Sports, Ink

Tom Borrelli remembered

Today is the one-year anniversary of the death of our Buffalo News sports colleague Tom Borrelli. Tom passed away 12 days after suffering a fall while climbing a ladder to cover a high school football game.

Members of the sports department are going to gather later this afternoon to remember our late friend, and no doubt to swap some stories about "the Ox" and his unique sense of humor.

Tom's father, George Borrelli, has an essay in today's Buffalo News about the decision that Tom made to have doctors remove him from the ventilator that was keeping him alive. Tom couldn't bear to continue living that way, his father writes.

Tom also made the decision to donate his organs after his passing, so that others might go on living.

You can read George Borrelli's piece by clicking here.

—Greg Connors

This Day in Buffalo Sports History: Perfection

   Nov. 20, 1897 -- It's not as if the 2008 University at Buffalo football team is the only one in school history to enjoy a great season. It's just that sometimes the best seasons go a little ways back.

   On this date, UB completed a perfect 7-0 season with a 28-0 win over Hobart. Other victims that year were Niagara, Syracuse and Western Reserve. The manager of the team that year was E.J. Meyer, and the coach was C.W. Dibble. It was a rapid rise to success, as the program had only started in 1894. In fact, the team needed a couple of years to get permission to play its games on UB's campus. That was better than its first home, a baseball field on East Ferry.

--- Budd Bailey

Running notebook: Less than a week away

If you didn't notice, last Saturday was another good November day for running. So it's no surprise that the turnout for the two area races was quite good.

The Lindsay's Legacy run attracted 517 finishers. The race has found a nice niche in mid-November, in part because it's always been very well run. Not many races give out a gym bag and a mug for those registering. Meanwhile, the Maritime March downtown had 147 finishers in its first outing -- a very good start.

Attention is starting to shift to next week's Turkey Trot, one of the highlights of the season. The last report I received was that applications were coming in ahead of last year's record rate. (No, women's pioneer Maryann Bolles isn't coming out of retirement for this one, but she'll no doubt be paying attention.)

In the meantime, though, there's one race on the weekend schedule. The "Trottin' With Jesus" race will go off at 11 a.m. Saturday at Grace Lutheran Church in Hamburg.

--- Budd Bailey

This Day in Buffalo Sports History: Beefing up the defense

   Nov. 19, 1986 -- The Buffalo Sabres were a team that was used to success. Therefore, they were in a quandry about their status a few weeks into the 1986-87 season.

   Buffalo was staring up at the rest of the NHL after the worst start in team history. It has added Clark Gillies and Wilf Paiement on waivers earlier in the season, but the roster needed reinforcements. So general manager Scott Bowman sent a second-round draft choice to Montreal for defenseman Tom Kurvers.

   The veteran was a Hobey Baker Trophy winner at Minnesota-Duluth, and he had more than two years of experience in the NHL at the time of the deal. Kurvers didn't hurt the team; he had 23 points in 55 games. However, the Sabres still finished last overall.

   The following summer, Buffalo got its reward for a terrible 1986-87 in the form of Pierre Turgeon. Kurvers was sent to New Jersey for a third-round draft choice. From there, it was on to the Maple Leafs, Canucks, Islanders and Mighty Ducks. You really know your hockey if you can name his last pro team -- Seibu in the Japanese league. Kurvers had 18 goals and 34 assists for 52 points there.

--- Budd Bailey

This Day in Buffalo Sports History: Beat Toronto

   Nov. 18, 1970-- It was a game that Punch Imlach had been waiting months to play.

   Imlach was the new coach and general manager of the Buffalo Sabres, having been fired by the Toronto Maple Leafs more than a year before that. It's fair to say he couldn't wait to go to his old stomping grounds and play the Leafs in Maple Leaf Gardens. In fact, he had a sign in his office that made the point rather nicely. It read: "Beat Toronto."

   Imlach had tuned up his roster with veterans in the days before the game. Then he went into the locker room in Toronto just before the first-ever game between the teams and said that if the team won that contest, the players wouldn't have to pay any outstanding fines. The players were delighted, and inspired.

   Imlach received a long standing ovation when he appeared behind the Buffalo bench. Then his players took to the ice and thrashed the Leafs, 7-2. By the end of the night, even Toronto's fans were cheering Buffalo goals. Roger Crozier made 40 saves to lead the Sabres And a rivalry was born.

