Butch Guiffre (’65)
Butch Guiffre was Glen Rock High School’s best football, basketball and baseball three sport athlete, He is one of only two Glen Rock athletes named to the First or Second Team, All-League in those three sports.
On the football field, Butch Guiffre was one of the best running backs in the history of Glen Rock football. He was also a tough defensive player who was a ferocious hitter as a defensive back. As a sophomore, he was the team’s second leading scorer. As a junior, he was again the team’s second leading scorer and helped lead the 1963 Football Team to a 7-1-1 record and the Group 3, Sectional Championship (and the school’s only Sectional Championship until the 1980 football team won the Group 2, Sectional Championship). Its only loss was to the much larger Pascack Valley (18-7). In the season ending game against River Dell on Thanksgiving Day, Glen Rock defeated its archrival for the first time by a score of 13-7. In a play that local sportswriters still wrote about decades later, Glen Rock scored the winning touchdown on quarterback Jim Engelland’s fourth quarter pass that Butch caught on River Dell’s 20-yard line amidst two defensive backs, and then spun and eluded those two defenders and outran them into the end zone. At the end of the season, Butch was named to the Second Team, All-NBIL.
As a senior, Butch led the football team to a 5-4 record in a season that he rushed for over 1,500 yards and led the NBIL in scoring with 15 touchdowns for a total of 90 points. For his accomplishments, he was named to the First Team, All-Area by The Paterson News in an article that described him as “a dynamo….an exceptional runner, a superior pass receiver and a sturdy blocker and defender.” He was also named to the Second Team, All-NBIL.
Butch was also a three year starter for the Glen Rock basketball team. As a sophomore, he was the team’s leading scorer and was named to the First Team, All-Suburban by The Ridgewood News in an article where they described him as a “throwback to the old days” since he “c(ould) do everything well” and had a “hustling, driving type of game.”
As a junior, Butch and his classmate Kevin Waterman laid the groundwork for their senior years, with Butch averaging 18.9 points per game and finishing as the #2 scorer in the NBIL (and Kevin averaging 16.7 points per game). At the end of the season, Butch was named to the First Team, All-NBIL and to the First Team, All-Suburban. One of the season’s most memorable games was a come-from-behind home victory over Hawthorne on Valentine’s Day, where Butch won the game with a last second 30-foot jump shot.
The 1964-65 Basketball Team produced one of Glen Rock’s most successful — and one of its most memorable — seasons in the school’s history. Butch and Kevin ended the season as the top scoring duo in all of New Jersey and, ably supported by their teammates, they led the team to an NBIL Co-Championship and a memorable run in the Group 3, State Championship playoffs. In the Sectional semifinal, Glen Rock defeated NNJIL Co-Champion Dwight Morrow (Englewood) High School by a score of 73-69 in what was billed by The Bergen Record as the battle for the mythical Bergen County championship. Glen Rock then advanced to the Group 3, Sectional Championship final against Lincoln High School of Jersey City in a game that certainly seems to be the most remembered athletic contest of the 1960s. Unfortunately, Lincoln was victorious and Glen Rock’s season was over; their final record was 20-5.
In addition to ending the season as the top scoring duo in New Jersey, Butch and Kevin were the fourth and fifth top scorers in Bergen County, with Kevin scoring 544 points and Butch scoring 513 points over their season of 25 games. The Bergen Record named Kevin to the Second Team, All-County and named Butch to the Third Team, All-County. They were also the second and third top scorers in the NBIL, with Kevin scoring 432 points and Butch scoring 427 points over their 20 league games. Both were named to the First Team, All-NBIL and to the First Team, All-Suburban. The Paterson News named Butch to its All-Area Team and awarded Kevin Honorable Mention.
Butch became the first player in Glen Rock High School’s history to score over 1,000 career points. He also graduated with the then-NBIL career scoring record with 934 points in league games. Kevin graduated with the then-second highest career scoring record in the school’s history.
Butch started on the baseball team as a sophomore and junior. He was a great centerfielder with an outstanding arm. As a sophomore, he batted a near team-leading .347 and hit a then-school record of three home runs in only 18 games. He was named to the Second Team, All-NBIL and to the First Team, All-Suburban. As a junior, he batted a near team-leading .371 and led the team to the school’s first NBIL championship in any sport. He was named to the Second Team, All-County, First Team, All-NBIL and First Team, All-Suburban.
Having been named to the First or Second Team, All-League in football, basketball and baseball, Butch joined Hall of fame inductee Dave Percival as the only two Glen Rock athletes who have accomplished that achievement.