Al Briede ('40)

Al Briede

Al starts the 2013 Gold Cup Race
in City Park

Albert Briede III ('40) finally got a chance to pitch for St. Aloysius his senior year.

• The school hadn't fielded a baseball team for several years until the squad was reinstated for good in 1940 with Danny Lyons as coach. But even then, the squad didn't compete in the Prep league.
• Lyons, who also coached the basketball team during his one year on Esplanade Avenue, resigned near the end of April to take a job with General Motors. So Brother Ralph took over the diamond club just as he would become head man on the hardwood and lead the Crusaders to their first-ever state basketball championship in 1941.
• A righthander, Briede won the first game of the abbreviated season May 7 at Gulf Coast Military Academy in Gulfport, 5-4. The Aloysian described Al as a pitcher who has a speedy smokeball but who is a bit wild as yet. The Crusaders also beat GCMA in New Orleans 3-2 a week later with junior Charlie D'Antoni getting the win. Football star Johnny Campora started the next two contests as SA ended the abbreviated season with a 2-2 record.
• Aloysius fielded a team in the American Legion summer league, but Briede was ineligible because of the 17 age limit.
  

Despite so little exposure, Al signed a contract with the St. Louis Cardinals.

• He reported in 1942 to the Williamson (WV) Red Birds in the Class C Mountain State League and also spent time with the Mobile Shippers in the Class B Southeastern League, pitching in two games before re­porting for military duty.
• He returned to baseball in 1944 with Zanesville of the Class D Ohio State League, going 5-6 with a 3.54 ERA. That was good enough to get him a promotion to his hometown New Orleans Pelicans of the Class A1 Southern Association where he appeared in five games.
• Al spent the entire '45 campaign with the Pels as a reliever, twirling 48 innings in 23 games. He compiled a 4-2 record with a 6.94 ERA.
• His best year came in '46 with Natchez of the Class D Evangeline League. He won 15 and lost only 5.
• His last minor league stint came at Waco in the Class B Big State League. Unfortunately, an arm injury forced his retirement from pro baseball.
• He did, however, pitch three years in the semipro Sugar Belt League.

Al retired from baseball for good in 1952 to work at his family's Funeral Home.

• He concentrated his athletic efforts on running, which he had begun while at Aloysius.
• One of the founding members of the Ne w Orleans Road Runners (now the New Orleans Track Club), he ran in his first Turkey Day Race in 1958.
• In 1969, the Club started a three-mile race named for him. Only be­cause they ran it on my birthday, he explained. Brother Martin has sponsored the Al Briede Gold Cup race for many years.

Three of Al's sons graduated from St. Aloysius and Brother Martin.

• Albert IV (SA '69)
• Richard ('73)
• Otto ('81)

Al is still going at age 90.

Trying to capitalize on the surge of interest in basketball after World War II, the Professional Basketball League of America began play in the Fall of 1947.

• The spearhead of the league was Maurice White, owner of the Chicago Gears, the National Basketball League champions for 1946-7. He had the player in pro basketball in the person of 6'10" C George Mikan, the All-American from DePaul University.
• White rounded up other businessmen to start the 16-team league that was broken into Northern and Southern Divisions. An ambitious schedule of 60 games per team was drawn up.

The New Orleans Hurricanes, of course, competed in the Southern Division.

• The owner and coach was Herb Paillet, a member of the New Orleans Mid Winter Sports Association that produced the Sugar Bowl each year.
• The team colors were purple and gold. (Where on earth did Paillet get that combination?)
• One member of the Hurricanes was Milton "Whitey" Jackson ('42), who had played for St. Aloysius's first state championship team in 1941 and also for Loyola. At 6'3" 190 lb, Whitey was the starting C.

The Hurricanes began the season the road.

• October 30: They lost in Birmingham to the Skyhawks 51-42 before a crowd of 800.
• The next night, they beat the Chattanooga Majors 75-57 with 300 in attendance.
• Playing their third game in as many nights, the Canes edged Louisville's Colonels 51-49.
• The trip continued on November 3 with a 58-53 victory at Waterloo IA over the Pro-Hawks before an estimated 1000 patrons.
• The three-game winning streak ended in St. Paul with a 67-56 defeat at the hands of the Saints before 1,825.
• November 7 brought a 97-65 execution at the hands of the Gears in the Windy City as Mikan scorched the nets for 31.
• The trip mercifully ended the next night with a 67-62 loss to the Grand Rapids Rangers.

The November 10 New Orleans Item announced the opening of the Hurricanes' home stand at the Coliseum Arena uptown.

• The Tulsa Ranchers would come to town on the 11th, followed by Grand Rapids on the 15th and the St. Joseph (MO) Outlaws on the 19th.
• The Ranchers won the first contest 50-46.
• The other two games were never played as the league disbanded on November 13.
• Underfunded and too far flung, the PBLA couldn't compete with three other pro leagues, including the Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball which merged in 1949 to form the National Basketball Association.
• Whitey finished the eight-game slate with a 5.1 ppg average. He placed fifth in one category - fouls committed.

Undeterred, Paillet obtained a franchise in the Southern Basketball League for 1948-9 and renamed his team the "Sports."

