Phil Tortoreti (’66)
Phil Tortoreti was an outstanding three-sport athlete at Glen Rock High School,
being a First Team, Group 3, All-State quarterback and a leading player
on the school’s basketball and baseball teams.
On the gridiron, Phil starred as both the team’s quarterback and its leading defensive back. In addition to being a superb passer, he was an excellent runner. He also was the team’s punter and ran back kick-offs and punts. In his senior year, Phil and Hall of Fame Inductee Pete Goj were Co-Captains and led the 1965 Football Team to a 7-2 record and second place finish in the NBIL. The team also finished second in the final NJSIAA Group 3, Sectional ranking (thereby nearly equaling the 7-1-1 1963 team that was named Group 3, Sectional Champions). At the end
of the season, Phil and Pete were named to the Second Team, All-County (with each team being a combined offense & defense team of 11 players) (by The Bergen Record) and to the First Team, All-NBIL. Phil was also selected as the lone quarterback to lead the First Team Offense, All-Suburban (by The Ridgewood News). Finally, he and Pete also received First Team, Group 3, All State and Honorable Mention, All Groups, All-State recognition from the Associated Press.
Phil was also an outstanding basketball player. As a junior, he played guard on the 1964-65 Basketball Team that produced one of Glen Rock’s most successful — and one of its most memorable — seasons in the school’s history. The team was led by Hall of Fame Inductee Butch Giuffre and Kevin Waterman, who would end the season as the top scoring duo in all of New Jersey. After the team won the NBIL Co-Championship (with a 17-3 league record), it had a memorable run in the Group 3, State Championship playoffs. In the Sectional quarterfinal, it defeated New Milford by a score of 81-58 and advanced to play Dwight Morrow (Englewood), the Co-Champion of the NNJIL (a league consisting of the largest schools in Bergen County). The Bergen Record billed the game as the battle for the mythical Bergen County championship. After starting slowly, Glen Rock led by as much as 10 points in the third quarter, but the favored Englewood worked its way back and tied the game at 64-64 with less than two minutes left. The two teams then exchanged baskets with various players hitting clutch shots or being fouled and then making free throws. When Butch fouled out with a minute left, Englewood’s fans were confident that their team would advance. However, with the game knotted at 69-69 with 22 seconds left to play, Glen Rock quickly brought the ball up court and got the ball to Pete, who hit an 8-foot jumper. Then, after forcing an Englewood turnover, Phil drove to the basket and hit the clincher, making the final score 73-69.
Unfortunately, the team was then defeated by Lincoln High School of Jersey City in the Group 3, Sectional Championship final. Played at Bayonne High School, it certainly seems to be the most remembered game of the 1960s. Lincoln (led by future professional Elnardo Webster) was just too big and too fast for the Panthers. Glen Rock ended its season with a final record of 20-5.
In Phil’s senior year, he and Pete were Co-Captains of the 1965-66 Basketball Team. As the team’s point guard, he directed the offense and was responsible for feeding fellow seniors Third Team, All-County (by The Bergen Record) and First Team, All-NBIL Phil and Honorable Mention, All-County and Second Team, All-NBIL Pete Vanderzee. Phil was also the team’s third leading scorer. While the team suffered from the graduation of Butch and Kevin, it still competed for a close-knit NBIL Championship before finishing the season with a 14-7 record. It then advanced into the State Tournament against league rival Old Tappan. The two teams had split their regular season encounters; unfortunately, in this rubber match, Old Tappan was victorious.
On the baseball diamond, Phil won three varsity letters playing multiple positions over those years. In his senior year, he played second base and was the team’s most honored player, being named to the First Team, All-NBIL and First Team, All-Suburban, and receiving Honorable Mention, All-County.
After graduating from Glen Rock High School, Phil played football at Albright College where he was a defensive back and returned punts and then at Fairleigh Dickinson University where he starred at quarterback.