Remembering The SPHS Coach They Simply Called Mosc
It has been a grey holiday season in South Plainfield. The song Blue Christmas applies in Tigertown this Christmas and New Year’s. This past week friends and colleagues said goodbye to long time teacher and coach, Bill Mosca, who passed away several days before Christmas after suffering a massive heart attack on December 15th. On the Sunday night that he had died, I had come home from seeing a full day of basketball games at the 2013 Hoop Group Tip-Off Classic, and was up late doing work when suddenly, my heart started skipping beats and fluttering. At the time, I had attributed it to a hectic week in another busy holiday season with crazy stuff going on at work. The next morning, I had learned on Facebook that there was another reason. It was Mosc saying goodbye.
Bill Mosca was a teacher of Mechanical Drawing at South Plainfield Middle School for three decades. During some of that time, he also coached basketball and baseball at South Plainfield High School. He was an assistant coach for varsity and JV coach in both of those sports. Mosca coached basketball for 10 seasons at South Plainfield High. While he didn’t enjoy much success in terms of wins and losses, he played an important role during the 1980s when the varsity basketball program underwent a roller coaster of change. Mosc was a constant during the middle of that decade when the school had three different varsity head coaches in three seasons. During his tenure, the Tigers began to climb the long road to respectability on the boys basketball court. His most successful season coaching the JV boys hoops squad was during South Plainfield’s first year in the Greater Middlesex Conference back in 1985-86.
The 1985-86 JV squad went 12-10, which was actually slightly better than the varsity team was that season (12-11). The JV team, which opened up the season with a victory at Bishop Ahr, competed in that year’s East Brunswick JV Tournament, where it lost to St. Joseph’s in the opening round. The Falcons also beat South Plainfield during the regular season as well. The JV squad that season consisted of varsity reserves such as Joe Ranno, Jimmy Kohl, Billy Cochrane and Tehran Ryles, juniors Tony Crisafulli, Joel Endick, Jimmy Parker (now the Chief of Police in South Plainfield), David Krause, and Tommy Sikanowicz, and sophomores Erik Miller, Mike Carlucci, Greg Block, Kevin Beegle, Eulas Hairston, and yours truly. During that same year, Mosca also enjoyed great success on the baseball diamond as assistant coach. The varsity team was ranked number one in the Star-Ledger Top 20 for one week late in the season.
South Plainfield would reach the Central Jersey Group II Championship Game by avenging an early season loss to Carteret with a victory over the Ramblers in the semifinals thanks to a solid pitching performance by Seton Hall bound, Phil Aiello. The Tigers would lose to Manasquan in the final though, and then to East Brunswick in the GMCT. The following year, SPHS reached the CJ Group II semis again, and once more faced Carteret, but with a different result. In a classic pitcher’s duel between Kohl and Carteret’s Mike Medvetz, the Ramblers got a couple runs late in the game, and went on to win 2-0. Returning to the 1985-86 boys basketball season, the varsity squad had high expectations that year. South Plainfield was moving into the GMC after being in the Mid-State Conference for many years, and the Tigers were pre-season ranked in the Top 10 in Middlesex County. Led by Joe Thompson, who became the all-time leading scorer at SPHS that season, and held on to that title until Marquis Jones broke his record in January 2005, the Tigers were coming off back to back 14-11 seasons under the direction of Willie Leonardi and finished second to Bridgewater-West in the Raritan Division of the Mid-State in 1984-85.
The supporting cast consisted of Jeff Missimer, John Thievon, John Kudrick, Lance Brown, Ryan Jones, Jeff Cantamessa, Ranno, Kohl, Cochrane, and Ryles. That group of varsity and JV players had great camaraderie. Something that wasn’t seen until a couple years after I graduated SPHS in 1988. Many of them were characters. Mosca was one of those characters. On game day, Mosc always wore either a purple shirt, pink sweater, a purple tie, or a combination of the three. The 1985-86 coaching staff consisted of Mosc (JV), Louis Broccoletti (Freshmen), and Norm Mopsick, who was coaching his first year of varsity basketball after coaching JV previously at Cranford. Mopsick was always a handful during basketball games thanks to the old seat belt rule. Joel Endick had the dubious task of having to sit him down when he got up off the bench, and that was often. The coaching staff itself was a cast of characters. The bus rides to and from away games were memorable, especially toward the end of that season. While my sophomore year had its share of ups and downs, it was the most enjoyable of my four years at South Plainfield.
