Host Bill Donohue engages in an illuminating conversation with former New York Mets outfielder Art Shamsky, who unveils his latest literary endeavor, Met Stories I Only Tell My Friends. This segment offers listeners the chance to explore the rich tapestry of Shamsky's experiences during the legendary 1969 season of the Mets, a pivotal moment in baseball history. Following this, we transition to a compelling discussion with author Tom McEwen and prominent Babylon High School basketball star Glenn Vickers, centering on McEwen's new book, This Is Panther Country. This work encapsulates the essence of teamwork, rivalry, and community spirit that characterized the Babylon Panthers' remarkable basketball journey in the 1970s. Through their insights, we explore the profound impact of sports on personal development and community cohesion. Join us as we explore these poignant narratives that celebrate the enduring legacies of both baseball and basketball.

Show Details:

An enriching dialogue unfolds as Bill Donohue welcomes Art Shamsky, the former New York Mets outfielder, who shares his reflections on the legendary 1969 World Series championship. Shamsky's insights are captured in his latest book, Met Stories I Only Tell My Friends, which offers a compelling narrative of his experiences within Major League Baseball. He reminisces about his journey from the Cincinnati Reds to the Mets, illustrating the transformative effect that joining the Mets had on his career. With eloquence, Shamsky recounts memorable anecdotes, including the camaraderie among teammates and the pivotal role that mentorship played in his development as a player. His narrative is interwoven with themes of perseverance, teamwork, and the profound impact that sports can have on individuals and communities, culminating in his reflections on the enduring legacy of the 1969 Mets.

In the latter segment of the program, the focus shifts to basketball with the introduction of Tom McEwen and Glenn Vickers, who discuss McEwen's new book, This Is Panther Country. This work chronicles the Babylon Panthers' triumphant journey during their 1975 championship season, highlighting the intricacies of their relationships and the community's profound connection to the team. Vickers shares his personal experiences from that remarkable season, emphasizing the camaraderie and mentorship that characterized the Panthers' program. The conversation delves into the significance of sports as a unifying force in the community, illustrating how the Panthers' success fostered a sense of pride and belonging among local residents. Through McEwen's narrative, listeners gain insight into the historical context of the Panthers' achievements, underscoring the importance of preserving such legacies for future generations.

As the episode draws to a close, the interplay between baseball and basketball emerges as a testament to the enduring spirit of competition and community. Both Shamsky and Vickers exemplify the profound impact that sports have on shaping identities and forging connections, not only within their respective teams but also with the broader community. The discussions resonate with themes of nostalgia and pride, leaving listeners with a deeper appreciation for the stories behind the games they love. This episode encapsulates the essence of sports as a reflection of human experiences, relationships, and the indelible marks they leave on our lives.

Takeaways:

• Art Shamsky, a former New York Mets outfielder, shares insights from his latest book, detailing his experiences during the 1969 World Series championship season.
• The show discusses the impact of mentorship and camaraderie within the Babylon Panthers basketball team, highlighting their remarkable achievements.
• Tom McEwen's book, 'This Is Panther Country', captures the essence of the Babylon basketball team's journey and its significance in the community.
• Listeners gain an understanding of how the 1969 Mets' triumph continues to resonate with fans and influence baseball culture today.
• The episode explores the unique coaching strategies of Gil Hodges, emphasizing his role in optimizing player performance through platooning.
• Art Shamsky reflects on the enduring legacy of the 1969 Mets and the emotional connection fans maintain with that historic team.

The views expressed in the following program do not necessarily represent those of the staff, management or owners of wgbb.

Live from the WGBB studios in Merritt, New York, this is Sports Talk New York.

Good evening and hello again, everybody.

Welcome welcome to Sports Talk New York on WGB here in Merrick, Long Island, New York.

Our engineer Brian Graves is with us, as always, taking care of business.

We got a great show lined up for you tonight.

He's got a new book out.

And when Art releases a book, it's always something special and we're going to share that with you tonight.

In the second half, we'll hit the hardwood during this time of year of March madness.

Author Tom McEwen will join us and we'll talk about his new book chronicling a magic time.

If you're from Long island, especially the very first Long island basketball championship, which was won, of course, by the Babylon Panthers.

Also joining us for that segment will be one of the stars of the team.

Mr.

Glenn Vickers will be here as well.

So sit back, relax, get yourself a drink, snack, get comfy, enjoy the show tonight.

As always, before we begin, I invite you to follow me on Facebook.

I have a page which is called the Talk of New York Sports.

Go check that out and give it a like you can also find sports information, show information, so much more there.

You can follow me on X.

It's Donahue wgb.

That's Amperstan, B D O, N, O H U, E, W, G, B, all one word.

And if you miss a show, don't worry because they're all out on the website the next day.

You can listen to them at your leisure.

So catch up anytime.

Before we start talking baseball, totally appropriate as the Mets season opens in Houston this week on Thursday.

Our first guest, one of the very few players in Major League baseball history to hit four home runs in four consecutive at bats.

He hit.300 that year with 14 homers in that magical season, led everyone in the NLCS hitting.538.

He has written a new book and it's from our friends out in Chicago.

