By Eddie Baker
Sports Editor
2/26/09
After working at Curry College for 23 years, well-known St. Elizabeth’s star and Milton walker Bobbi Leary, who has a lot of friends here in Milton, is calling it a day at the end of February. Bobbi has held various positions at the college and has done them all well, with a great deal of enthusiasm.
In a few months, Bobbi’s well-known husband, jogger and racquetball player, Judge Paul Leary, will also retire.
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It was a pleasure to see well-known former Milton and Northeastern University star Mike Ryan playing so well in a game against the Boston Bruins recently on TV. He plays for the Carolina Hurricanes.
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Milton High’s basketball team is competing at this time in the state tournament with a veteran team and a record of 16-4. However, even though it is a senior team, the JVs had a record of 18-2 and recently won the Boston JV tournament. Quite an accomplishment.
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Milton Academy is seeking qualified and committed coaches for the spring season. Teams practice Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 3:45 to 5:45 p.m., with games on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
The spring season runs from March 2 to May 22. Milton Academy plays ISL schools and has a great history of producing highly competitive and successful teams. Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience.
Positions include assistant track-and-field coach, varsity and JV girls’ lacrosse assistant coaches, freshmen girls’ lacrosse coach, JV girls’ tennis coach, and varsity and JV sailing coaches.
If interested, please contact William Whitmore, director of athletics, at (617) 898-2355 or via e-mail at william_whitmore@milton.edu. Please include cover letter, résumé and two letters of recommendation.
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Just Bruce Bird’s opinion: The Hilltopper and St. Agatha’s star says he knows the economy is tough, but wished the Blue Hill Ski area could have made a little snow to put down for February vacation. A lot of the regular snow had turned to ice by then, and that would have softened it up.
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The University of Vermont baseball team, which has three players from Milton, is picked to finish fourth in the American East League, according to the coaches’ poll.
However, the decision by the university to drop baseball at the conclusion of this season is going to greatly affect the baseball careers of former Milton Legion stars Tom Kelly, Matt Duffy and James Katsiroubas, all underclassmen.
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Al Thomas stable’s highly successful trainer and driver, John Hogan, reports that all the harness horses are back in training after taking the winter off. They are planning for the Plainridge Harness meet, which opens March 16 in Plainville.
John also reports that the stable has a new horse, as one of its broad mares gave birth to a good-looking filly.
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Did you see where the Brockton Rox have brought back longtime manager and very colorful baseball man Ed Nettle as a coach this year?
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Boston College will host the NCAA Northeast Regional Basketball Tournament this year at TD Banknorth Garden this March. Providence College hosts the opening rounds next year at the Providence Civic Center. Hosting a round does not guarantee that your team will play.
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Did you see where former Framingham High and Boston Red Sox player Lou Merloni is going to do some Red Sox podcasting on Comcast.net? He is already on WEEI Radio.
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Paul Golden, the former Milton High and Thayer Academy hockey star now playing for Providence College, will be in town Friday night when his team plays at BC.
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Milton Academy has been on top or near the top of the tough Independent League in hockey all winter. One of the main reasons has been the play of goalie Thomas Tysowsky and his 2.1 goals-against game average.
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John Stenson, all-star proprietor of the Erie Pub, recently walked the red carpet with his clan at the premiere of “Confessions of a Shopaholic.” The premiere was held at the Ziegfeld Theater and the subsequent party at the tony Plaza Hotel. Stenson’s brother, Mike, is president of Bruckheimer Productions and executive producer.
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Well-known Milton Park Commissioner Terry Driscoll is once again working on the Tim Coughlin Memorial Golf Tournament, to be held June 22 in Manhasset, N.Y. All proceeds will go to Stonehill College. Terry and Tim were 1980 graduates of Stonehill. Tim, an avid golfer and football player, was killed on 9/11.
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Congratulations to Kara O’Connell, daughter of former Milton High and BC star Jeanne Byron, for making her second Patriot Ledger All-Scholastic team. The first one was last spring, for lacrosse; in the fall it was for soccer. She is the captain of both sports at Norwell High.
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A recent edition of Science Magazine reported that some birds that soon will be back in this area fly over 300 miles a day to get back.
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From what we hear, this year will be the last one that many Milton golfers will enjoy for a reasonable price at Ponkapoag Golf Course. The state, we hear, plans on leasing it out.
