Those 1947-48 Berlin High School football teams looked like all other football teams of the era: leather helmets, no faceguards, almost no passing plays and wool jerseys. It was Wing-T and Single-Wing for offense and quick, bulldog lines.

But Berlin had a special look. It posted back-to-back 7-0 records, outscored the opposition 305-37, recorded eight shutouts and is believed never to have trailed in any game in those seasons. In both years Berlin won the Connecticut Valley Conference and was chosen as the most outstanding Class S team with Putnam by the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Award of Merit Committee. At that time, the CIAC didn’t conduct playoffs to determine football champions.

Berlin head coach Bill Gibney, assistant coaches Arthur H. Kevorkian and Roy Fabian and players Phil Tinsley, Paul Kornichuck and Dave McCain are in the BHS Athletic Hall of Fame. Now the1947-48 teams are, too.

Halfback Tinsley averaged three touchdowns a game and was the key to the ’48 team. Arthur L. Kevorkian, 80, is the son of the former Redcoats’ assistant coach. He said the old gym of Kensington Grammar School, which was upgraded to include grades 9-12 in the 1930s, once was filled with banners and trophies from the ‘47-48 teams.

But they’re all gone. “No one knows about the teams. It’s as if the teams never existed,” Kevorkian said.

The team practiced across the street from the school in an empty lot, the site of the current St. Paul School. The team would walk about a mile to Percival Field for games. There were no buses nor locker rooms.

“You had to use the woods,” Kevorkian said.

Halftime meals weren’t much. Kevorkian said the mother of one of the players would pull peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and bottles of Coke out of a large bag. “There was no water,” he said.

When the team traveled to a game, it didn’t have the luxury of a highway. “In 1948 they played at New Canaan,” Kevorkian said. “They left at 9 a.m. It took three hours to get there.”

It was worth the trip. Berlin won, 32-0.

Back then, there were only three sports in high school; football, basketball and baseball. Many Berlin football players also played basketball and baseball and won CVC titles in those sports. Yeah. Special.

1948 Football Team