|
Mary Passanisi (Gonsalves)
 
Andover's Connors went from small colleges to NFL camps!
Posted: Sunday, October 5, 2014 1:00 am
By Michael Muldoon mmuldoon@eagletribune.com
In the day when an imposing lineman might be 5-11, 190 pounds, Barry Connors was a man among boys at 6-3, 230 pounds.
The 1963 Andover High grad still has fond memories of those days, when Andover was known as the Blue Devils.
“Newburyport we beat them 21-20,” said Connors, a retired Billerica gym teacher who still lives in Andover with his wife of 45 years Rebecca. “We came back with three touchdowns in the fourth quarter, two as a result of blocked punts. I don’t want to tell you who it was. It will sound like boasting.”
He had some talented teammates including Dave Bennett, who would later go on to score 24 TDs in his stellar career at BC, wide receiver Jimmy White, running backs Jimmy Brent and Norm Wallace, and fellow co-captain tackle Tom Coffman.
He has all sorts of stories about playing in the Northeast Conference against the likes of Swampscott with legendary coach Stan Bondelevitch, Marblehead with Syracuse bound running back Jake Healey and Woburn with future BC star QB Ed Foley.
“It was a very, very good league,” said Connors, also a fine basketball player who was among the area leaders with 351 points as a senior. “Playing Winthrop was an all-day affair. When they came here, they’d say, ‘We have to go to Canada.’”
But if the Winthropites thought Andover, with a population then of about 19,000, was in the sticks, Connors could set them straight. Try Canyon, Texas, and Fairfield, Iowa.
While he had the size and talent, he played his college football far away from the bright lights.
“I was recruited by every conference in the country, but couldn’t get in,” he explained. “I had terrible grades. Terrible grades.”
He settled on small school power West Texas State (now West Texas A&M) in Canyon, Texas, outside of Amarillo.
When West Texas was playing at Arizona State, Connors could only shake his head.
“It was a beautiful sunny environment,” he remembered. “Boy, did I screw up. I was in the weeds of Texas.”
He wasn’t happy there. Perhaps one reason was his nickname. The Irishman from outside of Boston was nicknamed Kennedy. And this was the same year JFK was shot in Dallas!
He rattled off the names of seven future NFL players who were with him as freshmen at West Texas: “Bobby Duncum, Ted Wheeler, Doug Kriewald, George Allen, Mark Andrews ... “
That school produced a lot of pro wrestlers, too, like Duncum, Terry Funk, Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase and Tito Santana. With Connors’ oversized frame and personality he would have been a natural in the squared circle.
When asked how to spell one of his West Texas teammates’ name, he quipped, “I don’t know. That’s why I was there, I couldn’t spell!”
But he could play. So when the 6-3, 230-pound tight end quit college and started working at the Tyer Rubber factory in Andover, he still got another chance. From a famous source who was impressed by his play at spring ball.
“(Legendary Oakland Raiders coach/GM/owner) Al Davis would write every week and call once a month,” said Connors, “He said, ‘Kid, you are too good an athlete to work at a factory for 65 bucks a week.’”
He said Davis got him the second chance.
Parsons played a rugged schedule and Connors and some teammates even got a write-up in the Sept. 11, 1967 issue of Sports Illustrated.
Connors, who was by then a 6-4, 260-pound defensive tackle, was signed as a free agent by the Browns out of Parsons and the Bills the following year but didn’t make the cut.
Former Punchard High of Andover and UConn star Paul Whitley offered him a job as a line coach at Billerica and he taught gym there for 35 years and was an assistant coach for several sports with the Indians.
He’s also refereed numerous sports over the years and still officiates youth sports to this day. He’s also worked at local golf courses for decades and currently works in the pro shop at North Andover Country Club.
Connors, 69, is a proud father to three and grandfather to seven. Barry Jr. has built Cushing Academy into one of the top prep school basketball powerhouses in the country. Another son, 6-6, 220-pound Justin, was a quarterback with one of the strongest arms in MVC history. He transferred from Andover High to Valley Forge Military Academy to Billerica High, where he was a three-sport standout.
|
