By Michael Letendre

Bristol Eastern high school was opened in the late summer of 1959 and while the fall scholastic sports campaign didn’t exactly go according to plan, at least in terms of football, the Lancers boys basketball program was ready for its maiden season.

Walt Anston’s BE football crew did not win a game that year, but there was some enthusiasm that the boys basketball team would turn things around.

However, the hoops campaign was already off to an uncertain start thanks to a massive brawl that involved Bristol Central’s football team the month prior.

Sounds strange? How could a football game fracas change the course of the Lancers basketball program?

It will all make sense at the conclusion of this story as part one of this unique saga dives into the formation of the Bristol Eastern basketball program and the Muzzy Field melee.

Setting the Stage

In 1959, the Bristol High School population was broken up into two schools with a new facility erected on King Street across from Dewitt Page Park, and Bristol Eastern was born.

Bristol Central continued to use the Boulevard location as its high school, and the scholastic sports programs within the city limits instantly doubled in size.

That meant two football programs and, later in the winter, two boys basketball teams.

And Eastern was looking forward to a little hardwood success as the football season did not turn out as intended at the school.

The Lancers went 0-9 in 1959 and totaled just 40 points that year – outscored by more than 26 points-per-game on average.

On Thanksgiving, Central blasted Eastern by a 14-0 score, but with the basketball season fast approaching, there was hope of a turnaround by the Kingstreeters on the hardwood.

However, Central’s football game just before the Thanksgiving tilt against Eastern turned into a violent encounter when Maloney of Meriden visited Bristol.

The First Bristol Eastern Basketball Coach

The new Eastern program turned to former UCONN men’s basketball standout Burr Carlson (1928-2018) as its first coach.

And Carlson had a resume that stacked up with any scholastic coach in the Hartford area.

Eastern’s first coach grew up in Bethel, played basketball collegiately at Central Connecticut State University, but eventually transferred to the University of Connecticut to play his final season of ball.

Carlson was an excellent forward for both Connecticut basketball programs.

As a sophomore at CCSU, he averaged nearly 20 points over 22 games, but Carlson wanted to play for legendary coach Hugh Greer at UCONN.

After sitting out one season as a transfer, Carlson hit the court at UCONN and had a huge season in his final year of eligibility.

For the Huskies, Carlson average a double-double of 12.6 points and 14.5 rebounds-per-game in 1951-52.

UCONN ended up going 20-7 overall and won the Yankee Conference Championship while Carlson was named a First Team Yankee Conference All-Star.

After graduating with an Undergraduate Degree in Physical Education, the Philadelphia Warriors plucked him as the 32nd overall pick in the 1952 NBA draft (fifth round, fourth pick).

Carlson was the first player ever drafted from the UCONN program, a legitimate talent at forward with size to boot (6-foot-6, 190 pounds)

Don’t forget, Carlson was also drafted by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1945.

However, professional sports weren’t part of his future plans.

Carlson served in the military throughout his life, enlisting in the army from 1953-55 but still played basketball for the Lancaster, Pennsylvania squad of the Eastern Professional Basketball League on the weekends.

The Eastern League was renamed several times over the years and eventually became the Continental Basketball Association (CBA), the league the Hartford Hellcats became a part of in the 1993.

After his commitment to the army concluded, the Warriors were interested in Carlson but couldn’t offer him any money or a guaranteed contract. That was a dealbreaker for the Connecticut native.

He instead went into teaching and coaching at the scholastic level.

Carlson coached basketball at Rockville high school and then moved onto Hall in West Hartford.

And in 1959, Carson was tasked to mentor the upstart Eastern hoops program.

After four years as the coach of the Lancers’ team, he moved on to UCONN as an assistant coach under Fred Shabel and then Carlson led the Huskies himself from 1967-69.

Carlson went 11-13 in his first season as UConn’s head coach and was 16-32 overall, leaving the program after two collegiate campaigns.

But before UCONN, Carlson and the Lancers were getting ready for their first collaboration, though the brand new gym was not finished when practice commenced.

The Central/Maloney Football Fight

On a rainy Saturday in mid-November, the Bristol Central football team squared off against undefeated Maloney in a Central Connecticut Interscholastic League confrontation from Muzzy Field.

The game saw the Spartans win the CCIL title by a 14-0 final, but in the fourth quarter of the showdown, mayhem ensued.

Several players were ejected over the final period of play and with a six seconds left in the game, tensions boiled over into an ugly scene.

Central quarterback Jimmy Nocera threw an incomplete pass but was attacked by three Maloney players after the miss.

One of Nocera’s teammates tried to intervene but the Maloney bench emptied, running onto the field while Central’s reserve players were successfully held back.

It was ten minutes of pure havoc as 15 police officers and several fans attempted to break up the fighting and restore order.

The contest was immediately called, Maloney (8-0) earned the victory and the CCIL title, and police had to escort the Meriden team out of Muzzy Field.

It was the first incident on record between the two schools, but the damage had been done.

The squads from Bristol and Meriden had been regular scholastic opponents since 1926 when the CCIL was formed.

But very quickly, that relationship was about to dissolve.

And, by the time the winter campaign came around, the major sports programs at Bristol Eastern had two fewer opponents on its schedules.

Tomorrow, we’ll learn about Bristol’s decision on the Maloney situation – as well as the formation of Eastern’s first basketball team – in part two of this unique story.