Category: GLOUCESTER CITY

Gloucester Catholic Principal Ed Beckett Selected as Grand Marshal For St. Patrick\’s Day Parade!

Gloucester Catholic Principal Ed Beckett has been selected as the Grand Marshal for the Fifth Annual St. Mary\’s Parish and Gloucester City St. Patrick\’s Day

Parade. The parade will be held on  Sunday, March 1 starting at 1:00 pm.

Mr. Beckett will receive his Grand Marshal sash from Bishop Sullivan at the 9:30 am Irish Mass at St. Mary\’s Church..

Mr. Beckett has served as Gloucester Catholic\’s Principal since August 2013 and is highly regarded for his work with youth and his devotion to the Catholic Community. Mr. Beckett also served the school as Assistant Principal for Spiritual Formation for 8 years. An alumnus of the Gloucester Catholic Class of 1978, he previously taught at St. Joseph\’s Preparatory School and served as an  administrator at Boston College High School.

The Parade begins at Martin\’s Lake (Baynes Ave and Johnson Blvd) and continues down Monmouth Street, and will feature String Bands, Bagpipes, Irish Dancers, Irish Music. Memorabilia, and Community Organizations.

Gloucester Catholic alumni are encouraged to attend the parade, and are invited to march with the school\’s contingent as we salute

Mr. Beckett as well as celebrate Irish Pride and the great city of Gloucester!

Local parade officials also announced that Mr. Beckett will receive the First Community Impact Award on Friday, March 6, at Elizabeth Ballroom in Gloucester City. Doors will open for the event beginning at 6:30 pm. Tickets are $25 and may be purchased by calling the Rectory at (856) 456-0052.

Link to St. Patrick\’s Day Parade Festivities

For further information please contact St. Mary Rectory at  (856) 456-0052. You may also click on the link below for general information and a sponsorship registration form!

General Information on St. Patrick\’s Day Parade and Activities

Thank You from St. Mary\’s Parish and Gloucester Catholic

The Renewal of GLOUCESTER\’S GAME (Rams v Lions)….plus Videos of previous Contests

The excerpt below is from the

Renewal of Friendship

booklet which was released in 1993 when the annual Thanksgiving Day football game between Gloucester High and Gloucester Catholic was resumed.

Related:

Two and One-Half-Hours

The football teams from the two schools will meet tomorrow (Thursday)  at the John Lynch Field at Gloucester High School, Rt. 130 and Market Street.

The Rams won last year\’s contest  30 to 14.   Gloucester Catholic\’s junior running back Dashaun Harris finished that game with 222 yards on 23 carries and three total touchdowns in front of an estimated crowd of 400.

Thursday\’s Kickoff is 10:30AM. The Rams lead the series, 22-21-1.

BY G.J. FERGUSON

(CNBNewsnet)(Gloucester City NJ)(Nov. 27, 2019)–It has been nearly three decades since the last City-Series game was played in 1965. At times, it seems like it was only yesterday. But, sadly it wasn\’t. With the final whistle, on that sunny autumn day, the

City-Series passed into memory. Memories that have endured over the years. They have lived in the hearts and minds of those who remember the series and attached a special meaning to it.

Gloucester Catholic 1963 football team

It is with those in mind, that the idea for this program began. It started out as a history of the series, but a true history would require a book of several hundreds pages. What we have instead is more like a memoir of the City-Series. I hope that as you read the game stories and look at the old pictures, it will bring back the memories. Not just of the games themselves, but of old friends, old teammates, and a different time.

In the old industrial city on the

Delaware

, the year 1948 marked the beginning of the annual football games between Gloucester High and Gloucester Catholic. It was a time when semi-pro and town teams were still popular and attracting good-sized crowds. However, the largest and most loyal following was reserved for

high school football

. Across the country, in rural towns, in cities large and small, people filled the bleachers by the thousands to cheer their local school teams.

In some areas of the country, the games drew crowds of 25,000 to 30,000 or more. Closer to home, the

Collingswood

, and Camden High game used to attract 15,000 to 20,000 spectators. The City-Series games never approached numbers like these, but the crowds of 4,000 or more were common. For a small city of 15,000 people, it was a tremendous show of support.