• That league had played its complete eight-team schedule in '47-8 but dropped down to five teams the following season, the other four being the Montgomery Rebels, Birmingham Steelers, Laurel Oilers, and Nashville Vols.
• Fellow Crusader and Loyolan Sammy Trombatore ('41) joined Jackson on the team.
• Playing their home games at the new Lyons Center on Louisiana Avenue, the Sports finished last with a 7-24 record.
• One noteworthy game during the season came on January 30 in New Orleans when Bobby Lowther, former LSU star, scored a league-record 41 points as Montgomery trounced the Sports 111-81. Alex Athis, former Warren Easton and Tulane standout, led the Sports with 28.
• The league didn't quite finish its schedule, cancelled its playoffs, and was never heard from again.

George Mikan, NBA Hall of Famer

Milton "Whitey" Jackson

Sammy Trombatore, All-Stater 1941

• Jason Sanchez ('88) didn't play on any team other than the chess team at Brother Martin, but he did attend many athletic events as a reporter for the Martin Crusader.
• He began keeping statistics for the women's basketball team as a freshman at Tulane. He couldn't work for the men's team until the following year because the school had shut down that program because of a gambling scandal. He also compiled stats for Green Wave volleyball, football, and baseball.
• Jason later served as the Sports Editor of the Hullabaloo at Tulane.

• The first football stats software came in 1989 from a company called The Automated Scorebook (which exists today as Stat Crew software).
• Jason was one of the first to use software developed in 1991 at the University of Louisville. Amazingly, that same MS-DOS program is still used today throughout the country and at the Final Four!

He began working at Saints games while still an undergrad.

• He would do "talent stats," which involves giving the TV announcers statistical tidbits during the game to use on-air. He also worked in the production truck keeping stats and helping build the graphics on the tv screen.
• The NFL had its own program called SuperStat that was developed by a subsidiary company.

After spending a number of years overseas (more on that later), Jason returned to New Orleans in August 2001.

• The person in charge of stats for both Tulane and the Saints had just moved away. So within a few days of returning to town, Jason's alma mater as well as the Saints hired him.
• Several years later, he was hired by the Hornets. He also did stats for the local Arena Football team for awhile.

The NFL utilizes two computers in parallel to keep statistics during games.

• The primary inputter tries to keep up with the plays. Jason monitors what is entered and correct errors using the other computer. As he explains:

Alan Thriffiley '95

Tim Thriffiley '82

• Alan Thriffiley ('95) has kept the scorebook at most games for the last four seasons (2008-12). (Yes, the official statistics are still kept the old-fashioned way. Suppose the computer system crashes?)
• Alan's father, Alan Sr. ('71), was a manager for the first two Brother Martin basketball teams, both of which won the state championship.
• Alan Jr. began keeping stats while a sophomore in high school - for the UNO volleyball team.
• He worked for the LSU Athletic Department while in school there. He did sports information for the women's volleyball and men's tennis teams and worked game nights for almost every sport. He learned to program the graphics boards for baseball and softball. His senior year he ran the men's basketball computer system.
• After graduation, Alan returned to the New Orleans area and now works at the LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans.
• He freelanced for the Zephyrs for the 2002 season. In that capacity he met Bob Remy, longtime NBA stat man going back to the Jazz. Bob called on him first to work the Hornets' draft. Alan met Jason through Bob.
• Alan traveled with the Hornets in 2008 when they played preseason games in Barcelona and Berlin. While in Europe, he teamed up with Jeff Rossi ('96), who worked for the NBA at the time.
• Alan has also worked for ESPN, Fox, NBC, and Saints radio broadcasts. His favorite job has been talent stats (as explained in Part I of this article). He has also helped with graphics in the production truck. One time, Alan was pressed into service for the NFL Network telecast of a Saints-Cowboys game when a crew member got snowed in in Philadelphia. He has also worked for half the NFL teams on their radio broadcasts in the Superdome. His favorite visiting announcer is Gene Deckerhoff of Tampa Bay, whom he has assisted six or seven times.
• Alan had fun working with the Saints radio crew for the 2011 season. He doesn't know yet whether he'll do that for the 2012 season.

Two other Crusaders work for the Hornets.

• John DiMaggio (SA '60) keeps the game clock. While the officials themselves start the clock and it stops automatically when a whistle is blown, John must be ready to take over instantly should there be a malfunction. He has traveled to other NBA arenas to do the clock as part of neutral crews for playoff games.
• Tim Thriffiley ('82), Alan's uncle, started in 2007-8 by replacing Alan on the scorebook when the latter couldn't make it. Tim's primary responsibility for 2011-12 was the scoreboard.

Little Joe Martina, son of the former and ex-Aloysius star, is in charge of the recreation program in North Carolina.

His cousin, Karl K. Martina, another ex-Aloysius ace, has saved 837 lives.

This outstanding accomplishment was done during his services as life guard at the City Park pool. After graduating from Aloysius, Karl played pro baseball in the Evangeline League and then took over the duties at the pool. He served there 11 consecutive years and then served three years in the US Navy.

For the past three years he has been on duty in the City Park pool, saving lives nearly every day.

It was on July 4 of this year that he achieved his highest goal. He rescued six in the first hour. Throughout the day, a total of nine swimmers were rescued. During the season this year he rescued 38 swimmers.