The Oliver Ames High School Athletic Hall of Fame Inducts Its Classes of 2010 and 2011

It was a lovely and soul enriching mix of fun, laughs, tributes, memories, a tutorial in history, and some sad and solemn reflection this past Saturday night at the Athletic Hall of Fame Classes of 2010 and 2011 induction ceremony held at the Joseph Martin W. Martin Institute for Law and Society at . 

The Martin Institute was packed. 

People saw each other who had not seen each other in decades.  People met for the first time.  I hope friendships were rekindled.  I hope new friendships were made.

Celebrated this past weekend was close to a century of athletic achievement and giving and mentoring, all of which contributed to and supports an impressive legacy that has as its hub Oliver Ames High School and the Town of Easton. 

The ceremony inducts and confers individual athletes, coaches, outstanding citizens, and teams into the OAHS Athletic Hall of Fame, an OA organization that launched in 2003 with the induction of its first class.  

(Starting in 2003, the Hall of Fame held annual induction ceremonies until 2009.   Then the OAHS Athletic Hall of Fame commitee decided that it would not hold an induction in 2010, and in 2011 hold a ceremony in which two classes would be inducted.)

Members of the Hall of Fame are honored in many ways, including a physical place of recognition that is a wall of honor located just inside the entranceway to the athletic area of OAHS, and on which can be found a plaque for each member of the hall, along with biographical and background information. 

What is fundamental to the mission of the event, and to the organization – which is comprised of its committee, its members, and contributors – that supports, manages, and runs the evening, is an element that goes beyond athletic achievement, beyond points scored, games won, shots blocked, championship banners, win-loss columns, and all-star teams for which one has been selected. 

I am talking about community – the bonds that tie, the fabric that connects, and common interests and heritage of people – and the notion, observed and respected, that we need to care for and support one another.

I appreciated it tremendously when Mike Maguire (OA Class of 1967), a manager of several championship sports teams at OA, and a close friend of my father, who along with Willy Nixon coached many of those teams, called me on Friday and told me he would be unable to make it to the induction ceremony but that he would be thinking of his former teammates and my father on Saturday night.

Easton Patch readers will find of interest – and I am submitting this without Easton Patch editor,’s advance knowledge – that Mike Maguire is

On Saturday afternoon I turned on my laptop and discovered that I had received an email from John Everett (OA Class of 1972), who was inducted into the OAHS Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004.   John, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Michigan, is one of the greatest rowers in U.S. history, and one of two OA grads to have competed in the Olympic Games.   Here is the email that John Everett sent me:

Ross

Please extend my congratulations and welcome to the OAHS Hall of Fame Class of 2011.  It is an honor to count myself among these inductees who have brought recognition to OA through excellence in the classroom, on the playing fields, and beyond.

John G. Everett

OAHS Class of 1972

Hall of Fame 2004

I was fortunate to have been able to make a few remarks from the dais on Saturday night, and I referenced and cited a 1989 interview that journalist, Bill Moyers – he was the interviewer – conducted with the brilliant bioethicist, Willard Gaylin.   Mr. Moyers asked Mr. Gaylin what he felt was one of the biggest challenges in society – and Mr. Gaylin replied that it would be maintaining community.  

I agree with Mr. Gaylin. 

So, with its recent class induction – the OAHS Athletic Hall of Fame continues to foster and expand and make stronger community. 

No matter where people from Easton and OAHS move, or where they now live, the OAHS Hall of Fame can help maintain for them a tie to this place, and the people who make its history.  Through the Hall of Fame and its events and its presence on the web – and through the broader phenomenon of online communication – people stay connected and dialogue is built and nurtured.    

One who believed strongly in community, and who devoted so much of her life to building community, was Mary Shreve Ames Frothingham, who is was inducted into the Class of 2011 in the “Citizen” category.   In introducing Ms. Ames Frothingham for induction, former OAHS history department chair and local historian, Hazel Varella, beautifully and comprehensively described Ms. Ames Frothingham’s giving to Easton and Oliver Ames High School.  This giving this altruism, as Mrs. Varella detailed, included a true locus of community for more than 80 years now, Louis A. Frothingham Memorial Park, named for Ms. Ames Frothingham’s husband, and dedicated in 1930. 

Accepting for Ms. Ames Frothingham was her grandnephew, David Ames Jr.  In his remarks, David Ames emphasized the importance of community, and how his great aunt cared so deeply amount community. 

I said there was sad and somber reflection.   In his acceptance speech for the 1960 undefeated and untied OA football team, the co-captain of the team, John Smith, remembered his brother, Eddie, who was a hard-nosed running back for another 2011 team inductee, the undefeated and untied 1964 OA football team, which won the Eastern Massachusetts Class D championship 

Eddie Smith was killed in action in Vietnam.  The corner of Lothrop Street and Western Avenue, in front of the , is dedicated to Eddie Smith.  

