Frank Pezze

After high school I waved farewell to my neighboring classmates, Nancy Campbell, Jim Reeves, Tom McAvoy & Charlie Hitchcock (aka Rowan Morrigan) as they headed away to college (Jim by the way, had a unique talent of being able to ride his bike backwards while sitting on his handlebars).  After their departure I traveled across the river to "Harvard on the Hudson" with Bob LaVeyra & John O'Donnell.  John used to drive me to school his hot green Comet, equipped with a “Budweiser Tap” stick shift and Bob would drive me (or try to kill us) skiing on the weekends in his ‘58 Pontiac equipped with a full sized “Reel to Reel tape deck”, way before 8 tracks.  I later transferred to Syracuse University graduating with a degree in Civil Engineering, minoring in architecture and Black Velvet & ginger.  I made the soccer team as a walk on and my teammate & house mate was Cindy Lapham’s brother, Hal. 


After college I worked as a structural research engineer, before they realized  I might have had something to do with the NYS Thruway bridge collapse in the late 80's.  I then transferred to my current position as a contract dispute engineer, where I read, write and do PR work.  This is ironic since I hated reading & writing, and walked out of the English regents exam because I didn't want to write the essay.  At work I’ve occasionally cross paths with former classmates -  Dave Siem, Diane Russell & Ron Spadaro (who I actually take Defensive Driving with). 


Met my wife, Sue Avellino ‘73 (Bill Libby’s cousin) at Mike Hennet's wedding.  I was Best Man and she was Maid of Honor.  I asked her out dressed in my slick green tux and yellow puffy shirt, but she said she had a policy not to date clowns.  My persistence later paid off when I got her attention with a  smooth pick up line "Hey, do you want to play Probe" (real game).  After a four year test drive, we got married and Ted Gould was my best man. If you know Ted he really wasn’t that good (it's a joke Ted).  I bought her wedding gift (diamond earrings) from Kevin Broderick, but later found out they were Zirconium. 


We moved and settled into the back row of the Carman Drive In Theater.  Instead of watching movies we made babies, 4 girls in 5 years.  The first three were named - Jennifer, Meghan, and Ashley.  Since I was “Frank the III”, family pressure to produce a "IV" was running high. When the fourth and final child arrived (another girl) the only option I had left was to call her “Francesca”, unfortunately that didn’t pass and we were immediately cut out of the will.  All four girls later graduated from GCHS in the '00's, and the oldest was a college roommate with Gail Veley’s daughter at Oneonta. 


Due to the outrageous cost of college education, I am currently penniless and hoping to take advantage of the alumni plan on our website for people who can’t afford to buy a ticket to the reunion. 

To burn off access energy (like Donna Burns) I organized several sport leagues including Flag Football (Hennet, O'Donnell & LaVeyra once played), Basketball (Mike Fouhy, Gary Menia & Hennet once played), Soccer (John Chakmakas, Tom Hornback & Craig Nasholds brother Reid, once played), and Racquetball (Mary Beth Hennet & Chakmakas once played).


I also arranged several large social events and was later recognized (for some reason) for organizing fun.  In 1994 (true story), the Town of Guilderland lowered their standards, and selected me as Guilderland's Citizen of Year.  Sadly, however, I was stripped of this award after I tested positive for steroids from an ointment I applied to my skin during a severe case of poison ivy.


Before they did background checks, I coached youth Basketball (with Mike Fouhy), Soccer (Doug Ermides daughter played) and Softball (Cathy Haines '72 daughter played) for a number of years. I have also skied with fellow reunion committee member Barb Merrihew in Vermont and danced around town in the summer Saratoga scene with Donna Burns & Bob LaVeyra.  I am still attempting to play soccer in the Over 80 league with John Chakmakas (he likes to bring the donuts) and basketball with Bob Hanrahan ‘71 & Rich Gifford ‘68. 


For last 30 years, I have vacationed with classmates John Chakmakas, John O’Donnell and Bob LaVerya in Cape Cod, MA where we had as many 75 people attend this year.  Several ex-GCHS alumni from various classes have joined us.

Story 1

I remember playing JV football and the QB (Gary Lauver) handed the halfback the ball, as he ran right to the sideline.  Running into interference he reversed directions and headed towards the opposite sideline, turning up field.  Being a very quick and elusive player, he must have ran 100 yards on the play before running out of bounds untouched. Players and coaches (Russ Ferris) were excited cheering on his dynamic run and effort.  When the refs moved the sideline marker to indicate the yardage gained, it showed that he advanced the ball for a whopping three feet. Lots of effort, for little gain, but I still remember how the halfback would run great lengths to avoid being hit.  The halfback’s initials are Jim Murphy.



Story 2

I think it was 1969 and the hippy look including full accessories, was beginning to infiltrate it’s way into the Guilderland fashion scene.  I remember looking at this interesting, earthy type, necklace around a classmates neck.  Intrigued, I asked him about it and he said I made it by hand.  I asked what are those ragged looking ornaments hanging on it, and he responded proudly, their my TOE NAILS!  True story and the name has been withheld for obvious reasons.