The Honeywell team was comprised of mostly Honeywell employees. Honeywell was situated in South Lawrence on South Union Street, right diagonally across from where New Balance stands today and where there is a major renovation to make condos at the old Wood Mill site. This mill was once the longest woolen mill in the world.
Mike Taibbi was the manager and he was a catcher, a former star at LHS on the baseball team. Joe Jozokos was an outfielder/first baseman, this after being an all-everything athlete at Lawrence High, I’m pretty sure his football ability and all around talent in sports at the school secured him in the LHS Hall of Fame.
His son Matt was a fine qb for Larry Klimas at Methuen High and later became a major college passer at Plymouth State College. Matt is the first high schooler to have his jersey retired in that school’s history. All this while battling asthma and could be seen taking a whiff of his inhaler at many hoop games.
Joe and Klimas were team mates at LHS, Dan Fournier was a utility man and Frank “Dixie” Dugan was an outfielder. He is retired now from Bay State Gas and after serving politically in North Andover he still lives in Turkeytown. His brother Pete now a retired fireman was a good local boxer in his youth.
Fred Sciuto now a Haverhillite is retired and was a great fan of youth basketball and loved watching his daughters play for Sacred Hearts. Eddie Griffin was an outfielder who came from So. Lawrence. Jim Hamel was a reserve.
Charlie Guido now of Arizona was an outfielder then he was a reserve policeman for the Lawrence Department. He and good buddies Kevin Sullivan the former Mayor, Mickey McGuire the Mayor’s Aide formed a coaching staff that taught many young girls how to play softball at an early age. Guido’s son Charlie Jr was a fine LHS football player and tough as nails. He also was an excellent hockey player who still plays the game as a volunteer when the Police Athletic League brings in the Boston Bruins for a charity to aid the PAL.
Pete Hemingway was a utility player and so was Bobby Shattuck who opened a printing shop and later retired. Jim Carney from Lowell was a reserve and brother Kenny Carney was a fine outfielder with great speed and a pretty good hitter. They had a brother who is still talked about when area boxers are mentioned, he was the Mickey Ward of his day and did fight in the Golden Gloves.
Ronnie Davis was a big strong right handed pitcher from Haverhill and not many pitchers had the speed he could bring. He had arms like tree trunks and he used them both as a pitcher and a hitter. A great and jovial guy Ronnie looked sometime like he didn’t care but I’ll assure you he was a competitor. He hit some of the longest home runs I’ve ever see. He was at his best when pitching in a tournament and probably with a more experienced team like the Chez When or Turn Hall. The whole league was shocked when Ronnie suddenly passed away and also perplexed at how such a big strong guy could so quickly die.
Ed Levesque, Kevin Rourke and Nick Liapis all were reserves for the newcomers to this league. The Honeywells knew when they came into the league that they were heavy underdogs but they came ready to play at all times. Facing the Chez When, the Sargents who all had veteran teams presented no problem to these guys. With guys like McLeod, Burkhart, Rimas, Krausse et all would have some teams ready to pack it in but as I say these guys came to play and were hoping to win a playoff spot. It was not to be however, but they gained the respect of every one of their opponents.
Remember if you are driving, make sure you have a car.
