Tantasqua Regional High School - Tantasquan Yearbook (Sturbridge, MA)

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DAN BOONE-“Dan”, swift, our ‘Booneshot’, missed bus, good bat, Jim’s tackling dummy, up from minors, next years stealer. ‘Just one more time and maybe the local sportswriter will realize that that little jitterbug that goes in to pinch run really has the improbable name of Dan Boone.’’“’I can’t be- lieve it.” BOB GREGORY- “Bob”, runs waved in champ, low ball pitch- er up from minors, super smile, good bat, anxious for next year. “Just one more time for Bob Gregory, who has spent his playoff in the third base coaches box, to frantically wave another runner home, then dive on top of the celebration in back of home plate.” “We're going to do it, Coach.” THEY’RE NOT.” road.” y ... Al Walker, asst. coach, giant with heart as big, good insight, stabilizer, loser of keys, taker of keys, farmboy at heart, 4, truck driver, great help and friend. “I don’t have 5 your keys.” “I think Jim- , my’s ready.”’ ‘‘WE’RE STATE CHAMPS AND Walt Luce, ‘Walt’, transportation, gourmet, | globetrotter, leader, cards, cards, great sup- porter, good friend. “I 7 think this is a better . a fiery new coach in Mike Dube, juice maker, “667-Black-Toledo”, great memory, loser of keys, great pacer, pre- dictor, verbal errors, ‘I said we would be in the states. I told them before the sea- son started, when we were on our way back from a doubleheader at Falmouth, that if we put it together, we’d be in the states ... we’ve got kids with tremen- dous pride - great competitiors. We lost only when we failed to do things. Hey, we've been looking to get here all season long, and here we are. We’re out to win five - one at a time.’”’ JUST one more time and Mike Dube can rip off the baseball shirt, throw it into the pond in leftfield and proclaim that he’s got better things to do than stand in a funny colored suit, yell numbers that mean nothing and tell jokes. Dube has just one more chance to plead for “Juice, gimme some juice out there.” Dube said it last night, a little after six, just before the Warrior bus flew home from Quincy. “It’s been one hell of a playoff series.’” Just one more time now ... They'll believe Dube now ... YY) ie ed) io UO Oo — (ae) 5 GE U oD) on @x jams

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SY) QW. = as S 1) a “ JUST ONE MORE TIME ... JUICE. It was the Warrior magic word en route to a state title. How can one possibly explain the 1977 baseball season under first year coach Mike Dube. Where does one start? The only possible place to go is to the States and the local news. ‘The Tantasqua Regional theme was ‘One More Time’ at the start of the state Division 2 championship baseball game Saturday at Renfrew Field. Little did the small army of fans realize it would have to make the 230-mile trek one more time to clinch it. The Warriors learned a few things in the first go-round before the rains came and washed out the title game after four full innings Saturday. The first was to cover the right field line against Drury lead-off hitter Steve Pennock. The second was that the Warriors could hit and run on Drury High starter Glen Boyer almost at will. The third was that ‘Big Macs’ don’t do the job ... And it was the Whopper that came through for the Warriors. After stopping at Burger King for lunch, Tantasqua battled its way out of two deficits to cop the state championship with the same cast of heroes- John Ferrara, Mark St. Jean, Paul Grignon and Nick DiGre- gorio (in no particular order) that had gotten it to the pinnacle ... To be sure, the game was the least artistic of all the Warrior playoff wins. The Warriors had gotten great pitching every game, but Casey was hit hard when he came back on Sunday, and reliever Grignon couldn't find the plate and walked four of the five batters he faced in the five-run seventh inning. Only Hutchinson, the forgotten second starter in the rotation, could set the Blue Devils down, after giving up a two-run bouncer off the third base bag to the first batter he faced. Tantasqua’s speed and aggressiveness were as important as any other factor in leading it to the crown. Each time a Warrior reached base, the Blue Devils were overly aware that he would probably go, they were powerless to stop it, and the result was a batch of costly errors ... AT TIMES ‘I thought I had lost it for these kids.’ Dube said later. ‘It would have been a tough thing to live with for twelve months.’ He didn’t have to live with it even for a half hour. The last Warrior rally of the season (“Old fashioned, crazy, go-get-em, juice, baseball,’ Dube called it) unfolded in the bottom of the seventh as had almost all the others, with the Warriors running helter-skelter around the bases and someone (or two) punching a key hit ... Labonte’s liner to left made it official, and only a couple of nice stops by DiGregorio, who had moved to Hutch’s spot at short, were needed in the top of the ninth, to put the stamp on it. The Warrior team bus was met at the Sturbridge Turnpike exit by two fire engines, four police cruisers and an entourage of cars and the parade found its way to the Sturbridge Plaza and then to the Brookfield Road High School where it was met by a carpet to the front door and an additional 400 fans. ‘The town went crazy,’ said Dube, who got the toss into the pond at the high school from his players. ‘I told them to soak it all in. They deserve it.’” The team, aside from their championship season, also passed most of the school’s records in baseball. They were known for stolen bases, home runs, among other things. After being feted by the town all through the summer with banquets and testimonial dinners, the team settled down, with new jackets and status to await the return of spring and a new baseball season.

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JIM GRIGNON-. co-captain-“Whiz Kid”, super leader, HR champ ballplayer, pitcher, loser of many baseballs, speed to burn, torn pants, dirty hat award, tops under pressure, loves that right field swamp, breaker of records, gets hotter when the weather does, Border Confer- ence All Star, MVP, “Just one more time and Jim Grignon will be instantly voted the greatest athlete ever to grace the corridors of the Brookfield Rd. school and elected mayor of Sturbridge.” be- cause- “You don’t tug on Superman’s cape; You don’t spit into the wind, You don’t pull the mask off the lone ranger and you don’t mess around with Jim.” “Nice Rip, Pig” “Rip City’ “Gimme The Good Balls” “ 7 SONOS Wet ies ae ee KEVIN LABONTE - “Gig”, superath- lete, quickness personified, bad ball hitter, clutch man, ready smile, coach’s dream, Sue’s man, “Cool”, greatest ground coverge, power boy, Border Conference All Star, ‘Labonte Cranks’, “Just one more time for Ke- vin Labonte, who crushed the ball all season long to snap his playoff mini- slump and hammer Drury into sub- mission.” “I’m goin’ta rip.” “I bit my- MARK GRIFFIN - co-captain- “Pig” by teammates for eating seven main dishes in 15 minutes, “stone glove’ until the pressure was on, foot stamp- er, head knocker, temper champ, great RBI man, great arm, chief bleep man. “He picks up RBI’s like pennies, known by girls at other schools as 26, now 10, on third base ... the one who’s cute. “Just one more time around for Mark Griffin, to sprawl in front of a liner, scramble up, and throw a runner out from across the diamond.” -will probably stomp him- self up to his neck in stonedust one of these days. ‘‘Whatta my doin wrong?” “Ss gece i 24 BRIAN KAITBENSKI’’Kip”, long body, big heart, green trucker, one handed, good arm, nap taker, “eyes’’, ‘‘SUPER slider”, great cookout host, 3 A.M. bus driver, a competitor. “Just one more time for senior Brian Kaitbenski, the most unselfish Warrior, to come out of the game around the fifth in- ning, perch on the bench, and yell his guts out for his teammates. ‘I can’t see.”