ALGONQUIN HIGH TO HONOR FIRST HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES - The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)

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.

SUMMER CAMP, WITH MORE SIZZLE - The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)

KENT, Conn. - Before taking the stage on a recent Saturday eveningto sing karaoke to 'Summer Nights' from the musical 'Grease,' friendsSara Ezra and Jennifer Prasse, with fresh cocktails in hand, chattedabout why they're back at Club Get away for the third time in twoyears.

'We've done cruises,' says Ezra, 31, who lives in Brighton, 'buthere it's more outdoorsy, as opposed to just being at the pool or thebeach.' Earlier that day, they'd hiked, mountain-biked, taken akarate lesson, climbed a rock wall, and learned to swing dance. Nowit was time to unwind.

The women learned about New England's version of Club Med lastyear, when they saw a segment on the Travel Channel ranking the'world's hottest get aways for singles.' Club Get away came infourth.

The 300-acre camp, used for children's groups during the week,attracts mostly singles and some couples to its all-inclusive themedweekends, which run from Memorial Day to late October and cost about$300 to $350. Roughly a quarter of the guests are from the Bostonarea, and the rest are from New York City and Philadelphia, saysVictor Fink, who runs the camp that has been in his family since1946.

Several Boston-area singles organizations take groups there. TheBoston Ski & Sports Club was there on a recent weekend and plans totake two more trips this summer. The following weekend, for theJewish-themed 'Bagels & Jocks,' the Boston-based J Connection and theMosaic Outdoor Mountain Club of Mas sa chu setts were planningoutings.

Guests stay in bare-bones cabins for two, three, or four people,all with twin beds. Each cabin has a small bathroom, and there are nophones or radios - and no locks on the doors. Some people describethe place as a summer camp for adults; others say it's like springbreak.

Despite the camp's emphasis on outdoor activities, which areoffered every 30 minutes from 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m. on Saturdays and 9:30a.m.-2 p.m. on Sundays, Club Get away, like Club Med, has areputation for being a place to party, drink, and - potentially -have sex with people you've just met.

Fink, 56, who is married with a teenage son, readily acknowledgesthat Club Get away has a party at mos phere. It was a trip to ClubMed that inspired the former New Yorker to turn the children's campinto an adult camp in 1978. 'We buried the bugles and put out thebars and the hot tubs,' he says.

Club Get away's Web site (www.clubgetaway.com) links to astreaming video of its profile on the Travel Channel, and Fink workswith many singles groups, including the country's biggest onlinedating service, Match.com. But the singles angle isn't mentioned inthe club's brochure.

'That's something that I always wrestle with,' Fink says. 'Theword of mouth is that singles are mostly who it's for, but I thoughtthat if you ran something saying `singles weekends,' it puts pressureon people to meet.'

In a more blatant appeal to singles, Club Get away last winterstarted offering singles cruises to the Caribbean.

Deb, a recent Club Get away visitor through the Boston Ski &Sports Club who doesn't want her last name published, says that shedid not expect what she referred to as the weekend's 'debauchery.'

'The whole reason I went to this one weekend in particular was Ithought it would be more sports-focused and mellow in terms of thesingles dating scene,' says the 34-year-old Lexington woman, whoworks in high-tech marketing. 'But it seemed the entire purpose wasjust to hook up, and that seemed superficial and worse than highschool.'

She was turned off by the 'volume-500 music' and 'the constantdrinking thing. And I thought the sports were incredibly lame.' (Finksays some of the sports - including the mountain biking, tennis, andmartial arts - are geared for beginners. Some weekends are focused ononly one sport, he says, and those are more advanced.)

Deb says she was shocked when she heard that the staff members,many of whom volunteer to teach classes in exchange for a freeweekend stay, sometimes do more than merely mingle with guests. (Finksays sexual relations between staff and guests are not encouraged but'not prohibited. Certainly, it can happen.')

On the other hand, Club Get away has loyal fans.

