ken cooperstown and springfield i recognized as the center for greatness in the sports of football baseball and basketball but along with greatness the perception of individual ism and greed oftentimes cast a shadow on the accomplishments of the athlete throughout the history of american society high school sports have stood alone in their excitement and overall enjoyment it is through high school athletics that a competitive foundation is laid sports are building blocks that mature a youngster and become evident in so many other aspects of life in general high school sports are indeed a microcosm of an ideal society where teamwork and ability are bred together to achieve a common goal and one doesn't have to look any further than belmont massachusetts witness the true effects that high school athletics have had on a very select few since professional hall of fames are a pipe dream at best to a small portion of our society the idea of college hall of fames have spread like wildfire but recently however high school hall of fames have been developing and the response has been encouraging it was just over one week ago that belmont high school held their third annual hollow fame banquet and induction ceremony at no lantern post hall in new this evening ran the gamut of emotions ranging from tearing eyes to glowing smiles the purpose to remember and relive the days when the special players and coaches represented on high school both on and off the playing field highlight of the evening occurred when sullivan recognized the inductees and then gave stars on high school he played god on the basketball team he was captain of the baseball team but it was far football that he was most fondly remembered at belmont high school he played in the years one hundred twenty four twenty five and twenty six now nineteen twenty five sounds like a long time ago but to people in belmont that is a magical number they had a team in belmont in those days that was really something they were nine in the hole for the first nine games without anyone scoring one single point against them all was one of the stars of that team in his senior year nine hundred twenty six in the first game he ran for office what touchdowns the second game was a mudbath and it was a zero zero tie nobody did any running the next game he scored three touchdowns and then against wakefield i guess he was tired out he only scored one touchdown so in  four games he scored a touchdown this was on a team that went undefeated i meant to say that it was and scored upon i have to bring this part of it up they went over to watertown on thanksgiving day and they were to knows all after belmont went to our dean academy and he went to dartmouth college and i understand while he was a dot with he was a member of the boxing team and if i have the story right a member of that boxing team with him was robert ryan the movie star that right now is a so i would like to nominate for our selection into the belmont high school wouldn't have happened also want to thank the commending everybody who helped elect make does a memorable occasion tha you they know how to live they came up by b e graduated from belmont high school just a year or two before i came but his name was still legendary especially among the coaches who dawney played for if they if a person like watts frank were to mention a good blocker he would say he can block almost as good as done with jerry are if mel went to work to talk about a good defense of god he would say he can play defense remembered at belmont high school he played quarterback on the football team but he was best remembered as the other god he was playing with  hamilton will close was everybody's everything at belmont high school but you know what the other god does in basketball it's his job to cover the high score it's his job to do all the digging and that's what best donnie left belmont high school went on to springfield college went down to a very successful high school coaching career down and fell in the thai school so successful that he was tapped in and grabbed for the head football coach of the mass maritime academy where he is now and has compiled a very very successful record i have a  doug mack and doris hamilton and while i'm talking about people on that team this is probably news to everyone here we just heard this past week that the center so i've been a farm they only have a show a period of time obviously i was there a little while this evening first of all i have in my entire family air in the contingent that came up from found with which i had no idea that they were going to be arriving this evening on a bus they just kept piling in and my amazement just grew and grew and grew and i didn't know where it was going to stop a long time ago i was told when i have a chance to get a microphone that you're supposed to tell a joke i don't know any jokes ok i've been in a coaching career so i can't talk i think but charlie knows a lot of good stories and i want to share one with you before i could accept the award resourceful person that she was she said how about two a true story on what i was told to start i appreciate and delighted and certainly obviously on it by this award this evening and i would like to congratulate all the other inductees full past and as a matter of fact it made me realize that some of the philosophies and some of the things that i do right now and i prevented it and as you were told earlier i've been in the teaching and coaching profession for thirty years and also i will cherish this evening as long as i thank  the next to the next candidate for asa lexan into the hall of fame is michael gallagher michael ries a member of three virus city sports teams for four years that in itself is a feat not only was he a member of the team but during his freshman year just before the thanksgiving day game and i see bill bigger go over there and he's going to remember this the quarterback came up on able to play and michael gallagher as a freshman step not only play he played what a back and he played very well from from then on the rest is history michael broke every passing record at belmont high school he passed for thirty three touchdowns was chosen to play