Triumph Sports Met Stories that I Only Tell my friends.

The foreword is by the great Howie Rose.

I welcome to Sports Talk New York tonight, Art Shamsky.

Art, how you doing?

Hey, Bill, it's great to be with you again.

Great to have you with us, Art.

Now, you went to the same high school as Kenny Holtzman or Kenny Holtzman went to the same high school as you did and he later on was your teammate on the A's.

Yeah, we were briefly teammates.

I knew Kenny growing up, he's a little behind me, but turned out he had a great career.

Unfortunately he's not with us anymore, but had a great career with Oakland and the Cubs and spent a couple years with the Yankees.

Ended up with five World Series rings.

But he was a great left handed pitcher, threw a couple no hitters and very proud of him.

We became very good friends and he had, like I said, a great career and again, five World Series championship rings.

Can't beat that.

Not too bad, Art.

Yeah, that's a great Kenny Holtzman, ladies and gentlemen.

You were a roommate of Pete Rose at one time.

Yeah, we started together actually.

Tony Perez was on that team.

But you know, it's funny, I told it's a story to people that we all started together and the three of us were on this team so bad that we got the manager fired and Pete ended up spending two years in Triple A.

The next year he went down to Tampa, Florida and then Tony spent another year up in Geneva.

They moved me to Topeka, Kansas, Class B.

So I thought, I think for that one brief period of time I was a better prospect than those two, but ended up Tony's in the hall of Fame and Pete of course, had the great career, more hits than anybody in the history of the game and unfortunately we lost him last year.

But it was a great experience for me.

Cincinnati Red organization developed a lot of really good young players and I feel like the years I was there really kind of groomed me into the big leagues and you know, I guess you could call it, it was pretty big red machine.

But you know, even when I got traded to the Mets, which is one of the stories in the new book Mets Stories, I only tell my friends about how that trade came about and my reaction about finding out I was traded to the Mets and.

And it turned out once I got to the Mets, my life changed.

And being on that championship team was the best thing that could have happened in my career.

It sort of parallels Art Keith Hernandez's feeling about getting traded to the Mets.

A little apprehensive at first, but you couldn't have done any better than coming aboard over here.

That's definitely true.

I'd like to ask you, Art, how do you feel about the commissioner's office hinting around that they may take Pete's name off the ineligible list and considering him for the hall of Fame?

He's gone now.

What's, what's going on?

What do you think there?

Well, you know, I'm not sure they're going to do that.

I mean, it seems kind of anti climatic that they're going to do it now that he's passed away.

Yeah, this whole thing is kind of messed up.

You know what's interesting, Bill?

Over the years, say 15, 20 years ago, most people didn't want Pete to be in for whatever reason.

That that has changed over the years.

More people want him in than ever now.

But what's interesting, all those years that people didn't want him in and the people who still don't want him in, which is a very small percentage now, all wish that everybody played the game like he did.

That's the sad part of it.

But if you look at his records, the National League records, all star in what, five positions?

I mean, switch hitting records, so many of them, it just seem like, you know, you know, it seems like he should be in the hall of Fame based on what he did as a player.

Worked on his game.

The only thing he really could do back then was run hard to first base after a walk.

He wasn't really a good player.

And he had just unbelievable career.

So to answer your question, I'm just not sure what they're going to do.

I think they probably should have done it before he passed away, but who knows what's going to happen now.

And you know, I just think he should be in it because of what he accomplished as a player, that is for sure.

Yeah.

You mentioned coming aboard to the Big Apple, Gil Hodges, a big proponent of what they call platooning, folks that's playing righty, lefty, switches with different positions.

How did you feel platooning with Ron Swoboda out in right field?

Well, it turned out it was a great year collectively for both of us out there.

And Gil platooned at right field, first base, second base and third base, and then sometimes behind the plate, he got the most out of everybody.

That was the brilliance of Gil Hodges to be able to get everybody involved on the team.

And I think when you look back at the.

and Cleon Jones and all the top names that we know, but guys like Rod Gaspar and Kenny Boswell and Wayne Garrett and Ed Charles and all those guys contributed something to the team.

And I think that's the beauty of the team when you talk about it.

It's a team that everybody knows the names who are part of it.

And I tell people there are really two teams in the history of the game that resonate with fans years after they won.

One of them, of course, is the 27 Yankees with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, that it's going to be 100 years in two years.

And we still talk about that team.

And the 69 Mets, it's 50, what, 55, 56 years now, and people still talk about that team.

I go out and do a lot of personal appearances and.

And whenever I'm at a book sign, whatever it might be, people want to talk about that team.

They might have been there, they might have been at a game.

They know about certain things, but they still want to hear about it.

And some.

There's some way that it brings out the youth in people.

People still want to talk about wherever they were at the time we won.

And I tell myself, you know, that ballpark held about 53,000 people and 100,000 people said they were there.

But it doesn't make any difference because whatever they think, whatever they feel, I enjoy talking to them.

And they want to reminisce about that team because it was so special.

We're talking to Art Shamsky tonight on Sports Talk New York.

He has a new book out called Met I Only Tell My Friends.

And I want to ask you.

We'll talk about the series a little bit now, Art.

