"As soon as he caught the ball, I knew we had it but all I could do was wait and watch. It couldn't have lasted more than a second," Varitek says, "but it was the longest second I've ever endured. I just kept thinking, 'Please, hold on to the ball.'"

In that second, 86 years of Beantown angst were washed away — sweet redemption for all the old Red Sox players who'd been victims of the so-called "curse of the Bambino" and the long-suffering fans whose mantra was always: "Wait until next year."

Woodrow Wilson was president when Boston last won the World Series in 1918. The United States was embroiled in the "war to end all wars" and an influenza epidemic had killed more than a half-million Americans. The Red Sox were chasing an unprecedented fifth World Series title, relying on the arm and bat of a pitcher named George Herman "Babe" Ruth, aka "the Bambino."

Red Sox owner Harry Frazee, desperate for cash, sold Ruth's contract to the New York Yankees for $100,000 and a bank loan. The Yankees, a team that had never won a world championship before the Babe arrived, went on to win the Series 26 times, while the Red Sox made only four World Series appearances, losing each one in Game 7. Thus was born the curse.

"I never believed in that curse business," says Varitek, Mgt 95. "I just think we got outplayed at the right times, but the longer you're in Boston, the more everything is blamed on it. It's nice to just finally be able to dismiss all that.

"Anyone who has ever played in Boston knows what winning a championship means, not only to the players but also to the city," he says. "All those old great players — Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky, Jim Rice, Dwight Evans, Luis Tiant — they agonized right along with everyone else."

Varitek had come close to winning world championships before. His Altamonte Springs, Fla., Little League team won the U.S. championship, but lost to Korea when he played in the finals of the 1984 World Series. Ten years later, he played for Georgia Tech in the 1994 College World Series, losing to Oklahoma in the championship round.

Varitek is the only baseball player in Tech history to have his number retired. The three-time All-American still holds nine offensive records for the most home runs, runs batted in, hits, doubles, total bases, runs scored and walks. He was selected as one of the 50 greatest Georgia Tech athletes of the 20th century and was recently inducted into the Tech Athletic Hall of Fame.

Varitek was a first-round pick of the Seattle Mariners in 1994, but they were unable to come to terms on a contract.

Varitek came back to Tech and finished his degree, then signed a contract with the St. Paul Saints, a minor league club in the independent Northern League. He finally came to terms with the Mariners in 1995.

Varitek says the self-discipline he learned at Tech helped him overcome those hurdles.

"At Tech, you have to discipline yourself to excel at sports while also performing well academically. You can't do one without the other," he says.

Although the Red Sox haven't elected a captain since Jim Rice retired in 1989, the team anointed Varitek as their leader. Not only did he superbly direct the flow of the games, calming nervous pitchers or shifting defensive coverage, he also made big plays when they mattered most.

Trailing in the second game of the division series against the California Angels, Varitek hit a two-run homer and the Sox went on to win 8-3. He drove in the first run in Boston's 4-2 victory over the Yankees in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series and his two-run triple in the second game of the World Series continued the momentum for the Sox's four-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals.

"This guy is the heart and soul of our team," manager Terry Francona told the Boston Globe. "He never quits. Nothing he does is average. Every time he runs a drill, he runs it perfect. This guy is everything you can ask for in a catcher."

In post-World Series interviews, pitcher Curt Schilling pulled a reluctant Varitek to the television cameras and, as he showered him with champagne, said, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is the leader of the 2004 Boston Red Sox."

Varitek says, "The respect of your teammates is the greatest honor you can have, but this is not my team. That's why we were so good — there's no one person that was bigger than this team."

©2005 Georgia Tech Alumni Association