Steve Masse, 48, of Medford has gone about six times with theBoston Ski & Sports Club. 'After the first time, I began playingvolleyball,' he says. 'Then I learned rollerblading at Club Get awayand bought skates. Now I keep them in the trunk of the car.'

He says the first time he went, he had low expectations, 'but fromthe minute I got on the bus, it was just a constant party, the likesof which I hadn't seen since college. It was tremendous fun.'

Masse, who remodels houses for a living, says the guests oftenform social groups according to how much alcohol they drink. As forthe sexual element, he says, 'If you're really looking for sex,you're probably going to find it. But I think most of the time peoplewould rather have the relationship first.'

Diane Daniel can be reached at ddaniel@globe.com.

SIDEBAR: UPDATES After this installment, Date Lines goes onhiatus. Here's how our participants are doing as they begin thesummer:

Jim, 25, South Boston, investor-relations consultant. After someof his dates figured out who he was in the paper and identifiedthemselves, Jim has declined to give a final update. All he'll say isthis: 'If you asked me nine months ago where I thought I'd be and whoI thought I'd be with, my answer would be drastically different thanwhat my reality is today. The great thing is through all of this, Ican't say I'm disappointed in how things turned out. Being single isan adventure full of ups and downs. The downs leave a pit in mystomach. The flip side is that when times are good, I wouldn't tradethem for anything in the world.'

Tim 28, Cambridge, e-learning manager. Tim has yet to see thewoman with whom he flirted after church but did have a serendipitousincident involving her. 'I went to visit my priest, and he happenedto tell me about a woman he thought would be perfect for me. Hestarted describing this woman to me, and I realized that it was thewoman I had been flirting with a few weeks back! The priest told methat he would try to bring us together schedule-wise, and I'm hopingwe'll have the chance to meet again soon. I guess it's a bit old-fashioned, but it's still effective. My parents were `arranged' in asimilar way. Funny how we often spend so much time trying to breakaway from old customs, we sometimes fail to see their value.'

Tom, 42, Marlborough area, systems administrator. Tom is stilldating the woman he met at a group outing in April. They both haveteenage daughters and have been doing things with the kids and alone.'The best thing is that we are playmates. I love having a woman I canplay with. She even met my folks over the weekend. They offered us aplace to stay while we were on the Cape. Everything seemed quitenatural and comfortable.'

Anne, 38, Dorchester, special-needs educator. In anticipation ofher move to Nantucket, Anne updated her Match.com profile. She heardfrom one man, ' a decent sort' (and someone with a boat, of course),and hopes to talk on the phone soon before they follow through ontentative plans to hit the water.

Chris, 37, Dorchester, systems manager. Chris has had a couple ofdates with the man he met at a cookout during gay pride week, andthey have plans for dinner soon. 'It seems we both are direct aboutwhat we want,' says Chris. 'These discussions may be a little toointense. We are also still trying to determine points of commoninterest as well. He likes piano bars while I like dance clubs -major differences, to be sure.'