Game three, it's called the Agee Game.

The second catch, Paul Blair, launches one into the gap in Right center, Tommy Agee gets on his horse, makes a spectacular grab right in front of that 396 mark and you, you come by, I guess you were backing him up in case he missed it.

But what did you think when you saw him come up with that baseball?

I was telling him he had plenty of room.

I always, I always kid, kid him when Tommy was around.

I said, you mean he made it easy, Play work hard and you've reaped the benefits all these years because of it.

But really and truly, it's a game that he had, a game that game three, that people, kids dream about when they're growing up, hit a home run in the bottom of the first and save five or six runs with those two catches and one in left center and one in right center.

It's a game you dream of.

And Tommy just had a great year that year.

And I was part, you know, when I was in right field, you know, just watching him play was great.

And you know, I was just thinking it was just another unbelievable catch and he just was playing great center field that year for us.

And I think he led the team in home runs, if I'm mistaken, home runs that you're leading off.

So it was very apropos that he would have a game like that.

And like so many guys, taken from us too young, Tomieji, that's for sure.

Now people may not realize, Art, you managed in the Israel Baseball League.

I want to ask you how much did the influence of Gil Hodges influence your management style, your philosophy into managing a ball game?

Well, Gil was a brilliant tacticianer and like I said before, he got everybody involved.

And I think what I tried to do, it was a league that really only lasted one year, but it was great for me.

I enjoyed managing.

It was simple too.

It was designated hitter, seven inning games that you decide a game after the seven innings of a tie by a home run hitting contest.

It wasn't really great baseball, but I'll be perfectly honest.

But for me it was a great experience.

And it turned out luckily there wasn't a lot of problems going on over there.

And we got through it pretty well.

Unfortunately, it wasn't run properly, it was mismanaged, they ran out of money.

But I will tell you this, I think that league was a prelude to Israel determining that they want to be a player in international baseball.

And from that they decided the fields were really awful.

Everything was, equipment wasn't good, it was just wasn't a really well planned league.

And as witnessed by what they've done in the Olympics and the World Baseball Classic, it's pretty obvious they're serious about the game.

And to their credit, they really worked hard to develop the game over there.

And for me, though, it was just a wonderful experience.

I met a lot of wonderful people, and I learned a lot about the trials and tribulations of the Middle east, both sides, and I appreciate everything I learned and I met some wonderful people over there and my experience of it.

I've been back, I've done some clinics, and the experience over there for me really was great.

And I get a lot of people asking me about it, but the league itself was not really done well.

But again, I feel very proud that we were part of the beginning of Israel's determination to become an organization or a state that really develops the game of baseball.

And they have so.

Well, that's for sure, Art.

Now, before we get to the book, I just want to mention, back in fifth grade, we had an ongoing controversy regarding sideburns at the time.

Now, I had you, my Yankee fan buddy would have Pepitone, who had the best sideburns in New York back then?

Oh, gosh, I don't know.

That was the Beatles look back then.

But I don't know.

Joe and I became friends over the years.

I think everybody was going sideways.

It was the Beatles look alike kind of thing.

But I remember one time we had a meeting and Gil Hodges didn't have very many meetings.

And when he got mad, you really knew what was going.

He was really going to be upset.

And we was talking about, well, you guys aren't doing this right.

You're not doing that right.

And finally he turned around.

There was a whole row of myself and Jerry Grody and Ron Sobota and Kenny Boswell and Eddie Crane Poe.

And we're sitting there and Gil's telling us all the things we're doing well, and he looked at us, he said, not only that those Steinbergs look like whatever, you know.

And so we trimmed him a little bit after that meeting, but he never said another word.

Maybe because we started playing better baseball, but.

But that was the Beatles look back then.

It was the way it was.

People comment about it.

I have photos that people like to see that I have the sideburns.

And this was one of many players in the big leagues that had the sideburns back then.

Well, we'll give the award to Walt Clyde Frazier how's that sound?

That's as good as you can get right there.

Exactly.

Now, the new book, Met Stories I Only Tell My Friends from Art Chamsky from the publishers at Triumph out in Chicago.

It's really, folks, a great collection of stories that you have not heard before.

You describe Art, the team's leadership provided by Seaver, of course, the influence of Gil that we've been talking about and Harper's Bazaar with Lauren Hutton.

Was that all working?

No play, Art, or can you give us any information as far as that goes?

I've written three now, and, you know, about the first two.

But, you know, maybe the Yankees over the years have had more books written about the organization, but not a certain team.

And when I was thinking about writing another book after the first two, I said, what am I going to write about that hasn't been written before?

And I happen to know about a book that former President Dwight Eisenhower wrote way back in the 50s called At Ease Stories I Only Tell My Friends.

And I decided there's inside stuff that hasn't been talked about.

And it's not stuff that's bad.

It's just stuff that I experienced.

And this book is not going to nail anybody for anything they did.

And it's just a book that I hope make makes people smile.

It's about some of the experiences I had on and off the field.

And that was really what I wanted to do.

And it's a little bit different than the other two books I wrote, but I've written.

But I just wanted people to look at certain things.

I tell some stories about some off days that we had and what we did and some of the things that I thought I think people will find interesting.

