John “Yosh” Borusiewicz

John “Yosh” Borusiewicz

A Man To Remember

By Jack Coll

I stopped by the John Borusiewicz Field the other day located at 13^th Avenue and Hallowell Street, home of the Conshohocken Golden Bears practice facility. I wanted to check on the organization that has been around since 1961, see how they were doing and spent a little time talking to Rob Henry, president of the organization, he assured me that with more than 150 football players and more than 130 cheerleaders the organization was in very good hands.  As I roamed around the field I noticed the sign above the snack and equipment building proclaiming “John Borusiewicz Memorial Field”, I couldn’t help wonder just how many of the more than 280 participating children practicing on the field even knew who John Borusiewicz was?  After all John passed away in 1995, eighteen years ago, not a child on the field was even born then.  A number of the young coaches I’m sure were less than ten years old at the time of John’s passing.

In 1980 I coached with the Bears organization, two or three years later I became involved with Archbishop Kennedy High School.  While I took photographs for the school and all of its sports teams, and a whole heck of a lot of pictures for their year book, I mostly became involved with the football program.  I spent a tremendous amount of time and money taking pictures for the football team.  I could have said no, but I was dealing with Chris Bockrath, who I found it hard to say no to, I was also dealing with Josie Leszczynski who I found it hard to say no to, and then there was John, who was for many years President of the Archbishop Kennedy Football Parents Club, and found it extremely hard to say no to.  Bockrath, Leszczynski, and Borusiewicz all worked hard to develop a very successful organization, and when they needed anything that included a camera I was the go to guy, and the word no just wasn’t used around the three of them.

Memory is a funny thing, whenever I look at John’s name, one thing comes to my mind before anything else.  John would volunteer his announcing skills at all the Kennedy home football games played at the “A” Field,” and I use the word announcing skills very lightly.  Whenever there was a penalty John would come over the loud speakers with his booming voice, “It’s raining yellow flags.”

When John would disagree with one of the penalty calls, he would accidently leave the microphone on and you could hear him say in a disgusted voice, “you gotta be kidding me.” John was a Kennedy “Homer,” meaning no matter how obvious the penalty was, if the call was against Kennedy, the microphone was usually left on, so John could broadcast his disagreement with the referee.

As soon as I looked up at John’s name on the Bear’s concession stand, it’s funny how that’s the first thing I think about. I worked with John and his wife Marlene at many of the Kennedy football banquets, along with Larry and Shirley Blomstrom, and a number of other good hearted parents.  John, like Chris Bockrath made sure no player was over looked at the banquet.

John coached youth leagues, including the Golden Bears, but he thrived when he got involved with the Conshohocken Steelers.  He became head coach of the Steelers in 1994, helping the organization post their first winning record going 6-2 against some pretty tough teams.  In 1995, under John’s guidance the Steelers posted a 7-1 record, and won their first playoff game against Warminster.  I attended most of the Steelers games back then, John passed away on November 25, 1995, a week before the playoff victory and championship victory over Warminster.  The coaches and players were very clear about the fact the game was played for John.

I wrote an article on John 18 years ago when he passed away, and as I stated then the championship wasn’t won on that day, it was won two years earlier when John took over the team.  For the 15 years that I knew John, I sat back and watched him, he taught me that when working with children, it’s a whole lot deeper than fielding a ground ball, and a whole lot deeper than catching a winning pass.  John never discriminated, he never treated one child better than another, and when possible he never let an opportunity pass when he could compliment and make a child feel better about him or herself.

Perhaps for all the coaches with the Bears organization who might read this, perhaps at their next practice they could take a minute, point to the sign on the concession stand, and explain who John ‘Yosh” Borusiewicz was, and what he meant to our community.  I hope any of the coaches reading this could take a minute to reflect if and when the opportunity arises, do they in fact let a moment slip by where they could have complimented a child, helping to build character in that child.

Here’s to you Yosh, eighteen years after you left us, I still think about you with each and every football season, and at some football game, somewhere in America, at some point or another I know it’s raining yellow flags, and I can still hear you groaning into an open microphone, “you gotta be kidding me,” we’re not kidding you Yosh, we still miss ya, enjoy the season.