The “American Dream” Team

In 1950, a few years after his family had emigrated from Eastern Europe, newly arrived Martin Szabados tried out for our high school football team. At the same time, George Mihali’s family had arrived from war ravaged Hungary. George wanted to play baseball and basketball.

I was in the same class as Martin and George at Sayville High School on Long Island in New York. These many years later, I remember well their devotion to team play. They were determined to become a part of America…and athletics was the door they entered to make that happen.

Back then, Long Island was a string of suburbs, running one-hundred-and-twenty sleepy miles from Queens to Montauk, nothing like today’s ever-growing metropolis

I recall Martin, a small guard on the football team, meticulously studying his play book, learning who to block on every play, seldom speaking what little English he knew in favor of just getting the job done. What he lacked in size, he made up for in spirit.

During practice, a teammate accused Martin of blocking the wrong man. Martin shot back, “I know my plays!” The coach stopped the practice, called over the two players and admonished the boy for mistakenly accusing Martin, saying, “He knows his blocking assignments better than any of you.”

Life Lesson learned.

George was a crafty left-handed pitcher on the diamond, a studious kid whose father wanted him to assimilate into American culture. Dressed in shirt and tie, George would get on the school bus every morning carrying his school bag, the antithesis of all us James Dean wannabes more concerned with our hair styles and girlfriends. 

George loved basketball, too. Seldom seeing game action, he was the first kid out to practice and the last to leave. His lot was to guard future All-American and NBA player 6’5″, 215 pound Bill Thieben in daily practices. George would drop from exhaustion rather than quit. Practice over, he would shower, get on the bus, and start studying.

We won the conference basketball championship that year with Bill setting a Long Island scoring record. George contributed to that title as much as any of us. We also won the conference football title with Martin contributing mightily.

The world was a different place in the ’50s, taking its first tentative post-war steps. Since then, world events have too often made us wary of the foreign born.

The times dictate we must be careful in protecting what all of us have built in America, but it mustn’t preclude our welcoming those who will enrich us even further with their presence, as Martin and George once did.

Those many years ago, Martin and George allowed me to witness something I’ll never forget. Given a fair chance, they made it, showing how vital team work and sacrifice are to success.

And so, to the many Martins and Georges out there pursuing the American Dream, I say, “Go for it. Be prepared to step up to the plate!”