Why is Norwich Free Academy vs. New London, nation's oldest football rivalry, so special?
FOX television producers spent time with the Norwich Free Academy and New London football teams this past week. They filmed players and coaches for vignettes that will air during the network's broadcast of the Thanksgiving Day game between the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions (12:30 p.m. EST).
Yup, America’s oldest high school football rivalry is getting some love and national attention.
A producer also interviewed Brian Girasoli. Girasoli? He wrote the book on the NFA-New London rivalry. Literally.
The teams first clashed on the gridiron on May 12, 1875. Ulysses S. Grant was the President of the United States when the Norwich Courier wrote, “The Bulkeley School boys will have a match game of football on Wednesday afternoon.”
Five days later, Aristides won the first Kentucky Derby. Three weeks later, Harvard and Tufts played in arguably the first collegiate football game at Jarvis Field in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The oldest high school football rivalry in the nation? Of course, someone had to write a book about it.
In 2011, The History Press contacted NFA’s Director of Communications Geoff Serra expressing an interest to publish a book about the rivalry. Serra had written about the NFA-New London game for various school press releases, journals, and websites but felt that Girasoli would be the better choice to write the book.
Girasoli graduated from NFA in 1994, earned a BA degree in English from UConn and an MS degree in Journalism from Quinnipiac, and was the assistant sport editor at the Norwich Bulletin.
“For me, writing the book was a labor of love,” said Girasoli, who was on the field for the rivalry games as a member of the Wildcats marching band.
Girasoli spent hours going through archives at NFA, Norwich’s Otis Library and the New London Public Library. He relied heavily on newspaper accounts and reports from the Norwich Courier, Norwich Record, Norwich Morning Bulletin, Norwich Bulletin, The Bulletin, New London Telegram, New London Evening Day and The Day.
“It was a lot of fun,” Girasoli said. “Being a journalist, I loved going back and looking at the accounts of the games.”
Girasoli interviewed numerous former players and coaches, including NFA’s Jim Giordano, a New London guy who became one of the Wildcats greatest coaches; Steve Robichaud, who led the Wildcats to the state playoffs for the first time in school history in 1998; Jemal Davis, who played for NFA in the late 1980s and returned to his alma mater 20 years later to coach; and legendary New London coach Jim Buonocore.
School yearbooks were helpful for pictures. “I had all of those resources and connections and was able to put something together,” he said.
“The Norwich Free Academy V. New London Football Rivalry,” was published in 2012.
“It was fantastic,” Girasoli said on seeing the final product for the first time.
The early years
It all started on May 12, 1875. There is no record, however, of the score.
“I’ve always been a history buff with an interest in the late 19th century and early 20th century,” Girasoli said. “But for the first eight years of the rivalry, no results could be found. 1883 was the first score that we could find. Not surprisingly, the early stuff was really neat.”
On Nov. 4, 1889, the Wildcats were leading 38-0 when the game ended after a punted ball got lost in a snow squall on the banks of the Thames River at Cannonball Park. It was the only ball the teams had brought to the game.
NFA won all but one of the meetings from 1875 to 1910.
The book is a treasure trove of photos. There’s one of the 1902 NFA team that scored 130 points against Bulkeley (New London) in the first half before the game was called off. It remains as the most points scored in a game by one team in Connecticut history.
There’s a photo of the 1945 NFA team that defeated Bulkeley, 7-2. The Wildcats finished unbeaten and were voted the No. 1 team in the state by the Associated Press. It is NFA’s only football state title. The Wildcats were state runners up in 1998, 2012, and 2014.
There’s a picture of Mercer Field, Bulkeley’s home from the 1920s through the 1950s.
In 1950, the Board of Trustees voted to sell the Bulkeley School to the city of New London. Students from Bulkeley and Chapman Tech combined to attend New London High School.
In 1970, New London High School moved to its present location on Jefferson Avenue.
More: NFA rolls past New London, finishes with three-game win streak
Milestones
The 100th anniversary game was played on Nov. 15, 1975 at New London’s new Pat Cannamela Field. The Whalers won 28-7 for their fourth straight series win.
The 150th anniversary game on Nov. 24, 2011 was played 500 yards from where the first game was played in Norwich. The Whalers cruised past the Wildcats, 37-17, before a crowd of around 3,000 people.
Whalers dominance
NFA had been dominant in the early years of the rivalry. It changed in the 1970s and 1980s during legendary Whalers coach Jim Buonocore’s tenure.
Buonocore, who played for Chapman Tech and New London High School, was an NFA assistant coach when he returned to his alma mater to be the head coach in 1969. Buonocore guided the Whalers to four state championships and 208 wins during a storied 30 year career.
