Ressi Raiders - 1970/1971

1970-71 Resurrection Raiders Varsity basketball team.

1970-71 Resurrection Raiders Varsity basketball team.

Front Row: Bobby Gattuso, Jimmy O'Toole, Drew Ondik, Jim "Bim" Wheeler, Danny Gallagher, Mark Zucco.
Second Row: John Piagessi, Bobby Conti, Joe Ehland, Danny McGrath, Morris "Moe" Buskirk.
Third Row: Pat Walsh, John DeFilippo, Billy Gallagher, Tom Baginski, Randy Gumbar, Coach Ben Hartman.

The 1970-71 Ressi Raider Varsity basketball team finished the season with a 10-2 record in Diocesan Section AA, second only to St. Albert the Great. Resurrection's basketball program ran up quite an impressive string of successful seasons, making the name "Raiders" synonymous with winning.

Editors Note: In October of 2001, Joe Ehland was working as the Network Manager at Affiliated Computer Services, Inc (ACS), in Robinson. I was out of work and looking for a job. When things were looking bleak, I obtained an interview at ACS. My initial interview was on 9/11/01, a day when everyone was glued to their television sets in a state of shock. Lost in the tragedy of the Twin Towers, I totally forgot about the interview!

Thinking I had blown it, I called Joe and he invited me in the next day. At the time I did not know that he was also from Brookline and lived only a block away from my house. Once we met, I recognized him as the man with the cool Harley from down the road. Fate works in strange ways. The interview went well and soon my employment crisis was at an end.

To get to the point, Joe hired me on October 8, 2001. Two weeks later, on October 21, 2001, Joe's life ended senselessly in a motorcycle accident. Joe Ehland was a man revered among his colleagues at work and his friends here in Brookline. I only really knew him for a couple weeks, but I'm honored to have had the opportunity to make the acquaintance of such a fine man.

Click on image for a larger photo

* Photo provided by Bruce Buskirk *

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