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Holmgren expresses interest in Browns position
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Singletary update
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Steely Dan Plays "The Royal Scam" at E.J. Thomas Hall
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Akron Gamer:
Nintendo's Mario endures even as games come and go
Star Hudson athlete nicknamed 'Gluefingers' in pros
By Bill Lilley
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Thursday, Jan 22, 2009
HUDSON: Rich Merino figures he's far more qualified to be a judge of great spirits than he is to be a scout of great athletes.
Merino, proprietor of Merino's Beer & Wine store for more than six decades, knows there must be exceptions.
Like Dante Lavelli, the Browns great who died Tuesday at age 85 and who was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1975.
Merino knew Lavelli before he even knew that the man, who would be his best friend for more than eight decades, was destined for greatness.
''We were both just little kids and we were playing football in the park on 303 and 91 [in Hudson],'' Merino said. ''We were using either a buckeye that fell off a tree or an old tennis ball for a football because we couldn't afford a real ball. We were all sons of Italian immigrants, and we just didn't have any money.
''Anyways, we were playing two-on-two. I was a lot faster and he was only about 6, two years younger. But it didn't matter because when we kicked off to start the game, Dante was so shifty he faked us both out and left us laying on the ground while he ran for a touchdown.
''I knew right then he was a great athlete. But, at 8 years old, I just didn't have any clue how great he was going to become or what he was destined to be.
''Later on, I thought he was going to be a major-league baseball player. I thought he was going to be the next Lou Gehrig. We didn't think about professional football back then.''
That was in 1929, months before the great stock market crash. The National Football League wasn't a decade old, and was a distant second to the college game in terms of popularity.
''As a freshman in high school, Dante already was a great athlete,'' Merino said. ''He was only 14, but he was already about 160 pounds.
''He played on a team in Peninsula in a men's baseball league, and he was the best player on the team with older men. He was a left-handed hitter and really could hit the ball. And he played a great first base.''
The hands that would later earn Lavelli the nickname ''Gluefingers'' weren't immediately evident.
''Dante had stubby hands,'' Merino said. ''Hell, my hands were a lot bigger.
''But he had incredibly strong hands. It must have been from the genes — his father, Angelo, who lived to be 97, was a blacksmith and was very, very strong.
''When Dante touched a ball, he never dropped it. And you couldn't knock it away because his hands were so strong.''
Lavelli went on to star at Hudson High in football and basketball. Hudson did not have a baseball team.
The football team won the Summit County Class B championship in 1939 and was sparked to a 33-game win streak by Lavelli's play at quarterback and linebacker.
Lavelli played guard and forward on the basketball team that won two league titles and lost by two points in the district tournament at Kent State in 1939 to eventual state champ North Canton.
Lavelli graduated from Hudson in 1941 and went to Ohio State to play football for Paul Brown. He started for the Buckeyes as a sophomore in 1942 before he served for three years in the Army in World War II.
Fate intervened in the name of Paul Brown when Lavelli was discharged from the Army and returned to the family house on state Route 91, just south of the town square in Hudson.
''I still thought he was going to be a major-league baseball player,'' Merino said. ''And he was all set to head to Florida to go to some camps when Paul Brown called and talked him into playing football with the new team he was starting.''
Lavelli became a star for 10 years with the Browns, first in the All-American Football Conference and later in the NFL.
He established Lavelli's Furniture and Appliance Store in Rocky River and raised his family, which includes one son and three daughters, in the Cleveland suburb.
He moved north but never lost contact with Hudson, which was undergoing dramatic change from a farming village to an affluent suburban city.
''He was definitely a name people in Hudson knew and respected,'' said Jody Roberts, director of communications for the city. ''And you could always tell how much Hudson meant to him when he came back.''
The football field where Lavelli starred as a quarterback was dedicated as Lavelli Field in his honor in the mid-1960s.
Lavelli would return to the school at least a couple of times a year until recently when deteriorating health limited his travel.
''He was an iconic figure to be sure,'' Hudson High Athletic Director Ray Ebersole said. ''And although he last played more than 50 years ago, all of the kids knew who he was and what he had accomplished.
''They were impressed with him and they were very attentive when he would address the team each summer before the season. He also would come back for games, both football and basketball, and other Hudson alumni association events.
''He never forgot where he came from. But what really struck me was how nice, how sincere, how humble this man always was. And this was a man who was a Pro Football Hall of Famer, had fought in the Battle of the Bulge and had lived an incredible life.
''He told wonderful stories about what he had gone through. You really hate to lose a person like that who gives each new generation an actual link to the great history of Hudson and the game of pro football.
''There aren't many, but Dante Lavelli truly was a living legend. We'll really miss him.''
Funeral arrangements are pending.
Bill Lilley can be reached at 330-996-3811 or blilley@thebeaconjournal.com.
HUDSON: Rich Merino figures he's far more qualified to be a judge of great spirits than he is to be a scout of great athletes.
Get the full article here.
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