By Andrew Hackmack
But at this year's gathering the friends paid tribute to a lost teammate, Thomas Scibelli.
Just after Christmas 1969, Scibelli, who was serving in Vietnam, was killed by a land mine. He was scheduled to come home just three days later, his friend Bernie Havern recalled.
This year's gathering was held at the home of Scibelli's younger brother, Robert, in Hicksville, and the turnout was greater than in past years. Robert Scibelli estimated that about 60 people showed up. "It was such a close-knit football team," he said. "They loved my brother."
Thomas Scibelli, who graduated from Valley Stream North in 1961, was just 26 when he was killed. In a touch of sad irony, that was the age at which his father, Anthony, died, as he took part in the Normandy invasion on June 6, 1944. Thomas joined the Army to follow in the footsteps of his father, a Navy man.
This year's reunion was special for Scibelli's fellow 1961 graduates, which included Havern. In the early '60s, the football rivalry between Valley Stream North and South was one of the biggest on Long Island, Havern explained. Each year their game drew a crowd as large as 10,000, and in 1960, North beat South 13-7, scoring the winning touchdown with just 14 seconds to play.
Scibelli was a starting cornerback, and Havern said it was Scibelli's strong defensive play that helped keep the South team from scoring any more points. "He was one of the reasons we won the game," Havern said. "He made so many great tackles."
In 1970, the school established the Thomas A. Scibelli Memorial Award. It is presented each year to a senior football player who best exemplifies Scibelli's athletic and leadership abilities and his dedication to his team and the winners' names are engraved on a trophy.
The football reunions began in 1967, when teammates from 1960 gathered to watch the first Super Bowl. They got together every year after that at someone's house, and for a few years the gathering drew 10 or 15 people. Eventually, however, it grew to about 150 people and took over the Knights of Columbus Hall in Lynbrook. "We used to cook for two weeks straight just for the party," Havern said.
After 25 years, the reunion dissolved. The former teammates gathered for the last time to watch the New York Giants beat the Buffalo Bills in the 1991 Super Bowl. Some of the friends got together from time to time, but only in the past four years has the reunion become an annual event once more - now held in the summer. "Every year now a different guy hosts the party," Havern said.
Robert Scibelli said he wanted to hold this year's gathering to pay tribute to his older brother. He credits Havern and another teammate, Tony DiBenedetto, for keeping the reunion - and Thomas's memory - alive all these years. "It's just been amazing that they held this together," Robert said. "And now this thing is never going to stop."
One of those invited every year is Sherman Pohl, North's athletic director from the school's opening in 1955 until 1978. Pohl, who was also a coach and phys. ed. teacher, said he never forgets a face. "I remember all of them," he said.
Pohl said he is honored to be included in the reunion, and that it's great to see that team members have remained such great friends for more than four decades. "They're a great bunch," he said.
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