If measured in length, it was not a long series. In

South Jersey

, many of the football series began in the 1920\’s or before. Vineland and

Millville

began their rivalry in the 1890\’s. In comparison, the City-Series was only played from 1948 to 1965. Nevertheless, for those eighteen years the people of Gloucester had a game that somehow, seemed to touch the very soul of their proud, old city.

In a

small town

like Gloucester, everybody seems to know everybody else. This familiarity made the games much more personal. Playing against a school located miles away; the opposing players were only numbers. In the City-Series games, that \”number\” had a name, and you better not forger it! If not brother against brother, surely there were cousins facing each other. Childhood friend’s kids from around the corner and down the street battling each other for 48 minutes. It was a neighborhood rivalry in the truest sense of the word:

Like the town it was played in, the games themselves were rough and tumble affairs. It was a hard-nosed and smash-mouth football. This was literally true before the facemask came into use. They were emotional games, played in a charged atmosphere before large, fanatical crowds.

Given all this, the remarkable thing is, the emotions never really got out of hand. Not on the field, nor in the stands. For the most part, the games were cleanly played. The hard hits came before the whistle, not after. This is not to say the games were perfect, they weren\’t. Nevertheless, the minor disputes that did occur were soon forgotten.

The very nature of the series made this possible. All of the ingredients that made this a fiercely contested game worked in reverse as soon ass it ended. It was high school football the way it was meant to be.

The first five years of the series belonged to Gloucester High. The Raiders (or \”Paiseleymen\”, as they were also called at the time) won the initial game in 1948 by a close score of 18-12. Matters only became worse for the Irish/Ramblers over the next four years! From 1949 to 1952, the Raiders completely dominated the series, winning by 21-2, 56-7, 19-6, and 25-7.

In 1953, Gloucester Catholic, tired of being a doormat for their city rival, recorded there first win of the series, winning by a score of 12-7. The Ramblers must have found the victory to their linking, as they set out on a winning streak of their own. The next four years found the Maroon and Gold on top by 20-13, 52-7, 26-0, and 12-7.

With the series tied at five games apiece, the Raiders pulled ahead by winning the 1958 game 18-7. However, there were to be no more long winning streaks in the series. The following year, the Rams triumphed over the newly named Lions by 19-0. 1960 was more of the same as a powerful Catholic Eleven rolled over the Lions 34-0 to take their first lead in the series.

RELATED:

A Preview of Gloucester Catholic & Gloucester High 2019 Gridiron Teams

Rams vs Lions Turkey Game

–Nov. 2009–With a few minutes left in the first half the Lions came back and tied the game at 14-14 but the Rams came back and scored again. As the half ended the score 22-14.

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RAMS V LIONS TURKEY GAME 2010-

What an exciting Thanksgiving Day football game this year between cross town rivalries Gloucester City High School and Gloucester Catholic High. Nearing the end of the fourth quarter Gloucester High was winning 27-20. With 19 seconds left Gloucester Catholic got a TD, making the score 27-26. Instead of kicking a field goal Catholic went for two but was stopped by the Lions defense.

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RAMS V LIONS  TURKEY GAME Nov. 2011–

The video contains some snippets of plays from the first half of the game. Ben Boyer carried 42 times for 294 yards and scored four touchdowns to lead Gloucester City to a 34-14 victory over Gloucester Catholic yesterday in Gloucester City. Boyer finished the season with 1,841 rushing yards, 168 shy of the school-record 2,009 yards accumulated by Mike Blankenship in 2001. Boyer had touchdown runs of 28, 73, 3 and 8 yards for Gloucester City (5-5). With the victory, Gloucester City tied the all-time Thanksgiving Week series between the two schools at 18-18 (there has been one tie). Elliott McCummings had two touchdown runs of 6 and 80 yards for Gloucester Catholic (3-7). Score Lions 34 Rams 14

CNBNews Tips/Snippets: Growing Up Gloucester; White Supremacist a Fireman; Graffiti Problem in City

William E. Cleary Sr. | CNBNews

GROWING UP GLOUCESTER-

-Back in the day, everyone knew everyone in Gloucester City. In those days it wouldn\’t be unusual if you even knew some members of the outlaw Pagan\’s MC, who had one of the first chapters in the state located in Gloucester City.  The head of that chapter was a childhood friend of my wife Connie. He went through the local school system and graduated with her and other members of the GHS Class of \’62.

