John Gillooly book chronicles the 2018 Cranston East football season, on and off the field
The story of the 2018 Cranston East football season was a lot more than just wins and losses.
For John Gillooly, the retired Providence Journal high school sports writer, it was the perfect example of a high school team that reflected the changing face of a Northeast city, and showed just how important high school football can be.
"Cranston East, was the most diverse high school in the state of Rhode Island," Gillooly said recently, when talking about his latest book, "Friday Night Thunderbolts: Why High School Football Matters to America's Future."
Gillooly wrote about high school sports for The Journal during a career that spanned more than 50 years, before retiring in 2018.
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The day after his last column appeared in The Journal, Gillooly found himself at the Cranston East practice field, where coach Tom Centore was preparing his Thunderbolts for the coming season. Gillooly is an alum of the school, having attended East in the mid-1960s. Now he was about to follow the Thunderbolts week after week, attending every game, and several practices, as well. Along the way, he would get to know the players, the friendships, the parents and the community around Cranston East football.
"For several years, I had felt there was an untold story about Cranston East football," he writes in the book's prologue — a story that has as much to do with a city's changing demographics as it does with the playbook.
Although the city itself, according to the 2010 U.S. Census, was nearly 82% white, two-thirds of the faces that made up the 2018 football team were faces of color: from various economic and family backgrounds. For Gillooly, it told a story of how these kids from varied backgrounds could find commonality and work toward a single goal.
And unlike many other sports, where it might be harder for a student the make the cut, "Football, they take everybody," Gillooly said. "Football is the epitome of teamwork. There's a role for you on every play."
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Friendships forged
"Friday Night Thunderbolts" makes it clear that high school football in Rhode Island is certainly not on the same level as high school football in Texas or Florida or other places. Yet the camaraderie and trust among teammates, and the life lessons it can teach, are every bit the same.
"The first thing is I have to trust you are going to do the right thing every time," were Coach Centore's first words to his team that season. From there, the book chronicles the ups and downs of that 2018 season — describing the 'Bolts opponents, the communities they come from — and the challenge that Centore faced with the loss of his father — football coaching legend Tony Centore — that very season.
It also explores the friendships forged during that season, and the passion that the players had for that team.
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Mack Hanley, who hailed from the city's Edgewood section, was a newcomer to football who showed great potential that season. Asked if he planned to keep playing in college, Hanley told Gillooly, "I don't have a passion for football. I have a passion for this team."
Concerns about concussions
The book also tackles some thorny issues, like allowing your children to play football now that there is so much science about the dangers of concussions. In one chapter, Gillooly writes about Bo Cassidy-Bou, the mother of then-freshman Jordan Bou.
"I was skeptical about letting him play," she said. "But he's passionate about it. As a mom, I'm not going to take that away from him. Plus, it keeps him out of trouble. It keeps him focused, and it keeps him disciplined."
When the 2018 season ended (Cranston East lost a tiebreaker and missed the playoffs), Gillooly — whose previous book, 2004's "Pride of the Mount," told the story of the Mount St. Charles boys hockey team — said he gave himself a year to finish his latest project.
But it wasn't long after the final whistle blew on that season, the nation found itself in the COVID-19 pandemic. Gillooly asked himself, "Do I do it, do I not do it," but he felt so invested in the project — having attended all those games and practices, and having interviewed all those players, coaches and parents, he knew he had to press on.
How to get the book 'Friday Night Thunderbolts'
Four years after Gillooly stepped onto the practice field in Cranston to meet with the team, "Friday Night Thunderbolts: Why High School Football Matters to America's Future" is now available on Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com and can be ordered at any independent book store in New England.
Getting the project over the goal line was satisfying. But not just because it was the culmination of all those days and nights spent with the team.
"It made me feel good for those kids," he said. "I'm glad I did it."
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: John Gillooly tells the untold story about RI Cranston East football
