Magyar News, 1993. szeptember-1994. augusztus (4. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1994-01-01 / 5. szám
m TWO HUNGARIANS IMPACT rá THE WORLD OF PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL Don Shula at the victorious moment when he broke the record of “Papa Bear" Halas. (Photo: Al Tielemans, Sports Illustrated) FROM TV TO TEVE FROM TÉVÉ TO TV Nobody seems to know who made the decision, but the European and American television systems are different. You cannot play a Hungarian video cassette on your VCR in America. This goes the other way too. To send your home videos to relatives in the old country, or to try to play a cassette that they send you is a futile effort. They Recently, in a Fairfield Citizen News photo, I saw our dear friend MargitkaFekete Csóványos sitting in the front row with a group of people. When I read the photo caption, I realized that she was attending her 60th high school reunion from Roger Ludlowe High School. She was a member of the class of 1933. According to Margitka, “It was a wonderful, friendly, never to be forgotten evening.” Out of a class of 159 students. Page 6 On Sunday,November20,1993,Donald Francis Shuia lead his Miami Dolphins in victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. This victory secured a spot in history for Don. He surpassed George Stanley Halas as the coach who had the most wins in the National Football League history by 326 wins, one more win than before. George Stanley Halas was bom on February 2, 1895 of immigrants Frank and Barbara Halas, who came to this country from an area that later became Czechoslovakia. George was raised in a Bohemian community near downtown Chicago. He graduated from the University of Illinois with a B.S., went into the United States Navy, and was named the MVP in the 1919 Roseball game. After being discharged from the Navy, George played baseball for the New York Yankees for one season. Realizing that baseball was not his game, he began playing semi-pro football with the Hammond, Indiana Tigers. By 1922, he was the co-owner of the Chicago Bears. George was with the Bears for forty-six years as player, coach, and owner. As a player, he was on the All-NFL team of the 1920's. As an owner coach, he brought the same intensity that he played with and put it into his players. He played 507 games with an amazing record of 326 wins, 150 have to be transposed from one system to the other. It is very expensive. Some of my friends recently paid $90.00 for a conversion of a cassette. Now the good news. A Hungarian family has a business where they do the conversions. And the price is only $25.00 for a cassette. They also do conversions of regular movie films into video cassettes. The address is: 3D RESEARCH 20120 Route 19, Suite 105-274 Mars, PA 16046 twenty-six classmates with their spouses or friends attended the get-together. About 30 other classmates wrote that they were unable to attend due to circumstances. In the sixty years that have passed, Margitka has documented the days when she was growing up in a Hungarian community in Fairfield in books such as Widow Julia and in her poems. It is obvious that her love for her roots bums brightly. C.MB. losses, and 31 ties which is a winning percentage of .673. Of the 326 winning games, eight were National championships and eleven were Division titles. It took another great man to surpass George Halas, and that man was Don Shula. He was one of six children and bom of Dan and Mary Shula. Don’s father immigrated as a child from Hungary and changed his name as many others did from Sülé to Shula. Don was bom in Grand River, Ohio and was brought up as a devout Catholic of Hungarian descent. After graduating from high school, he attended John Carroll University, a Jesuit school in Cleveland, on a football scholarship. After college, he was drafted by Cleveland in their 1951 draft. After playing for several teams in his seven year career, he decided upon a football coaching career which had been his desire since high school. He began coaching for the Baltimore Colts when he was just thirtythree, becoming the youngest coach in professional football. He lead his team to two Western Conference games and one National championship. In 1970, he joined the Miami Dolphins where he turned a losing franchise into a winning one. Through his expertise, he led the Dolphins to twelve Eastern Division championships, five AFC championships, and two Super Bowls. Don and his wife Dorothy have five children: David, Donna, Sharon, Annie, and Michael. Don had hoped to pass on his winning tradition to his son David who became an assistant coach with the Dolphins and later head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals. Football is just another field in which men of Hungarian ancestry have made their impact. Justin Margitay-Balogh Pamela K. Revak Attorney at Law 1275 Post Road, Suite 212 Fairfield, Connecticut ESTATE, TRUST AND TAXATION SERVICES, INCLUDING TAX RETURN PREPARATION 259-9578 A CLASSY CLASS OF 1933
