January 12th, 1969 was just another Sunday in my beloved Brooklyn. Or so I thought. We all got up at 7 AM and got dressed for Mass. Mary Queen of Heavens 9 O’clock mass was the Children's Mass. So at my house my brothers and sisters all took turns waiting at the bathroom door for our family member to wash up brush their teeth and then come out. Eileen Leddy- Viviano at the time was 11 years old and took the longest because she knew that this guy named Gregg Chercione who had a crush on her would be there so she took extra time to make sure his crush on her would not go unnoticed. With our teeth brushed and relatively clean bodies due to the baths or showers we took the night before, we presented ourselves to Mom for hair grooming and final inspection. Mom combed and or brushed our hair and then meticulously looked over our hands and necks. Necks cleaned and no dirt under our fingernails ...we were ready for church and the saving of our souls .
Farther McNamara presided over the 9 O’clock mass as he was our Parish Pastor and always made it a point to be serving that particular Mass because it was also known as the Children's Mass.
As always, we sung our hymns and prayed for the helpless and the poor, we were reminded to pray for all other denominations and of course the sick and recently departed and all the souls of the faithfully departed. We would line the alter and receive communion , return to our pews bow our heads while kneeling on the flip down "kneelers" and pray with all our hearts for our loved ones and the less fortunate of the world . Mass was almost over when Fr McNamara asked all of us to join him in a prayer for a young man from Beaver Falls Pennsylvania who just two years after graduating from the University of Alabama and now the quarterback of The New York Jets to achieve success in his game this day ...if indeed it was the will of God.
Arriving back home that Sunday morning, Dad would be in the kitchen preparing breakfast (he always did that every Sunday to give my mom a little break) so the smell of eggs and bacon filled our home. The best was the special potatoes he made thin as a communion wafer was the way he would prepare that potato slice fried in butter. It was his specialty at his Firehouse when he cooked for his fellow FDNY mates, and he carried that tradition into our home every Sunday. We all took off our coats as fast as we could and where they landed was of no interest to us as long as we got the first batch of Dads special breakfast potatoes. We knew one thing was for sure ..that if those jackets where they landed did not find themselves on a hanger and in our closet after we finished breakfast...we would have Mom to deal with. Needless to say they never stayed where they landed and all found their proper resting place in our closets!!!
It was not just my house but every house on my block and I am pretty sure every house in Brooklyn was abuzzed with the thought of a team that represented Brooklyn and all of New York State was playing for the Championship of the Football World. The rest of our nation was giving our team a slim to no chance in hell of winning and to be quite honest scoffed at us for believing they actually could. But what did they know...they were not from Brooklyn and couldn't possibly know the faith we had, no matter what the odds were against us. That young man from Beaver Falls Pennsylvania in good old Brooklyn fashion when asked by a newspaper reporter(there was no ESPN then ) if he thought that his team, a 19 point underdog had ANY chance of beating the mighty Baltimore Colts ....he answered... like any
Brooklynite would....." We will WIN....I guarantee it"
You see in the Brooklyn I grew up in there was always discussions and debates and downright heated arguments on everything from religion to to politics to the proper way to sweep the 12ft sidewalk in front of our houses. However it seemed that almost everyone I knew seemed to be in agreement with this brash bragging kid we knew as Joe Willie Namath who was a Brooklynite for the day, and on that Sunday afternoon in Miami Florida January 12th 1969 he held in his skilled hands the pride of not only his New York Jets, but of the entire state of New York ...but especially my beloved Brooklyn . You gotta understand one thing we love an underdog .... we love a fight....and most of all we love to prove anyone wrong who don't agree with us...it's just who we are. We are Brooklynites!!!
Mom and Pop stores that lined our Avenues and Streets closed early and the streets that were usually lined with cars on every other given Sunday were eerily void of its normal traffic, the streets that were always inhabited by kids playing a variety of sports and games were desolate. Everyone was being held captive in our homes by the chance of seeing history being rewritten
It was Super Bowl III and my beloved Brooklyn had a horse in this race "The New York Jets, so we all found ourselves in our living rooms watching our black and white RCA Zenith. Philco or Motorola Television console sets to witness this national event!
We all sat mesmerized as we watched that kid from Beaver Falls lead our team to victory and cheered and jumped up and down on the very furniture that on any other day would surely be like signing your own death certificate if Mom saw you! We took the same pride of our team in our hearts, as much as David did when he slew the Philistine Goliath.
Brooklyn rejoiced, we ran into the streets banging pots and pans ...fireworks were exploding in the cold January nights sky, something that was normally reserved for the 4th of July. Neighbors ran into the streets and hugged each other and embraced (the same people who argued over how to sweep the sidewalks) to affirm that they too had witnessed this unlikely triumph
We once again had a Champion....not since The Brooklyn Dodgers left us with a gaping wound in our hearts had we collectively rallied together as one in a victory we called our own.
The New York Jets of 1969 went down in history as the first American Football League Team to defeat the mighty and heralded National Football League, in spite of the popular opinion of the rest of our United States. To the so-called inferiority of that team who held the hearts and hopes of me and my fellow Brooklynites...They shook the world and the very heavens.
In my opinion that kid from Beaver Falls was exactly what Brooklyn was and is all about......You tell us we can't...we say we will....You tell us it ain't possible...We show you how....You say "No Way" and we will shove it down your throats.
You can ask any one from Brooklyn a question about any subject on this planet and you will get a million different answers But ask any one of them who was the guy who stood up in Brooklyn fashion and told the sports world where to go........They will unanimously answer ...
Joe Willie Namath said that day, I guarantee it !!!!!
He may have been from Beaver Falls PA But with the "stones " he showed that day that he was Brooklynite ...all the way!!!!
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