PLUS SPORTS - Chicago Sun-Times

ISMAIL MIGHT PLAY SUNDAY: The countdown to the launch of RocketIsmail was put on hold last weekend, but Los Angeles Raider coach ArtShell is hopeful his new receiver/return man will make hislong-awaited debut Sunday against the Seahawks in Seattle. Ismailreported to the Raiders last week after the completion of contractnegotiations that had dragged over five months. 'He got here lastTuesday,' Shell said, 'and to just throw him out there, I didn't wantto do that. We'll get him prepared for this week and go fromthere.' ACTOR'S SOCCER DEBUT: Actor Andrew Shue, a formerprofessional soccer player, will make his indoor soccer debutSaturday for L.A. United in a Continental Indoor Soccer League gameagainst San Diego. Shue, who appears in the TV show 'Melrose Place,'was a first-team All-Ivy League forward at Dartmouth and playedprofessionally in Zimbabwe. A jersey autographed by Shue will beauctioned during the game at the Great Western Forum, with proceedsbenefitting Do Something, a non-profit organization founded by Shue.Do Something provides financial support to improve social services. COURTESY COURSE: Students in Beijing are receiving a crash coursein common courtesy as part of China's campaign for the 2000 Olympics.The China Education News reported today that Beijing unveiled the'Rules for Manners Among Primary and High School Students' in thespring as part of the city's efforts to stage the Olympics.Children are being taught to take off their hats when they hear thenational anthem, to sit up straight, to speak politely and use wordssuch as 'excuse me,' 'please' and 'thank you.' FLUTIE LEADS CALGARY: Doug Flutie threw three touchdown passes asthe Calgary Stampeders beat the Edmonton Eskimos 33-13 to open theseason 10-0 for the first time since 1949. Flutie, who led Calgaryto the Grey Cup title last season, completed 26 of 49 attempts for343 yards in Monday's game. ARTIST SUED: A Medford, Ore., man who says he owns the rights to aphoto of former Boston Red Sox star Ted Williams is suing an artistwho used the image to paint Williams as he appeared in 1939.Kenneth Chase said Williams, artist Lewis Watkins, Grand SlamMarketing and 16 other defendants hurt him financially by 'publishingand placing upon the market a commemorative 50th anniversary print ofTed Williams which . . . has copied exactly the image . . . owned bythe plaintiff.' The photo in question shows Williams at the age of21 with teammate Bobby Doerr. BOXER RETIRING: Yoo Myung-woo of South Korea, who recaptured theWBA junior flyweight title last November, is retiring after failingto arrange a fight with WBC champion Michael Carbajal of the UnitedStates. 'The limitations of my physical power were the main reasonfor my retirement' the 30-year-old Yoo said today. Yoo, 38-1 in his16-year career, defended the title 18 times after beating Joey Olivoof the United States in 1985. He lost the title to Hiroki Ioka ofJapan in 1991, and regained it last year. MARSEILLE BARRED: European soccer's governing body, UEFA, barredMarseille from defending its Champions Cup title because ofallegations of fixing a league match last season preceding the cupfinal. UEFA gave France until tomorrow to name a replacement in theChampions Cup opener Sept. 15 against AEK Athens. Also, Frenchsoccer officials said today that Marseille owner Bernard Tapie waswasting his time filing a lawsuit against the expulsion of his clubfrom the competition. CYCLIST PARALYZED: Wayne Rainey of Los Angeles is paralyzed fromthe waist down as a result of a crash during Sunday's Italian GrandPrix. Rainey, 32, sustained spinal and abdominal trauma in thecrash, Dr. Doriano Zappi said. Zappi could not say if the paralysiswas permanent.

DRAWING ON MEMORIES OF A LEGEND DEDICATION OF RESTORED GYM PAYS TRIBUTE TO THE LATE GENE MACK, HIS BALLPARK WORKS - The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)

MEDFORD - His illustrations of America's famous old ballparks hangin the Baseball Hall of Fame, but the playing fields closest to GeneMack's heart were in his hometown of Medford.

Now a restored gymnasium named for the late Boston Globe sportscartoonist is giving hundreds of Medford youngsters a place to beatthe streets, while recalling Mack's legacy in the golden era ofBoston journalism.

Within two weeks of its ribbon-cutting Feb. 26, the Gene MackClubhouse, operated in Medford Square by the Boys and Girls Clubs ofMiddlesex County, had enrolled more than 750 children.

'I can't tell you how wonderful it is,' said Mack's daughter, RuthMurphy of Stoneham, who said that the night of the rededication shewas walking on air.

The old Medford High School gym on Forest Street was originallynamed for Mack after the popular cartoonist's death in 1953 at age62. More than 800 people attended the dedication ceremonycommemorating the artist who had been dubbed 'Medford's Number OneFan.'

After Medford High moved to new quarters on Winthrop Street in1970, however, the Gene Mack Gym and the Chevalier Auditoriumupstairs fell into disuse. The old gym in the basement was in woefulshape in the mid-1990s when the nonprofit Friends of ChevalierAuditorium and Gene Mack Gymnasium launched a restoration campaign.