in the area again this game was chosen m v p of the belmont watertown game as a sophomore all went on to a career norwich university where he still holds twenty eight of their passing records ironically he is being called to the podium one speaker after  election into the belmont high school regarding the supporting cast remark i would like to add to highlight the table to the rewrite probably the best supporting cast that anyone could ask for bob both on and off feel like everybody in the back table there simply standing in the recognized he was undoubtedly the greatest swimmer that belt on high school has yet produced she was a three time global all scholastic a two time conference champion in both the butterfly and the two hundred jury in the conference she set a league record in the butterfly her junior year and came along and broke it during her senior year she was also a member of the state champion three relay team she went on to harvard where she became the captain of the first undefeated ivy league champion harvard swim team and to this day she still holds three records at harvard annie cannot be with us this evening and i would like to read to you from a letter that she wrote to me i am sorry that i cannot be with you on this evening the truth is up and starling and hopes that this baby i'm expecting can you believe that for a reason she said the truth is up and starling in the hopes that this baby i'm expecting would come early and thereby allow me to come to the ceremony as it turns out i'm still waiting incidentally she had a baby girl and it doesn't look like i'll be able to come to the ceremony after all believe me if it were not for this baby nothing would keep me from attending this event i am so flattered and honored to be inducted this year and i hope that you can  program or any other memorabilia of the evening to me when you get a chance i am sure that it will be a wonderful ceremony and i am very proud to be among such distinct such a distinguished having the baby so  i'm never going to get myself out of this one thank you very much gary john jerry was an outstanding athlete at belmont high school in the mid thirty's played basketball was on mel when those first undefeated team at one time they had a record of eighteen and all unfortunately in those days they didn't buy or they didn't pick you buy records to go into a schoolboy tournaments so the season ended eighteen and all but jerry is best remembered for his baseball prowess an outstanding baseball player captained based on high school baseball team for two years after his career at belmont high school continued playing baseball in the semi pro or professional basis to this day he is the most avid baseball fan in town if there were eighteen little kids playing a game of baseball is a good chance that jerry will be seen hanging on the fence watching the play it is what pleasure that i nominate jerry johnson for the belmont high school before i introduce tall could i have the members of the nineteen forty state baseball champions present here today stand up that was fifty two years ago that they were state champions tom hazlitt one of the great names in the annals of the rich tradition of sports here in belmont played football at belmont was a very good wrestler but it was for baseball that tom was most famous i went to the watertown high school hall of fame induction last friday night and i met some old time watertown high school baseball players over there they had a chip in chip team and one nine hundred thirty and they expected to win it again in one nine hundred forty and they had a team that was truly loaded it had two or three people who eventually made it to the big leagues i think boyce was on that team and i think  t was on that team it was a great great watertown team tom hazlitt pitched against watertown twice that year he pitched a four header and a no hitter and beat what a town twice knocked him out of the any tournament aspirations that they might have the belmont in one thousand forty had the ideal combination they had a great right handed pitcher hall bat tom wise unanimous choice for oscar lastic as a matter of fact he was chosen captain of the one nine hundred forty boston herald all scholastic and the tie came in and came out a tie seven for tom and seven votes for me polly harris did not want co captain i don't know why but he didn't want co captain so he said we'll have another  been wondering i know i voted for you it was truly one of the great hockey player is produced here in belmont in belmont has had a lot of some woman right in this room this evening ned during his junior year and his senior year ended stood belmont so crowd during the twenty four twenty five twenty six season in that length of time they lost one game a lot of that of course was still told those old stefano but no soul will be the first one to tell you that al will slosson was one of the major contributors to that successful skate a victory i would like to nominate for induction into this year's hall of jerry was tooley all round athlete played football track and baseball during his sophomore year he played on a great game his senior year they were class b champions and undefeated the one of the game that  decided the class b championship was the thanksgiving day game against what a town belmont had to win that game in order to be undisputed class b champs what a town came over the hill loaded for bear they almost ran belmont back into the pile of might feel house they jumped off to a long sixteen to nothing lead before the first quarter was over but then we had one of the greatest comebacks that i will ever see on a football field don't want came storming back and eventually won the game twenty eight to sixteen and jerry to alamo ran for three touchdowns was the most valuable player in the game and carried literally carried belmont on to the class to be champions for that year jerry also was a fine runner in track a great longer is coaching and you just told me now that he's in the real estate business was particularly close to me i was the class advisor with the class one thousand sixty five jerry was in that class and i think the smartest thing he ever did was marry