Passing of a Giant- Henry Littlefield- 2000

To: Al Bevilaqua- Wrestling Coach, historian, writer, and colleague of Henry Littlefield.

Dear Al- Thank you very much for you wonderful release. It warmed my heart to see an important part of his magnificent coaching record brought to light again. It is hard to believe that it has been 33 years since I was up at Niagara University, witnessing the last MVHS coaching effort of the great man. Though a partisan, I always regarded Henry's record as second to none in Section I and maybe anywhere else. He had no worlds left to conquer. In six regular seasons he coached and won five straight Section I titles 1963-4-5-6-7, 4 or 5 Division titles and 4 or 5 holiday titles. (I shall take credit for one of those holiday titles. Someone didn't count one of our high placings, a 2nd or 3rd in one of the weight classes, and just before the trophy was about to be given over to another coach and school, I ran over to Coach Littlefield, whispered in his ear and gave him the new count. It was our closest call.) MVHS was undefeated in Section I competition for those five years, won the unofficial State Section title in 1966-7 and produced in five years over 25 Section I Champions. In fact, in two back-to-back years, MVHS had 18 wrestlers in the finals and came away with 9 champs. Counting the holiday tournament, the division, Sections and the States, Henry produced over 60 champions. Henry accomplished this unparallel record without the benefit of a junior high school program and the limitation of a three-year high school. Many of his great champions; Jimmy Lee, Howie Wilson, Ricky O'Daniel, Alex Cunningham, Doug Garr, Jim Hardy, Mitchell Gurdus, John Carlucci, Mike Viggiano, Ray Johnson, Mario Criscione and Bob Panoff had barely 3 years of competitive wrestling. He was a master of drilling, isometrics, technique and adaptability. He was always the great teacher. After our only loss in the 1962-3 season to Freeport, he realized that his team had been beaten by the chicken-wing/ half-nelson. No one had ever been taught the counter! No MVHS team ever suffered from that hold again. (This is just from memory, when I have time I will look up the actual numbers, which I have.) Those years were truly marvelous and never to be forgotten. He was able to turn a group of poor kids from the two high schools, Davis and Edison, into a cohesive and caring group. Never once, in the years that I witnessed his coaching, did I ever see him lose his temper, raise his voice or experience back talk or grousing from his men. Never once did I see him lose his “cool” around the mat, never once did I ever see him “bait” a referee. The officials loved and respected him and his judgment. They all knew that he was the “master”. His opponents, coaches and wrestlers flocked to him for guidance and words of wisdom. Our wrestling room was always open to alumni from MVHS and the rest of Section I.

I saw many, many former opponents listening with rapt attention at the foot of the “master”. He treated them as men, as competitors and as worthy foe. It wasn't long before they became his “grapplers”. When Mount Vernon won its State Section title in 1967, I witnessed a rare event in sports. Virtually all of the other champions and near champions flocked to his side. They wanted to be in the pictures with the great Littlefield and his team of stars; including the great and unparallel Jimmy Davis, the lightweights; Alex Cunningham, Doug Garr, and Mario Criscione. To me it was a magic moment burned in my mind's eye. Who know that that night would be the end of his fabulous run? Of course, the dynasty continued for a number of years with his marvelous protégés Randy Forrest and Jimmy Lee. As much as I loved them both, it was never quite the same. Henry's big shadow always remained omnipresent and his twelve league boots could never really be filled.