In the mid 1960s and the early ‘70s, I headed up a camp for high school footballers. It was held in a little town outside of Brockton, Mass. called North Easton.
The college in North Easton was “Notre Dame East” in a way, because Stonehill College boasted an exact replica of Notre Dame’s and the Lourdes’s Grotto for the Blessed Mother.
At first, it was a week for 60 quarterbacks. The next year we added receivers, and from there, we included all positions and enlarged the staff. The founder, Valentine Muscato, also a Notre Dame grad and track star, hired me to set up the camp. I brought with me members of our staff at Notre Dame. There were Paul Shoults (defensive secondary), Mike Stock, George Sefcik (receivers) and Joe Yonto (defensive line and linebackers).
We also utilized Carmen Cozza from Yale, Tom Yewcik from UMass and Bill Parcells (Army). Yes, the same one.
 Camps for school boys of this nature were rare at the time, but it represented an opportunity for coaches to instruct, recruit, and widen their perspective – plus pocket some extra money at a time when coaches were making “peanuts”.
From that camp, Notre Dame enjoyed the recruitment of student athletes such as Pete Demmerle (wide receiver.), Dennis Lozzi (offensive tackle.), Darryl Dewan (halfback.), Ken MacAfee (tight end), Joe Restic (quarterback, safety and punter) and several others who were not as well known. As a recruiting tool, you could observe every aspect of what a potential athlete could do, with the exception of full contact.
One of the young men spotted by Paul Shoults and Mike Stock was a lad about 6-foot, 175 pounds. He was a receiver who, when he graduated with honors from Notre Dame, in 1975, was 6-1, 196 pounds. He had the most absolutely “sure hands” of any young receiver we had ever seen at that early stage. His name is Pete Demmerle, who died this May 24th at age 53.
Pete was quiet, unassuming, humble, and yet proud of his capabilities. He was in the same incoming class (1971) as our national title quarterback, Tom Clements. They would become the “pitch and catch’ team of that era. In Ara’s tenure, we had Huarte to Snow, Hanratty to Seymour, Theismann to Gatewood and the last grouping, Clements to Demmerle.
Above all, Pete had the rare vision of life that one must work hard to prosper, and education was his foremost goal. Though drafted in the 13th round by the San Diego Chargers, Pete selected a scholarship for postgraduate studies. He had his eye on law and, eventually, maybe public service. He was pretty well known in New Canaan, Conn. from his college playing days, and was accepted into the law firm there, of Le Boeuf, Lamb, Greene and MacRae.
Pete was a consensus All-American in 1974 and a big part of the 1973 national championship. He was also an Academic All-American. There was nothing that he attempted in which he did not excel. Rumors were a run for the Senate or Congress. Maybe, he might just run for Governor.
His competitive and quiet confidence, his intellect, his compulsion to do things right, would make him a “natural.” A hideous blow of fate struck Pete in 1999, and for nearly eight long, tough years, he had progressively dwindled from the dreaded foe, ALS. You’ve heard of it as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, but the technical name is AMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCHLEROSIS. The best seller “Tuesday’s With Morrie” details the heartbreak of the victim’s long suffering deterioration.
People always say, when parents reach an elderly plateau, “the worst thing a parent can undergo, is to lose his and her own child before themselves.” This disease not only attacks youth, talent, promise, goodness and all the things we treasure, it destroys the future! Such a tragic event provokes the question, WHY?” No one can really give that answer. I guess many say, “You know, the good die young.” But that makes no sense.
Others look skyward and blame the Good Lord. This makes even less sense than “dying young.”
All the friends and families know for sure is that we are all diminished by such a loss. The loss of a great prospective and potential life that could only add to the good we all seek has been snuffed out. Pete, in his quiet and yet effective life, with all his achievements and major adversities, was quite a man. I’ve always believed that God is not the author of death; the devil is.
Pete Demmerle, in his all too short life, achieved much and left a great family – plus a great family of friends – behind. We know Pete was truly a Notre Dame Man, and being one, believes in a hereafter.
See you then, dear friend!
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