Naugatuck’s ‘Streak’ still vivid 50 years on

Those involved 50 years ago will never forget the crowd. Six thousand fans jammed Yale Field for the 1972 state Class A semifinals between Shelton and Naugatuck, the most ever for a Connecticut high school baseball game.

They were there to see what they believed would be a piece of history.

“Before the game, one guy would get out of our dugout and everybody would give him a standing ovation,” Shelton coach Joe Benanto said. “So naturally after that, every single kid went out one by one. It was crazy.”

As The Streak grew to 64 consecutive wins, Naugatuck grew accustomed to the attention. A crowd of 500 early on would multiply four, five, eight times. A week earlier, 3,000 filled Ansonia’s Nolan Field and 4,000 were at Municipal Field in Waterbury for the state quarterfinals.

“The whole town followed the team,” Naugy pitcher Jim Hankey said. “It was unbelievable.”

“People came from out of town just to be there when we lost,” Naugy third baseman Dave Mowrey said.

Naugy didn’t lose. A perfect season in 1970 led to a perfect season in 1971. A victory over Shelton would tie Waxahachie, Texas, for the longest winning streak in national high school history. Or so everyone thought.

ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” was there on June 6, 1972. It was one of those things that captured the imagination of the state.

Brenda Rallis mused on a Facebook page that someone should write a book about it all and her classmate Paul Hensler would be the perfect one. Hensler, a sophomore at Naugatuck when the streak ended, has authored several baseball books. He accepted the project.

Voila.

“Pride of the Greyhounds.” Hensler documents it all with interviews, in-depth look at the late coach Ray Legenza and spices it with a narrative of town history and the growth of baseball from Peter J. Foley to Spec Shea to Legenza.

To fully appreciate The Streak you need to go back to Naugatuck’s 1969 state championship game against Lyman Hall. Hankey, then a sophomore, was one pitch away from a no-hitter and full glory. Full count. Two outs.

“Jimmy was my best friend,” said Mowrey, a freshman and member of the junior varsity in 1969. “I was sitting right behind home plate that game. The pitch was a strike.”

The umpire saw it differently.

“It seems like the whole roof fell in after that,” Hankey said.

Lyman Hall tied the game at 2 and it went 15 innings until called because of darkness. Yale Field didn’t have lights yet. The game would be replayed. A few days later, Lyman Hall beat John Caneira, who went on to pitch for the Angels, in a 10inning game.

Virtually the opposite happened in 1970. “We were down to Stamford Catholic 3-1, in the bottom of the ninth of the state championship and miraculously won,” Hankey said. “Fate has its way of reversing things.

“From a small town, there was a bond, a togetherness. Starting from 1964 we were the first District 3 champions to come out of Peter J. Foley Little League. There were several of us on that team. St. Francis Grammar School in 1967 won the New England championship and there were six members from the streak team.”

The bond carried through American Legion success. After Naugy’s loss in 1969, Post 17 won the state and New England titles that summer to reach the World Series in Nebraska.

“It catapulted us,” Hankey said. Benanto went on to win three consecutive state titles at Shelton (1972-74) and enjoyed the same sort of multi-sport coaching and AD career Legenza did. At the time, however, he was in his mid-20s and marveled at Naugatuck.

“Baseball was their life,” Benanto said. “Even before the streak, they had a long tradition. I sort of compare it to the (Naugatuck) Valley in football, the way it used to be with Derby, Ansonia.

“Ray Legenza was Naugatuck baseball. They had great players. The one constant was Ray. He was unique. He taught me so much, soft toss, short toss, nobody did that stuff at the time. He had an amazing baseball mind.”

Dan Heffernan of Seymour used to scrimmage Naugatuck eight, 10 times each spring. When Heffernan retired, Benanto asked his friend to ask Legenza if he could fill the void.

“Ray took me under his wing,” Benanto said. “If I did something wrong in a scrimmage, he’d come over and say, ‘Joe, why did you do this?’ ”

There was no elaborate scrimmage plan. Leganza would call at 6 a.m. and say, “The sun will be out today at 3:30. Let’s get together.”