The City of Medford contributed about $750,000 toward the gym'srenovation project, while the Friends raised $55,000. The Boys andGirls Clubs of Middlesex County were brought in to operate the youthcenter.

When the renovation was finished this year, the long-neglectedMack Gym shone anew, with a teen center, an arts-and-crafts area,study and game rooms, and a polished basketball floor with GeneMack's name stenciled at center court.

'It's a dream come true, something the community has talked aboutand wanted for many years,' said May Marquebreuck of Medford, thevice president and newsletter editor of the Friends of ChevalierAuditorium and Gene Mack Gymnasium.

Those who recall the state of the gym prior to its restorationwould appreciate its transformation.

'When you have something that had fallen into disarray, and it'sreborn, it has to be a wonderful feeling,' said Marquebreuck.

The renewal also has introduced a new generation to the artist forwhom it is named, who likewise had faded from civic memory.

Eugene McGillicuddy, who would become known to sports fans acrossthe country by the pen name Gene Mack, was a 1908 graduate of MedfordHigh who got his start engraving pots and pans for $3 a week. Hebegan his 35-year Globe career doing illustrations for thenewspaper's advertising department.

Mack is most widely remembered today for his 1940s series of MajorLeague ballpark illustrations that were printed in the Globe and TheSporting News, and now reside in the collection of the Baseball Hallof Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

He also is recalled for creating a feature that still runs in theGlobe sports pages, a cartoon of a bus carrying the undefeated high-school football teams that wends its way, losing cargo by the week,through the fall season toward the Thanksgiving Day finale.

When Mack penned the feature, each town or school had its ownlittle character, such as Lattimore Latin, Medwick Medford, SammySalem, or Sylvester Southie.

'Every Monday the teams that got licked got pitched off the bus,'said former Globe sportswriter Clif Keane of Winchester. 'It was themost fun he had.'

In the pretelevision days when Boston had eight daily newspapersand nearly as many full-time sports cartoonists, Mack was among thebest known in the field, and would be given nearly a full page in themorning Globe for his drawings.

'It was an era when newspapers dominated the media, and cartoonswere where people got the game story,' said Brian Codagnone, theassociate curator of the Sports Museum of New England. 'Gene Mack andthe others told a story with pictures.'

Mack's whimsically detailed drawings gave Globe readers a dailyreason to turn to the sports section for his take on the latest featsof the Red Sox or the Braves or the local college or high-schoolteams.

Little cartoon characters peopled the edges of his portraits todescribe colorful plays or dispense comic asides, and in his famedillustrations of the 14 Major League ballparks of the 1940s, to tellthe distinctive history of each park.

His drawing of the old Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, for example,shows the spot in the outfield where in 1909 a lightning flash madepossible a spectacular barehanded catch by Red Murray of the Giants.

His rendition of Fenway Park shows where a hill called Duffy'sCliff once rose to the wall in left, presenting a unique hazard tooutfielders, and the location in the bleachers where Ted Williams'slongest home run smashed a fan's straw hat.

Fans of Boston's National League team could easily recognize right-fielder Tommy Holmes in the cartoon ballplayer shouting, 'I got it! Igot it!' by the 'Jury Box' bleachers in a Mack drawing of the oldBraves Field.

'You would always know a Gene Mack cartoon,' said veteran sportscartoonist Phil Bissell of Sandwich who succeeded Mack at the Globe.'Everyone wanted to grab a paper to see what he had done.'

Many at the time considered Mack second only to the great WillardMullin of the New York World-Telegram in the ranks of sportscartoonists, said Globe colleague Keane, whose own career at thepaper spanned from 1929 to 1976.

'He did a perfect picture of a guy making a catch,' said Keane.'You didn't have to read about how [a player] caught the ball. GeneMack would show you.'

Mack took a workmanlike approach to the job of filling fivecolumns' worth of space in the daily paper, colleagues and familysaid.