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Does anyone know if well-known softball enthusiast and BU hockey fan John Monahan and well-known Northeastern fan and avid boatsman Bucko Finerty sat together at the Beanpot final where BU beat Northeastern?
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Milton athlete Michelle Ng, who played hockey at Lawrence Academy this year, plans to continue her hockey career at St. Lawrence starting next year.
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In the middle of February, Milton High’s boys’ hockey team is rated the sixth-best team on the South Shore by The Boston Globe, and its girls’ team is rated fourth. Fontbonne Academy is rated second. Hingham is rated No. 1 in boys’ and girls’ hockey by the Globe.
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Milton High power forward Brianna Kelly has been really hot, scoring 30 points so far.
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Noble and Greenough School has two of its graduates playing key roles for BC winter sports teams. John Muse is a sophomore and star hockey goalie. Ayla Brown is a junior and plays forward for the women’s basketball team.
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It doesn’t seem that long, but it was four years ago that Rev. Gilbert Phinn, pastor of St. Elizabeth Church and a hockey enthusiast, died suddenly.
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It is too bad here in New England that, with the exception of the University of Connecticut, women’s basketball doesn’t draw many fans. The ladies’ game is a good one now, since they changed it up about 30 years ago to let the guards score and made the ball a little smaller than the men’s. Remember what a dull game it was when the guards couldn’t score?
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Tim Knightly picks the University of Connecticut to win both the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball championships. Although they have great teams, this would be quite a feat.
Interesting that BC, for the first time, will host the Northeast Regional Tournament and Connecticut will probably be seeded No. 1 in the men’s tournament at the Garden. There is no love lost between Connecticut and BC since the Eagles moved from the Big East to the ACC.
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Harvard University hasn’t done too well in its hockey games against the Ivy League or against the Boston colleges this winter, although most of the games have been close. However, Harvard really suffered a tough loss when its goalie, who was voted the best in the Ivy League this year, was declared ineligible because of marks.
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The annual Hockey East championships are at TD Banknorth Garden on the weekend of March 21 and 22.
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According to the Baltimore Sun, Milton’s Rich Hill should be the third man in the Orioles’ rotation. Do you know what this writer and Hill have in common besides being friends and liking sports? We both have cats.
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Well-known Boston Globe sportswriter and Milton walker Mike Vega has been in Florida covering auto racing for the newspaper.
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Back a few weeks ago, if you went into the popular Erie Pub just about any night of the week to have a cool one, you could talk sports on the right-hand side of the bar with a guy who really knew them, Mickey MacManus. He read a lot about sports during the day and watched them at night at the Erie. He also was involved in a lot of sports contests. All the steadies at the Erie knew the cheerful sports fan.
Unfortunately, Mickey had a stroke in October that left his left arm paralyzed and he is now in the Old Colony Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Route 18, Abington. Still, he is just as cheerful as ever and is doing the same thing: reading about and watching games. He has made many new friends there and seems very happy. Many from his old gang have gone down to see him.
If you have time, stop down and bring him a Boston Herald, his favorite newspaper, which he can’t get at the center.
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Don’t forget, you walkers, well-known Milton and BC star Roger Connors and his walking group would welcome you any Monday, Wednesday or Friday morning at 6 a.m. at the Copeland Field House at Milton High. There is no charge.
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At this writing, future Hall of Fame baseball players without employment, who want to play this year, include Manny Ramirez, Pedro Martinez, Frank Thomas, Curt Schilling, Paul Byrd, etc.
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Serena Williams, the U.S. women’s tennis player who just won the Australian Open, thinks that the new drug rule for tennis players is too much. A lot of other tennis pros agree with her.
Under the new rule, players must tell the World Anti-Doping Agency when they are available each day for testing. The athletes must also specify what their plans are for the next three months.
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Just before the state basketball tournament, Milton has won the Quincy tournament, beating North Quincy and Foxboro. Marcus McDermott was named MVP and Tim Potts made the All-Star team.
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During school vacation, the BC High ski team won its fourth consecutive meet at the Blue Hills Ski area to clinch the league title for the second year in a row. Milton athletes skiing for BC High were Brendan Gallery, Rob Orlando and Ben Smith. The team was skiing in the state championship this week.
(Ed Baker can be reached at miltonsports@hotmail.com.)