And, you know, and that's really how I decided to write it.

And again, it's not a book where you're going to pick up and say, hey, oh, I didn't realize this guy was out doing this and doing that.

No, it's not that.

We did some things and, you know, and maybe they weren't.

Maybe they weren't supposed to be done at the time, but like curfew or something like that.

But it's really my looking at certain things and trying to express it to people and hopefully they'll get a smile and a laugh and chuckle about it and understand that we were human on and off the field.

That, you know, I tell people that baseball, there's a lot of idle time, a lot of downtime.

You go on these road trips and you go out after the games and you're either celebrating having a good game or trying to forget about a bad game or the worst scenario of all is you're not playing and you're frustrated you're not playing.

So it really talks a little bit of insight about some of those things that I experienced.

Right.

It's no ball four, folks.

You're not going to read any lascivious tales in arts book.

It's good, clean fun.

And like he said, you're going to find out some things that make the ball players look human that you may not know before.

And a real class piece of work, Art Shamsky with us tonight on Sports Talk New York.

Now, every book to me that you've written is like a labor of love.

What was your favorite part or your favorite chapter in this particular book without giving away the farm?

Well, just reminiscing about certain things and about sharing moments when my I room with a good friend, Kenny Boswell, and we came from different worlds.

Kenny was from Austin, Texas.

He would, you know, whenever he could, he could wear that 10 gallon hat with a big buckle.

And I came from St.

Louis and different worlds and the things that, that we laugh about and joked about and shared in moments.

And I tell people I'm still trying to collect money that I spent on room service that he never paid for years that I groomed with them.

But you know, there's really not one thing that was a favorite.

But I think sharing those moments with my friends and guys and teammates, you know, we lost five guys from the team last year.

It's a tough year for me on a personal level that we lost these wonderful teammates and we still have a nucleus of guys around.

But every time I lose a teammate from that team, it's very upsetting and disturbing for me because we shared good moments and bad moments.

And the way that you go from almost being in last place to being champions of the world, which makes it that much more special.

And I think I try to share those moments with people and understand all the things that happen to me on a personal level from, from having a dog named after me on Everybody Loves Raymond, being on the COVID of a magazine with the beautiful Lorne Hutton and doing Sesame street with Eddie Crinkle and being on the Ed Sullivan show and then going to Las Vegas and singing at Caesar's palace for.

For 14 days and, and all those things that we did because I was part of that 69 Met team.

And I think that's what I tried to do in this book and just make people just understand and see the world that we became of us after we won the world.

So he didn't even talk about when I got traded over to the Mets and shock that I had learning about that trade and where I was going.

So I just want one of them just give a little insight to the fans who've been around for a long time and maybe they'll just chuckle a little bit, laugh a little bit, or find out some information they didn't know before.

Right.

What I'd like to mention, I'm not going to give away the story, but folks may not know that there are a couple of members of the 69 Mets that were on the Dating Game with Jim Lang back in the day.

And we won't, we won't say anything more about that Art.

But you guys got to get the book and find out about the Mets on the Dating Game.

That's a.

That's a.

Well, I've never let those guys forget it, especially the guys who watch the.

Because the guy that won would be the least of the three that I think should have won.

But we joke about it, laugh about it, but those are.

They got on the show because of being world champions.

So it all came together for us and we share those moments now and laugh about it.

But the fact that we were a part of that team, I think is so special.

And again, when I meet people who, some people who weren't even born who know about that team from their parents or their grandparents, but when I meet people who were around at the time, it brings them back to their youth.

And quite honestly, it makes me feel younger, too, because I'm able to reminisce with these fans and talk about things that they want to hear.

And even if they know about it and heard about it before, they relish in those moments.

And it brings them back to when they were kids, when their parents or grandparents took them to the ballpark.

And of course, then they became adults and they've taken kids and grandkids there.

And so it's such a special time for me to be able to reminisce with fans and share these moments with people, because it's always going to be a special year for me.

You know, bill, I played 13 years and nobody talks about the other 12 for home tested purposes.

And so I understand that.

I understand that's part of it.

But it's quite a year and quite a memory for me.

And the insistence on mentioning this by people and keeping these memories out in front of you, Art, probably makes it feel that it wasn't that long ago.

Well, it doesn't, because every day somebody talks to me about that team.

It's very.

It's interesting.

As I mentioned, kids who weren't even born young people, or maybe adults now who weren't even born, know about that team from their parents and their grandparents.

They heard about the Black Cat game.

They heard about Seaver's almost perfect game.

They heard about the catches Ag made.

They heard about Cleon getting taken out of the game by Gill one game.

And they know all the stories and some of them have been exaggerated a little bit.

But the reality of it is they did happen.

And for me, when I talk about them, it just brings back my youth.

And when they tore down Shay, when they tore down the stadium, part of my youth was taken from me.

And I reminisce about it.

I think about being at that ballpark, and maybe it wasn't the best ballpark in baseball, but it was certainly the most memorable for me.

And so I talk about those things and those things will always be important to me.

It was home, Art, is what it was.

It was home for us.

Shea Stadium.

And Art Chamsky's with us tonight.

