Pastner developed winning tradition.

• Position: Sports

Jerry Pastner still chuckles when he remembers the roundabout way he landed as a football coach at Assabet, as if it was almost by accident.

After spending three years at St. Mary's of Milford as a physical education teacher and assistant football coach, the bishop announced that St. Mary's would be closing its doors. Thinking he would be without a job, Pastner decided to apply at newly opened Assabet Valley in the summer of 1973 where he was hired in the PE department and as an assistant football coach.

During a preseason practice, Pastner was dispatched for an emergency phone call from someone in the office at St. Mary's asking why he wasn't at orientation.

"I told them I had never heard from anyone from Milford and that I had already signed a contract with Assabet Valley,'' he said. "They never did call me, so I figured I needed to have a job, and the Assabet job came at the right time.''

As it turned out, St. Mary's stayed open one final year, but Pastner remained at Assabet. And stayed... and stayed... and stayed.

He was Assabet's head football coach for 29 years, compiling a record of 161-137-7. He led the Aztecs to 12 Colonial Athletic League titles, four trips to the Super Bowl, and in 1983, they became the first vocational school in the state to win a Super Bowl.

Assabet is marking its 40th varsity season of football, although the 1974 season was played as a JV schedule. Just the same, many squads like Notre Dame of Fitchburg, Tyngsboro and Monty Tech counted their games against Assabet on their varsity schedule.

After spending 1973 as an instructional year, then compiling a 5-5 JV record in 1974 with Jim Duggan, Assabet introduced a varsity team in 1975 and its first varsity coach, Pastner.

"When Assabet started, we were made up of six towns -- Southboro, Northboro, Westboro, Marlboro, Hudson and Maynard,'' Pastner said. "We considered many of these blue-collar towns, so these kids knew how to play football.''

The Aztecs got their feet wet in the 1975 season with a 5-5 record, but the following year, while playing mostly teams from Eastern Mass., they put up an 8-2 record, falling only to Worcester Voke and Greater Lowell.

"We missed the Super Bowl by one one-hundredth of a point in the power ratings, but it showed that we could play football with the best of them,'' he said.

In 1980, Monty Tech became the first vocational school in the state to play in a Super Bowl, losing to Ayer in the Division 2 game, 50-0. Three years later...