Related:

New Jersey Crime Investigators Say Pagan\’s MC Expanding Into State

After we got married we lived in one of the row homes in the 700 block of Powell Street. This one particular day in 1967, Connie was sitting outside on the front step

with two of our kids who were no more than babies at the time. A roar of motorcycles come riding up Powell Street heading east towards Broadway. There were 20 or more guys dressed in dungaree jackets with Pagan etc written on the back.

It was a scary sight.

At the head of the pack was this guy with shades on with a goat tee and a fu man mustache wearing a Viking helmet with two horns. He had pythons for biceps and his arms were decorated with tats from his shoulders down to his wrists. He and some of the

others drive pass Connie when the guy in the front, apparently the leader, suddenly raises his hand signaling everyone to stop.

Related:

Fond Memories of Growing Up in Gloucester City/South Jersey Area and The Geator

The leader turns his big Harley around and drives up on the sidewalk stopping in front of Connie and the kids. The guy with the Viking helmet jumps off the cycle gives her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. She didn’t realize who it was until he removed his helmet; it was her childhood friend and classmate.

GROWING UP GLOUCESTER–The Cleary Family celebrating Christmas in the 1950s

In the meantime, traffic is backed up on the street in both directions as the members remained on their cycles. None of the neighbors came outside. Instead, you could see them peeking out their blinds no doubt wondering what was happening. After five minutes or so the leader of the pack jumps on his Harley and drives to the front of the line signaling everyone to follow him. You could hear their Harleys roar all the way to Broadway and beyond.

Related: Gloucester City History

Finding a parking spot on Powell Street in front of your house was a daily challenge but after that day we never had a problem. The spot was always open for our car. I always wondered if that day we had the leader of the local Pagans visit our family had anything to do with it.

GROWING UP GLOUCESTER–from left to right, Billy Hampton, Marie Connoley, Trudy Bodenschatz, Tom Ferry and Ed Ferry. Location 8th and Division Streets. Check out the shorts the two Ferry boys are wearing? Sixty plus years ago if you were a kid your underwear could also be worn for your summer shorts. And nobody cared. Of course, if your Dad or Grandpop tried to get away with running outside in their underwear, there was a good chance they would go to jail.

WHITE SUPREMACIST WAS A FIREMAN-

–

Brooklawn resident Richard Tobin who was arrested last week for allegedly conspiring with a hate group against the rights of minorities and Jewish people, was a member of the local

volunteer fire department, according to several news outlets including

NJ.com

Brooklawn Fire Chief John McKinney told the media that Tobin had been a fireman for less than a year.

Federal authorities said Tobin expressed a desire to attack African-Americans. He is accused of telling people to vandalize Midwest synagogues.

Tobin was originally part of the fire company’s “Fire Service Explorers” program, a Boy Scouts of America program that introduces adolescents to a firefighting career, the chief said. A March 2018 Brooklawn fire company Facebook post congratulated Tobin on completing the Camden County College Fire Academy Junior Firefighter course. The chief said that he never had any issues with the 18-year-old.

Tobin told investigators that he was thinking about going to a North Jersey mall and attack African Americans with a machete. He blamed his hatred on all the turmoil in the United States.

McKinney said there was never an issue with Tobin. The chief declined further comment. On Monday, Tobin was still listed on the borough’s website as a member of the exploring program, but his name was removed by Tuesday.

Brooklawn Police Chief Shamus Ellis echoed those remarks, \”Prior to this investigation, I don\’t believe we have had any negative encounters with Tobin.\”

RELATED:

Alleged White Supremacist from Brooklawn Charged with Wanting to Kill Blacks, Jews, and Gays

According to the criminal complaint, Tobin allegedly directed members of a “white racially motivated violent extremist group\” to vandalize minority-owned properties through online platforms and encrypted messaging applications. The complaint did not identify the group but described it as a far-right group that has “proclaimed war against minority communities within the United States and abroad.\”

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported

that Tobin was acting as a member of The Base, a neo-Nazi group that “trains members in violence at ‘hate camps,’”

according to The Daily Beast

.

Tobin allegedly directed the group’s \”Great Lakes Cell” from his Brooklawn home, ordering an “Operation

Kristallnacht,” a reference to Nov. 9 to 10, 1938

, when Nazis in Germany burned down synagogues, vandalized Jewish homes and businesses and killed about 100 Jewish people.

