Next Saturday will be a special one for students, faculty andalumni of the Algonquin Regional High School in Northborough, whichwill hold its first annual Athletic Hall of Fame induction luncheonat 2 p.m. in the school cafeteria. The event was planned by theschool's Athletic Council and Booster Club.
The inductees were selected from more than 100 nominations ofathletes, coaches and significant contributors to Algonquin'sathletic program, which was started in 1959. Algonquin is the highschool for the towns of Northborough and Southborough.
The inductees are Paul Audet (Class of 1988), Nancy Boutilier(1979), former athletic director and varsity basketball coach JohnClark (1959-1967), teacher-coach Paul Cronin (1967-1997), William(Bill) Davis III ('62), Lee Heffernan (1974), assistant principal-coach Frank Kronoff (1969-1994), teacher-coach Annabelle MacLeod(1959-1972), Rebecca Hutchins Orton (1992), Tamara Owen (1980),Stephanie Slack (1962) and teacher-coach John Wallace.
Audet was a soccer, basketball and tennis captain who received atennis scholarship from the University of Massachusetts. Boutilierwas a Midland League all-star in basketball and softball, and captainof volleyball and basketball (she averaged 17.3 points per game inbasketball). Clark was the school's first athletic director andchairman of the physical education department and varsity basketballcoach for eight seasons. Cronin was a physical education teacher,athletic director and faculty manager and three-sport coach. Daviswas captain of football, basketball and track. And Heffernan wascaptain of baseball and football, and a member of Algonquin'sundefeated Super Bowl team that defeated East Longmeadow on thegridiron.
Kronoff, who was head football coach from 1983 to 1987 and 1993 to1994 as well as outdoor track coach for two seasons and assistantprincipal for 15 years, said: 'As with all coaches, to hear about[former players'] lives from time to time as they made their waythrough the years has always been the only reward necessary for me ina very enjoyable profession.' Although retired, he still goes toAlgonquin as a substitute teacher on occasion.
MacLeod, who will be inducted posthumously, coached three girlssports and taught physical education. Orton was captain of basketballand soccer and also participated in track and softball, and wasAlgonquin's first 1,000-point scorer in girls basketball; and she hasreturned to her alma mater as freshman girls basketball coach. Owenplayed softball, basketball and volleyball and was honored as aBoston Globe Scholar-Athlete in volleyball her senior year. Slack,who entered into a career as a physical education teacher and coach,was a three-year varsity member of field hockey, basketball andsoftball. And Wallace, currently a science teacher and formerly anassistant football coach, also was varsity baseball coach from 1970to 1984, and won more than 100 games and several league titles on thediamond.
Owen, now a hospital administrator in Buffalo, N.Y., said:'Athletics is a microcosm of the business world. There is almost nodifference in the key skills. How you handle yourself as aprofessional, how you focus on your responsibilities, how you performunder pressure, how you handle criticism, how you work as a team.'
Tickets for the luncheon may be purchased in advance for $15through the Athletic Department. For information on tickets,contributions to the Hall of Fame or sponsorship and programopportunities, call athletic director Fran Whitten at 508-351-7010,ext. 114.
CASEY AMONG PARK LEAGUE'S ELITE John Casey, a Milford residentand the head baseball coach at Tufts University in Medford since1984, has been inducted into the Boston Park League Hall of Fame.
The Boston Park League is the oldest amatuer baseball league inthe country. Casey was considered one of its top players in the 1980sand one of its best umpires in the 1990s. He has continued hissupport of the league since retiring from the diamond. Born andraised in Jamaica Plain, Casey is a 1976 graduate of the Boston LatinSchool and a 1980 graduate of Tufts University.
Casey helped found the Triple D's team, which joined the ParkLeague in 1980. In its inaugural season, the team advanced to theleague finals, losing the series in the seventh game. The team wonthe league championship the following season, and pitcher-outfielderCasey was the most valuable player.
During a nine-year run with Triple D's, J.P. Cubans and theDiSangio Dodgers, Casey was a Park League All-Star numerous times andwas a regular in the playoffs. A member of the All-Star team thatplayed the US Olympic Team in Fenway Park in 1984, Casey was the onlypitcher to throw a scoreless inning for the Park League. One of theouts he recorded was against Will Clark, who was to become a star inthe major leagues.
Casey also earned accolades for his work as an umpire in theleague and was the recipient of the Dan Roberts Award for umpiring,which he did for eight seasons. As the head coach of baseball atTufts, he's maintained his association with the league by sendingmore than 40 of his college players to the Boston Park League duringhis 16-year tenure.
'I started a team with three friends just because we wanted tokeep playing,' Casey said. 'We didn't expect to win. By the time Istopped playing, I had a lot of new friends.
'It's good baseball. It's a competitive league, and that's whywe've sent so many kids there during my time at Tufts. I'm reallyproud of this honor.'
The Tufts program's all-time leader in coaching victories, Caseyand his staff's teams have compiled a 246-187-1 record and ninepostseason berths. Forty team and individual records have been brokenduring his tenure. The team's record in the last six seasons is 133-82-1 against a schedule that includes Division I opponents such asBoston College and Dartmouth.
After a year of coaching at New Hampton Prep, he returned to Tuftsas a baseball and football assistant. He replaced Lee Sargent as headbaseball coach in 1984, and is currently an assistant to headfootball coach Bill Samko. Casey is a member of New England'sDivision III Selection and All-Star committees, and is secretary-treasurer of the New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association. Heworks various baseball camps and is the hitting coordinator at theMike Andrews Camp.
LESTER SAILS IN NATIONAL REGATTA Sam Lester of Wellesley, asophomore at Connecticut College, finished 11th among 16 sailors atthis month's Intercollegiate Yacht Racing Association SinglehandedNational Championship in Newport, R.I.
In a regatta that featured 16 races over three days, Lester beganthe event with a seventh-place finish and stood in ninth placeoverall after the completion of three races. Lester's best finishes -in fifth place - occurred in the eighth and 16th races. He had earneda spot in the ICYRA Singlehanded National Championship with a fourth-lace finish at the New England Intercollegiate Sailing AssociationChampionship on Oct. 10. A finish among the top four was required toadvance to the national championship. Lester was just the secondConnecticut College sailor in the history of the program to qualifyfor the Singlehanded National Championship.
HERE AND THERE . . . The Longfellow Club at the Wayland-Sudbury line will host its 19th annual Thanksgiving Mixed DoublesRound Robin tennis tournament to benefit OXFAM America from 5 to 7p.m. next Sunday for players of all skill levels. Prospective playersmay sign up alone or with a partner. There is a tax-deductible fee of$25 per player, with all proceeds going to OXFAM, an international,nonprofit agency dedicated to helping people in need of drinkingwater, irrigation systems, farming training and other skills inAfrica, Asia and Latin America. For information, call OXFAMcoordinator Becky Wendler at 508-358-7355. . . . The football team atMount Ida College in Newton ended its inaugural season with arespectable 3-4 record, falling by 20-18 to Assumption in its finalgame. . . . Katie Patterson of Holliston, a senior and cocaptain ofthe University of Vermont field hockey team, finished her career byleading the Catamounts in scoring with six goals and one assist whilestarting in all of her team's 18 games. Patterson played in 70 gamesover four seasons, ending her career with 12 goals and eight assistsas a midfielder and halfback.