Met Stories I Only Tell My Friends.

A new book from Triumph.

It's out there.

It's on Amazon.

What are you.

What else are you up to these days, Art?

Well, I'm still doing a lot of personal appearances and this coming week I'm speaking at the Sabra Convention down in the city on Saturday the 29th.

And they were asked me to speak to their event on Saturday the 29th.

And then I'm doing a book signing on in Ridgewood, New Jersey, called Bookends, a really beautiful store in New Jersey.

I'm doing that and then I've got some personal appearances lined up.

And every day is a new, new experience for me, Bill and I.

You know, the beauty of all this is that I get a chance to talk to wonderful fans like yourself, wonderful broadcasters who reminisce with me and have a great fan base who want to hear some of these stories.

And so as long as I'm able to do it, I'm going to be out there talking about the 69 Mets.

And I don't want.

I'm never going to Let that year be forgotten because, again, it was so special to me on a personal level.

But I shared these moments with my friends and teammates and, you know, to me, I'll always be out there as long as I'm well enough to be able to do it.

Now, I want to ask you quickly, before we go, Art, Kenny Boswell, he's not around as much as we'd like him to be.

People ask me, what happened to Ken Boswell.

I know he was your roommate.

How's Kenny doing?

He's doing good.

He's down in Austin, Texas.

He's one of these guys that he's gotten away from the game, Bill.

I think he just wanted to be away from it.

He doesn't come back to New York, but I talk to him all the time and we reminisce a little bit.

We've got a great friendship.

But I guess he just, you know, some guys get away from him and they don't.

They don't really want to come back.

So in his case, that's the situation.

I wish he would, but everybody else who's around seems to be okay.

A couple guys are.

My good friend Ron Taylor is not doing well.

He's in a home up in Toronto.

And Gary Gentry, I can't seem to track down a little bit.

I'm not sure where, but what's happened with him.

But everybody else that's around, I try to stay in touch with and keep in touch, and every time I talk to them, it just makes me feel good that they're still around and, you know, it's always going to be special, guys, that's for sure.

Oh, definitely.

To all of us, too, Art.

I'd like to wish all the best to you and your family.

Stay well, Art.

You're welcome back anytime.

It's been an honor and a pleasure to talk to you tonight.

It's great that you took some time out of your Sunday night to spend with us here at Sports Talk New York.

I want to mention again the book, folks.

It's titled Met Stories I Only Tell My Friends.

Well, Bill, just let me mention, if anybody's interested, they can get it at Amazon.

They can get it through Triumph Press, our regular bookstores.

And also, if they want one with an autograph, they can go to my website because that'll guarantee that I'll have an autograph.

Otherwise they'd have to come to wherever I'm speaking or talking about the book.

But they can go to my website, artshamsky.com, if they're interested.

I was just going to mention that, Art.

Yeah.

If you guys want a signed copy, which of course you should, artshamsky.com you'll get one from Art right there.

And thanks again, Art, and we hope to speak to you again real soon.

Bill, thank you so much.

It's always a pleasure.

That's the great Art Shamsky, ladies and gentlemen.

Up next on Sports, Sports Talk New York, growing up in the 70s on Long island, the Babylon Panthers and their magnificent season author Tom McEwen.

Stick around, folks.

You are listening to Sports Talk New York.

You're listening to Sports Talk New York on Long Island's wgb.

And now back to the show.

All right, folks, we are back with Sports Talk New York on WGB AM FM radio, live from beautiful downtown Merrick, Long Island, New York.

Well, the time is nigh.

No more countdowns.

The camps are packing up in Florida and Arizona.

Teams are ready to move north.

The baseball season will start on Thursday, although I know that the Cubs and the Dodgers have already played the Tokyo Series and those count, and those will go towards the regular season.

The days of sunshine, blue skies, green grass.

It's coming.

It's virtually here and we are more than ready.

Play ball, as the old cliche goes.

Okay, good.

Let's move ahead to the hardwood.

Our next guest, he grew up on Long island where he attended Babylon High School, and he was an avid fan and also a participant in the school's basketball program.

He later graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.

He broadcast the school's basketball games there and he remembers fondly the mid-70s when his high school basketball team really was a regional power and the envy of the surrounding schools.

In the town with Tom tonight is one of the stars of the Babylon High School team and one of the best players on Long island and the surrounding areas during this time period.

So I'd like to welcome to Sports Talk New York tonight, Tom McEwen and Glenn Vickers.

Good evening, guys.

Great to be here, Phil.

Thank you very much, Phil.

Great to have you guys with us.

Now, the basic point of the book, kind of the evolution of Babylon's basketball season, the games, the passion of the ball players, the rivalries with different schools like Amityville.

The deeper message, though, is kind of important is relationships.

And we'll bring this out during our discussion.

And you can see, folks through the book, how it's kind of like a stand by me said on the basketball court.

Now, before we get to the book, guys, I want to ask you.

I know, Tom, your guy was Walt Frazier, your basketball hero, correct?

Absolutely.

That was the guy who I started with before I started idolizing Glenn.

Yeah, right.

We all did.

Now, why Clyde?

Because he was a guard.