daughter frederick who was they had cheerleader and the prettiest girl in the senior class daughter is here this evening i would like to bring jerry out for induction into the belmont high school this is really a terrific honor i'm really grateful that one i'm not from california and two that i'm pregnant it was in some other faces that i haven't seen in in twenty years which is just a spectacular for me to be here with them on a sure fire oh like to tell you a little story about donnie he really kind of got me excited about playing baseball when i was a little kid playing down on the town field kendall i went down there with my baseball glove and there were two guys down there hit the ball around one of them was done you should fire on the other one was twenty second and they said hey  of the other teammates that made playing and being part of what has legs as well about and i'd like to receive the award tonight accept the award tonight on behalf of all those people and behalf of my dad was spent many hours long hours on the field with me especially everybody had something to do with the success of what gong on high school is all about and the fact that i receive this award accept this award from a great high school a great institution that's made my life a success thankful for that and just thank you very much appreciate it gina comes from a very very athletic family good dad pat is a hockey player great i spoke to him this evening he is seventy one years old and he still plays hockey gina had two brothers wabi and john who were outstanding athletes here at belmont high school jena however is the one this being inducted into the hall of fame jena was an outstanding field aki player i remember one year i think was her senior year she scored nineteen goals in basketball she sixteen seed i think and so the first game was with number one seed and we beat them fifty seven to fifty six and gina kept them all saying to basket two three trolls in the great i don't know where you are in this room tonight but i like to talk to you hi how are you thank you very much it's clear he's not here tonight is one of my coaches i'd like to thank her too if she's not feeling very well but would like to t he will never forget belmont had a an outstanding baseball team doug was the catcher on that team they were involved in tournaments games and in three consecutive games came up in clutch situations and went in each one of those situations came through with a game winning have i mean the odds of that happening are just so miniscule that it's unbelievable and yet doug did it i saw one of them i went to a game i think was against st john's was over newton when he hit a home run to win the game i think that ball is still traveling doug the next time i saw doug was in the water town game a football game of his senior and in a very very exciting game they beat water on the watertown coach dugald remember this the watertown coach was so mad that he refused to give belmont the game ball defense came out of the stands and almost had a riot the watertown police had to come up with a cane i call it was that was the first the first thanksgiving day game did i ever witness between belmont and watertown i was used to a rivalry but i wasn't used to all out war but that's what belmont what a town used to be when dug in that game played doug was a hockey player he was a very good hockey  graduated from belmont high school signed a professional baseball contract played in the minors for a couple of years went on to college and played football and something like a double my you know he came along and signed a professional football contract the only guy i know that signed both a professional baseball and professional football contract after his football career was over he went into coaching  he he is the baseball coach up at beverly high school has been a very successful coach at beverly high school last year named coach of the year in massachusetts in addition to that doesn't leave everything on the field he does the job in the classroom i have a fax here sent to us by an old friend of yours congratulations buddy sabi i can't be with you this evening my only my only question is why didn't they it was truly an all round doubtfully in the fall he was a sure he ended and in football in the winter he was a basketball player and in the spring he was a  sprinter on the track team he was a one of the members of the famous nineteen thirty eight tec tournament champion team and in all the sports track was probably his truck his strongest sport but from what i understand if he wanted to he could have played hockey and played by city hockey he was  one of the members of the selection committee told me he was a wonderful tennis player and just the kind of a guy who could play any sport and play it well  i would like to if i could tell a little story  went to college the same year that i went to college and i'll he went to dartmouth and i went to boston college i'll never forget in those days if you were to make an application for boston college you had to take your application up to the pastor of your parish and have him sign you up and he cleverly signed my application and asked me one of the schools that i was making application for and i said and he went he blanched he went white and he said don't you know how many young catholic gentlemen the up there would lose their faith when they go to so i went on to boston college and became a scoundrel although there are some who think when you joined the jesuit order you had already lost you i think my kid brother should have been here before me and in the family of course too i have three sisters who went to the school and performed well athletically this of course provides an opportunity to think back and all the events that went on and the indebtedness the great web of people and and traditions that helped mold us i think of i think one of the lot of names so you know we always can offend by overlooking names and people but certainly that's one tradition as of course the tradition of our family i remember when i was knocked out the first football game i played as a sophomore i was not on the roster and so the cheerleaders were perplexed who is