caption: THE BOYS ARE BACK: Members of the Harrison Athletic Club (HAC) enjoy the moment as they got together last month for a 50th reunion celebration. The HAC, which existed from 1960 to 1971, fielded teams in local flag football, basketball, and softball leagues and provided plenty of off-field fun for its members. Pictured kneeling, from left, are Jim Case and George Johnson. In the second row, from left, are Ray Britton, Allen Wood, Dave Britton, Bob James, Bob Smyth, Bill Bartolino, and Don Pierre. In the back row, from left, are Kevin Delaney, Don Hanley, Charlie Stryker, Pete Hanley, Lou Rossi, Ray Tamasi, John Smithson, Doug Hoffman, Bill Gallant, Greg Bancroft, and Kerry Klink. Not pictured are Bill Potts and Doug Watson.

Sports Achievements, Good Times Recalled as Harrison Athletic Club Held 50th Reunion

Bill Alden

Initially, it was a curiosity to young Bob Smyth and his buddies as they played around their Evelyn Place neighborhood in the late 1950s.

“They built the Harrison Street Playground right behind my house; we watched it go up before our eyes,” said Smyth, who was a teenager at the time. “We saw that come out of the ground.”

That park became the foundation for athletic and social activities as Smyth and his cohorts went through high school and became young adults.

The local kids spent hours in the park, playing football in the fall, basketball in the winter and softball in the spring and summer. In between the games, the Harrison Park crew hung out, shooting the breeze and drinking a beer or two.

In 1960, Smyth and neighbor Bob James founded the Harrison Athletic Club (HAC) and fielded teams in local flag football, basketball, and softball leagues.

“It was very informal; there was no clubhouse or anything like that; we had a lot of kids in the area and we put together a lot of teams,” recalled Smyth, noting that the HAC’s flag football team was chronicled in a September, 1967 Sports Illustrated article.

“We had 70 guys at the most; some played all sports while others would play one or two and then come and hang out and watch the others. We also did other things in the park; it was an enclosed area so that kept us out of trouble.”

Last month, more than 20 of the Harrison AC gang relived those halcyon days as they gathered for a 50th reunion celebration. The event drew members from as far as Florida, Virginia, and Massachusetts.

Ever the organizer, Smyth took a lead role in putting together the festivities. “I got an e-mail from Billy Potts this summer saying 2010 is the 50th anniversary of the HAC and was I going to do anything,” said Smyth, 68, who worked for many years in New Jersey’s Treasury Department.

“I sent him back a response saying I am going to do something, stay tuned for the details.”

The get-together ended up centering around a tailgate held at the Ivy Club before and after the Princeton-Brown football game.

“We got hoagies and beer but there was more O’Doul’s and soda consumed,” said a chuckling Smyth, noting that the Harrison AC had held a 30th reunion in which the club members played hoops and softball but decided they had had too many beers to play a planned football game. “There was a lot of hanging around and swapping stories.”

Those conversations had a little extra urgency. “As Charlie Stryker told me, ‘it is a long way to come but I hadn’t seen some of these guys in a long time and it could be I won’t see some of these guys ever again; I remember those times and those guys,’” recalled Smyth.

And those guys certainly had special times. “Here is what I have seen from talking to a lot of people — nobody seems to have had the same kind of experience, playing all seasons and hanging out,” said Smyth.

“We were a family, guys who weren’t playing would come to watch the games. Wives would come; kids would be playing on the blankets.”

A key factor in the uniqueness of the HAC was the diversity of its family. “The guys in it were from all walks of life,” said Smyth.

“We had policemen, lawyers, a professor of mathematics at Stevens Institute, state workers, electricians, house painters, roofers, and post office workers. Some went to college, some didn’t. But when we were together, it didn’t matter. There was no pecking order; there was no social strata.”

But getting together for a 50th reunion certainly mattered a lot to the HAC family.

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