Bissell described Mack and Bob Coyne, of the old Record, perchedin the back row of the press box at the ballpark, filling theirsketchbooks, then departing in the late innings of an afternoon gamefor their newsrooms on Washington Street's Newspaper Row.

'[Mack] would do the completed drawing in a couple of hours and behome for dinner,' said Keane, who recalled the cartoonist as adeparture from the raffish, ink-stained stereotype of the newsman inthe 'Front Page' era of journalism.

'He should have been a priest,' said Keane. 'I never heard himcuss anybody. I never saw the man angry in his life. He'd just sitthere and draw and laugh.'

His daughter, Ruth, recalled, as a schoolgirl, asking her fatherif he were famous. 'I'm an artist - that's it,' was his reply.

Mack took great interest in school sports. 'He used to go to the[Boston] Garden on Saturday afternoon for high school hockey games -Arlington, Medford, Stoneham, teams like that - and he'd sit theredrawing cartoons all afternoon,' said Keane.

And he remained loyal to Medford High with the annual Thanksgivinggame vs. Malden, a boisterous tradition in the McGillicuddyhousehold, according to his daughter.

He would have been proud to have a youth gym named for him, Murphysaid. She recalled how her father's 'eyes got all watery' when the1942 state championship Medford High football team presented him witha football-shaped charm.

At the newly renovated Gene Mack Clubhouse one recent Fridayafternoon, children in the after-school program buzzed aroundathletic director Marco Abreu of Somerville as he gave a tour of thefacility, where a membership for September through June costs $15.

'With these kids, you can't help but have fun,' said the 21-year-old Abreu, dressed in a purple staff T-shirt, baggy shorts, and anupside-down visor cocked sideways on his head.

The veteran of the local pickup-basketball circuit credited asimilar Boys and Girls Club in his hometown Union Square neighborhoodfor keeping him off the streets.

'I'm hearing from these kids that some got into trouble becausethey had no place to go,' Abreu said. 'Some come up and thank me, asif I opened the place, so grateful are they to have a place to come.'

On Father's Day, the only one of Gene Mack's five children stillliving reflected on her father's legacy as she showed visitors to herStoneham home some of her most treasured family keepsakes.

There were the annual Christmas cards her father had drawn in the1940s, each decorated with caricatures of the family as well asballplayers and the odd bat-toting Indian chief exhorting, 'Come on,you Braves!'

There were the illustrations of baseball immortals like Babe Ruth,pictured on his return to Boston in 1935, and Philadelphia Athleticsmanager Connie Mack, born Cornelius McGillicuddy, a cousin.

There was the weathered news photo of A's manager Mack, herfather, and her late brother, Gene Jr., as a boy, posed at theballpark under the heading 'Three Real Mackmen Get Together.'

And there were photographs taken at long-ago Red Sox springtraining camps, of her sister, Miriam, with Joe Cronin, of hersister, Grace, with Jimmie Foxx.

'I miss them,' Ruth Murphy mused.

But a spirit that had been lost has been recaptured at the youthcenter that bears Gene Mack's name, Marquebreuck said.

In loss, Miller fights to the finish; Unanimous decision ends Troy boxer's bid for title and career.(Sports) - Albany Times Union (Albany, NY)

Byline: TIM WILKIN - Staff Writer

NEW YORK - Little Devan Miller scooted into his father's locker room in the bowels of Madison Square Garden on Saturday night. He caught his dad's eye and began to cry.

Shannon Miller, his boxing father, had made his son a promise before he stepped into the fabled Garden ring, and now he was keeping it. Hence, the tears.

Miller told his son that if he did not beat Derric Rossy in their New York State Heavyweight Championship fight, he would walk away. And that's just what he did.

After losing a 10-round unanimous decision to Rossy, Miller announced he will retire from the game.

'My son said if I won this fight, I would continue,' Shannon Miller said. 'If I lost, that was it. That's it. I'm retired.'

Miller stood in his locker room, beads of sweat still pouring off his shoulders. He had a nasty cut above his left eye and it was already discoloring. The final wounds from a career that started when he was only 8 years old.

