Wednesday, December 1, 2021
The Observer | www.theobserver.com
Sports & Recreation WITH
Jim Hague
9
Kearny soccer and athletic legend Briscoe passes at 79
ogsmar@aol.com
Harrison, NA kids finish grid season in style at MetLife Stadium Bobby Crudele is a Harrison police officer who has been a volunteer coach with the North Arlington Recreation department for ages. Over the years, Crudele has developed a good relationship with the New York Jets, who graciously allowed North Arlington’s junior football team to play at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, when the Giants and Jets were not occupying the facility. In years past, Crudele set up a game between North Arlington and the Kearny Generals to play there, but the Generals suspended operations last year in wake of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Wanting to keep with tradition, Crudele wanted to see if another local team would be interested in playing there. “Why not Harrison?” Crudele asked. “I’ve been a cop there for 22 years. I always try to help them out.” As it turned out, the powers-that-be in Harrison were all for the idea. “I thought it would be a great opportunity for the kids,” said Mike Camara, a former Observer Athlete of the Week during his playing days at Harrison. “We’re not really a football oriented town.” No, soccer rules in Har-
rison. It’s just the way of the world. But Camara has been coaching youth football in Harrison for five years. “Something like this will encourage signups for the fall,” Camara said. “The kids were all shocked that they were getting a chance to play there. It might be their only chance of going to MetLife.” The Jets accommodated both teams with tickets for their recent game with the Cincinnati Bengals, a game the Jets won, and then North Arlington and Harrison squared off afterwards. Although MetLife Stadium can be seen from the outskirts of both municipalities, it might be a light year away for some of these eager youngsters. “Most 11-and-12 year old kids don’t get a chance to go to MetLife for any reason,” Camara said. “So when we told them, they were really looking forward to this game.” North Arlington veteran head coach Jay Leiner felt the same way. “I was excited for the kids,” Leiner said. “We had a tough season. We had a very young team of seventh graders playing eighth graders. Once the kids found out they were going See VIEW, Page 11
Photos courtesy of NJCU athletic communications
The late Tommy Briscoe with former NJCU soccer standout goalkeeper Manny Lojo a few years ago. Briscoe died last week of an aggressive brain cancer. INSET: The late Tommy Briscoe was a Kearny native who was a star soccer player at the school and later coached both the boys and girls’ soccer teams at Kearny High, eventually becoming the school’s athletic director.
By Jim Hague ogsmar@aol.com Santiago Formoso is one of the most storied soccer players to come out of “Soccertown USA” namely Kearny. Before he became a member of the famed New York Cosmos teams of the late 1970s, a team that featured Pele and constantly filled Giants Stadium to the rafters, Formoso played at Kearny High School, where he played for a man with strong Irish roots like a good portion of the town named Tommy Briscoe. “He tried to teach the game correctly,” Formoso recalled about Briscoe, who died last week after a battle with brain cancer. “He was more into fitness first. We would come in for training and then run like crazy. After a while, we got used to it. He was a total gentleman who cared about people. He was just a wonderful man.” Briscoe was a great soccer
player in his heyday, eventually going to Jersey City State College (now New Jersey City University), where he was regarded as the school’s alltime greatest player. A charter member of the school’s Hall of Fame in 1979, Briscoe was the all-time leading goal scorer at the school when he graduated in 1966 and still stands seventh on the all-time list more than five decades after he last played for the Gothic Knights. Briscoe played both right back and forward for the Gothic Knights and was a four-time First Team honoree in the old New Jersey State College Athletic Conference at both positions. In 1965, Briscoe scored an astounding 13 goals in nine games. He was selected as a participant for the East Coast Olympic Tryouts in 1966 and later that year, was the placekicker for the first-ever Jersey City State football team.
His kicking prowess eventually earned him a tryout with the Dallas Cowboys. After graduating from JCSC, Briscoe took a teaching and coaching job in his native Kearny, where he remained for 40 years. Briscoe became the head boys’ soccer coach, where he mentored players like Formoso, and was also the head girls’ soccer coach for several years. Eventually, Briscoe was elevated to the role of athletic director at the school, handling both roles as a history teacher and athletic director. Mike Granelli coached soccer at nearby St. Peter’s College for more than 25 years and resided in Kearny when Briscoe was the soccer king of the town. “He was an educated man,” Granelli said. “He was very friendly, a nice guy. I can’t say that he was in the “in” crowd, but I’d see him from time to See BRISCOE, Page 10
