Area’s best football player list grows with addition of Moselle

• Lance & Billy

Lance & Billy

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The following is another “Have Fun or Get Out of the Way” column by award-winning Don Leighton and Mike Granlund and their alter egos, Lance Boyle and Billy Pirkola, which runs occasionally in The Superior Telegram.

Well, the fire has been extinguished at our corporate offices located in the broom closet at the Superior Telegram Ogden Avenue Complex. The damage to the Lance and Billy computer, insured by a guy named Lloyd who lives in London, should be covered for full replacement.

This special piece of equipment was obtained at midnight from the trunk of a 1956 Buick Roadmaster from an individual of questionable character. We paid top price for this state-of-the-art computer to assist in the naming of the area football players of all-time. We are waiting for the adjuster, Lloyd’s brother, to arrive from across the pond to assess the damages.

While we are force to wait, a few more names have surfaced. One name has been awaited since the beginning of this Herculean task that many have called “impossible.” We will endeavor.

A graduate of Superior Senior High School in 1975 and a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Superior in 1979, this young man excelled as a three-sport athlete in baseball, football and basketball (he was a member of the 1974 state basketball championship team).

During his collegiate career he was a two-way player for Mertz Mortorelli playing on the defensive and offensive lines. He was selected twice to the All-WSUC team and once to the All District team as an offensive lineman. (He was also All WSUC in baseball.)

After college, he had a tryout with the Chicago Bears and made it to the last cut. Most offensive linemen are behemoths of men, but our Superior native was lean, mean and fundamentally as sound as you could get.

The quarterback’s at Chicago were Bob Avellini, Mike Phipps and Vince Evans. One of his linemates was the great Noah Jackson, who played 10 years with Chicago. They also had a running back that wasn’t too bad. Let’s see if I can remember his name, oh yeah, Walter Payton, arguably one of the greatest running backs of all-time.

When released by the Bears, he could have probably played for another team in the NFL, but he decided to return to Superior to pursue his coaching and teaching career at SSHS. By now you probably know to whom I am referring, he’s not happy that I have written this piece because he is the most humble and unassuming person and great athlete I have ever met. (I’m not just saying this so he won’t kill me the next time I see him, either, I really mean what I am saying.)

Mark Moselle was an outstanding football and baseball player for SSHS and UWS. His father, Dom, was a long-time coach at UWS and a member of the NFL world championship Cleveland Browns in 1950. For a time he was an assistant coach at SSHS and is currently a physical education teacher the high school.

We have received a ton of names throughout this effort from the 1980’s to the present. Moselle played in the 1970’s which, for some reason, has not been well represented. With the final choices to be named after Jan. 1, our list of nominees would not have been complete without Moselle. Sorry, Mark, I had to do it.

“Mark was an outstanding athlete in all three sports he played, football, basketball and baseball,” said Larry Hoff, Moselle’s football coach at SSHS. “Yes, one of the best all-around athletes Superior has produce and even a better person. Quality all the way around.

“In my opinion, Mark ranks as one of the top three linemen to ever play for Superior since I’ve been involved in Superior football which goes back to 1970. He takes a back seat to no one. He had a great career at UWS and almost made the pros. If they specialized back then, there’s no question he’d made the team as a long snapper. After his return to Superior I was fortunate to have him as our offensive line coach for many years. There again, one of the best. Opposing coaches marveled at how disciplined and technically sound our line play was back then. All due to Mark and later on Rick Kennelly, another great lineman.”

Hoff added that Moselle played on one of the best teams he ever coached.

“We’re overlooked because we were only 7-2, losing to a powerful Moorhead team in overtime and we laid an egg against Duluth Central in overtime,” Hoff said. “No one to blame that one on but me. We did beat the No. 1 team in Minnesota that year, Richfield, who was unbeaten an unscored on at the time. (That is a story in itself.) No playoffs back then, but we were No. 1 in Wisconsin until the overtime losses.

“In short, Mark was a great, great athlete, as well as a person and I am truly honored to call him a friend.”

My meager attempt to explain how good Moselle was pales in comparison to that of a great coach who had him as a player. Thank you, coach Hoff.

*** *** ***

A voice from the past has surfaced. Walt Mozinski, a longtime friend who I have not seen in 25 years, sent me a letter from Arizona, where and his lovely wife currently reside.

I have misplaced this letter, so I am asking Walt, who is a dedicated reader, to e-mail me at the address at the end of the article or contact me through the Telegram at 715-395-5023.

Walt had some great names from the vault of Cathedral football greats.

Just to clear up any misconceptions from the “Team That Never Was” article of last week, this piece was representing the team that could have been when SSHS was scheduled to open in 1964. With East and Central ceasing to exist as high schools, the combined forces of these two schools would have been legendary.

Cathedral was not included in this article because they existed until 1969. Had they closed at the same time as East and Central, then their great players would have been included in the article. I hope this clears up any confusion.

Another piece of housecleaning: Our computer’s last suggestion before the sparks, flames and smoke appeared was to add a consideration that had not been considered. This will be revealed in the next article and concerns our all-time list. Thanks, readers.

Correction

In last week’s Have Fun or get out of the Way article, “The Team That Never Was,” the quote of Pat Walsh regarding East High School’s football team was in two parts. The second part was mistakenly contributed to Mark Fitzgerald. Lance and Billy apologize for the error.

Opinions and/or story ideas can be e-mailed to dleigh1273@aol.com or wgranlund@centurytel.net

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