THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2021 Page 11 SPORTS | FROM Page 9 ingly #15-ranked BC Eagles and for football fans like me, it was like this: To go watch the University of Alabama Crimson Tide come to town and play a local team like Boston College was like getting a chance to witness a piece of history. When I found out I was getting a free ticket, courtesy of Coach Bicknell himself and the BC football program, it was like getting a chance to go see that history live. We got to see Flutie... and Godzilla, too Forget about David and Goliath, this was about seeing Doug Flutie in the fl esh. And Godzilla, too. How did these tickets materialize? Well, right place, right time always wins. Throw in a 1972 Chevy Impala, mint condition, with those big, roomy seats, and we were good to go. On November 25, 1983, a kid named Steve Monaco had one day earlier just completed an excellent varsity football season as the starting varsity quarterback for Head Coach Paul Finn’s Malden High School (MHS) Golden Tornadoes football team. Monaco was a steady-under-pressure fi eld general with a rocket arm who had already begun to attract the attention of college scouts, despite it just being his sophomore season. Just 36 hours earlier, Monaco had directed a brilliant comeback attempt in the 96th Annual Malden-Medford Thanksgiving Game, only to see the Tornadoes fall, 25-14. Despite the loss, the 15-year-old Monaco was sensational, staring down a 25-0 halftime defi cit at windy, frigid Hormel Stadium and completing 18 of 21 passes for 177 yards and two TDs. I was an assistant coach, just my second season of many on Coach Finn’s football staff ; we all had visions of what lay ahead Here is Malden High School Hall of Famer quarterback Steve Monaco (12), the Golden Tornadoes’ all-time leading passer, making a handoff in the 1983 Thanksgiving Day Game, which was the 96th game in the Malden-Medford series. Just over 24 hours later, he was at Sullivan Stadium, taking in the BC-Alabama showdown. (Courtesy/Maldonian) for this kid, who would go on to set records and be one of the best Tornadoes signal-callers of all time. A high school sophomore already on the map Games like that had already put Monaco on the map, and about a week earlier Cowboy Jack and the Eagles had invited a passel of local high school prospects, including Monaco, to come see what was arguably the most anticipated BC home football game in its history at the time. Since Monaco wanted to take two of his MHS football buddies to the game, Moose Gennette and Jake McGrath, who had been on the receiving end of many of Monaco’s passes the day before, there left one more ticket to be had. “Thank you very much,” I said, “I’ll drive,” as we loaded up the Impala and headed down 95-South to go see Godzilla and try and see what Flutie Fever felt like in person! Despite the horrendous weather, with wind and rain drizzling at the beginning and then whipping up stronger and stronger like an orchestral storm, the game lived up to its billing...if you were a BC fan. An Alabama fan? An utter disaster. The Crimson Tide was supposed to mop up the fl oor with the lowly Eagles, who had somehow surreptitiously snuck into the Top 20. First half all tied at 6-6, a disaster for Alabama The fi rst half was a deadlock, tied at 6-6. The rain, wind and snow had been a steady threecourse, sloppy serving of weather that football fans and players all swear they love, but most of them are fl at-out liars on that one. Obviously, being from Malden, we had brought neither umbrellas, proper rain gear nor decent footwear, except Monaco, who swore by work boots even at that young age. For all of us, it was plastic trash bags all around, belay the ponchos, with holes ripped open to poke our heads through, of course. For the Eagles, it was not “Flutie Magic” that ruled the night – it was the BC defense. Leading the way for BC was middle linebacker Steve DeOssie, a senior captain who simply ate the Crimson Tide for dinner, one of the best games of his senior year. Alabama was stopped at the BC two-yard-line on one fi rst-half drive, then at the BC one-yard line in another deep drive. It had to settle for fi eld goals of 20 and 28 yards for a 6-0 lead. (An aside: I actually knew DeOssie at the time, having met him when he played in the Shriner’s High School Football All-Star Game in 1980 with my younger brother, Gary. The two became good friends, having both been born in Charlestown, and they stayed in touch. They both went on to be college football captains, DeOssie at BC, after a great high school career at now gone Don Bosco, and Gary a three-year starting tight end at UMass Amherst. DeOssie went on to a 12-year NFL career and is now an analyst of the present-day Patriots. My brother got some professional football off ers from the then fl edgling USFL, but he opted to go start earning a paycheck and became a career corrections offi cer.) Back to the game: Flutie took his team 66 yards in the closing minutes of the half to a fourthdown, one-yard touchdown dive by Steve Strachan to make it 6-6. But kicker Kevin Snow missed two chances at the extra point – on the fi rst miss Alabama was penalized – and the score was tied at intermission. The weather continued to be incredibly bad. Let the record show that over 58,000 tickets were sold for this game, a near sellout. But the place was, maybe, just over half full at kickoff . Thousands more fl ed the wicked weather at halftime. When asked about the game at the time, Flutie said in one published report, “It was so bad that when you came out of the game after not moving the ball you were almost glad because you had a chance to get warm. That sounds ridiculous, but it’s true.” A weird night got weirder: “The Big Blackout” A weird and crazy night then got a little weirder, and a little crazier. Then came “The Big Blackout” just before the second half began. The Sullivan Stadium lights went out just before the second half was to begin. It was SPORTS | SEE Page 17
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