Scorecard November 4, 1996

"The only thing I was ever told (by my mother) was that of 6 previous children my dad was not involved in naming any of them—so he supposedly tried to catch up, using me. He named me after a president, a Roman emperor and an Indian chief. Being part indian I guess he felt he had to get an indian name in there some where—i've always claimed he had to be in the firewater to give a kid a name like that. Calvin Coolidge was president when I was born (1925) Don't know where Julius Caesar came from. That's about all I know. I was called Buster by all my family."

The Razor's Edge

Years from now, they'll still be talking in Albuquerque about the bizarre saga of the razor-sharp buckle on the helmet of a player in an Oct. 12 football game between Albuquerque Academy and St. Pius X. Right now, though, they're talking criminal behavior. As of Monday, no charges had been filed against either the player or his father, who claimed responsibility for sharpening the buckle. But the district attorney of Bernalillo County was on the case, and the best guess was that some type of criminal charge would be filed.

The episode started to unfold during the first quarter of the Academy's 22-16 double-overtime win. Two Academy players found that they were bleeding from wounds to their hands and arms; one had sustained three cuts that would require 10 stitches. A third teammate, whose arm was covered with scratches, told his coaches, "It feels like they've got razor blades out there." Referee Steve Fuller ran a quick check of the St. Pius players' equipment and found what he thought were two defective chin-strap buckles on the helmet worn by junior center Mike Cito. After removing them, he gave the first to a St. Pius assistant and pocketed the other.

After the game, officials found that the buckle in Fuller's possession had been milled to razor sharpness. (The St. Pius assistant coach said he had thrown away the first buckle, and a search of the field failed to turn it up.) On Oct. 14 the New Mexico High School Activities Association began an investigation, which resulted in Cito's being discharged from the team and then expelled from school. After the expulsion, Cito's father, Stephen, a pediatric dentist, told St. Pius X principal Rev. Ronald G. Schwenzer that he had done the milling.

Stephen was upset that in the previous week's game against St. Michael's High, Mike had been a victim of what the father considered excessive head-slapping. According to Schwenzer, this was the elder Cito's solution to that. Several observers describe Stephen, who was working on the sideline chain gang during the Albuquerque Academy-St. Pius game, as a hothead. He was so vocal in his criticism of the officiating during St. Pius's game against Capital High on Sept. 28 that he was asked to leave the sideline crew. Apparently, the elder Cito is not always so bellicose; people close to Mike's sporting events describe Stephen as "mouthy" and "macho" but also say that he "loves children" and frequently performs charitable dental work on youngsters from low-income families. More than one source describes Mike as a nice, levelheaded kid. Neither father nor son has talked to the press.

Investigators have not ruled out the possibility that the buckle sharpening was teamwide, but the hope remains that this was an isolated incident. Or, as D.A. Bob Schwartz puts it, "a really dumb idea confined to some really dumb people."