By Eddie Baker
Sports Editor
3/5/09
Milton’s best long-distance runner, former Milton High star Kate O’Neill, who made the U.S. Olympic team in the 10K five years ago, is planning on running the London Marathon. She is preparing by running a 15K in Jacksonville, Fla., this month.
Because the weather is usually better, a lot of runners prefer to run London over Boston. Ryan Hall, the top U.S runner and a member of Kate’s running team, is planning on running Boston.
Kate’s twin sister, Laura O’Neill, a former Milton High star and member of the Milton High Hall of Fame, is now engaged. She is completing her degree in library and information science at the University of North Carolina. Both sisters were running stars at Yale University.
*****
We wish well-known golf and tennis star Bob Barrett improved health. The BC “Triple Eagle” has not been feeling so hot lately.
*****
She will be really missed. According to reports, Marjorie Jeffries, longtime member of the Milton Library Trustees, is calling it a day. We can’t remember when Marjorie wasn’t on the board and one of its most active members.
Marjorie is one of Milton’s best-known bicycle riders. Not only does she ride around here, but she has ridden all over the United States and Europe. One of Milton’s most active stars, she is also a great gardener.
*****
Well-known Milton High star Molly Golden is having another good year in hockey at Salve Regina University, where she is now a sophomore. Molly, who could always score, has 10 goals and 11 assists (21 points) in 23 games as of this writing. The team’s record is 14-8-1 and Molly is third on the team in scoring. She is 20th in the league, which has about 200 players.
*****
When the University of Vermont decided to drop the Division 1 college baseball program at the end of this season, following what Boston University and Providence College did a few years back because of financial complications, it really affected athletes from Milton, more than any other city or town. Former Milton Little League and Legion baseball stars Tom Kelly, Matt Duffy and James Katsiroubas are all attending the University of Vermont on baseball scholarships, the most of any city or town at the school. These Milton athletes will be allowed to keep their scholarships and stay at the university, but they will not be able to play baseball for Vermont as there will not be a team. Kelly is a junior, Duffy a sophomore and Katsiroubas is a freshman, and were all projected to be top college players.
After this year, they could transfer to another school if they found one that would give them a scholarship, and they would be eligible to play immediately for that school.
*****
A possible star in the making, Alex Daly, a second-grader at Cunningham Elementary School, dominated three events in the 2009 AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) Northeast Conference Indoor Track Championship at Harvard University on Feb. 15. She won gold medals in the 55-meter dash, 200-meter dash and long jump. She broke the meet record in the long jump by 2 feet. Alex runs for the Boston International Track Club.
*****
Boston University and Boston College draw crowds in college hockey, and it was very good to see Northeastern University doing the same this year.
*****
Brochures for spring hikes, happenings and free weekend walks in the Blue Hills, as well as trail maps, are available at the rangers’ headquarters next to the state police barracks in the Blue Hills.
*****
The biggest crowd we have seen at a local college women’s basketball game was the North Carolina vs. BC game during school vacation week.
*****
Have you noticed that a lot of robins have returned to Milton in the last few weeks, and you may only have to go to your front lawn to see them?
*****
One Gunning succeeds another. Tom Gunning Jr., of Norwell, former Milton Little League and Babe Ruth star, and longtime Babe Ruth coach, has succeeded his father, Tom Gunning Sr., of Milton, the former Merchants president and longtime member of the Milton Board of Assessors, on the board of directors at Mount Washington Bank.
*****
Colin MacIntosh, the Milton basketball player who is having a good season for the University of Vermont this year, may play in Europe next year.
*****
Milton High’s Paul Connor is truly one of the best runners to ever come out of the high school. Did you see where he recently moved up and won the 600 in a big indoor track meet?
*****
A lot of baseball fans are wondering how Alex Rodriguez will stay focused on baseball with all the publicity about his steroid use.
*****
A report has it that the state may close Milton’s Chickatawbut Road to automobiles on weekends this summer, to let bicyclers, joggers and walkers have it to themselves.
*****
Sports enthusiast Joe O’Hara is busy working on his golf event, the 18th annual James Farr Charity Golf Tournament, to be held Tuesday, June 16, at the Indian Pond Country Club in Kingston. Money raised from that tournament will help the school-to-career job training programs for at-risk youth at Farr Academy, in Cambridge; help and support upgrades to the playground for disabled and autistic children at Agape Inn, in Holbrook; and help with the purchase of educational materials and games for infants and toddlers.
If you would like to play in this tournament as an individual or a group, or if you would like to sponsor a hole or buy an ad, give Joe a call at (617) 497-2620, ext. 35.
*****
As the state basketball tournament started, Lawrence Central Catholic was ranked seventh in the East in high school basketball, the highest a local high school was ranked by USA Today in quite a few years. All the other schools came from Maryland, New Jersey, New York, etc.
*****
We lost a sports legend recently when Jack Vallely, longtime Curry College baseball coach and scout, died. A legend in his time, Jack coached many sports at the college, including football, but baseball was by far his favorite. On Feb. 24, The Boston Globe did a great story on Jack, and Curry flew its flags at half-mast.
*****
Curry’s baseball team, under coach and baseball enthusiast Dave Perdios, is on its spring break, playing five games in Winter Haven, Fla.
*****
Milton and Providence College stars Scott and Courtney Dorsey are proud parents of a new baby boy. A lot of you Milton stars know the baby’s grandfathers, tennis pro Paul Dorsey and boatsman/fisherman Craig Dolan.
*****
Another restaurant called the Suffolk Grill, run by the same people that run the Centerfields restaurant in Canton Center, is due to open up in the old Howard Johnson’s building on Route 138, in Canton, just over the Milton line. Local favorite Dunkin’ Donuts runs very successfully in the other half of the building.
This will be the third owner in the last few years to give the spot a try. A lot of Milton athletes spend quite a bit of time in that area near the Blue Hills.
*****
Glad to hear that one of Milton’s best and most versatile athletes, Dick Gallery, is feeling a little better after not feeling so well a little while ago.
*****
A lot of money was raised this year by many road races. Here in Milton, quite a few good ones were held.
Down in Falmouth, the Falmouth Marathon and Relay Races run on the last Sunday in October (not to be confused with the Falmouth Road Race) made over $22,000 for local charities. The relay-race portion of the popular event sold out quickly.
*****
The appointment of longtime assistant football coach Frank Spaziani to the head football coach’s job at BC must have made the Eagles’ fans happy.
*****
Once again, Green Street, on the Milton-Canton line opposite the ski area, is a really good place to run or jog on a winter day.
****
Former Milton Legion and Roxbury Latin star John Spatola, now playing for Boston College, hit the ball well while batting for BC against the Red Sox. Former Catholic Memorial and Legion star Mark Perdios is out with a bad shoulder and knee and may redshirt the year.
*****
Milton star and Irish singer Pauline Wells performs Monday, March 9, at 10 a.m. at St. Mary of the Hills Church. All are welcome.