that kid who was knocked out to the field and i had my rallying our relay team a junior year and we did manage to win the state championship that year and i happened to be the anchor person only because i was sort of the dummy i was the late arrival the other three hundred and the  year before and i just joined the track team my june e e s so we said well we don't want to worry about your passing the baton and try to catch it both so we'll put you last all you have to do was taped up a ton and run with it so i had our first meet and we were running in the concord relays and as it proved to be the pattern the rest of the year we had three excellent runners ahead of me so i always was way out and front like i mean when i say way out in front i'm talking and usually forty or fifty yards when i took the baton so being not a very modest individual i was at least sixty or seventy yards ahead in this my first race and i came around the bend we had a nice curved track just managed to come in dead last the only meet the only time that we lost that year and of course i was absolutely disconsolately and  mel came up to me afterwards and he put his arm around me and he said ed don't wary about it don't worry about it and i was very consoled with that but he didn't stop  those are some of the memories i do want to thank my family a wonderful family i have over here who have been great roy routers and of course as we all get other families as we go on i have eight groups that i so i won't hold us any longer it is humbling event when i was going through high school i had a cousin over in the neighboring town arlington who was came down with polio the same time that i was in high school and he was a very very promising athlete he's been a wonderful friend of mine these many years he went to dartmouth with me but he went on ca i can attest to the wonderful staff that father ed has working for him i asked him to said a picture to be for the program through the mail and he said all yes i'll put it in the mail right away well one week later it's still have derived all the old check is in the mail routine ices up priest can't get away with that so i called his coworkers covered far beautiful all yes we saw him put that in the lot below but we mailed it carefully i said what good colleagues he has that cover for him like that incidentally the pictures did arrive six or six days after they w the belmont hall of fame the lex in case it's a little bit puzzling to you we have divided up the errors in belmont two decades induct two from each era or a minimum of one in a maximum of three but no more than a total of twelve in addition to those twelve people that are inducted into the hall of fame we can on occasion ability to teach his dedication to the sport is wrong with his players and the overall adult bearing that the coach has to the players that are on his team this evening i would like to present for induction into the hall of fame jim mahoney jim is a winner period forget the records as the teams compiled forget the fact that his team's one one hundred ninety two team at times and only lost seventy two forget the state tournament nineteen victories and only ten losses those are not the statistics the gym is concerned with jim was concerned with the players that played for him he was always after the students to do well in the classroom and if they misbehaved they works triply hired out on the field it was not at all unusual to see out of a squad of let's say twelve or thirteen seniors to see that about eleven or twelve of those go on to a good four year colleges now this doesn't happen by accident this happens because jim is the kind of a cult who is right on top of the academic scene and is right on top of those students and making them work all the time the other thing jim stressed was you were caught in practice you play hard in the games and you have fun if i was jim was concerned the rest will happen the wins will come in sixteen years jim had fourteen winning seasons twelve tournaments appearances there were eastern mass champs in one thousand and seventy five finalists again and they nine hundred seventy six state coach of the year and a nine hundred seventy six middlesex coach of the year in one thousand seventy five seventy six eighty and eighty four one of the most memorable nights of government history was the late they beat a great needham high school team three to two that needham team was considered the one of the strongest high school soccer teams ever put together and we played them over at grace field on a cold cold night many of you will remember that and it was belmont who came away with the three to two victory and it just remains in my memory as one of the great great games that  belmont ever competed at so i probably i probably nominate coach jim for our induction into the belmont high school athletic  those other two teams and cause a problem at home in accepting this wonderful nomination i what i do want to be half of the first of all the guys who are coa with me and work with the play this in the soccer program over the years they not only contribute a great deal to the soccer program into the athletic program but i also want to thank god the president head coach of gone one high school microvascular last lastly in very specially the guy who really meant a great deal to the soccer players in the soccer team to myself five certainly is doggett's perhaps one of the highlights of my career playing at belmont also and then i spent thirty years in the coaching profession and have an evening like this evening certainly is and i hope that in the future we don't have a user fee and that we people will continue to support kids and all these athletic areas because it keeps them off the street and it contributes to the development so th successful adults and we see a lot with seen so many successful adults and don't want to have their stats on the athletic fields of someone maybe it throughout the history about my high school sports the names and faces have changed but the ideals and principles have remained the same school hall of fame is something for the school as well as the town to take great pride in for channel eight sports i'm doug or a good