Police Boys League

Back in the late ‘60s, the Nassau County Police created a football club for all the public schools in Nassau County. In Manhasset, it was called the Police Boys Club (PBC) and Detective Dick Widmeyer signed on as our mentor. John Murphy and Frank Martocci became our directors. They asked me to illustrate the Manhasset Police Boys Club football handbook for coaches. It took 12 pages of artwork to do the job. I used pen and two colors, dark blue and orange, our high school colors. The artwork showed the boys the moves football required and the dads and older brothers taught them how to play Manhasset-style. At age nine, my son Bobby and Dave Saunders worked together. Bobby played center and David played quarterback. They played those two positions until they were 12 years old, when the whole team moved to the varsity level. At PBC level, Port Washington was the first opponent and our team won.
Getting back to the PBC, Jim Brown was a PBC kid in his youth, thanks to a policeman who urged him to join the group. But what a kid! There was only one Jim Brown and he reached the heights in football. When he entered high school, the word got around Jim was someone special. Every Saturday, we oldies who played Manhasset High School football hung on the sidelines to see Brown play. After a six-yard run up the middle, he would hobble back to the huddle as if he was injured, and then would go up the middle for another seven yards. On the next play, he would go to the sideline and stiff-arm the kids chasing him with his left arm until he scored a touchdown. When football season was over, he would get out his lacrosse stick and star in that game. Basketball was next.
Attorney Ken Molloy saw to it that Brown would go to college. He paid Brown’s way to Syracuse University. After Brown sat on the bench for most of the football season, Molloy stormed up to Syracuse and sounded off with the coach for keeping
Brown on the bench. When the Cleveland Browns saw Brown’s talent, they offered him a contract and he signed on. I watched some games and he played just like he did at Manhasset High School. He hobbled back from a six-yard gain as if he was injured. After a long run with the Browns, he was Hollywood-bound. Now, he has come back to our town. Welcome home.