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Team captains Dennis McGrath, left, and John Bourgeois, and midfielder Frank Savarese, are with the soccer ball that accompanied the 1975 Archbishop Curley High School soccer team on their nearly month-long goodwill tour of Poland. The trio described the experience as eye-opening and they were warmly welcomed by their Polish counterparts. The 1975 Curley soccer team, which has stayed close in the decades since, recently celebrated its 50th anniversary reunion. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

Archbishop Curley’s 1975 soccer squad defied the odds – and Cold War barriers 


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Special to the Catholic Review Filed Under: Feature, Local News, News, Schools, Sports

During Archbishop Curley High School’s Oct. 11 Homecoming Day, a group of 60-something ex-soccer teammates made Curley history – five decades after they had achieved distinction while playing on soccer pitches a long way from home. 

Teammates forever, the hands of Dennis McGrath, left, John Bourgeois and Frank Savarese, who were players on the 1975 Archbishop Curley High School soccer team, hold the ball that traveled with them on a goodwill tour to Poland. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

On a day when they officially became the first team ever inducted into the all-boys school’s Athletic Hall of Fame, those aging Friars once again relived their stunning soccer achievement in the summer of 1975. 

It happened during Curley’s successful three-week trip to then-communist Poland. 

It was an eye-opening visit, defined in part by the Cold War divide between Western Europe, bolstered by United States support, and the former Soviet Union (USSR), which had established Russian communist dominance over Eastern European nations as a buffer against the West. The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. 

“It was a thrill for me to go (to Poland) and walk around places my ancestors did. There were lots of other foreign students staying there. It wasn’t just us,” said Jerry Wysocki, who was the goalkeeper leading the Friars’ excellent defense, and one of numerous Curley players of Polish heritage. 

“It was weird getting off the plane and seeing guards with machine guns. There were always guys in trench coats who were watching us,” he added. “Maybe it was because we were wearing Curley warm-ups with American flags on them.” 

The 1975 Archbishop Curley soccer team was the school’s first to be named a “team of distinction” by its hall of fame committee. (Courtesy photo)

The Curley players, who were just learning about geopolitics back then, had missed a chance to win a coveted MSA “A” Conference title in the fall of 1974 by losing, 2-1, to Patterson High School in the championship game. Their outstanding 11-2-3 season ended on a sour note. 

But the Friars, who were chosen to make the Poland trip based on their consistently good performance and sportsmanship, made up for that stumble by defeating far more experienced Polish club teams that had been playing together for many years. 

Curley played seven full-squad games and ended the historic trip with a 4-2-1 record. In those four wins, the Friars outscored their Polish opponents by a combined 13-4 count. Until then, American teams had been dominated by Europe’s veteran club players in the 15-19 age group, on a continent that celebrates soccer as its flagship sport. 

Fifty years later – and after 10 heavily attended team reunions every five years starting in 1980 – the honored Curley men again celebrated the enduring friendships that had taken root during their victorious and transformative trip, more than 4,000 miles from Baltimore. 

“To a man, I think it was the first time any of us had ever flown. And to have that be a transatlantic flight to a communist nation behind the Iron Curtain. … Did we really do that?” said Dennis McGrath, a parishioner of St. Joseph in Fullerton who was a junior midfielder/fullback for the Friars in 1975. 

Curley’s soccer team compiled a 4-2-1 record during its tour of Poland in 1975 against some highly regarded competition. (Courtesy photo)

“A lot of us didn’t know each other going into the trip,” added McGrath, noting the mix of sophomores, juniors and seniors who had recently graduated from Curley that comprised the team. “But we were good teammates who pulled for and looked out for each other. Because of the language issue, we really got tighter as a group. I think that experience carried over to those reunions.” 

It was a formative experience for Curley’s 23 players, led by Joe Loftus, their late head coach. The Friars were the first team in the Baltimore area to be selected by the National Soccer Coaches Association to play international games overseas. 

After starting the trip in New York City, with an overnight stay at the luxurious Waldorf Astoria hotel, the Curley crew got to see and taste what Central European life was like after flying through the night across the Atlantic Ocean to reach their destination. 

The best part about the trip was that “American spoiled brats” were able to see what a country under communist rule was really like, said Frank Savarese, who later would host the first reunion party – over steamed crabs, grilled meats and cold beer – at his Lutherville home. That tradition continues every five years. 

“It was important for us to celebrate that trip. It’s something you don’t expect to happen – spending 24 days with a group of guys all experiencing the same issues abroad. Quite a union was formed with this group,” he added. 

While it fell short of capturing a title at home, the Curley soccer team excelled in Poland. (Courtesy photo)

To this day, the five-year reunions draw 90 percent of the team’s 21 surviving players. Two players, Paul Andrzejczuk and Ray Ford, who led the Friars with 11 goals in Poland, are deceased. 

Unlike the previous travelling American high school teams, Archbishop Curley was poised to flip the script in Poland. 

Curley set the tone in its first game, a 4-2 victory over Wroclaw. They later beat Poznan, 2-0; Kocian, 3-0 and Masur, 4-2. 

The Friars toured numerous museums and churches. They participated in soccer clinics. They signed plenty of autographs for curious Poles. They enjoyed American music blasted in discotheques, where enthusiastic natives welcomed them. And they experienced things that made them pine for America. 

In Poland, the Curley team washed its own clothes by hand. There were no washing machines available. They consumed plenty of warm beverages, due to a severe lack of refrigeration and ice. There were no fast-food joints. Snacks were hard to come by. Everybody dropped at least 10 pounds over those three weeks. 

Member of the Curley soccer team had quite the cultural experience in Poland in 1975. (Courtesy photo)

And there were security restrictions that would remind the Friars of where they were. 

“We were near a border crossing. Before we got off our bus, our tour guide instructed us to leave our cameras there,” recalled Mark Johnson, a junior defender on the trip. “He advised us not to take a picture of this crossing. If we did, he said he could not be responsible for what might happen next.” 

Fifty years after pulling off such a successful show as a team, the familiar stories that dominate those reunions never get stale. The Friars are recognized as Archbishop Curley’s first “team of distinction.” 

“I look at us as a unique group of guys. It impresses me that we still want to make time to get together. We haven’t missed a beat. The stories seem to get better each time we tell them,” said John Bourgeois, a co-captain of that summer team who helps organize each reunion. 

“Those memories keep coming back. We represented our city, our state and our country, and we’re very proud of that accomplishment, very humbled by Curley selecting us for such an honor,” he added.  

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