Chris Snee remembered the last time he had sat in the Montrose High School auditorium, on his graduation day 15 ½ years earlier.

“I sat there and listened to our principals speak about our futures and what we were going to get into as adults,” Snee said Thursday during his speech at an assembly commemorating his two Super Bowl appearances. “And, I sat there and I was dreaming about being an NFL player.

“I wanted to play in the NFL and win Super Bowls and if you had asked everybody in that auditorium how many thought that was possible, there were maybe a handful of people, a lot that are here today, that believed in me at that time.”

Snee went after that dream, not letting anything hold him back.

The results were celebrated Thursday as part of a National Football League program to celebrate the upcoming Super Bowl 50. The NFL is presenting golden footballs to each of the more than 2,000 high schools from which one of the Super Bowl players or head coaches graduated.

Snee, who retired from the New York Giants prior to the 2014 seasons, made the drive from his Oakland, N.J. home to be is one of many who made the presentations personally.

After introductions from Seth Bulkley, a sophomore who played Snee’s position of right guard for the Meteors this season; Tom Lucenti, Montrose’s head football coach during Snee’s playing days; and principal Bill King, Snee spoke to the students.

“The golden football is a symbol,” Snee said. “It’s bridge from the lives of professional athletes, really to where their foundation was set. When you discuss NFL stars you rarely hear where they’re from. You often hear where they played college ball. Lost in the lights of NFL football and collegiate Saturdays is Friday night lights.

“The point being is never forget your roots and I never forgot mine.”

Snee thanked Lucenti for his influence on launching a football career that made him the first full-scholarship Division I football player from Montrose and the first National Football League player from Susquehanna County. He also thanked his basketball coach, Todd Smith.

“High school coaches have a profound effect on the lives of children,” Snee said. “Aside from the obvious hours they spend with each other, they teach you about the fundamentals: teamwork, accountability – ‘you can count on me. I can count on you’ – hard work, discipline and integrity of the game; all lessons that are valuable to your futures.”

Snee was a two-time, all-state player at Montrose where he made 101 tackles as a senior and 47 sacks in his career. He was also a two-time, all-star and team captain in basketball.

After starring in the defensive line for Pennsylvania in the 43rd annual Big 33 Game in Hershey, his days as a two-way player ended. Concentrating on offensive line play, Snee became an all-Big East guard and second-team All-American, starting the last six games of his redshirt freshman season and every game the next two years.

The result, was a selection by the New York Giants where he went on to play in four Pro Bowls, earn All-Pro honors and play on two Super Bowl-winning teams. He started in all 141 regular-season and 11 playoff games of his career.

The return home included a message to those who were now sitting in that same auditorium.

“Be proud of where you came from,” Snee said. “When you’re asked, don’t say you’re from the middle of nowhere, or close to Scranton or Binghamton. Proudly say, you’re from Montrose.

“This place is filled with hard-working, kind people and, really, are there two better words to describe a person?”

WEEK IN REVIEW

Susquehanna posted its first win and Elk Lake suffered its first loss of the season in non-league boys’ basketball games Friday night.

Tyler Williams scored 28 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Susquehanna past Freedom Village, N.Y., 62-47.

The Sabers opened an 18-4 lead in the first quarter when they hit four 3-pointers.

Mason Deakin, who scored 12 of his 16 points in the first half, had two of the early 3-pointers. Williams and Bryce Baldwin had the others.

Sean Harder’s 18 points led Tunkhannock to a 60-59 victory over Elk Lake.

Bailey Newhart had 24 points to lead Elk Lake (4-1).

Montrose is the only other Susquehanna County basketball team with a winning record.

The Meteors improved to 3-2 by routing Towanda, 76-31, Monday and edging Lakeland, 54-53, with Snee in attendance Thursday night.

In girls’ basketball, Forest City had the only win of the week by a county team.

The Lady Foresters went 1-2 against a demanding schedule that featured two defending district champions and a team that is unbeaten this season in a span of four days.

After losing, 58-36, to Pittston Area Wednesday, Forest City defeated Old Forge, 56-46, Thursday and lost to unbeaten Carbondale, 56-34, Saturday.

