Former Bishop Guertin standout QB Steve Piwowarski (12) talks with his father, late BG coach Dick Piwowarski, during a game in the 1980s at Holman. (Courtesy photo)

NASHUA – For Steve and Rick Piwowarski, tonight’s induction into the Nashua Lions Club Legends of Holman Stadium is a family award.

But it was still unexpected. They join former Nashua Pride manager Butch Hobson in this years induction class; Hobson already received his award/acknowledgement at the special Silver Knights game honoring the Pride last Friday, after which he returned to Alabama.

“When Ed Lecius called me I thought it was something work related with the police department,” said Steve, a federal transportation agent/director. “Then I said, What? This is supposed to be for legends.”

But Lecius told him his and Ricky’s Holman exploits were definitely legendary, that “People still talk about those games you played” and that they had been on the Lions Club ballot for the last few years.

Both are sons of the late Holman Legend Guertin coach and athletic director Dick Piwowarski, and excelled in three sports for Bishop Guertin. And it’s another way to honor the legendary coach’s memory.

“It really is,” said Steve. “It’s really a team and a family award if you want to look at it.”

Steve Piwowarski remembers when he was about to enter his freshman year at BG. The night before preseason practices were supposed to start, Dick Piwowarski asked his son, who had been a ball boy in previous years for the Cards, wanted to play.

“He goes, ‘You going to go out for football?'” Steve recalled. “I said ‘Ahh, I don’t know.’ Then he said, ‘You ought to try, I think you’d be a pretty good quarterback.'”

That convinced Steve, although his father told him he couldn’t quit during the preseason if he came out, because then the team would be strapped at QB. Steve agreed.

And the rest is history. Steve Piwowarski helped BG beat Nashua 21-16 in the 1983 Turkey Bowl, throwing for 211 yards. He played against older brothers Matthew and Patrick in the 1981 game and was the Offensive MVP in both games. Piwowarski was an All-State quarterback, was also a standout basketball and baseball player at BG before graduating in 1985. He led the Cards to the semis in the baseball tourney and was BG’s Pitcher of the Year in 1985 as well as the BG All-Athlete Award that year. He was the 1985 New Hampshire Shrine Team quarterback and went on to a career at Norwich, starting at QB for three seasons.

Ricky earned All-City honors in football, basketball and baseball, and was an All-State athlete. In 1977, he was the MVP of the Guertin football team and QB’d Guertin to a win over Nashua in the 1977 Turkey Bowl at Holman, 13-12.

It’s fitting, as Holman was the Piwowarski family’s own personal playground, in a way. Steve and his brothers won several youth baseball city championships at Holman, from the youngest levels all the way up through Babe Ruth. And in Legion in the summer of 1983 Steve’s Coffey Post Legion team won the state title and came within two outs to go to the World Series in New Orleans.

“That place,” Steve said, “was a magical place for us. Our whole lives. It’s crazy. And then Ed calls and say you got voted in, and I said ‘For what?’ ”

His favorite game was his freshman year vs. Nashua when his father inserted him into the game at QB with 6:24 to go and he led a Cards comeback. And in his junior year, he led the Cards over the Panthers.

Steve Piwowarski recalls All-Star practices where he and a couple of others were told throw it as far as they could and some heaved it over the backstop and out of the Stadium (remember, the configuration was different back in the 1970s/early ’80s.). In 20 games, in 1981, Steve played on a District 2 Babe Ruth All-Star team out of Holman that didn’t make an error in 20 games.

Steve remembers a bag of baseballs and a few bats just by the Piwowarski’s front door. He and his brothers, along with their father, would go hit balls behind Holman. “You don’t see that anymore,” he said.

And on one of those All-Star and BG teams was the actor Mike O’Malley. “He bled for team sports, he’s awesome, one of my great friends.”

Steve was perfect for the option, and Dick Piwowarski and assistant coach Mike Lozeau – another inducted Holman Legend – taught it to him. But it wasn’t easy. In one of his first QB practices, Steve ran smack into Lozeau. “He goes, ‘What are you doing?’ ‘I don’t know,’ Steve said. “But I learned you’ve got to either read the tackle or read the end, and away you go.'”

Perhaps Steve’s best memory wasn’t a very athletic one. He was a 10-year-old ball boy and Holman had had some rain and wear and tear, which meant lots of mud at Thanksgiving. He was headed out in white pants and shoes to be the ball boy at the BG Nashua game when Ricky played, and his mother Yvonne said, “Don’t wear those, its going to be muddy. You’re going to fall in the mud.'”

Of course, Steve Piwowarski ignored her. After the kickoff, his job was to run out and get the kicking tee. “Absolute flip in the mud,” he said. “The whole stadium’s laughing.”

Steve Piwowarski said his Mom, who helped staff the games at Holman, admitted to him when he played at Norwich that she never saw him QB at BG. She was too nervous, he said she told him, and would go in the ladies’ room and listen to the games on WSMN radio. “She said ‘I never saw you play a down of football. You or Ricky.'”

What about brothers P.J.and Matthew, who played for Nashua? “They weren’t quarterbacks,” she told him.

HOBSON

Hobson was – at Alabama. Of course, his Holman Legends status was that he managed the professional Pride for eight seasons, and guided them to two independent professional baseball league championships: The Atlantic League in his first season in 2000, and the Can-Am League in his final season in 2007.

Hobson went on to manage three other independent league teams (Southern Maryland, Lancaster, Pa., and Chicago) and has the most wins and games managed among indy league managers with a mark of 1538-1325 (.537).

All three will have their names added to the Legends plaque inside the Holman gates on the front concourse.

“It’s just a magical place,” Steve Piwowarski said. “The people that have been through there, that’s why I was kind of blown away (at the induction).

“I’m humbled, and flattered and flabbergasted all at the same time.”