Miller, 32, ends his career with 14-3 record including eight knockouts. He weighed in at 227 pounds for this fight, 18 less than Rossy, who is also seven years younger. At 6-foot-3, Rossy, who was a defensive lineman at Boston College, was also 3 inches taller than Miller.

There were no knockdowns in the fight that served as part of the undercard of Saturday's World Heavyweight Championship bout between Wladimir Klitschko and Calvin Brock.

Miller also had a cut in his left ear, but Rossy, from Medford on Long Island, did not go home unscathed. Rossy, now 14-0, also had a cut over his left eye, which forced referee Charlie Fitch to stop the fight briefly in the sixth round to have it checked. Fitch also stopped the bout to have Miller's ear looked at.

When the bout was over, judge Tom Schreck scored the fight 98-91, judge Ron McNair had it 100-90 and judge Glen Feldman had it 100-90.

'He was a big, strong guy and I knew I had a tough fight ahead of me,' Miller said. 'He had a fast jab and he hit me with some good shots. His jabs didn't hurt me but they might tomorrow. I'm an old guy.'

Miller's entourage included his dad, Bob (who has managed his son since the start), his brother Shawn, his trainer Billy Growick and Lisa Elovich, his promoter.

Bob Miller stood outside his son's locker room after it was all over and wore a sad little smile. He would offer no excuses for Shannon, saying he fought the younger, bigger fighter as best he could.

And there was absolutely no disgrace in finishing his career under the bright lights at MSG.

'This is the first time he ever went 10 rounds and he fought a true, professional fight,' Bob Miller said. 'And he fought here. There are loads of worse places. Shannon was always a good, solid guy and he always showed up.'

Shannon Miller said his decision is final, but, in the boxing game, who knows?

Bob Miller said he would not say for sure if it's all over for his son but he supports whatever he wants to do. Besides Devan, Miller has a wife, Heather, and a 2-year-old daughter, Olivia.

'I need a break, maybe I'll open a boxing club myself,' Shannon Miller said. 'Right now, it's not hard to say I'm retired. But in three of four weeks, you hit the bag ... but I think this is it.'

Tim Wilkin can be reached at 454-5415 or by e-mail at twilkin@timesunion.com.

CAPTION(S):

PHOTO

Jon Winslow/Special to the Times Union SHANNON MILLER, left, and Derric Rossy exchange blows during their fight- a 10-round battle with Rossy eventually declared the winner.

EVERETT CLUB SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS DINNER SET FOR MAY 25 - The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)

The Everett 'E' Club will hold its 17th annual scholarship andawards Dinner at Caruso's in Saugus on May 25 at 7 p.m. Former RedSox shortstop Rico Petrocelli will be the featured speaker. Foursenior scholar-athletes will receive $1,000 scholarship grants.They are Stacey Blake (Salem State), Dayna DelGaizo (SoutheasternMass.), Heidi Fitzpatrick (Tufts) and Paul Sagarino, Jr. (UMass/Amherst). For information, contact Lawrence Vozella at 387-0180.

Stoneham's Linette Kelley hit game-winning home runs inconsecutive games against two of the top teams in the league asStoneham remained in first place in the Middlesex League with a12-0 record. The senior second baseman hit a solo home run in a 2-0win over second-place Reading and a two-run homer in a 4-2 win overthird-place Wakefield . . . Junior catcher Laury Kovalchek hit .714(10-14) with 2 home runs and 9 RBIs, leading Tyngsboro to victoriesover Whittier, Chelsea and Presentation of Mary . . . Braintree'sCarlene Needle earned her third shutout in her last four games witha four-hit 1-0 win over Wellesley. The senior righthander also hada no-hitter against Milton . . . Lincoln-Sudbury's Juliana Blaserpitched back-to-back no-hitters against two of the top four teamsin the Dual County League, helping her team remain in first placewith a 10-1 record. The senior struck out 12 in a 3-0 win overfourth-place Bedford and had seven strikeouts in a 15-0 win oversecond place Newton South . . . Kerri Curran of Milton had aproductive week. In a 9-8 loss to Bay State League foe Dedham, thejunior shortstop went 4 for 6. In an 11-8 win over Needham, shewent 5 for 6, including a three-run homer in the seventh. TheMilton captain is now batting .516 in the league and .581 overall.

