotten a call from Perry Verge asking if I could come play a game for the Colonels. Back then if Perry Verge called you up, you didn’t say no. Same for Bob Rotondi! “So, after my parents agree to let me go up and play, I find out the Colonels are playing the Barons. The team that Scott Brooks played on. The Brooks and my family were very close, even to this day. With us living on Clifton St. and the Brooks on Vernon St. we could see each other’s houses from our houses. We were a very big hockey family. Baseball was merely something to do when Colonels’ slugger and future Malden Overcoming Addiction President Paul Hamersley not having a hockey game. Like myself, Scott and his brother Billy, my best friend, may he rest in peace, played hockey yearround. My dad and Wally Brook’s coached all year round as well. “Anyway, back to Ferryway, the game I went up to play for the Colonels was fun. But the two biggest things about that day were Paul ‘Hammer’ Hammersly [sic] then on the Colonels, burying a long home run into the very top of the big old tree down the left field line. Back then if you THE PAESANI CLUB ANNUAL POLENTA PARTY hit the tree on the fly, it was an automatic home run. Hammer was a big dude back then compared to a lot of us. It was at the time one of the most amazing hits I had ever seen. An absolute moon shot. Then in the 7th inning Mr. Verge asked me to throw the inning in relief as the Colonels were up big. So, in the order that inning was Scotty coming up to bat. I had been working with a knuckleball all season in practice and at home. But I had never used it in a game. Until today. On a 2-2 count I threw it for the first time. Scotty damn near screwed himself into the ground trying to hit it. I think he swung at it twice, LOL, and still missed it. That is probably my fondest memory of the old Ferryway Green. Sports wise anyway. LOL. “I went on to coach Little League and Babe Ruth in Malden for about 15 years. Coaching the Malden North/West Reds to a championship with Greg Leuzzi Sr. - one of my old coaches when I was a kid, and his son Greg. Three coaches named Greg, that was fun. I then went on to coach the Friars and Mariners in Babe Ruth with Gerry Magna, winning the D2 championship with the Mariners in 2010. Sports sure were fun in Malden back then. “I moved out of Malden in 2013 living in Rowley now. But I still come to Malden as my wife still works there for Carrier on Eastern Ave. She’s been there 24 years now. I also spent 14 years on Malden Rescue 2 at the Emergency Center. “Gone are the pick-up baseball, football, and street hockey games at every park in the city back then. As well as the flooding of Roosevelt Park in the winter to play hockey and ice skate. Long live the memories of the old Malden. The new Malden will never compare to those times in my eyes. Anyway, thanks for reading.” Thank you, Greg Oliva, for your best memories! Malden’s youth of today are, without a doubt, making their own best memories, but I gotta agree with you, them was the days, my friend! We set a high bar! It is said in “Malden Musings”... • In the “you can never kiss enough derrière” department I
7 Publizr Home