At the podium, John Smith talked about how moved he was in seeing so many from the OA ’64 football team at the dedication ceremony back in 2002.  John also thanked Mark Bergeron, a writer, who was in the audience – and who was a member of the ’64 team – for research he conducted as part of a series of beautiful articles he wrote on Eddie Smith’s life and military service.   John Smith told the crowd that it was because of Mark Bergeron’s research, the Smith family was able to learn that Eddie Smith was killed instantly in combat, and that he did not suffer. 

Family generations build in the OAHS Hall of Fame; such is the case of the Tighe family.   On Saturday night, Chris Tighe (OA Class of 2001) – a 1000 point scorer in hoops at OA – followed his dad, Brad (OA Class of 1975), into the Hall.   And with Chris’s siblings, all girls and all OA grads having starred in sports in high school and college, I think we may, just may, see some more Tighes in the OAHS Athletic Hall of Fame. 

Sergeant, Michael Fox, introduced his daughter, Ali Fox (Piantedosi), for induction.   Sergeant Fox also spoke about the importance of community, and how wonderful a community Easton is in which to bring up a family.   He mentioned how happy he was that Ali (OA Class of 2001) – a police officer – and her husband just bought their first home, in Easton. 

The Hall of Fame goes back to find exceptional athletes that the Hall may not have known much about early on, and yet who most certainly should be enshrined in it.  One of those athletes, inducted Saturday, was Sigrid Broman (OA Class of 1923), an absolutely dominant basketball player during her time.  Sigrid Broman is a member of the strong and proud Swedish lineage in Easton. 

We also made things right in making Dorothy Hatchfield (Diauto), a 1941 graduate of OA, a member of the OAHS Athletic Hall of Fame, Class of 2011.  Dot Hatchfield was stellar across three sports, field hockey, basketball, and tennis.  She continued winning in tennis after high school, including in tournaments in Europe.

People come from far away for the banquet. One of this year’s inductees, Andrea Conrad (OA Class of 2001), flew for 13 hours from the Middle East, from Jordan, where she works in international development.  

Andrea was one of three 2011 Hall inductees, along with Andi Matthews (OA Class of 2001) and Kristin Scalia (Mariani), who graduated from OA in 2000, who played on the 1998 and 1999 OA girls’ soccer teams that won state titles.   Andrea, Andi and Kristin and Ali Fox were on the 2000 OA girls’ basketball team that won the South sectionals and played in the Eastern Mass finals at the Fleet Center. 

It was encouraging and inspiring to hear the young ladies, in their acceptance speeches, talk so warmly about the camaraderie they experienced and the friendships they made while playing sports at OA.  It was equally uplifting when the told about how much they relied on one another on the court and field. 

Actually, one of the greatest running backs in Massachusetts high school football history, Lamarr Monterio (OA Class of 2001), when accepting his induction, mentioned how the success of the OA girls’ sports teams motivated him.   Lamarr gave considerable credit to his father and brother, and his OA teammates, for any success he had on the gridiron. 

Alex Choi (OA Class of 1989) shone in golf and tennis at OA, and later in golf at Amherst.  Alex did a big call out to his parents when he accepted his induction. 

Mark Luke (OA Class of 1995), the former massive (well, he is still quite big) former OA star lineman, got the audience smiling and a bit misty eyed when he himself got lightly emotional when he thanked his parents and coaches and others in his acceptance talk.

And, oh yes, in terms of community and ties and all that – Mark Luke is Hazel Varella’s nephew, and Mark’s mother used to babysit me and my sister and brother when we were kids.

OA baseball coach, Leo Duggin, spoke with deep emotion as he introduced his former player, Michael Denson (OA Class of 1993), for induction. Duggan has said over and over that Michael Denson is the best baseball player he ever coached.         

Two coaches were inducted Saturday night:  Edmund Delgado (OA Class of 1959) who is one of the most successful high school and collegiate track & field and cross-country coaches in Massachusetts history; and Dave Cleary, who built hockey and golf juggernauts at OA.

Delgado talked about how important it was for him, and how he was as fulfilled as a coach, in mentoring and helping develop the athletes who may not have won awards, as he was in coaching champions. 

Gregg Jackman, a friend of Dave Cleary’s, introduced Dave with a letter that one of Dave’s former OA players wrote in appreciation for all that his coach did for him as an athlete and person.  That player was Olympic gold medalist, Jim Craig, goalie for the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team.

The OAHS Athletic Hall of Fame hopes that its existence and its work – and the legacies, achievement, and virtue it supports – will maintain the gravity and inertia that will keep OA and Easton people connected.

It was a lot of fun the other night.  Just out and out nostalgia and wonderful memories – and reinforcement about what special places are Oliver Ames High School and Easton.