BASEBALL REPORT

Walpole will square off against host Braintree tomorrow night(6:30) seeking to avenge its only league loss, 6-5. Braintree, thefifth-ranked team in the Division 1 poll, is led by Brian McDevitt(2-0, 0.88 ERA) and Tom Mulloy (4-1, 1.90) on the mound. Walpole,the fourth-ranked team in the Division 2 poll, counters with ToddCollins (5-0, 0.94) and Leroy Decker (6-1, 1.74), and Rob Rando atbat (.468) . . . Belmont Hill's Derek Plourde hit three home runsto overpower Rivers, 9-2. The junior center fielder, who hailsfrom Waltham, collected 6 RBIs.

THE JEFF JUDEN, LISA MOORE WATCH

Salem senior righthander Jeff Juden and Wellesley junior LisaMoore have been tearing apart the opposition this spring. Here aretheir 1989 and career totals:

JUDEN'S STATISTICS: Year W-L ERA IP H CG ER BB SO HR 1989 6-0 0.00 44 12 6 0 10 97 0 Career 25-3 0.45 204 83 28 13 73 388 3

MOORE'S STATISTICS: Year W-L ERA IP H CG ER BB SO HR 1989 10-1 0.00 72 16 11 0 9 162 0 Career 32-3 0.09 233 49 31 3 45 465 0

RECORDS

Claudia Czascn, an exchange student from Germany, set schoolrecords in the high jump (5-5 1/4), triple jump (35-11 1/2) andhigh hurldes (15.6), leading Hamilton-Wenham to a Cape Ann Leaguetriumph over Lynnfield, 99-28 . . . Six-foot Patrice Misiano brokethe Revere record in the long jump with a 15-6, shattering EveBarron's (14-1) 8-year mark by 17 inches, despite Revere's 74-56loss to Medford. Misiano broke the record in each jump -- her firstattempt was 14-5, her second was 14-11 and her final was 15-6 . . . Xaverian set three school records at the State Coaches' Meet atBrockton. Joe Kamara ran the 100 meters in 10.6, good for secondplace, to break Dave Gramm's time of 10.9 set in 1986. JohnMenslage ran the 300 intermediate hurdles in 39.6 (third place) tobreak his own record. The relay team of Mark Welch, Bob Flaherty,Chris Teeley and Kamara broke a 12-year record in the 4x100 relay(44.2). The team finished second to Brockton while breaking theXaverian record of 44.5, set in 1977 . . . Jose Correia of NewBedford took first place in the 1,600 meters at the Nestle/LoucksGames in White Plains, N.Y. with an impressive 4:13.1. At the samemeet, teammate Sean Bourgeois finished second in the 3,200 meters(9:23.0).

ALL-SCHOLASTIC SPRING MEETING IS MAY 25

The Globe's All-Scholastic baseball and softball committeemeetings will be May 25 at 7:15 p.m. at the Globe.

ETC.

SOME OF THE ONES TO WATCH.(Sports) - Albany Times Union (Albany, NY)

Here are the top runners to watch in today's Freihofer's Run for Women 5-kilometer race.

JUDI ST. HILAIRE - 31, Fall River, Mass.

One of the most successful athletes on the road racing circuit over the last two years.

St. Hilaire, who was injured through much of the 1980s, last ran in Albany in 1989, when she set a U.S. 5K road record with a winning time of 15:26. Since then, she has been one of the most consistent distance runners in the country.

In 1990, St. Hilaire skipped the Run for Women but did win two prestigious women-only races: the Nike Women's 8K (25:10) in Washington, D.C., and the L'Eggs Mini Marathon 10K (32:26) in New York. She also became the first woman ever to break 15 minutes in a 5K with her 14:57 at the Fall River 5K. That race, however, was contested on a point-to-point course with a significant drop in elevation and was therefore not eligible for record consideration.

