New Hyde Park Thanksgiving tradition marks 60 years of friends, family and football

On Thanksgiving morning 1965, a group of fifth graders in New Hyde Park had nothing to do so they got together to play football.

Five of them took the field to play again Thursday, some for the 60th time in a row, in an annual tradition that now spans three generations.

"It's more than a game," said Tommy Capatano, 43, son of one of the original 10 players, Ray Capatano. "It's about family. It's about tradition. It's about lineage. I know how important this is for my father, and I know what it means to him to have not only his kids, but his grandkids, involved in such a special day."

Thursday’s game on a soccer field at New Hyde Park Memorial High School was nine against nine. The players' "Turkey Bowl" jerseys — custom made every year — featured nine halos, each above the names or initials of past players who have died, including friends of the original 10. The number of players varies each year — with one side wearing white jerseys and the other blue. All wore No. 60 in recognition of the anniversary.

Thursday’s game kicked off under sunny skies, but it's been played in the mud, in blizzardlike snow and amid single-digit wind chills. Players have broken their ribs and noses, and sat at the Thanksgiving dinner table with aching bones that have gotten worse with age.

"It’s definitely tough," Ray Capatano, 71, said. "Last year I hurt my shoulder. This year my knee’s killing me. But I’m still playing."

"Everybody's got new knees and hips and aches and pains," said Gary Merdian, 69, of Floral Park, who played Thursday after five years off the field, first because of hip pain and later a hip replacement.

For decades, they played tackle football, but about 15 years ago, they switched to touch. Older bodies were taking longer to recuperate, said Stephen McCaffrey, 69, of Floral Park, especially when hit by an 18-year-old.

"We all had jobs," he said. "We didn’t want to take a chance on people getting hurt. Touch is much saner. Some people still wanted to play tackle. I was one of them. I was willing to take the chance."

On Thursday, Lenny Cacioppo, 67, lay on the ground without getting up for about a minute after he was knocked down.

"When you play sports all these years, the mind is willing but the body just isn’t there anymore," Cacioppo said.

The game is the centerpiece of a lifetime of friendships. The rest of the year, players visit each others’ homes, go to Islanders and Mets games and follow the state championship-winning girls basketball team of Baldwin High School Coach Tommy Capatono.

Each Saturday following the game, they gather for a party at Ray Capatano’s home, where his wife Julie has a plaque that enshrines her title as "Turkey Bowl Queen" — for hosting the parties and game-planning meetings and cheering on her husband, sons and grandkids from the stands.

"I’ve put up with these guys for 50 years," she said with a laugh.

This Saturday, to commemorate the 60th anniversary, they’ll gather at a Mineola banquet hall.

During and after the game, there is a lot of talking smack.

Following Thursday's game, as about 30 players and family members met at Trinity Restaurant and Bar in Floral Park for pints of beer, chicken wings and mozzarella sticks, Brennan Scanlon, 29, told cousin Jimmy Capatano, 39, "You’re going to sit at the kids’ table for Thanksgiving."

Scanlon’s blue-jersey team, which was quarterbacked by Ray Capatano’s son Danny, 33, had beaten Jimmy’s white-jersey team 35-28.

Jimmy knew what lay ahead until the 61st annual game.

"If you lose, you have a whole year of listening to bragging rights."