He moved so smooth, and he kind of epitomized New York, too.

Just, you know, I was very New Yorkish.

My father was very New Yorkish growing up.

And the way he moved so cool and so smoothly, it was just.

It just made it look like, you know, kind of so easy and such poetry.

It was phenomenal to watch him.

That is for sure, Tom.

And beat the Celtics.

Yeah, right.

Yeah.

Now, Glenn, who was your hero growing up?

I also am a Clyde Walt Frazier fan.

And going into my senior year at Upsolo College in New Jersey was the Walt Frazier basketball camp.

Oh, boy.

Yeah, they played at that camp.

I was the only high school player they let play.

And the year before, the two years before that, Rutgers University made it to the Final Four.

So all the guys from New Jersey, even the guy from Notre Dame, all the guys from the final four team, and Walt Frazier.

And I was the only high school player they let play.

And after my first week, my idol, Walt Frazier, said, you know, you're a natural passer.

Would you like to play another week with us?

And I said, of course.

And that camp changed my life in that I was a camper.

I used to go to five star basketball camp.

And there was a guy who played with the best point guard on Long island, in my opinion, Foots Walker, who won 61 games in a row from Southampton.

His back coordinate was a guy named Edmonds.

And we kept going to camps week after week.

He was four years older, so he wasn't going to say, hey, kid, where are you going next week?

But we just ended up going all those weeks.

And at the last day of camp, the second week, I'm walking out of the locker room and I hear somebody crying.

I said, it's none of my business.

And then as I got towards the door, they were bawling.

I said, someone could be hurt.

So I walked over and here was this guy named Edmonds.

And I said to him, what's wrong?

He said, next week I'm going for my tryout with the Atlantic Hawks to become a pro.

I said, why are you crying?

I Said that's what we work for.

He's going to do well.

He said, but if I don't make it, I don't know what I'm going to do.

I don't make it, I don't know what I'm going to do.

And he's crying and I'm like, I'm like, what did you study?

He said, phys A.

But he said, you don't understand.

And I was like, I understand.

You look a wreck.

And I don't have a plan B either.

And it really changed my life and that I was started thinking when I was going on recruiting trips and I had over 100 scholarships, it was like, well, if I'm not a pro, what will you do for me?

And that's where I met Iono College president, this unknown coach named Jim Valvano.

And that's when they were one of the worst Division 1 basketball programs in America at nine consecutive losing years playing no.

1.

We are the fourth biggest dynasty in the history of Long Island.

38 games in a row.

But unlike the other champions, the other dynasties, Southampton only played Suffolk County.

They wanted back to back to back Mitch Kupchak, Suffolk county back to back.

Brentwood, Beaver Smith.

Yeah, Brentwood, Beaver Smith from Southside NASA back to back.

The only territorial conquest was the Long island championship where the best in Suffolk would play the best in Nassau at the Nassau Coliseum.

So the Babylon Panthers prior to the state tournaments are the back to back Long island champions.

No one has ever accomplished that before.

And that's why I argue that we are the best team in the history of Long island because we are the only team up until that point that would go on and to beat Nassau county undefeated south side with Beaver Smith's two brothers Jeff and Charles, as well as beating Mount Vernon, I mean Malvern's top team.

So what Tom has written about is really a very unique history.

And if I could go on just to say this, the Babylon Panthers and its prodigy.

And then you had all of the top players on Long island going to play for Jim Valvano who was then when I met him was a head coach with a 35, 35 record.

No major upsets until Kevin Hamilton from North Babylon or Long Island.

We had Mike Palmer parade all American from St.

Agnes, also ACC all rookie team.

We had six, eight Deer park all star, Alex Middleton, Holy family.

He came there and then you had, of course, the greatest player in history, Jeff Newlin Wallow, who said he came to play with me.

Nice.

Glenn Vickers.

Leave some suspense for the book.

You're giving away the farm here, Glenn.

Yeah, but it's all traced back to the year that Tom has written about, right?

Right?

That is accurate and 100% true.

Glenn I want to ask Tom, what drove you to write this book about 74, 75 now, after all this time?

Tom well, a couple of things.

One, it's the 50th anniversary of that title, and there's been little bits of scuttlebutt on Facebook and things about.

I was looking at the class actually before Glenn, since Glenn was a junior that year, about getting a reunion get together.

And I've always wanted to.

I've always wanted to write a story like this.

You know, I'd go see movies like Hoosiers, you know, Friday Night Lights.

I read the book the Boys in the Boat, and I always love these, you know, underdog champion stories that kind of build as you go along.

You know, you start out and it's first, like, you know, we're going to put two wins together.

And then it's like, hey, we got a little bit of a run going here.

And then it's like, wow, this could be.

This could be something big.

And I remember having that feeling as I wrote this book from my viewpoint as an 8th grader.

I was on the junior high team looking up to Glenn and his teammates.

And I remember having that feeling as that season was going along.

And I guess I always thought somebody would write about this at some point because it was such a great story that at some point I decided, well, I enjoy a story like this.

I think I'm literate.

Why don't I try and put this down on paper?

And it came together magically and just flowed out.