The season started out disappointingly with the Tigers losing 10 of their first 15 games. South Plainfield lost opening night to new neighborhood rival, Bishop Ahr (61-58). There were near upsets against St. Joseph’s (lost 72-68) and Perth Amboy (lost 48-47). In the St. Joe’s game, Thompson scored 39 points, and South Plainfield led in the first quarter, 17-2, but the Falcons came back to win by four. The Amboy game went down to the wire. The Tigers executed a slow tempo game plan to perfection against the Panthers, and even though they trailed much of the game including by 10 in the second half, they battled back and had a chance to win, but a missed jump shot in the waning seconds. After failing to qualify for the CJ Group II state playoffs following a defeat to a 3-12 Metuchen squad that had a freshman named Larry Spigner score 25 points in that contest, the Tigers played like they were capable of with 7 wins in their last 8 games to finish 12-11. The only loss during that stretch was to eventual GMCT champion, Carteret in the opening round of the tourney. Thompson would break Wally Cirafesi’s scoring record in a game at St. Mary’s of South Amboy (now Cardinal McCarrick) on the last day of the season.
Mosca’s footprint on SPHS hoops resumed nearly two decades later when his nephew, Matt Baszika played for South Plainfield his senior year in 2004-05. The Tigers were just coming off its best season in school history in 2003-04 with a 27-1 record that included a second straight GMC White title, it’s first ever GMCT crown, and its first appearance in a sectional final since 1991. South Plainfield did lose quite a bit to graduation, but still had Marquis Jones and Darren Smith in the backcourt, and a talented sophomore class that had won the 2004 Perth Amboy Freshmen Tournament. Baszika would make an impact though. The Tigers limped into the GMCT after some late regular season losses on the road at Colonia (65-59) and Woodbridge (84-80 in 2OTs). South Plainfield then survived a scare against New Brunswick (60-59) that included a controversial ending in the GMCT Elite Eight. With a rematch with Colonia looming in the GMCT Final Four at Middlesex County College, Baszika rose to the occasion.
Baszika helped lead the Tigers to a 56-44 victory over Colonia to give SPHS its 7th win in the last 8 meetings against a Patriots program that had always been a thorn in the side. A key play in the contest was when Baszika got out in transition and scored on a dunk. His play and energy at both ends of the floor was the difference in that contest. South Plainfield then rode the hot hand of Darren Smith in the GMCT Championship against St. Joseph’s to the tune of 31 points including 6 three pointers, and after St. Joe’s took a one point lead with 14 seconds left on two free throws by Sean Baptiste, Marquis Jones knocked down a pull-up jumper with several seconds to play for SPHS’ second straight GMCT title. The Tigers eventually would lose in the North Jersey Section 2 Group III quarterfinals to a New Brunswick team that had lost the three other meetings between the two schools that season. South Plainfield finished the season at 19-6 to conclude a three year run with a record of 63-13, three GMC White titles, three GMCT Final Four appearances, and the two GMCT championships.
Mosca lived up to the credo of his protege and South Plainfield baseball coach, Steve Novak that “it was nice to be important, but important to be nice.” Mosc not only talked the talk when it came to that, but he also walked the walk. In a profession where coaches are more concerned with wins and losses, and often fail to really get to know all the players on a team, and their parents, Mosc was a rare breed. He took time to sit down and talk to you and your mom and dad. He gave players a ride home. He consoled you when you had a bad game. His patience and demeanor was a rare find in a coach. Just the fact that he had to put up with me for two seasons was testament enough to his patience.
Mosca also did something that most coaches then and nowadays wouldn’t do, and that was to pass up the varsity hoops coaching job. Twice the opportunity presented itself, but Mosc was content with his role as an assistant and JV coach. He was more concerned with the kids than himself, and his career. Mosca also did fun things as JV coach such as the annual JV 1-on-1 tournament and awards after each game such as best player and super sub that he posted outside the coaches office. It was appreciated by everyone he touched in life. Proof of that was the turnout at his wake, where there was a line of people extending outside McCriskin-Gustafson Funeral Home down Plainfield Ave in South Plainfield waiting for the chance to pay their respects. Not even past South Plainfield mayors or well known residents of the town had that kind of tribute. He will be sorely missed.