NEL Update: the 100th series

The two teams started playing in July of 1971, when the Falcons were an expansion team and the Quakers already were three-time NEL champions. In that first series, Norwood had people like Roberto Clemente, while Frankfurt was sparked by Ted “Super” Savage. Only two other current NEL managers (John Fain and Woody Studenmund) were in the league back then, and Mark Featherstone, the current NEL President, was just five years old!

Anyway, for that first Norwood-Frankfurt series Bill traveled from Connecticut down to Ken’s home (two houses ago) in Wyckoff, NJ. The first series was played head to head, and so has every Quaker-Falcons series since then, all 100 of them, over 34 years. That’s 800 consecutive games, eyeball to eyeball!

Through the ups and downs of the two teams, through all the changes in their personal lives, with dice and with the computer, Ken and Bill always found the time, the place, and, most importantly, the inclination to get together and go at it. APBA leagues have been around for a long, long time, and they’re way too numerous to count, but it’s sure hard to believe that there’s been anything, anywhere, ever, that’s come close to matching this Norwod-Frankfurt head to head record.