In February of this year she officially lowered her own U.S. 5K record to 15:25 with a victory in the Edison Festival of Lights 5K in Fort Myers, Fla.

CAROLE ROUILLARD - 31, Beauport, Canada.

A versatile, talented athlete who has excelled at distances from 1,500 meters to the marathon.

Rouillard is one of Canada's most accomplished runners, and 1990 was one of her finest years. Although she did not run a 5,000, she did record times of 9:13 for 3,000 meters, 32:49 for 10,000 and 2:32:28 for the marathon. The last two performances were the fastest by any Canadian in 1990.

Interestingly, Rouillard is competing in the Run for Women only because of a recent setback. Her training has been geared toward longer distances, and she had hoped to run well at last month's Boston Marathon. Instead, she was bothered by leg cramps and dropped out at 18 miles. That was a disappointment, but because she did not complete the full distance, Rouillard was able to bounce back fairly quickly.

GWYN COOGAN - 25, Lincoln, Mass.

A relative newcomer - not merely to the ranks of the elite, but to the sport of running in general.

Coogan is a former field hockey player who began running competitively midway through college. Despite the late start she has had a great deal of success, particularly in track and cross-country. She finished third in the 3,000 meters at the TAC championships in 1989, and later that year finished third in the national cross-country championships.

Coogan has a 5,000-meter personal best of 15:42, established indoors last January, and also ran 33:09.9 in her first 10K on the track last month. She has very little experience on the roads.

SAMMIE GDOWSKI - 24, Minneapolis.

Emerged as one of America's most promising young runners with a series of good races in 1990.

First, Gdowski won the 10,000 at the highly competitive Mount SAC Relays with a time of 32:34. Then she finished third in the 5,000 at the TAC championships in 15:51.54. She capped the season with a personal best 5K of 15:45.29 during an outdoor meet in Europe.

FRANCOISE GARCEAU - 28, Berthierville, Canada.

Like Rouillard, a member of the Montreal Olympic Club, home to many of Canada's top distance runners.

According to club coach Martin Goulet, Garceau has been training extremely well and should have a good race in Albany. She has PRs of 9:10 for 3,000 meters and 15:53 for 5,000.

ROSALIND TAYLOR - 23, Lanham, Md.

A five-time All-America at the University of Maryland.

Taylor finished ninth in the 1990 Run for Women with a time of 16:13. She has a 5K best of 15:58 and a 3,000- meter best of 9:00.68. Two months ago, she won the Shamrock 8K in Virginia Beach, Va., with a time of 26:45.

KATHY KANES - 29, Medford, Mass.

Sixth-place finisher in last year's Run for Women with a time of 16:03. Kanes also ran a personal best 9:09.97 for 3,000 meters at the TAC championships, good enough for fifth place.

INGE SCHUURMANS - 28, Boulder, Colo.

Finished 10th in the highly competitive Carlsbad 5,000 in California last month with a time of 16:07. Has a 10K PR of 33:26. Schuurmans is reportedly training well and extremely fit.

KRISTY JOHNSTON - 25, Eugene, Ore.

Although primarily a track runner, Johnston kicked off 1991 by making her marathon debut. Not bad, either; she finished eighth at the Houston Tenneco Marathon in 2:39:45. Since then, she has run 32:56.1 for 10,000 meters, indicating she should be competitive here today.

CARMEN AYALA-TRONCOSO - 32, Austin, Texas.

Although she finished eighth in the 3,000 with a time of 9:15.75 at the 1990 TAC championships, Ayala- Troncoso's reputation has been forged on the roads. Already this year she has run 16:02 for 5K and 33:37 for 10K.

LISA PRESEDO - 26, Baton Rouge, La.

Presedo has a 5K PR of 16:02. She also has a major marathon victory to her credit, having finished first in the Toronto Marathon last September.

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