from left: Toby Oriolo, Butch Bianchini, Frank Barbetta, Larry Daniels, Jr.
BAAA Golf Event … a HOLE Lot of Fun
by Cate Murway

A legacy of Achievement….A Commitment to the Future

The Bristol Alumni & Athletic Association, formerly the Bristol Senior Athletic Association, has donated nearly $110,000 to deserving students with Bristol High School athletic and academic scholarships since its inception in 2004. 
Bristol has produced some great athletes, some terrific teams and powerful role models over the years!
You are cordially invited to reserve your place at the impeccably landscaped Spring Mill Country Club in historic Ivyland on Jacksonville Road for the Bristol Alumni & Athletic Association’s 12th Annual Scholarship Golf Classic on Monday, September 14, 2015.
You will find consistently challenging greens, tight fairways, and strategically placed hazards that provide a true test of golf. Come join them for TEE!

Registration for the Golf Classic is only $160.00 per person and that includes a deluxe buffet luncheon, driving range facilities and eighteen holes of golf on fine fairways and groomed greens with cart, a 4-station, full course buffet dinner, and a non-alcoholic hospitality cart on the course, and a two-hour open bar with hors d’oeuvres and cocktails. Shower and clubhouse usage is included.
Registration 10:30 AM, Lunch 11:00 AM and Shotgun Start tee time is 12:30 PM. 
Dinner and prizes 6:00 PM.

Three founding members, who are most instrumental in what is transpiring today, Toby Oriolo, Frank Barbetta and Art Mancuso will be honored at the Scholarship Golf Classic dinner. Treasurer/Scholarship Golf Classic chairman Ronald Harry "Ron" Sherratt, who taught BHS business courses before retiring, is coordinating the event. Ron shared his athletic expertise coaching the track and cross country teams throughout the 1960’s and ‘70’s.

Navy veteran YN3/ football/baseball/basketball/track athlete, Dominick “Toby” Oriolo, BHS ’45 and his family [including his late parents, Lawrence and Grace] have always been all about Bristol! Toby, the recently retired recording secretary/ record keeper, is a retired piping designer for Rohm & Haas, Bristol plant. His wife Julia worked for 30 years as a 3M packer and their daughter, Donna recently retired as the secretary to the BHS principal. 
Toby is a BHS Hall of Fame honoree, having celebrated induction the same year as Jogina Lee [Diamanti] Picariello, BHS ’56, field hockey/ basketball/ softball athlete and cheerleader.
Toby’s late father labored as a stonemason until the Depression years when he began working as a machine operator at Rohm & Haas. Lawrence had done concrete work for Senator Joseph R. Grundy, whom he called the ‘die hard Republican’.
Toby’s heart is firmly embedded in the BAAA. “I think I’m the oldest member!”

Navy veteran and Navy baseball team catcher/ baseball/basketball athlete, Frank Albin Barbetta BHS ’50, the recently retired BAAA assistant secretary, and Toby began planning for an alumni organization after visiting the late BHS basketball/baseball athlete, John “Junior” Field, who was ill at his home. JR Field passed away later that year in 2004. While in a conversation with the soon to be founding members, one of the first BHS Hall of Fame inductees, Robert Nicholas “Bob” Liberatore, Sr., BHS ’57 and James Marvin Sottile, Sr., BHS ’49, Toby and Frank expressed a concern. “We only meet at wedding and funerals.” They agreed over lunch at Cesare’s Ristorante to start an alumni group and they, along with Jim Sottile, presented the idea to the St. Ann’s club. History was in the making. Fred Williamson and Mayor John M. Rodgers, BHS ‘47 were on that founding committee. 













































“Seventy guys showed up for the first meeting and we hadn’t seen each other in almost 30 years. We needed name tags.” Frank was always a great promoter. Everyone paid $20.00 and got a hat and a shirt.
He was also the very accomplished owner of the Philadelphia Stars [first dubbed the Bensalem AA] for 15 years, a semi-pro baseball team consisting of some of the best Bucks County ballplayers in the area who played against the most prestigious semi-pro teams on the East Coast. He corralled talents like Steve Frey [Montreal Expos]; Bristol Borough’s 2011 Fall Classic “Person of the Year, Jeff Manto, BHS ’82 [NY Yankees draftee]; and George Riley [Chicago Cubs]. The games were contested in the Bristol Memorial Field.




































Frank had started his baseball career as a bat boy for his older brothers, Gene, Fred and Bert’s teams.


































Both of the Board of Directors members who have “great pride in what the Association does for the High School” are assisting with the plans for this Scholarship Golf Classic. They are the mentors now, exuding passion while “paying it forward”, sincere with their reminiscences of camaraderie and the eliteness of the Borough teams. Some of the memories still sting with sentimentality of moments and games as they recall the ethics and discipline; the truly authentic atmosphere of this small town’s sports. They are the professionals willing to help the current BHS students with their undying spirit.
Fond recollections fuel these great people, the great leaders who are a source of inspiration.
Years of memories are stored in this small town with the big-league feel!

Lifetime Borough resident/retired teacher and new Executive Board member, Gerald Raymond “Jerry” Kline, BHS ‘63 shared, “I'm still hustling sponsors. Just ten bucks [or more] for a sign saying ‘Good Luck from the class of '63.’ If you'd rather ‘Support a Veteran’ sign or just want to help out…… golfers, sponsors, prizes, whatever you can contribute will be greatly appreciated. We always welcome new sponsors to help our cause.” 
Support as a $500.00 Principal Title Sponsor entitles your company name to be displayed on all literature and signage throughout the golf course and in the dining facilities, also receiving front page acknowledgements on the day’s schedule brochure.
The BAAA is a 501(c)3. Itemized donation deductions may be of benefit at income tax time. Company and personal sponsorships are still available, so there is still time to help their mission.

As for Jerry, he took up golf just 2 years ago. His comment to golfers had been, “get a real sport”, but now he and his wife, retired teacher Sharon Elaine really enjoy it. 




















Executive committee member/baseball athlete/ bowling coach Mike Russo, BHS ‘67 had invited Jerry to join them last year. 
This will be Jerry’s third year playing with a foursome at the event.
“I am retired and have time now. It’s a great way to give back.”
Their daughter, Natalie Rae Kline, BHS ‘03 was valediction, the highest honor one can achieve academically in high school. 

The well known and very respected BAAA honorary members are Chic D’Angelo, Junior Field, Tom Juno, Joe Tunis and Al Van Wright.
Membership had been limited to only BHS alumni, but the group is open now and the BAAA welcomes new members to their meetings that are hosted at member’s homes on Tuesdays at 7:00 pm. The $15.00 yearly membership fees are designated for the scholarships.  
For golf outing information, contact Ron 215.750.7102 or Mike Russo 215.785.3744.

Anyone wishing to donate monies to The BAAA annual scholarship fund may forward a check to:
Bristol Alumni Athletic Association 
Box 31
Bristol, PA 19007


Recommend a “Spotlight”. E-mail vjmrun@yahoo.com
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kneeling [front row] Frank is 3rd from right
from left: Frank, Fred, Gene  1957