In high school wrestling, Blue Ridge defeated Nanticoke, 51-14, Wednesday to improve to 3-3.

Fred Lewis (120) and Dylan Monks (170) had first-period pins for the Raiders. David Austin (126), Alec Martin (138) and Evan Aldrich (285) also had pins.

COLLEGE CORNER

Montrose graduate Dallas Ely had her best shooting night of the season Wednesday when she scored 24 points to lead West Chester University to a 91-74 women’s basketball victory over Bloomsburg University.

Ely went 10-for-15 from the floor, including 4-for-7 from 3-point range. She also grabbed five rebounds.

West Chester, a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II team, is 4-3 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference and 7-4 overall.

Ely is averaging 14.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.3 steals. The senior guard is shooting 56-for-146 (38.4 percent) from the floor, 23-for-79 (29.1) on 3-pointers and 19-for-23 (82.6) from the line.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Susquehanna will host the Susquehanna County Christmas Tournament and Denise Reddon Memorial Tournament Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 28-29.

The Reddon Memorial girls’ basketball event gets the action started Monday with Montrose playing Elk Lake at 2, followed by Blue Ridge against Susquehanna at 3:30.

The Susquehanna County Christmas Tournament has the same matchups with Montrose playing Elk Lake at 6 and Blue Ridge playing Susquehanna at 7:30.

Games continue the next day with the girls’ consolation game set for 2, followed by the boys’ consolation game at 3:30.

The girls’ championship will be decided at 6. The boys’ championship game is set for 7:30.

In boys’ basketball, the tournament schedule gets started prior to Christmas.

The Forest City Rotary Tournament opens Wednesday and concludes Saturday.

Tunkhannock plays Mountain View in the 5 p.m. opener Wednesday, then Western Wayne faces Forest City at 6:30.

In girls’ basketball, Forest City will play at the Honesdale Jaycees Tournament Saturday and Monday.

In high school wrestling, Blue Ridge, Elk Lake, Montrose and Mountain View are all part of the field for the Tunkhannock Kiwanis Tournament, a two-day event, which is scheduled to open Tuesday, Dec. 28.

TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com.

CHRISTMAS WITH “THE ARKANSAS TRAVELER”

Bobby Ward winner of the 1963 World Supermodified championship at Amarillo, TX

NOTE: Each year during Christmas we break from our traditional NASCAR racing news in order to bring a timeless Christmas story from Bobby Ward, an early sprint car racer from Arkansas. While he was not well known along the east coast, he was a household name among racing fans in the Midwest. When Ward showed up at the race track, he was always the “one to beat.” He has been inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame.

Bobby had a stroke three years ago, but is doing well. He and his wife sold their “homeplace,” and moved to Conway, Arkansas, so he could be closer to a medical facility.

“I think that sometimes people overvalue the things of Christmas, and forget to really focus on their friends and the actual holiday season,” said Ward. “I certainly have more material things now, which I thoroughly enjoy, but as far as true happiness goes, I’m not so sure that we weren’t just as happy back in my early years.”

Ward was born in 1935 in the community of Bee Branch, Arkansas, about 40 miles north of Little Rock, in a one-room log cabin. His racing career began in 1956.

He raced hard, traveled long distances, won many, many championships, accumulated a large fan following, and became known as “The Arkansas Traveler.”

“Christmas for us was very light,” continued Ward. “Mom and dad, and sometimes all the family would go out on Christmas Eve and cut down a tree. It wasn’t always a cedar tree. Sometimes it was a pine. After getting it set up in the house we would decorate it. The decorations consisted of some colorful ribbon that had been cut in strips, and strings of popcorn.

“That was all the decorations we used. There were no lights, or anything shiny.

“My three sisters and I each got one toy. That’s the only time of the year we got any store bought toys. But I don’t ever remember a Christmas when we didn’t get that one toy.

“On my sixth birthday I had asked my mom for some type of Tinker Toy. On Christmas Eve, I happened by the bedroom and saw a Tinker Toy sticking out from under the bed. Mom saw me, and said, ‘Son, would you believe that Santa Claus came by earlier today and left this for you? And he might even come back again tonight.’

