1968 Baseball Team
1968 Baseball Team
Coach Richard Kelliher came to Avon High in 1967 and assumed the head coaching duties for a languishing baseball program that season. He brought with him his own College World Series experience as a player for the University of Maine and the wisdom of legendary University of Maine head baseball coach Jack Butterfield. The Falcons were crowned the 1968 Class C state champions with a record of 16-3 in Coach Kelliher’s second season. The 1968 Falcon roster, captained by Dennis Daly and Paul Potanka, included 10 seniors, eight of which were returning lettermen from Coach Kell’s first AHS ’67 team. Richard Migli returned as a sophomore. The roster was balanced out with an additional two juniors and three sophomores. Avon, a Class C school, had recently joined the Northwest Conference which was comprised of larger Class B schools including archrivals Simsbury and Farmington. The Northwest Conference played nine inning games while other the Class C conferences in the state played only seven inning games. Regardless of the nine-inning format, the Falcons won the Northwest Conference championship with a record of 13-3 and qualified for the Class C state tournament. Four senior players, Kevin McMahon, Ray Heath, Paul Potanka and Bill Loeffler, dominated the All-Northwest Conference team voting. Coach Kell’s winning approach quickly shaped the team into a spirited and balanced unit by carefully blending starting veterans and role players. With no idle time at practice, fundamentals were reinforced, and defensive situations endlessly simulated. Coach Kell showed the team how to make the routine plays, how to win, and importantly how to have plenty of fun doing it. The powerful offense scored 118 times with the solid defense holding opponents to just 60 runs. With a team batting average of .254, the battling Falcons had five come-from-behind victories and were shutout only once in 19 games. Three starting hitters batted above .300: Kevin McMahon (.353), Bill Loeffler (.311), and Paul Potanka (.306). Bill Severni, a pitcher, batted .412. Bill Loeffler hit safely in 15 of 16 games including a 10-game hitting streak and had team leading highs of 23 hits, 17 RBIs and 11 stolen bases. The entire pitching staff of only three players finished the 16-3 season with a staff ERA (earned run average) of 1.53, featuring Ray Heath (9-1, 1.29 ERA, 84 innings pitched, 86 strikeouts), Tom Griffin (5-0, 1.39 ERA, 39 IP, 35 SO) and Bill Severni (2-2, 1.89 ERA, 43 IP, 29 SO). All three pitchers started games and pitched in relief. Catcher Paul Potanka managed the staff that struck out 150 while walking only 41 in 166 innings. Meanwhile, Potanka threw out 60% of base runners attempting to steal (6 of 10 attempts in 166 innings). They just wouldn’t run on Potanka. The Class C state tournament saw the Falcons run the table with three straight wins enroute to the championship. Outscoring opponents by a combined score of 13-2, the Falcons defeated Bolton, 2-1, Washington High, 8-0, and Cromwell, 3-1. Washington entered the tournament undefeated, and Cromwell was returning to the title game for the third time in three years. Pitcher Ray Heath tossed all three tournament wins over a 10-day period. Heath threw three complete seven inning games, giving up just one earned run in 21 innings of work. These included a no-hit victory against Bolton, a two-hitter against Washington, and a four-hitter against Cromwell in the state final. The championship game at Muzzy Field in Bristol was clinched with a bases-clearing double by Bill Loeffler. Nine of ten graduating seniors went on the attend four-year academic colleges, including Kevin McMahon, who played in the 1972 College World Series for the University of Mississippi.
Team Roster
Dennis Daly Senior IB, Co-Captain
Paul Potanka Senior C, Co-Captain
Ray Heath Senior P
Kevin McMahon Senior 2B
Bill Loeffler Senior SS
Gordon Britt Senior 3B
Paul Salvatore Senior LF
Jack Hollfelder Senior RF
Myles Glynn Senior IF / OF
Don Farnell Senior IF
Tom Griffin Junior P
Bruce Thompson Junior IF
Richard Migli Soph. CF
William Severni Soph. Pitcher
George Clarke Sophomore C / OF
Tom Gaisford Sophomore IF
Head Coach Richard P. Kelliher
Team Manager John Brunoli