Legenza arrived at Naugatuck in 1953 and would win won four state championships and 13 league titles. He was national coach of the year in 1971. He coached football 15 years.

“He made good players great players,” Hankey said. “He was tough, but he was fair. He didn’t take any bull. He had curfew calls at eight o’clock (on school nights) and you’d better be there.”

If not?

“Five laps,” Hankey said, “And our baseball field was huge.”

“We didn’t make mental mistakes,” Mowrey said. “We knew what do in every situation and had an extra edge because of it. Every day in practice he went over everything.”

There was a story in the Citizen’s News of Naugatuck of a different side of Leganza. During the streak, Legenza had the bus driver stop and he waved aboard a homeless man. Pete was a regular at home games and Legenza wanted him to come along to a state tournament game.

“He was hard-nosed, disciplined,” Hensler said. “The players pretty uniformly said it was something you weren’t going to appreciate at 16, 17, but he was preparing you to be successful in life.”

Naugatuck pulled out six one-run victories in 1972. Jim Arline of Wilby struck out

21 and was down to the last out, but Naugatuck rallied and won 6-4 in 11.

“The first two years there weren’t that many close games, but my senior year was probably the weaker of the three teams,” Mowrey said. “It was so intense. The pressure was incredible. It wasn’t like we went into every game the favorite anymore. A lot of teams were as good as us.”

“We pulled out some miraculous wins,” Hensler said. “But the expectation was that no matter what happened we’d find a way to win.”

After so many scrimmages, Shelton was a confident team. Earlier in the season, catcher Rich Norko told the New Haven Register, “I predict us defeating Naugatuck in the tournament. I guess that means we’ll go all the way.”

The semifinal was tied at two through seven innings. Benanto said the biggest play came in the sixth when he pulled started Kevin Bailee after Naugatuck scored a run. He turned to shortstop Greg Biercevicz, who had pitched sporadically in 1972 because of a bad arm.

Bases loaded, one out, Mike Armonaitis hit a fly ball to left field. Steve Thomas tagged and scored, but Greg Mencio, who had knocked in the first run and was on second, was nailed on the relay. Further damage was avoided.

Norko helped make good on his prediction with an RBI single in the eighth. Then came the controversy on Rich Anderson’s RBI in the ninth to make it 4-2.

“A blooper behind first base,” Hensler said. “(First baseman) Rich Rydzik, who I interviewed for the book, said he had the best view of anyone in the park. He said it was easily a foul ball. The umpire’s view was obstructed.”

Two umpires worked the game. One at home. One near second base. It was the home plate umpire’s call.

“An argument ensued,” Benanto said. “That’s why they have four umpires for the state championship game now.”

Mike Raggozzine threw three hitless innings to close out Naugy.

“A crashing disappointment,” Hensler said. “Our center fielder was Bernie Palmer and the next day — I remember it vividly — it was a Wednesday morning. He felt so bad in Spanish class.”

“Obviously, I was disappointed,” Mowrey said. “But there was almost a sense of relief.”

Shelton beat New Canaan, 4-2, in the finals.

Here’s the crazy part. People in Connecticut didn’t know at the time that Archbishop Molloy of Queens, New York, had won 68 in a row from 1963-66. Remember Hankey’s pitch in 1969? If that had been called a strike, Naugatuck would have had an 86-game winning streak.

Naugatuck, 105-2 over a four-year period, also went 18-0 in the 1973 regular season before falling 1-0 to New Canaan in the state tournament.

At any rate, the Shelton players walked over to the dejected Naugatuck dugout, shook hands and stood there and gave the Greyhounds an ovation.

“Classy,” Mowrey said.

“Great sportsmanship,” said Hankey, who had graduated in 1971 but was at the game.

It was. And it something that wasn’t forgotten when about 45 Naugatuck folks tied to The Streak gathered for a 50th anniversary event at Jesse Camille’s Restaurant.

“We had so much respect for them,” Benanto said. “In reality we felt a little sorry for them. We know what an accomplishment that was.”

Those interested in purchasing “Pride of the Greyhounds” can go to paulhensler.com. There is an alumni game at Naugatuck on June 5 and Hensler will do a book signing.