--- Budd Bailey

This Day in Buffalo Sports History: Alive and kicking at the Aud

   Nov. 17, 1979 -- Something of a new era was about to start in Buffalo's sports history, and today marked the first sign that it was going to come to pass.

   The Buffalo Stallions were an expansion entry in the Major Indoor Soccer League. On this date, the Stallions played their first game in history, an exhbition contest against the Philadelphia Fever.

   That first Stallions team had an interesting collection of talent. Its first acquisition was Jim May, a goalie who had played outdoor soccer in Rochester. But general manager/coach Sal DeRosa headed to Yugoslavia to acquire talent for the team. He came back with Slobodan Jankovic, Iubo Petrovic and Stan Karasi. It also had Jim Sinclair, who turned out to be the rookie of the year.

    And give yourself 10 points if you recognized the title of this article as coming from the Stallions' theme song.

--- Budd Bailey

This Day in Buffalo Sports History: Bodger departs

   Nov. 16, 1995-- When the Buffalo Sabres were eliminated in ugly fashion from the playoffs in 1995 from Philadelphia, they figured to launch a rebuilding program. That meant many of the veterans who had been with the team for the previous few seasons were headed elsewhere. The most obvious sign of that was when Alexander Mogilny had gone to Vancouver for three players that summer.

   In November, another shoe dropped. Buffalo sent defenseman Doug Bodger to San Jose in a three-way deal that also involved Philadelphia. The Sabres picked up Vaclav Varada, prospect martin Spanhel, a fourth-round pick in 1996 (Mike Martone) and a first-round pick in 1996 (Erik Rasmussen).

   Bodger was an interesting case. He came up to the NHL in 1984 as an 18-year-old defenseman and displayed a maturity well beyond his years. Bodger had some offensive skills but still wasn't too bad at all in his own end. He came to the Sabres in the Tom Barrasso deal, and seemed to plateau a bit.

   By 1995, Bodger's play had started to decline a little, and the Sabres did well to get such a large package for him. Varada proved to be a good pest for a few years on the checking line, but Rasmussen never did live up to his supposed potential.

--- Budd Bailey

This Day in Buffalo Sports History: Unbeaten no more

   Nov. 15, 1964 -- Any hopes the 9-0 Buffalo Bills might have had about an undefeated season
came to an end in War Memorial Stadium on this date. The Bills were outscored, 15-0, by the
Patriots in the final quarter as Boston recorded a 36-28 victory.

   It was a see-saw game, which saw the Bills hold leads of 10-0 and 28-14. Gino Cappelletti caught three touchdown passes and kicked four extra points for the Patriots. Ed Rutkowski caught six passes for the Bills.

   It was a big win for the Patriots, who had defeated the Bills in a playoff game for the AFL East title the previous season and stayed within hailing distance of Buffalo (Boston was 7-2-1, Buffalo 9-1) in the division race with the win in '64.

--- Budd Bailey

Bandits notebook: Bom ... Bom ... Bomberry gone

   Teams are starting to put together their rosters for the upcoming season, and former Bandit Cory Bomberry is heading down the Thruway.

   Bomberry, who had been with the Bandits for the past four seasons, signed with the Rochester Knighthawks for the next two years. There he will be reunited with brother Cam, an assistant coach for Rochester.

   Bomberry was an unrestricted free agent. He had 15 goals and 36 assists for 51 points last season, and was on the Bandits' team in 2008 that won the NLL championship.

   Elsewhere, congratulations to Bandits head coach Darris Kilgour, who was inducted into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame today.

   There's also a report that the Bandits are planning an open practice at HSBC Arena on Dec. 12. That sounds about right, but we'll have to keep an eye on the team's Web site to see if it comes to pass.

--- Budd Bailey

This Day in Buffalo Sports History: A knockout performance

   Nov. 14, 1944 -- Joe Louis fought in public only once between 1942 and 1946. You guessed it -- it was in Memorial Auditorium.

   Louis had a non-title fight at the Aud against Johnny Davis. If he was looking for a little work, he didn't get it. Davis only lasted 53 seconds before losing on a TKO.

   Louis held the heavyweight boxing championship from 1937 to 1949, serving in the Army from 1942 to 1945 because of World War II.

--- Budd Bailey