Joe Cacciatore wasn’t the only one who caught the ball.
He was just the one who grabbed the points that saved the season.
In 1965, the Waltham High football team was one of the best in the history of the illustrious program. There was the 1907 team that went 13-0 and outscored opponents 365-5. There were the Jack Leary teams of 1927 and 1946 that went undefeated. There would be the 1991 team that won the Super Bowl. But the 1965 team under the coaching direction of the legendary Hal Kopp had a mystique all its own.
Perhaps that mystique was solidified in the final minutes of one of the most miserable days imaginable at Newton High School. Waltham was a powerful team that year, but the rainy and windy conditions were a great equalizer for Newton. It literally became a game of inches.
"I was the punt returner for that team and I had a busy day," recalled Bob Marcou. "It was three downs and punt it. Three downs and punt it. I caught, I think, eight punts that day. I had a total of four yards after I caught it because they were so high and the field was so bad. I was just happy I caught all the balls."
Eventually, something had to give if Waltham was to remain perfect. So Kevin Murphy - the third of four quarterbacks to play that season - went deep with a throw that disappeared into the raindrops toward Cacciatore and a Newton defender in the end zone.
"He just uncorked one," remembered Cacciatore. "I was just lucky to get my hands on the ball along with the defender. When we came down, we both had it in our hands. They called it a simultaneous catch and a touchdown."
"Actually, the Newton kid caught it in the end zone and Joe ripped it out of his hands," noted Marcou. "That’s how the game ended. That’s the game everyone recalls that kept the season undefeated."
It’s a season that has been celebrated perhaps as much as any in the 125-year history of Waltham. Sons, nephews, cousins and even grandsons of those on the team heard the stories as they began their Waltham football careers. They are stories members of the team are only too happy to tell.
"A lot of people who are still around Waltham were on that team," Marcou said. "People make fun of us because something comes up all the time where we have a little celebration. They say: ‘Boy, don’t you ever get sick of that?" But we still have our little reunions."
Remembering the past is a big thing in a place like Waltham where generations remain and a city tries to keep hold of that small-town feel. Last year, members of the "Hitless Wonders" 1964 state champion baseball team gathered for a reunion. The 42-year coaching history of Walter Brinn was recently celebrated at Veterans Rink. The dedication of the J. Lee Gould Track at Leary Field drew dozens of former runners to pay tribute to the beloved father of Waltham High track and field. While Art Quinn put Waltham basketball on the map in the 1940s, the coaching eras of Don Prohovich, Len Sorin and Cacciatore inspire plenty of reminiscing about the wars of the old Suburban League.
Waltham High Athletic Hall of Famers - a collection that now includes 167 individuals, five teams and 12 coaches - are still welcomed at every Homecoming football game. Names and past team champions dot the banners in the Samuel "Doc" Cohn and Robert Connors gymnasiums at the high school where a dramatically different athletic landscape now unfolds.
Whereas for decades a few kings of the athletic jungle ruled. Nowadays, diversity is celebrated on the city’s athletic fields.
"What happened as the years went on, I think for the good of sports - is that female sports grew," said Marcou, an WHS Hall of Famer who heads the Veterans Committee of the WHS Athletic Hall of Fame. "Now instead of the girls just watching the boys go and play, they play their own sports."
The late 1970s and 1980s saw Waltham become as a force in girls volleyball and girls track. The past 20 years has seen the emergence of Waltham as a field hockey power, while the school has introduced girls lacrosse and girls ice hockey to great success. Even boys sports have expanded greatly as boys lacrosse grew into a state power - reaching the state title game in 2005 - and both the boys soccer and wrestling programs have had eras of championship dominance.
While girls soccer, girls basketball and softball teams have become mainstays, Waltham High also has had individual state title contenders in skiing, swimming, diving and golf.
A lot has changed from the years when 10,000 or 12,000 fans would pack Leary Field for a game against heated rivals Weymouth, Haverhill and, especially, Brockton. But some common threads have tied teams together through the years.
"One thing I would say about all the teams is that they were almost always truly teams," said John Mazzarini, a 1941 graduate and WHS Hall of Famer who worked the clock at football and basketball games until his recent retirement. "There’s been some great players through the years. But Waltham was never one of those teams where one person took all the glory. There were 11 guys on the football team and the players and coaches always understood that."
Asked to reflect on some of the top players he’s seen in his seven decades watching Waltham sports, Mazzarini wouldn’t even try.
"No matter how many names I tell you, I would probably be missing that many who were just as deserving."
A list that continues to grow, but whose origins will not be forgotten.
WALTHAM —