GRAFFITI PROBLEM IN CITY

–A Gloucester City community activist, who wants to remain anonymous, submitted several photos of unsightly graffiti on Nicholson Road under the 676 overpass. The individual believes by bringing attention to the graffiti someone in the highway department or some other department will remove it.

If you have a Tip or story idea send it to CNBNews1@gmail.com. Your name will not be published if you request to remain anonymous.

RELATED:

Graffiti in Gloucester City

THE KAIN EPISODE FINALLY ENDS

GLOUCESTER CITY, NJ (April 11, 2011) The ongoing quarrel between the City of Gloucester City and former Municipal Clerk/City Administrator Paul Kain has come to a conclusion. 

Kain was fired in December 2009 for being absent from work without permission for more then 120 days. His last day of work was July 13, 2009.  The former municipal clerk said he was absent because of depression and presented the city with documentation about his illness from physicians. In the February 11, 2011 Gloucester City News Kain said  “My illness, Major Depressive Disorder – major depression – progressed noticeably until the point on July 13, 2009 I could not get out of bed let alone go to work.  It was on this day that I began using my accrued paid time to start treatment for my recovery. My wife, Maggie, then started a very open and honest dialogue with the city on my behalf.”

Continue reading “THE KAIN EPISODE FINALLY ENDS” →

Kathleen (nee Woodworth) Sisco, GCHS Alum, Class of 1963

Kathleen M. Sisco (nee Woodworth) ….On July 12, 2007 went Home to Heaven one day after her 62 Birthday of Gloucester City. Formerly of Bellmawr. Loving daughter of the late Sarah \”Sadie\” Woodworth (nee Wall). Beloved mother of Jill R. Ruggieri and husband John of Bellmawr and Ted F. Sisco and his wife Loretta of Westville. Cherished mom-mom of Jack and Jason Ruggieri. Dear Sister of Stan Woodworth and his wife Beverly of Moorestown.

Kathleen was a longtime resident of Gloucester City and was a 1963 Graduate of Gloucester Catholic High School. She lived many years in Bellmawr and worked as a claims processor at CIGNA Insurance in Voorhees until 1993. Kathleen was very devoted to her family and had many wonderful friendships throughout her entire life.

Relatives and friends are kindly invited to attend her viewing on Monday Evening from 7 to 9 pm and Tuesday morning from 9 am to 10 am at the McCANN-HEALEY FUNERAL HOME: 851 Monmouth Street, (at Brown Street) Gloucester City.

Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated 10:30 am Saint Mary\’s R.C. Church: 426 Monmouth Street, Gloucester City. Interment with her mother, Sarah in Locustwood Memorial Park, Cherry Hill.

Family requests memorial donations in Kathleen\’s memory to Saint Mary\’s Catholic School: Tuition Fund: 426 Monmouth Street, Gloucester City, NJ 08030. Expressions of sympathy can be e-mailed to the family through our funeral home website www.mccannhealey.com under online obituaries of Kathleen M. Sisco.

The History of the Gloucester City Memorial Athletic Association

By Bart Rettew

THE BEGINNING – 1946

**(August 24, 2006) GLOUCESTER CITY, NJ–**The year was 1946, and World War II was over. Many veterans were now returning home to resume their lives that were interrupted by the War. A group of young, local former high school athletes got together and started what was known as, and still is, the Gloucester City Memorial Athletic Association.

The club was formally organized on Tuesday, June 18, 1946, at the Dixie Hotel at Burlington and Ridgeway streets in Gloucester, as reported by Bill Flynn, the meeting chairman. The club was named in honor of the 42 local boys who gave their lives in WWII. Since most of them were athletes or had a strong interest in athletics, it would be a living tribute to them. The Charter was presented to club president, Ralph Bracken, on October 9, 1946, by State Senator Morrisey.

The primary purpose of the club was to promote and encourage sports, and to reward the city’s best athletes in various sports. Initial membership by August of 1946 numbered 260. An emblem was adopted featuring the letter “G” bearing a “Mustang” which became the club’s nickname. The club’s initial major project was to work with the city and the Board of Education to recondition the Charles Street Stadium to provide a field for local schools and independent teams.

Continue reading “The History of the Gloucester City Memorial Athletic Association” →