St. John's Coach Receives State Award

basketball coach Robert Foley was given a Distinguished Service Award by the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletics Association in April.

Foley, who led the Pioneers to the state championship game the month before, was honored for his work in sports administration for three decades before his “semi-retirement” last year. He first came to coach at St. John’s in 1980, and was named athletic director the next year; previously he was athletic director for 10 years at his alma mater, St. Peter-Marian High School in Worcester.

Foley lives with his wife Joan in West Boylston.

He has the most wins as a basketball coach in New England high school history, with 775 victories as a coach for St. John’s, St. Peter-Marian and Uxbridge high schools. He was inducted into the Massachusetts Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000.

“It has been an extremely rewarding experience to have served the thousands of young men and women who have come into my life over the past 47 years as a teacher, athletic director and coach,” Foley said to the MIAA. “I consider myself a very lucky man.”

During Foley’s tenure at St. John’s, the school added four new varsity sports: lacrosse, skiing, swimming and wrestling. He kept athletics accessible to all students by sustaining three levels of competition—varsity, junior varsity, freshman—on each team, and retaining “no-cut” sports.

Patrick White, the former dean of students who took over as athletic director at St. John’s last year, said part of what set Foley apart from others was his commitment to building personal relationships with coaches and players by attending as many St. John’s sports games as possible.

“He was always there,” said Mr. White, who is also a football coach. “Bobby was one of the best. His colleagues noticed how professional, how classy, how smooth he is.”

Asked upon his retirement to name his greatest moment as athletic director at St. John’s, Foley recalled the 2007 district basketball finals, the last year before the Pioneers’ current run of four straight Central Massachusetts titles.

“We lost a close game by 3 points to a very strong Holy Name team,” he said. “When the game ended, the whole student body came across the floor to congratulate the players for their outstanding effort. You always see this being done for the winning team; it was truly remarkable to see it being done here for the losing team. This made me very proud to be at St. John’s. This is what St. John’s is all about.”

Foley has received several individual awards, including the MIAA Sherm Kinney Award for sportsmanship in 2007 and state Athletic Director of the Year in 1995-96. He is an honorary graduate of St. John’s.