Coach Giuffre and the West Islip Rifle Team

Coach Giuffre and the West Islip Rifle Team
-Henry W. Hessing

When taxpayers voted to construct the West Islip High School, the authorization included an indoor swimming pool and a rifle range. The rifle range is located southwest and at the same level as the pool. There is a locked door that can be opened. Just travel down one flight of stairs, make a left into a hallway and enter through another door on your left. It has been said that this range is the best or at least the second best range in Suffolk County. It was closed in 1999.

Boy Scout Troop 118 met in the Higbie Lane elementary school during the 1950’s and 60’s. The boys sold candy bars and raised money to purchase four (4) bolt - action open peep sight rifles. The rifles were kept in Scoutmaster James Badger’s house. If you were twelve years old, you could learn to fire a .22 rifle every Wednesday night at the West Islip High School rifle range. And many of us did. Under adult supervision, we fired at NRA targets positioned fifty feet down range.

The high school’s representative was present whenever the scouts met at the range. Mr. Ed Giuffre and the adult scout leaders instructed the lads. Many of the adults spent their time with youth because they had served in World War II and wanted to pass their knowledge and skills to the boys. We learned about safety. We learned to clean the rifles and sweep the range when we were done. We learned to fire from the four basic positions - prone, sitting, kneeling and standing. The most difficult position to master for most of us was the standing or off-hand position. I was an awkward teenager. I never felt comfortable in the kneeling position so I concentrated learning to fire from the standing position.

Jimmy Badger was a senior in high school. I was in awe of Jim just because he was a senior. Jimmy was taking physics because he wanted to go to medical school. Sometimes he’d stay home and study physics rather than come down to the range. At that time, I didn’t know what physics was but if Jimmy had to skip Wednesday nights to study, and miss all the fun shooting, it had to be important.

At the end of the year, our Boy Scout troop held a competition. Jimmy missed it because he was studying. Johnny Norton, a junior in high school, won with the best score. He was four years older than me. I gave him a good challenge but I was happy to come in second to him. I liked Johnny from the time on a campout when he got me up early to go fishing with him. He loved fishing and he caught quite a few. Johnny wanted to be a doctor. I sure hope both Jimmy and Johnny got their wish.

Our shooting skills were honed on the West Islip High School rifle range. From seventh to ninth grade, I shot with the Boy Scouts. In tenth grade, I tried out for the high school team. Mr. Giuffre, the high school coach, must have had a difficult time selecting from all of us who tried out. On a blackboard, he wrote the names of those who made the team. It was the first time in my life that I was elated to see my name on a blackboard. I thanked him.

Riflery was barely considered a sport by most Athletic Directors. Only a few recognized it as a character or citizen builder. Mr. Joe Sebasteanski, West Islip’s AD thought it was a full sport and more. Though his first love was football, Mr. Jack Braddish got the rifle team all it needed.

Nassau County had the most teams while Suffolk County had just a few so we fired against teams from near and far. High school teams fired from two positions – prone and standing. Six boys would shoot with the five highest scores counting toward the team’s total points. You had to be finished in twenty minutes, as these were timed competitions. You would try for a perfect score, 100 points or ten bull’s eyes out of ten while firing prone and the same while firing off-hand or standing. Shooting off-hand was more difficult than the other positions. We knew how quickly you could lose points in that position.

The rifle I used was an Anschultz with closed sights. It weighed about 7.5 lbs. The bull’s eye is about the size of an eraser on a pencil. To hit it consistently from fifty feet took practice so we practiced every day after school. We’d encourage each other to improve all the time. If you shot a bull’s eye, the spotter would tell you how much of it you took out. We loved to hear the spotter call out “pin-wheel” because it meant you took out the whole bull’s eye.

You must have excellent eyesight and you must be very steady to fire accurately. Riflery requires concentration. Coach suggested we do push-ups at home to build arm strength to hold the rifle steady and we did. We wore shooting jackets and used slings around our left arm when shooting prone. A spotter would tell you how you were doing or might suggest making an adjustment. We’d try to finish prone rather quickly, and then take off the slings in order to spend more time shooting off-hand. This is what separated the better shooters – how well you could shoot from the standing position. The total possible score was 200 points for an individual and since five scores counted, 1000 points for the team. After practice, we cleaned the weapons and the range before leaving. This is where we learned respect for and taking care of our equipment. These lessons have stayed with me my entire life.

