A team of firsts reunites

Broward high school ‘melting pot’ football team won state title in ’73.

HOLLYWOOD – It began with hugs. Lots of overdue hugs. They stood in the parking lot Friday afternoon at Hollywood Hills High School, another teammate would walk up and another round of hugs begin – some preceded by an introduction because it’s been 45 years between meetings for some. “I’m John Leban,” a player said. “I remember the name,” teammate Juan Collins said. “But you don’t look the same.”

They laughed, and then hugged, because this was a day for just that, the first Broward football team to win a state title getting a celebration 45 years in the making.

The occasion was Hollywood Hills playing its first game on campus, on the field this 1973 team used to practice, though there was the occasional tree way back in the day.

“It looks beautiful, doesn’t it?” said Kirk Patrick, the old tight end and class president.

“I hate this field for running so many [sprints] on it,” said Tom Dent, laughing.

This reunion, at its heart, is about this team that went 38-1 in their four years. But they made it more than that. They made it a toast of the new administration for remembering them, as well as the old coaches and administrators who raised them.

They didn’t just talk of the winning. They talked of hurdles. And food. Lots of food. That’s what Bill Brennan, the Hollywood Hills principal at the time, said united people. His school needed uniting, too.

This was a changing time of integration in Broward, and this school was in the middle of it. White kids coming in from west Broward. Black kids bussed in from Dania. Jewish kids from Emerald Hills.

The Ku Klux Klan made its presence felt, the players remember. A faculty straw vote before the 1968 Presidential election had former Alabama governor George Wallace winning. Police ringed the campus as students were released to ensure peace.

Amidst this backdrop came this special football team, which Brennan hoped would lead the way to tomorrow. Which it did. Which gets back to food.

“Mr. Brennan told me again and again that the best unifer of people is food,” said Kirk Patrick, the tight end and class president. “He put me in charge of cooking for the players, which I did once a month. Fried chicken. Mangos. Bagels and Lox. All of us – blacks, whites, Catholics, Jews – it didn’t matter. We ate different food together.”

“We were a melting pot, this team,” said Andy Joly, whose parents were Polish Jews. “And we all cared for each other no matter what our backgrounds.”

That’s how they won, they’re all certain, besides the coaching of the late Dick Saltrick and the support of the administration led by Brennan. On Thursday, quarterback John Kurowski talked to the current Hollywood Hills team about perseverance and togetherness.

“This was the closest group of guys I’ve ever been around – and I was in the military for 20 years,” said Kurowski, who went on to quarterback Navy in college.

“Close? I’d wake up Saturday mornings and John would be right there in my bed sleeping,” said Roy Dean, who went on to play at Alabama A&M and Birmingham in the United States Football League.

Dean and his brother, Gerald Bain, were black. Kurowski was white.

“His mom would introduce us, saying, ‘This is my son, Roy, and my son, Gerald, and my son, John – just don’t ask me who his father is,’ ” Kurowski said.

They told such stories by the field, watching the first half on a campus some hadn’t seen since graduation. They laughed about Patrick’s imitation of broadcaster Howard Cosell on the bus ride home delivered game highlights. They remembered Dolphins kicker Garo Yepremian speaking to them and giving each player a tie clip.

Ricardo Newman walked around passing a phone to talk with Billy Bacon, who was calling from Washington.

“I wish you were here, buddy,” David Esack said.

Another one who couldn’t make it was the only one to make the NFL: Tom Symonette, a referee working the OaklandGreen Bay preseason game Friday night.

As the first half came to a close, Kurowski summoned his team once again, saying, “Let’s go, Spartans.” They then walked out to prepare for a ceremony. The school’s principal Lourdes Gonzalez, and athletic director, Kevin Perry, introduced the 1973 team.

The 16 returning players lined up at midfield. There was a pause as Gerald Bain got out of line to help the lone coach in attendance, defensive coordinator Jim Rich, get into the line with his walker.

“We need you, coach,” he said.

A couple of days earlier, the state title trophy was found tucked in a closet by Perry. Now it came down the line. Players touched it. They held it. But Patrick Moran did what they all felt on the symbol of their accomplishment more than four decades later.

He bent down and kissed the trophy.

“This was the closest group of guys I’ve ever been around – and I was in the military for 20 years.” John Kurowski, 1973 Spartans quarterback

JIM RASSOL/STAFF PHOTO Patrick Moran, a member of the 1973 Hollywood Hills High School football team that won the state title that year, kisses the trophy, held by Dr. Maureen Lue as the team was honored Friday.

HOLLYWOOD HILLS HIGH/COURTESY Hollywood Hills High School’s Kirk Patrick (87) celebrates with Spartans teammates after winning the Class 4A state championship game against Jacksonville Raines 22-9 on Dec. 14, 1973 at Lockhart Stadium. In the background is coach Dick Saltrick.

JIM RASSOL/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER The 1973 Hollywood Hills High School Spartans were the first high school in Broward County to win a state football championship. They were honored Friday during halftime of the game between Hollywood Hills and Northeast High.

HOLLYWOOD HILLS HIGH/COURTESY Hollywood Hills quarterback John Kurowski hands off to teammate Carl Golden in this Class 4A state quarterfinal game on Nov. 31, 1973 against South Miami.