32,000 AT LONSDALE
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On October 24, 1947 two undefeated schools, Cranston High School and La Salle Academy, lined up against each other for a Friday night game at the largest venue in the state at the time, the new Lonsdale Sports Arena, the "World's Greatest Midget Auto Track" on Mendon Road in Lincoln. Officials estimated the attendance at 32,000, still the record for a football game in Rhode Island, and those who were there swear the number was higher. This exceeded the previous record of 26,000 first established when the undefeated Brown and Colgate elevens met at Brown Field in 1932. The old mark was equaled on November 30, 1946, also at Brown Field as Cranston High and Mount Pleasant High played a 7-7 deadlock.
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Thousands failed to catch not only the opening kickoff but Cranston's first two touchdowns scored in the first eleven minutes of play. Cranston opened the scoring on a 60 yard drive in the first period. Even at the half thousands were pouring though the gates but at this time Cranston had took a 13-0 lead. Stetson scored all three touchdowns, John Varadian kicked two extra points and Cranston won 20-2. Cranston would eventually be honored as state champions for 1947.
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Rhode Island lived in a smaller world in 1947. There were fewer high schools, fewer sports and fewer distractions in post-war America. Football was king and football players were hometown heroes. Friday night lights were the norm in those days. Thanksgiving was the only day game most teams played. According to Gus Buonaluto, a 1947 Cranston High 1st All-State tackle, in an article in the Providence Journal, traffic was backed up for miles and state police and local police did there best to handle the thousands of cars that turned Smithfield Avenue into a one-way street. So many people showed up that attendants couldn't collect tickets fast enough. Lonsdale Sports Arena opened in 1947 on the banks of the Blackstone River. Big crowds watched midget race cars zip around the one-third mile oval track. Cranston and La Salle played in the makeshift infield. The night they wrote a long forgotten chapter in Rhode Island sports history included Cranston fullback Gordon Stetson and quarterback Gordon Polofsky and linemen Nick D'Ambruoso and Bob Renzi. La Salle had quarterback Jack McKinnon, halfbacks John McCauley and Bernard "Slick" Pina, center Joe Gleason and tackles Norm Zolkos and Mike Cooney.
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Buonaluto enrolled at URI playing in 1950 and 1951 before a shoulder injury cut short his career. D'Ambruoso made 1st Team All-State at guard while Stetson and Polofsky did the same in the backfield. Polofsky played three seasons in the NFL (Chicago Cardinals 1952-54) and was a linebacker and fullback on Tennessee's 1951 national championship team earning second-team all-Southeastern Conference honors and played in the Senior Bowl at Ladd Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Ala., in 1951. Gleason made 1st Team All-State at center, Zolkos 2nd Team at tackle while underclassmen Pina (1948 2nd Team Back and 1949 1st Team Back) and Mckinnon (1948 1st Team quarterback) would go on to make future All-State teams. Pina, also a basketball and track star, played all three sports at URI after high school. He became the first African-American to play basketball at URI and later continued as an semi-pro player in basketball and football. Lonsdale Sports Arena closed in 1953 because of river flooding undermined the grandstand and attendance had dwindled. Due to television sports and the addition of suburban schools diluting the talent, interest in high school football waned. Unfortunately night football disappeared in the late 1960s as a result of too many fights at games until a recent comeback.
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