……or What ever happened to Terp 57?

We’ve all heard the expression “When one door closes, another opens,” but it’s up to each of us to walk through that second door and work to create a satisfying and successful life with our own talents and resources.  Here’s the story of someone who did. Excerpts from an interview with my cousin, Art (Bronco) Brzostowski, U of MD ’69, aka Terp 57.*

 I was a 6 ft 2, 210 lb, junior when I transferred to Bayonne HS from St. Anthony’s in Jersey City.  My sports history included throwing the shot and discus, and lettering in track; my main events being the 100-, 220- and 440-yard events, both individual and relay. The coach at BHS was Sam Cavallaro, a former Mississippi State lineman.  Sam looked at me and said, “Do you play football?” When he asked, my arm was in a sling since I had broken my collarbone the week before school started.

Nevertheless, he told me to pick up a pair of hi top cleats and break them in, have a physical  at the hospital, and report to school September first for two days. I started as 4th team fullback and defensive end. After one week I was first team.   We went undefeated, and beat a very good North Bergen team for the county championship.

A few weeks later, Coach Cavallaro called me out of class  and introduced me to a college coach who was recruiting in North Jersey. This happened several more times.   I also received letters or feelers from colleges asking if I had an interest in playing football and enrolling at their institutions.

In January I took my first airplane ride to Greenville, SC, to visit Clemson. Quite an experience! which was repeated at every school I visited.  Once there, a player (usually a guy from your state or one who plays your position) took you out for dinner–always at the best steak house in the area–after dinner sometimes to a party with lots of coeds; then you’d spend the night at a big hotel on campus or nearby. In the morning the coach met you for breakfast or took you to a breakfast meeting with the head coach and other recruits in attendance.  They were always asking:  “What schools have you visited?”  “Did you like it there?”  “What do you want to study?”   Then they’d give the sales pitch for their school: “We have a championship team in the making;”  “We play in the (fill in the blank) Conference;”  “We have away games where we travel to (fill in the blank);”  “You can be our # 1 fullback by your junior year,”  “You can make the pros if you come here;”  “Some of our alumni are in the NFL.”  And sometimes they would actually be there in person.

That night you’d have dinner with the recruiting Coach and the player you spent time with earlier—lots more questions and many more stories.   Sometimes the coach would slip you a few dollars and say, “Buy yourself a sweatshirt or something at the school store.”  Later you’d have a date for a fraternity party or private event. No coaches at the party but lots of beer and booze if you wanted it.  On Sunday the Coach would take you to the airport and send you home with lots to think about.  The next week he’d call to follow up on your visit and ask:  “Are we in your top three?”  “What other colleges are you considering?”

I made nine trips that winter before the official signing date—-lots of new experiences, loved to travel,  really liked to eat at those expensive restaurants.   What a life for a 17-year-old football recruit.

I chose Maryland for several reasons: it was only four hours from home; my high school coach had played with the Maryland Coach who recruited me; it was a beautiful school with a 35,000-seat football stadium; and my Bayonne HS teammate Mario Macri decided to go here. Mario had a steady girlfriend, and she curtailed his recruiting visits.

In looking back — it was a bad decision for a career in football.  There were three coaching turnovers in four years, and a program on the downslide, slipping badly into the lower ranked teams in the conference.  I never played fullback because two platoon football started in 1965 and my coach asked, “Do you want to play or ride the bench?”  He advised I become a linebacker and play.

How did the instability in coaching affect my football career?  Nugent had been at Maryland a number of years; his recruiting team knew the PA, NY, NJ, and DE area and had contacts—we were sorry to see  him go;  Bob Ward put a dagger in our heart.  He and his staff were overwhelmed with the job and although there were a few good ones, most of his assistants were unqualified. They had no recruiting skills and killed the program for years to come.   Saban, with his playing and coaching reputation, could recruit, but he started late and could only pick up the crumbs.  A loosing program will always have recruiting problems unless they get a big name Coach who high school players believe can turn things around.

On the plus side—-I lettered 3 times, from sophomore  through senior year.  I graduated in January 1969–only 1 extra semester (not bad for a football player) and made lifelong friends from the team, the fraternity and my classmates. A few summers after graduation I was in Yankee Stadium and Lou Saban taps me on the shoulder.   He was in a sky box and spotted me in the crowd. At the time he was President of the NY Yankees. George Steinbrenner had been Lou’s assistant years before.  He invited me and my party to join him in his box.  Great guy.  Lots of class.  Had he stayed on as coach of the Terrapins, I think more of the team would have been successful in the NFL because we played a pro defense and a pro offense and had a leg up on other college players.  But it’s hard to evaluate who would and who would not have made it.  There was a lot of talent, but with the coaching merry go round, it was hard to convert that talent into wins.