For the first match of our sophomore year, Mr. Giuffre selected Flip Mueller and me to shoot with the upperclassmen. There after, and until we graduated, Flip and I fired in every competition for West Islip High School. I didn’t do well enough for my score to count in that first match because I was nervous; I wasn’t familiar with “match pressure.” We lost that one to Massapequa. I did better in the next match and we won. Coach added Pete Pauwels so there were three sophomores and three juniors shooting. I think we won half our matches that year, but with Pete shooting, we won all the matches during the second half of the season. This was the beginning of our winning streak.

With each win, our team developed confidence. The more we won, the more we expected to win. But none of us took winning for granted. We knew we had to shoot well to be victorious and we did. As an individual, I knew my score would count in every match so I wanted to do well. I didn’t want to let my team down. You can’t think about the pretty blonde in homeroom or French class. In fact, you can’t think about match pressure or anything else when you shoot. You cannot let emotion interfere with your concentration, controlled breathing and relaxation techniques because emotional shooters don’t shoot well. There was one practice when I put it all together and fired 99 out of 100 from the off-hand position. It was the first time any of us had done it. Mr. Giuffre stapled that target to the wall for all to see.

During our junior year, Mr. Giuffre, who we sometimes called Uncle Ed but never to him directly, decided that the best way to keep us sharp was to have a little internal team competition. If memory serves, I believe he awarded three trophies at the end of the year. I received the trophy for shooting the highest average score of 186 for the season. Another key thing coach did was in selecting Pete Gambaro and Steve Knobl and adding them into the mix.

Our high school principal, Mr. John O’Donnell made announcements every morning on the PA system. He‘d tell the student body how the various teams did in competition. When our swimming team beat Plainview, there was a roar heard throughout the school. Sometimes he’d say how individuals performed. And he did this for the rifle team as well. The kids in school started to ask about our winning streak. Riflery became very popular.

A boys’ rifle club already existed and a girls’ rifle club was created. Mr. Giuffre coached the clubs as well as the team. The West Islip High School Rifle Clubs and teams were open for all students. One of the best was a girl named Barby MacNeil who went on to earn national honors on the college level. In those days, the school administration was wary of any coed sport and unfortunately, Barby was not allowed to compete with the boys but she could still be a member of the rifle club. If Barby MacNeil had been allowed to compete with the boys, she would have been the best.

The core of our team in the winter season 1964 –1965, our senior year, was Pete Pauwels, Flip Mueller, Pete Gambaro, Steve Knobl and myself. Pete Pauwels and I were elected co-captains. It didn’t matter who the sixth shooter was. Coach knew he could put anyone in that slot and give them match experience because the five of us always shot well. We expected to win every match and we did. We had six league matches and 6 – 8 non-league matches. We beat Nassau and Suffolk, public, catholic and military schools. And most of all we had fun.

We set the Suffolk County league record firing 919 out of 1000. Steve fired 178, Pete Gambaro 182, Flip and I – 184, and Pete Pauwels led the team with an individual Suffolk County record, 191. He was hot that day! I will never forget when Coach Giuffre told us that we had set the county record!! How great that must have been for him. He had worked for years patiently teaching and encouraging us, and he got the results – a championship team.

In our final league match in 1965, we again broke 900 beating Deer Park 913 to 842. Steve shot 176, Pete P, Flip and Pete G all fired 184 and I fired 185. We beat them by an average 14 points a man. We beat other teams by greater margins. Most importantly, we completed the season undefeated in both league and non-league competition.

The following week, we won the Section Eleven Title. We were the Suffolk County Rifle Champs. Coach Giuffre said the school received a trophy in June 1965 but I’ve never seen it. I’m told that the trophy is locked in the range. It is the first championship trophy earned by the WIHS rifle team. The WIHS team next won again in 1988-89.

There were individual records set during the 1964 – 1965 season in league match competition. Pete Pauwels shot 92 off-hand when he fired the county record 191. Pete Pauwels and Pete Gambaro both shot perfect prone scores of 100. Flip Mueller shot 90 out of 100 in the off-hand position, three separate times.

Coach Ed Giuffre started a program to instruct kids who just wanted to have fun shooting rifles and created an opportunity where we learned what it takes to win. He set the example for us in manner and decorum. He was a positive influence, always using words of encouragement. Members of the West Islip High School rifle team learned to control emotion, concentrate and gain confidence. We learned from our coach that individuals could pull together as a team and to encourage each other just as he encouraged each of us to be the best.

We faced all competition. We learned to win, and to win consistently. The WIHS Rifle Team was undefeated for two and a half years because Coach Ed Giuffre taught us to believe in ourselves. With that spirit, it was natural for us to have fun.

If there was ever a coach who should be inducted into the West Islip High School Hall of Fame, it is Coach Ed Giuffre.