Now, I want to ask you tomorrow before we get back to Glenn, is a great service is served by this book as being a chronicle of the rise of Babylon basketball.

Is there any other way that this story is kept alive, or did you uncover the Rosetta stone here?

Well, there's little bits of newspaper clippings but, you know, we weren't in the kind of media age back in the 70s we are today, where you had Facebook and everything.

And as I would go out and kind of look for pieces of information, the best thing I could get was the Newsday archives, which kind of kept the old papers, which had pretty good box scores and descriptions of the games.

So I kind of combined that with my memory.

And I really didn't talk to anybody after I wrote the initial draft.

So I kind of wrote what was going on in my life in between the games.

I was very good friends with Glenn's younger brother, Ernie, who was a big part in my life, as well as another younger brother of guys on the team, Gary Farley, and kind of how what we were doing in the time and kind of outlining the ripple effects of what was going on with the varsity success and how it pushed out to the rest of the community.

So I wrote it because I thought there was a vacuum of knowledge or recollection of this great story and this great accomplishment that Glenn talked about.

And, you know, of course, this only being the beginning, but winning the first ever Long Island Championship.

Because before that year, the highest you could get, as Glenn said, was to win a county championship.

This was the first year they let you know, one county play another county.

And since we only had two on Long island, you know, it was dubbed the Long Island Championship.

So, yeah, I definitely thought there was a vacuum and I wanted to make sure that there was something down, just, you know, pointing out what a great accomplishment, a great bunch of young men these guys were, and what it meant to the community at large.

And you definitely did a good job of conveying that particular point, Tom.

And I'd like to go to Glenn with us tonight.

Of course, Tom McEwen, Glenn Vickers, this is Panther country about Babylon basketball.

Talk a little bit about Glenn, about Coach Kobel.

Well, Coach Koble, basically.

And I used to go to a five star basketball camp with Rick Pitino and all these Tyler Perry, Bobby Knight, all these great basketball minds, and Coach Kobel who went to Springfield, Mass.

He graduated from that college where the home of basketball, right?

And he was just a.

An intellectual.

He read and breathed basketball technical documents.

And we ran a 2, 3 triangle offense long before Michael Jordan and Chicago Bulls made the triangle offense.

There are different versions of it.

So we ran that.

He also had a unique full court press offense.

And what he did in Coach Valvano, which was a very smart man, he was like, look, I have a point guard who hasn't lost the game in two years he runs this 23 triangle offense and he brought coach Kobel up to install that offense which Iona used to become 29 and five top rated in the nation.

And Iona College is the only college university now that had started five all Long island all Stars and we went to the top 20.

St.

John's never did it.

No other school has ever started five Long island all stars and went to beat Kansas, Louisville, we lost to Kentucky in the Alaska shootout by five.

We beat Oregon quite handily.

I happen to have 25 in that game.

We beat Kansas in Madison Square Garden, let our scores 22 points.

They gave me eight assist points.

So all that came from Long island basketball.

And what was great about Iona and its president brother John Driscoll.

In an era of what I consider massive exploitation of college athletes, only the coach of the school could make any money.

Unlike today would be nil circumstances.

But long story short, I own a job place it's athletes for now going on 30 years.

And I worked for IBM, Arthur Anderson, Kidder Peabody, Lotus Development, all those jobs as Suffolk county assistant district attorney have a law degree.

All those jobs came from my own colleague and their network.

So very, very proud of that school and its history.

And I just think that I was blessed to have met coach Valvano and although we kind of put him on the map net of it, he was a very interesting talented man.

The Jeff Rulins, the Kevin Hamiltons, the Kevin Veasies, the Timmy Richardsons, the Mike Palmers, the Alex Middleton, all those people wanted to come to Iona to follow the Babylon excellence again.

38 games in a row we won.

And your very talented younger brother Brian Vickers, who was I got the honor to play with.

Well obviously Glenn has a tremendous memory, Tom, of what happened during that season and what happened after that as well.

Who else did you speak to when writing the book to get further information, further memories to add to your book?

Of course I spoke a lot with coach Roy Kobel.

He's 90 years old, still going strong down in Florida.

We just had a launch event for the book and he actually made the trip up to gather with a bunch of the players last Tuesday, which was phenomenal.

But I did do a lot.

His memory is still phenomenal as well.

And we talked about a lot of points within the book and things that went on.

I talked to Glenn's co captain of that team, Gervis Barger, who a remarkable player and A great teacher actually coached me later on in some summer leagues.

And I also got to talk to some of the Amityville players.

I think you've read that a big part of the book is this rivalry we had with Amityville and this trilogy of games.

And I really wanted to speak with some of the guys on their team, particularly their all star guard who was also a great football player, Paul Smith, because he has kind of a dual role as a guy who's a spoiler for us and yet gives us an opening to help us win that triple overtime game.

But so I spoke to two of the Amityville players and then a lot of just friends of mine at the time and stuff, trying to remember what it was like in Babylon and things like that.

So, yeah, so probably, probably about 20 or 30 people.

But as I said, I kind of, I wrote the whole thing from memory and through Newsday, then went back to everybody and said, this is how our did this happen or things like that.

So it was really fun.

