The Mounties in Print
The Glory Years
"Close your eyes. Let your mind take you back to a glorious autumn afternoon as you visualize a football game at Woodman Field. Tune your senses to the sights and sounds all around and remember what it was like to be there. The stands are crowded with excited fans and the band can be heard marching into the field to a drumbeat cadence. Hear the cheerleaders as they entreat the crowd of thousands to "stand up and holler" for Montclair. And see the boys in blue and white as they walk onto the field, in good Mountie tradition, eager to take on the opponent in another contest for gridiron glory. The anticipation is high because it's a Montclair High School football game."
That sets the mood for "The Glory Years," a new book by local author Robin Hodgson, which is about Montclair High School football in the Clary Anderson/Butch Fortunato era. The book spans the time from the late 1920's when Clary played for MHS, through the 1983 season when Montclair won its first "official" State Championship (in the State Championship playoff format) and Butch retired from coaching. The years in between are about how Clary and Butch created legendary gridiron success and the athletes who made it happen.
More than two dozen people were interviewed for the book and it gives an "up-close" account of Montclair football as told through the eyes of those who played for MHS over the decades --- their stories in their own words. Do you know why the Mounties have traditionally walked onto the field before a game, instead of running? Do you know the story of Clary's winning "Bloomfield game tie"? Are you one of those hundreds of kids who used to "jump the fence" to get into Woodman Field on a Saturday afternoon? This book is about the people, the games, the traditions and the aura surrounding Montclair football. So get ready to sit back, curl up with this nostalgic book, and re-live your "glory years" at Montclair High School. To place an order, please call or e-mail: 973-777-6474 or rwh577@yahoo.com.
MHS Announces the addition of crew and fencing to the athletic teams at Montcialr High School
FED Challenge Team Defeats the Competition Once Again, with a footnote
Montclair High has an enviable record to defend in the national Fed Challenge Competition, in which students from different schools present 15 minute oral arguments before a panel of judges on economic issues such as combating inflation and whether or not to raise interest rates. MHS teams have won six of the past seven years' regional competitions, and advanced to the finals in Washinton, DC five times since the competition began ten years ago. The 2001 team even captured the national championship.
That might well have been the case in late April too --Montclair's team defeated the one that ended up advancing to the finals in Washington, DC and winning--were the MHS competitors not victims of their own past triumphs. To increase wider participation and the likelihood of success in a greater number of schools, the Federal Reserve instituted a scoring system in which winners receive a handicap of one point, with points accumulating each year. Entering the regional rounds, Montclair's team came away victorious in a field of roughly 100-110, but their two-point lead couldn't overcome their three-point handicap. Presumably, they'll start next year with a fresh slate, says Tom Manos, who along with Tom Clifford and lead instructor Jack Weber, is one of three MHS teacher/coaches who help prepare the team.
Tryouts for the team are rigorous. Held in the fall or winter, they determine the five student "presenters," two alternates and 10-15 student researchers who will spend hours daily and on weekends over the next several months studying, writing potential scenarios and debating in preparation. Community volunteers with expertise in economics and market principles help the students practice by grilling them as bank presidents and Reserve members will at the competition.
(Montclair High School Connections, Volume 2, Issue 2, June 2004)
Member of the classes of '37,'38 and '39
If you are interested in having a reunion in the fall of '05 should contact Jean Nugent Shirley, class of '38.
561 272-3982
slimpvnj@aol.com
Where We Are
Our Mailing address is
Montclair Alumni Association
P.O. Box 43549
Upper Montclair, NJ 07043
e-mail: MontclairAlumni@Aol.com
Phone: 973-509-1425