New London won 15 straight games against NFA from 1982-1996.
Things changed on Sept. 13, 1997.
The Bulletin’s Peter Abraham, who currently covers the Boston Red Sox for the Boston Globe, wrote:
New London - Some of the players on the Norwich Free Academy sideline on Saturday weren’t born the last time the Wildcats beat New London in a football game.
It had been that long - 1982 to be specific - since the oldest high school rivalry in the country meant something more than a day of frustration and disappointment for NFA.
But the Wildcats shed their inglorious past in fine fashion, scoring 20 points in the final 14:17 to stun the Whalers, 20-19, at Cannamela Field.
Trailing 19-0, NFA quarterback Major Williams sparked the comeback by scoring two touchdowns and kicking the decisive extra point with 4:10 left.
“The thing that kind of still sticks with me is I remember Bryant Stone scoring our last touchdown and him going into the end zone, and he raised the ball up and got flagged by the official,” NFA coach Steve Robichaud recalled for the book. “So now we’re going in, and it’s 19-19, and Major Williams has to kick a thirty-five-yard PAT for us to go ahead. And as Major always did, he kicked it, and we won the game 20-19, and you might have thought we won the Super Bowl.”
More: 'I'm just so proud': Norwich Free Academy edges New London in historic Thanksgiving battle
The stars
The NFA-New London rivalry has featured the exploits of a number of future NFL players.
NFA lineman Gil Bouley, who starred in the 12-0 win against New London in 1939, went on to play at Boston College before an NFL career with the Cleveland/Los Angeles Rams.
In 2000, the Norwich Bulletin selected Bouley as one of the top 5 Eastern Connecticut Athletes of the century
NFA defensive end Matt Shaughnessy was a four-year starter at Wisconsin. Shaughnessy then spent eight seasons in the NFL with the Raiders, Cardinals and Saints.
NFA’s Tuzar Skipper was a star linebacker at Toledo before joining the practice squads with the Giants, Steelers and Falcons.
New London’s David Reed played wide receiver at Utah. Reed spent three seasons with the Baltimore Ravens and was a member of the their 2012 Super Bowl team. Reed also played one season with the Indianapolis Colts.
Reed’s brother, Jordan, starred at Florida. Jordan Reed played tight end for seven NFL seasons with Washington and one year with the San Francisco 49ers.
One of the rivalry’s biggest stars was New London running back Jamal Johnson. Johnson was the first ECC player to win the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year Award in 1988.
On October 9, 1988, Johnson, who didn't play in the NFL, led the Whalers to a big victory over NFA.
Bulletin reporter Jim Konrad wrote:
Norwich - Give Jamal Johnson an inch, and he’ll take a yard. Or 30. And six points to boot.
New London’s standout tailback rushed for 207 yards and two touchdowns and returned a fumble for another score yesterday as the Whalers defeated Norwich Free Academy 24-0 in the continuation of the nation’s longest high school football rivalry.
A permanent date
NFA-New London was a noncontinuous rivalry. The teams didn’t meet for two seasons following a brawl. There were also seasons where they would meet twice a year. NFA leads the series 81-68-11.
In 2000, the school's athletic directors, NFA’s Gary Makowicki and New London’s Jim O’Neil, decided that the game’s historical relevance and importance should have a permanent date on the calendar. Makowicki and O’Neil chose Thanksgiving Day.
NFA had previously played St. Bernard on Thanksgiving, while New London played Fitch.
NFA won the inaugural Turkey Day contest, 19-8. And a tradition was started whereby both teams' captains held a breakfast in the host city the day before the game.
Time for an update
On Thursday morning at New London High’s Pat Cannamela Field, the Wildcats and Whalers will meet for the 161st time. And Girasoli, who teaches English at Lyman Memorial in Lebanon, says it's time to update the book.
“It's 10 years old now,” Girasoli said. “I wrote to the publishers recently. I want to get more people’s remembrances and not make it seem so newspaper heavy. I hope I hear back soon.”
A whole nation awaits.
"It's a well-documented rivalry and game," said NFA head coach Erik Larka, who is in his second season with the Wildcats. "It's been amazing to see how excited our players have been at practice this week and how they're showing a lot of positive animosity towards New London."
New London head coach Bobby Sanchez will be coaching in the rivalry for the first time.
"The tradition, I absolutely love it," Sanchez said. "When I took this position that was one of the first things on my mind, was how big this game is and how awesome it is. I love the fact that the two teams couldn't be more different, that's what makes great rivalries. If NFA's the Yankees, then New London is the Red Sox. That's exciting to me."
This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: A look at NFA, New London football rivalry: the oldest in the nation
