Somewhere toward the end of an Indian summer, the subtle threat of cold in the breeze, they eye each other up on a neglected field. Young men ready to do battle. River ward camaraderie be damned, this was 1970, Fishtown and Port Richmond. This was war. Spitting and cursing, locking eyes, they waited for the pigskin to move. And there, in one of those ephemeral flashes, was one of those unforgettable childhood memories: daylight dripping away, leaves surrendering to crimson crunching under feet, a pack of city kids ready to play ball.
“Those Fishtown guys never could beat us,” Mark Paluszek cracks, conjuring back one of those infamous ‘friendly’ neighborhood rough-touch match ups, “they’d give it a good try but we always took ‘em.”
Ironically, after all of that rivalry, Paluszek ended up settling down … get ready for it: in Fishtown. A Port Richmonder transplanted under the welcoming shadows of Holy Name and St. Laurentius via his wife Bernedette, he is now a proud father of three.
Just recently, Paluszek was deservingly welcomed into the Bishop McDevitt football Hall of Fame, and hence the attention in our humble weekly. Yes, McDevitt is all the way up in a far away place called The Greater Northeast (it might as well be called Narnia around these parts, but as someone born and raised between Fox Chase and Abington, I can vouch for its existence), but the path taking him there begins right here, in this corner of Philadelphia.
In 1972 Paluszek entered his freshman year at North Catholic, and with his football chops honed on those aforementioned backlot grudge matches, he tried out for the team.
“Here was Mark, this 140-something pound, scrawny kid,” Pat Manzi (the North Catholic quarterback coach at the time) recalls with a laugh, “and he just decides that he’s gonna step in and take over. And keep in mind, this is with a senior quarterback, 6-1, complete stud, in front of him. He just didn’t care.”
It was this stubborn fearlessness that eventually launched Paluszek into that very starting position. Joe Kazarnowicz, who played defensive tackle on the team, puts it simply: “Great athlete, and an even better guy. A natural leader, the kind of player a winning team needs.”
The seasons at North passed by, time marched on, and Paluszek’s high school career came to an end. His love for the game, though, never did.
Fast forward to the early 80’s, and that passion remained. Paluszek found himself asking around if any schools were looking for coaches, and it turns out, one was. His former position coach at North, Pat Manzi, had just taken the wheel as skipper at Bishop McDevitt high school. A reunion was at hand.
“When I moved to McDevitt and heard that Mark was looking to get involved, there was no hesitation: I had my Q.B. coach.” Manzi recalls. “When Mark played for me at North, he was what you would call a true student of the game. Smart enough to understand the subtleties that are beyond normally the high school players. Combine that with the kind of toughness he has, and you’ve got one hell of a coach.”
Reunions and solidarity aside, it was time to face the music. Manzi and Paluszek found themselves the recipients of a dismal inheritance with McDevitt: a last place non-contender with, what everyone told them, no hope to win.
“They just couldn’t compete with the rest of the Catholic League back then,” says Paluszek, remembering the squad that he pledged to turn around. How bad was it? Grim talk was underway of doing away with football entirely at the school.
Despite the struggling program, the new coaching staff and an influx of budding talent did the unexpected, and started winning. In their very first year at the helm, Manzi, Paluszek and company took McDevitt to uncharted territory: a Catholic League Playoff berth. A fluke? Nope, they kept on winning. After four years of rebuilding they won the Catholic League Championship. And then, just in case there were still any doubters, they won another one the very next year.
This year, a quarter of a century after taking that coaching gig, Paluszek attended the annual post-season McDevitt banquet, set to receive an award celebrating his initiation into their Hall of Fame. What should have been purely a time of celebration, though, was overshadowed by a heartrending turn of events. Three years ago Paluszek was diagnosed with cancer. The disease hit hard, and has kept him away from coaching since.
Manzi tells me that his quarterbacks at McDevitt would always grudgingly admit that Paluszek was always the best player on the field. I suspect that the man is still able to flick the wrist, and launch one of those tight spirals, nailing a receiver between the numbers. Such is his love for the game. But which holds the most meaning, I asked him, the time spent playing, or coaching?
Not a moment of hesitation passes before he answers: “Coaching.”
Talk turns to next season at McDevitt, to getting healthy, and to return to coaching once again. “I hope so,” Paluszek replies slowly, “I want to get back out there, just get back to the game, and the kids, and everything.” And then, I see it. Past a diminished frame, rendered thin from a round of radiation, through the pain that he is obviously in: a spark lighting up his eyes. Right there is that tenacity, that competitive soul that Pat Manzi recognized so many years ago in a scrawny freshman.
Back in 1975, in his high school yearbook, Paluszek wrote: “North has taught me to never stay down after being knocked down, but to get up and try to do your best all over again.
And just like that next season doesn’t seem so far away.•