Being a Student /Athlete was lots of fun at Maryland –fraternities, parties, a great group of students who stayed in College Park on weekends (although most went home or were daily commuters). I belonged to Phi Sigma Kappa with about ten of my teammates.  We partied hardy but also kept up our studies.  No one wanted to flunk out because Uncle Sam would come calling if you did.

Yes, we did have some help keeping our grades up, like pre-tests before the exams. A few frat brothers  crawled the dumpsters to find mimeograph sheets. Scholarship guys had tutors paid by the Athletic Dept. If you listened to what they said you could get an idea what was on the test since most tutors were grad assistants to the professors.  Some of the professors liked ball players and if you came to class and made an effort, they’d give you a C. But then again some did not. One of them  called me a mercenary, and I had to work hard to get a C in his class..  

Overall I enjoyed the educational experience.  I developed an interest in theater and to this day love live performances. I enjoyed history but being in a class with history majors, I only got C’s.  My health classes helped me develop a healthy life style—I got a lot of B’s in that class.  Being a Physical Education major, I thought I would teach high school and did for six months, but the school gave me a hard time about going for a NY Jets tryout, so I quit and never looked back; besides it paid only $5,800 a year.

Paul Horning the great Green Bay Packers back once said he’s been on scholarship his whole life, well I think I’ve been on the same plan.   In addition to the Jets, I tried out with the Cleveland Browns, with the same disappointing results.  “You need to put on weight; linebackers are 240 plus,” they said.  It was the era of Nobis and Butkus.  I ended up as a linebacker with the Jersey Jays in Newark, NJ, a Continental League team, making $150 per game.  The team was owned by the P Ballantine and Sons Brewery.   A company vice president met me a few times and asked if I would be interested in working for them in sales and promotions.  It was more money than teaching and it included a car and expense account.  A year later after breaking my leg and ankle during a game, I became a full time sales rep.

 I was transferred to San Jose/San Francisco where I was in charge of resorts, colleges, and ski areas and was known as the “young football player.”  I was single and partied seven days a week promoting the brand.  Then I was assigned to the Washington State, Idaho, Montana territory—great during ski season, but no ocean.  After a few years, I returned to the East Coast and started working for the Genesee Brewing Company as District Manager in NJ, DE, MD and eastern PA.  Genny had a few former football players on their staff, such as Frank Marchelewski in Pittsburgh (former Viking and Steelers player); and Dan Ficca my boss (a former Jets and Raiders player).   I did very well for ten years developing the Genny brands and expanding into new states.

I was then offered a position with Carlton Imports, the sole importer of St Pauli Girl, Nordic Wolf and San Miguel beers. I started as a regional  manager of three states and eight  years later was VP -Division manager for thirteen — Maine to Georgia ,west to Pittsburg and WV, and my distributors sold over 1.5 Million cases. I still had that football image, and a few distributors introduced me as the “All American from Maryland.”  I usually corrected them, but a college magazine did refer to me as part of the best set of linebackers in the ACC conference.  I did promotions with my Region Managers —hosting sales groups in baseball and football sky boxes, trips to Atlantic City Casinos, Cruises, Broadway Plays and Concerts.  Life was one big party and I was having fun;  not only at work but I played softball till I was over fifty ,water and snow skied until I was almost 60, and I still  bike, lift weights and stretch almost every day.  I also play golf or should I say, attempt to play golf to this day.

My career with Carlton ended when Hiram Walker was sold to a Chicago importer, and I became Director of beer sales for the largest liquor distributor in the country. I moved to the Annapolis, Maryland area , became  active with the M Club at the University, and renewed friendships developed during my college days.   Many former Maryland students owned bars and liquor stores : Bob Ward,  Maryland head coach in ‘67 and ‘68 owned a liquor store in Annapolis—now I had to be friendly to him.  My former teammate Ralph Friedgen became head coach  at Maryland in 2000 and the school reaped some benefits with Ralph. We went to the Orange,   Peach and Gator Bowls and because of Ralph were invited to all events. Life was still fun. 

In 1988 I married my beautiful wife Carole who to this day looks like a collegiate cheerleader.  We were married by a justice of the peace in Kona, Hawaii, and after jumping through some hoops to get into the good graces of the Trenton Diocese and Rome, had a Catholic ceremony in St. Martha’s RC Church in Point Pleasant, NJ., in 1992. Carole had three lovely daughters, so I now had a complete family.  We’ve since added three sons-in-law and six grandchildren.

Starting to feel my age,  I retired  to Florida in 2005, had a few football related surgeries and although I can’t say I am pain free, I would not trade my life for  any other.   I think now if I had made the NFL (salary was only $13500) it wouldn’t have been as enjoyable. Cheers!

*Click here to read the complete interview article: https://www.testudotimes.com/2018/8/1/17638402/when-the-maryland-terrapins-had-3-different-coaches-in-3-seasons-in