August 31, 2022 By Mark Blaudschun
They are no longer the boys of summer, but the memories carry the scent of freshness, like it happened last week instead of last year.
Yet, remarkably 45 summers have come and gone at Hingham High School since that magical fall when the Harbormen turned in a season which came a victory short of perfection.
That, however, is not the main chapter of this story. The Harbormen relived again last weekend at the South Shore Country Club where members of that team held another reunion.
What makes it special was that no fewer than 10 of those players moved on to the next level of college football, which is a remarkable percentage.
Time has taken its toll as well. Of a class of more than 450 people, only about five players from the football team were at South Shore Country club last weekend.
One of those was Bill Genovese, who runs his own insurance company in Hingham. "It's a bit disappointing,'' said Genovese, a linebacker whose route out of Hingham included a stop at Choate and then to Middlebury College in Vermont. "But there were a few of us and we told some stories of course.''
Genovese had no problem delving into his memory for some highlight moments.
"We really had a good team,'' he said. "But we were scheduled to play a game against BC High, which was good as usual. They were the No.1 team in the state and the Globe picked them to beat us 36-0. That really got us going. We won 40-0.''
The euphoria didn't last long. A series of injuries hit Hingham, and the Harbormen were knocked out of Super Bowl consideration by Silver Lake.''
Genovese said he had some offers after graduating, primarily at Maine and Holy Cross. Like many of his teammates, he felt he needed one more year and chose the prep school route.
"A lot of us did that,'' he said. "For me and my mom, it was all about education. I went to Middlebury and played for four years. I was captain my senior year.''
At that level, there was no next step in football.
Genovese graduated and embarked on a career that has spanned 40 years and brought him full circle back to Hingham.
He looks at the world of college football that exists today and shakes his head. "Of course, I wish I were still 30,'' he said with a laugh. "The kids are different today. A lot of them are filled with their own self-importance. "For me, I just wanted to play football and get an education. I did that and had fun doing it.''