“Well, I believed her, and sure enough, the next morning Santa had paid us a second visit and left some oranges, apples, and cookies.

“Our Christmas dinner consisted of chicken and dumplings, and dressing, along with ham and some other vegetables, plus a cake and pie.

“We never had turkey or anything you had to buy.

“Around Christmastime, daddy would kill some hogs and cure the meat. He would take some type sugar cure and put it all over the ham, and inject it all around the bone. This not only flavored the meat, but preserved it. The meat would keep in a smoke house for at least a month.

“In my very early childhood, we had Christmas by ourselves. We lived a pretty good way from our neighbors, and traveling in our wagon would have taken too long.

“As I got older, we moved and dad bought a car, and we visited my father’s mother and dad on Christmas. I had a cousin that always got lots of toys and we were allowed to play with them while the rest of the family visited.

“I never said anything to mother and dad about the single toy I got, because I knew how things were with us.

“During the year, I was able to make homemade cars out of blocks of wood.

“We used our imagination and what we had, to entertain ourselves.

“We always ate well, even outside the holidays. We had pork, along with fried potatoes, pinto beans, and corn bread. Every Thursday night we had corn bread and buttermilk.

“There was no electricity in my early years. Our traditional lighting was a simple kerosene lamp. One day my dad brought home a new type of kerosene lamp, called a “Latin Lamp.” It gave a much brighter light, and that was the first time my sister and I had been able to do our homework together at the kitchen table.

“Sometimes at night I would get a glass of milk, and only drink half of it. I would leave the rest of it setting in the kitchen. When it was really cold, the next morning I would have a half glass of ice cream.

“When we moved from Bee Branch to Shirley, Arkansas, there weren’t any boys around to play with, just girls. Mother made me a doll on her old treadmill sewing machine, and filled it with straw and rags, so I would have something to play with.

“It might seem funny now, but I had the time of my life playing with that doll, along with my three sisters and the other girls.

“Whenever my dad took corn to the grist mill, to get it ground into meal and grits, I always went along. The corn was yellow. We never raised any white corn like they have now.

“My childhood was good. I thoroughly enjoyed growing up with my sisters and we were a loving family. We were also a working family. We worked hard, and loved each other. We didn’t go around hugging each other, saying, “I love you,” but we all shared a bond of love.

“I don’t ever remember a day growing up when I didn’t feel loved.

“I tried to race everyone just like I would want him to race me.

“I didn’t always win, but I knew it was important for me to try and finish each race. I think in order to enjoy our success we’ve got to put forth effort. The races that I enjoyed winning the most were those I really had to work for.

“Greater labor leads to greater love.

“To maximize our present enjoyment in life we might need to give up some of the comforts our easy life style brings us. Instead of buying a present ready-made this Christmas, why not see what kind of physical chore you could do for your neighbor. Instead of buying a pre-cooked pie or cake for Christmas dinner, why not bake it yourself?

“Christmas happiness can still be found. You just need to know how and where to look.”

JUDY ALLISON PASSES AWAY

Judy A. Allison, age 74, died after complications from surgery Saturday, Dec. 1 at Iredell Memorial Hospital in Statesville, NC.

Bobby Allison, NASCAR Hall of Fame driver, and Judy were married for 55 years. She was surrounded by her family, daughters Bonnie Farr and Carrie Hewitt, grandson Robbie Allison, brother-in-law Donnie Allison and his wife, Pat.

Bobby and brother Donnie, along with Neil Bonnett, and Red Farmer, comprised the famous "Alabama Gang" which raced out of Hueytown and made their mark in NASCAR in the 1960s through the 1980s.

Racing Trivia Question: What year was NASCAR founded?

Last Week’s Question: Which Cup team does Jamie McMurray drive for? Answer. He currently drives the No. 1 Chevrolet in the Sprint Cup Series for Chip Ganassi Racing with crew chief Matt McCall. He is best known for winning the 2002 UAW-GM Quality 500 as a substitute driver in his second Cup start, and is one of only three drivers to win both the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 in the same year.

You may contact the Racing Reporter by e-mail at: hodges@race500.com.