NFCVI team remembers Aitch
More than a few happy tears were shed Sunday afternoon at the Gale Centre when the 1972 NFCVI championship football team was inducted into the Niagara Falls Sports Wall of Fame.
“I would like to thank city council for this incredible honour for our team. 1972 doesn’t seem like a long time ago for us but it was 52 years ago,” team member Larry Sirianni said. “These gentlemen were the greatest teammates you could ever ask for. We really were like brothers. To this day, when calls were being made to plan for today, there was excitement that we would all be together again.”
There were also sad tears.
“Sadly, four of our teammates are no longer with us, Albert Massi, Frank Candeloro, Jim Anderson and Tony Costa. Three of our coaches are no longer with us, Mike Chevers, Fred Chevers and, of course, Doug Aitchison,” he said. “They may not be here physically but they will always be here in our hearts.”
Surviving members of the team are Jerry Pasco, Tony Scaringi, Rick Calisina, Joe Wallace. Luigi Parri, Bruce Murray, Jamie Chevers, Tony Cuviello, Sirianni, Mike Rabishaw, Luigi Pietrouisti, Louis Vescio, Joe Palumbo, Joe Murray, Julian Peters, Kenneth Stanley Plata, Zoltan Dohar, Tom Mizibrocky, Barry Rabishaw, Otto Roman, Sam Mangiacasale, Tony DiToro, Dave Mesina, Gary Farrington, Brian Rizzo, Ed Seibert, Rino Ferruccio, Vito Forte, Jerry Hunt, Mike McDonnell and John Pizzolato.
In 1972, the NFCVI football team ended a 14-year drought by winning the zone championship in 1972. The team went 8-0, outscoring its opponents 228-26.
Three years earlier, the same team had gone 0-7.
“We didn’t ever score a point to our fourth game and it was called back on a penalty,” Sirianni said. “1972 changed all of that. We finally beat Stamford, A.N. Myer and Notre Dame to win the championship. Something magical happened in 1972 and his name was Doug Aitchison.”
Sirianni described Aitchison, a 1990 Wall of Fame inductee, as someone who came into their lives and made profound changes that lasted forever.
“He made us believe in ourselves. He embodied what we all aspired to be in our future lives. He has us work to be the best high school athletes and, in this case, football players that we could be but more importantly, the best possible people that we could be.”
Those lessons carried with the team forever.
“As we got older and had difficult situations to face, all we had to do was ask ourselves what would Aitch do? And we knew what to do.”
Sirianni felt Aitchison brought out the best in everyone on the team.
“He truly became like a second father to us all. He gained our respect not from fear but from the manner in which he carried himself and how he treated us,” he said. “He made us believe in ourselves, a trait that carried on for all of us through our entire lives. It is amazing what a beautiful difference one life can make.”
Aitchison gave his all to the team.
“He sacrificed a lot of time for us, all the early morning practices, weekend practices, meetings, etcetera.”
Sirianni thanked the Aitchison family in attendance.
“They were unselfish with sharing this wonderful man with us.”
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