By Rit Carter
Eighty-five years ago today, a football game played at Muzzy Field is not remembered for what happened on the field but for what happened off it.
Due to the anticipated large crowd to see the Bristol West Ends clash with Connecticut’s premier gridiron team, the Danbury Trojans, the gates to the stadium opened at noon for the 2 p.m. kickoff.
Approximately 5,500 spectators packed inside the west end field. At the time, it was the second-largest crowd in the history of Bristol sports. With an enthusiastic crowd and temperatures topping 60 degrees at game time, it was ideal playing conditions.
The West Enders, the defending state champs, took the field with a record of 2-2, while their rival from the Hat City was undefeated.
In the 1930s, the Trojans were one of the top semi-pro football teams in the northeast, winning seven state championships. Played a week before Orson Welles’s War of the Worlds broadcast, it was the first game in the annual home-and-home series between Bristol and Danbury
The game was a defensive struggle with flashes of offense that did not materialize into any scoring until the fourth quarter. However, it was what occurred in the temporary bleachers during the third quarter though that added to Muzzy’s storied history.
In September of 1937, temporary bleachers were erected due to a fire following a West Enders football game. The temporary bleachers, which were in eight sections and on the third base side of the field, were showing signs of stress in the third quarter when suddenly they collapsed sideways with 750 people in their seats.
One of the nine writers in the press box covering the game said it was like an avalanche. Another described it as “like a stack of piled chips falling sideways.”
The game stopped as the stadium was filled with shrieks and gasps of shock. Concerned Bristol players raced to the sideline area. Among the players was Berdie Monaco, George Mulligan Jr., and Coach Joe “Sugar” Hugret, who checked on the status of his wife, Alberta. She waved to him from the heap to let him know she was fine.
New Britain attorney Harry Ginsburg was calling the game’s play-by-play from the press box. Using the public address system, he cooly urged fans not to surge to the collapsed stands and called out for medical assistance.
Eight doctors, including Dr. William Stahl of Danbury, who was sitting on the Danbury’s team side, descended onto the field to lend aid. Meanwhile, Police Captain Henry Jeglinski and six officers kept curiosity seekers at bay.
Fourteen were reported injured, which included:
Alice Cury, ankle injury; Esther Friedman, back injury;
Genevieve Zebrowski, bruised left leg; Kaye Maslan, bruised right leg; Fred Penneto, bruised right ankle; Harry Herold, sprained ankle; Angelo Ricci, bruised leg; George Vanase, leg injury; H.T. Colvin, bruised leg; Erna Carlson, bruised leg;
Jean Hall (wife of a West End player), bruised ankle;
Stella Novak, bruised ankle; Barbara Schubert, leg injuries; and Louis Pompeo, ankle injury.
Pompeo, who was seated on the top row and to the left of the press box, which was two feet from the back of the bleachers, was the most seriously injured. He was taken to Bristol Hospital for X-rays, where it was determined he had torn ligaments and a sprained left ankle.
All the victims were from Bristol but for Friedman (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Schubert (Plainville).
Even though the injuries were minor, the accident could have been far worse if the stands had gone backward toward the press box. Ironically, the entire matter could have been avoided.
Just a half hour before the incident, Captain Jeglinski approached Ginsburg in the press box and told him the stands were weakening and would succumb to the weight, “I went up to Harry Ginsburg in the press box and had him ask the people in the stands to evacuate them before the collapse,” he said afterward.
Ginsburg made an announcement for the fans to move, while Captain Jeglinski and several officers asked fans to evacuate as well. Only 50 did so.
One who did not heed the warnings was Bristol police officer Dewey Carpenter. Carpenter attended with his son, Jack. They were sitting right below Pompeo, and neither was injured. Following the game, Officer Carpenter reflected, “I didn’t know what happened it came so sudden.”
Once the injured were attended to, the game resumed.
Entering the fourth quarter, the teams were deadlocked at 0’s. That changed midway through the quarter when Danbury booted a 39-year-old field goal.
Two weeks later, the Trojans were victorious again on the back end of the home and home. Ed Dinsmore, their 6’5″ tackle, intercepted a pass and rumbled 72 yards for the game’s only score.
What was lost on no one was the signs posted at the field stating the city “is not responsible for accidents.”
Postscript
Harry Ginsburg went on to be a Police Court Prosecuting attorney and later a judge. While belonging to many organizations, he was a Connecticut Association of Football Officials charter member. He died on April 13, 1983.
Dr. William Stahl died Dec. 11, 1956, at the age of 65 in Danbury. His son William became a doctor and joined his father in a private practice of surgery for 7 years.
Bristol police officer Henry Jeglinski retired from BPD in 1945. During his career, he served as captain of the detective division. He passed away on Dec. 29, 1979.
Dewey Carpenter was a three-sport athlete playing baseball, football, and basketball. At one time, he was captain of the Maple End football team. He retired from the BPD in 1956 as a lieutenant and died on Dec. 6, 1979, at the age of the age of 81.
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