I keep joking that I probably enjoyed reliving my youth better than I enjoyed living it.

Yeah, that's certainly true, Tom.

And you certainly did a great job fact checking with your sources.

And it's obvious when reading the book.

Glenn Vickers, Tom McEwen with us.

Babylon Basketball.

This is Panther country is the name of the book.

It's on Amazon.

Can they get it from your website, Tom?

Yes, and get it from Tom McKeown books dot com.

It's T O M M C K E O W N books dot com.

Yes.

I want to ask you, what was the special memory, Tom, for you about that 74, 75 season?

Well, in addition to kind of the building as it went along, you know, getting to it, you know, and, you know, we're winning, we win a little more, we win a little more.

And finally it looked like, hey, we could go all the way on this thing.

Some of the special memories, and it continued throughout my high school career at Babylon, is the varsity players, the way they would check in and look in.

I was on junior high at the team and Glenn and Gervis and Stanley Davis was another great player.

They'd come to our practices every once in a while and kind of drill us a little bit and help out.

And also over the summers, the leagues, the older players form these basketball leagues down at the Babylon Village courts there by the grade school.

Oh, yeah.

So my memories are, you know, the specialness was the I described kind of the mentorship of the program.

You know, not only were Glenn and his Compatriots, you know, playing their game to win, but also somewhat looking after us down the tree.

Glenn Vickers, what do you remember about that season that has to be the pinnacle, the highlight when you knew something special was happening with your team.

What was that?

For me it was the luck of having the foremost athletic family, the Farley family.

And they had Charles Farley, who was probably the greatest long range jumper, young shooter we've had in the history of Babylon.

Well, if we had a three point line back then, yeah.

And then we had Stephen Farley's six, four, the toughest guy ever going against, perhaps against his brother George, who was Farley the year before, guy named Pat Cunningham, who set the standard of excellence in terms of his commitment.

But we were number five in the nation and you have to understand we were rated number five in the nation and we had the year after.

Yeah, we had a 6, 9 center.

Chris breast.

Oh yeah, who was tremendous.

He went to North Carolina but you know, Babylon usually had a 6, 3, 6, 4 center.

And then all of a sudden we get this guy and then we have Barry Davis, all track superstar who could play guards at six, four, tremendously athletic, fought you on the boards and then outran you down the court.

So we have Jervis Barger, who's he locked down people.

Best defense, defensive guard we ever had.

So we had unique all time firsts, both at the center, long term shooter, best defender, Stan Davis, as smooth as can be.

So we just had all these players coming at the same time.

And I think coach Kobel was in his zenith in terms of he was always tinkering with his offense, defense.

Everything just came together at the perfect time over that two year period.

And again, 38 wins in a row.

Not even Cubcheck had that, not even had that.

And again and they were fantastic players off of Long Island.

So I think the camaraderie, small school, small community and what Tom talks about is the impact per family and in the community.

And I learned a lot of things that were going on in the community that I was unaware of as a player.

Reading the book.

Yeah.

So he taught me a lot of things that were going on.

We played Central Islip and I didn't know coach Konaseka was there.

I didn't know that Leslie Trezell was in the stands.

I didn't know that all these big time coaches were coming to Long island to recruit us.

But I had no idea of it.

And then Tom exposed that to me and many other details and my younger brother who passed and I told all my kids, you're going to learn more about your Uncle Ernie, nyu, UCLA medical school graduate.

You're going to know more about him through his best buddy by reading the book.

And so again, I want to thank him on behalf of my family.

Yeah, it does serve that purpose, Glenn, for sure.

And it really brings out, as we said, the stand by me atmosphere of Babylon Village.

A close knit community all brought together closer by the Babylon Panther basketball team.

We're about out of time, fellows, but you have an open invitation to come back if you want to, and we'll talk more.

Tom McEwen, yeah, go ahead, Tom.

Before you go, since you mentioned my alma mater, Trinity College, they won the Division 3 basketball title yesterday.

I wanted to give them a shout out.

There you go.

Yeah, that is great.

Yeah, thanks for mentioning that, Tom.

And as I said, you guys, welcome back anytime.

We'll talk more about Babylon Hoops, about Long island, about the village of Babylon and how the Panthers really brought everybody together.

The book, folks, it's called this Is Panther Country.

It's a memoir of youth, underdog spirit and basketball glory, and that it truly is.

Tom McEwen, Glenn Vickers, it's been a pleasure.

I thank you for taking time out of your Sunday night to spend it with us here on Sports Talk New York.

And we wish you the best with the book, guys, thanks so much.

My pleasure, Bill.

Great to talk to you.

Have a good night, guys.

That is Tom McEwen and Glenn Vickers, ladies and gentlemen.

Well, that'll do it for me tonight on Sports Talk New York.

I'd like to thank my guests, Art Shamsky, of course, Tom McEwen and Glenn Vickers, my engineer, Brian Graves, and of course, you guys.

Thank you for joining us.

We'll see you next week on Sunday, March 30 for more sports Talk New York.

Till then, be safe and be well.

Bill Donahue, wishing you a good evening, folks.

The views expressed in the previous program did not necessarily represent those of the staff, management or owners of wgbb.