By Eddie Baker
Sports Editor
4/9/09
We were very sorry a couple of weeks ago to hear of the death of a great teacher, a great guy, great coach and a friend to many Milton athletes. We are talking about former longtime basketball, baseball and tennis coach Raymond Gadaire. Ray passed away in Brockton, where he lived, after not feeling so well lately.
An avid fisherman, Ray has taught and coached sports at Milton High for 39 years. He had won the Outstanding Teacher of the Year award at the high school several times. He was a member of the Bridgton Academy Hall of Fame and a graduate of Middlebury College.
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Every time I mention the name “Merchants” in this column lately, I get people who ask me who they are. Do I mean the businessmen in East Milton Square or the Landing? No. I mean the athletes who had many sports teams in Milton way back, starting in the days of Bars Diner and when the telegram, not the cell phone, was in its heyday.
These Milton athletes raised money for their many teams themselves and kept these teams going very successfully for years. Twenty-five years ago, though, they lost their energetic president and leader, George “Bud” Morissette. Since then, the Merchants have kind of faded away as these athletes have gotten older and money has become a factor.
But anyway, there will be a memorial Mass at St. Agatha next Tuesday, April 14, at 9 a.m. in memory of Bud and his sports-enthusiast brother, Dick, who died a few years ago.
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This Saturday evening, April 11, at 7:30 p.m. at the Fireman’s Post in Dorchester, former Milton High and Curry College star Mary Vaughan Hedin – now a nurse at Brigham and Women’s Hospital – is running a dance for breast-cancer research. The cost is only $20 and you can purchase tickets at the door. There will be a raffle, silent auction, food, etc.
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There was a nice article about well-known Milton golfer Bill Kearns in The Boston Globe’s South section on March 29. It was written by well-known Milton runner and former Milton Times writer Rich Fahey. You can read it at the Milton Library. The Times had a story on Kearns in February.
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Colin McIntosh, the former Boston College
High School star out of this town, has finished
a great basketball career at the University of Vermont. In his four years there, Colin tied the record for games played with 126. He may play in Europe next year.
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I know this Sunday is Easter, but the rangers in the Blue Hills have a nice walk up Summit Road and around Great Blue starting at the Trailside Museum parking lot at 1 p.m. It takes a couple of hours.
I know that we Miltonians see a lot of deer around Milton now, but if you want to see a couple of cute, young ones, stop by the outside zoo at the museum.
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Matt Lutch has just received his appointment to the Naval Academy. He was the principal nominee for U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch. Matt attended St. Sebastian’s School in Needham. He was a member of the National Honor Society and an active member of the Student Council. He played varsity baseball and football, and two years of junior hockey, for the Bridgewater Bandits.
Matt is currently a freshman at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, N.Y., where he was recently named captain of the rugby team and recognized as a member of the top 30 freshmen students. These are students recognized for their high school academic achievement, sports participation and community service.
He also spent his last two March vacations in New Orleans helping victims of Hurricane Katrina.
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Piers Turner, of Brush Hill Road, a junior at Beaver Country Day School, has qualified for the Interscholastic Equestrian Association Regional Finals, the first qualifying event for the season’s top riders to reach the National IEA Equitation Championships held in Ohio in May. Piers will be competing in the Varsity Open Equitation division.
Piers is a member of the high school team, part of the 26-member Patriot Equestrian Team that competes throughout the Northeast in the fall and winter. The Patriot Equestrian Team practices at Northgate Farm, in Sudbury, competing at both the middle school and high school levels.
IEA mirrors the collegiate riding competitive format to prepare young riders for higher-level competition. Riders do not compete on their own horses, so horse ownership is not required; this makes IEA an ideal venue for beginner and intermediate riders to try equitation as a competitive sport. Tara Franklin is the coach of the IEA team and had one of her riders named reserve champion at nationals last year. For more information, call Tara at (978) 618-9314.
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A Milton connection: Curry College star softball third baseman and pitcher Ashley Ricciardi, who hails from Tewksbury, is the niece of Hanna (Oldfield) Ricciardi. Hanna, whose brother, Josh, and sister, Maggie, are the owners of Thayer Nursery, was a three-sport athlete at Milton High in the ’80s. A 1988 graduate, she played field hockey, softball and basketball for the high school.
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Former Milton High athlete Matt Dunn, now at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, was recently named Little East Conference player of the week. The lacrosse defenseman had six ground balls against Salem State on March 28, had a number of deflections and came away with many turnovers. At this writing, he is tied for the team lead with 17 ground balls in three games.
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It certainly looked different and really looked as if something was missing when the parquet floor was taken up for the Eastern Regional basketball tournament at TD Banknorth Garden two weeks ago. The games were sold out weeks ago but there were plenty of seats available when a team in the tournament wasn’t playing or had been beaten and was out.
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We were very sorry to hear of the death of well-known Milton athlete Mike Scully, who lost his fight with cancer two weeks ago. Mike played softball for several years for Milton teams. He was a former Milton High baseball star and made the Bay State League all-star team in the mid-’70s. He was one of the best defensive outfielders to ever play the game at the high school.
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Marathon runner Ryan Hall, who trains with local marathon runner and former Milton High star Kate O’Neill, is throwing out the first pitch at the Boston Red Sox game on the Saturday before the Boston Marathon. Ryan and Kate both train under Terrence Mahan, of California.
Ryan is believed by many to be the best American marathon runner in years, and has a good chance of winning Boston. Kate will be running the London Marathon, coming up in a couple of weeks.
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I hope you have noticed that the redwing blackbird, a very pretty bird, has returned to Milton.
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A report has it that the University of Massachusetts, because of budget cuts, is thinking of dropping baseball and softball. If that happens, it means that the University of New Hampshire, Providence College, Boston University and now Vermont and UMass, all Division 1 baseball schools, have dropped the national pastime.
Vermont, about a month ago, said it was dropping it because of budget cuts. The student government body there has asked the school to reconsider its decision.
I know the Red Sox and professional baseball give the Cape Cod League some money each year because good college players are a stepping stone to Major League Baseball players. Well, it may be time for them to help out Division 1 college baseball teams a little, as baseball is a non-revenue sport that certainly helps the big leagues.
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A really busy Milton star these days is former St. Mary of the Hills and St. Gregory’s star Mary Regan. Mary not only heads up the newsletter Pine Tree Clipping but is very active as a Milton library trustee.
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Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, who is 76 and a longtime Republican, raised money for President Obama and has been named ambassador to Ireland. Rooney owns a Steelers-themed bar in Belfast, Ireland.
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We think, along with a lot of other Milton stars, that in men’s basketball the Big East is the best league in the country. However, in women ’s basketball, we think the Atlantic Coast Conference is the best. The Big East has Connecticut, but overall the ACC is a lot tougher. We would like to see the men’s and women’s teams in the ACC play home-and-home games with all teams in the league each year.
As for baseball, we think the ACC is a great league and that Boston College has its work cut out for itself if it is to do well in the league.
In football, we also think BC should play all conference teams every year. More BC followers from Milton have complained that BC’s home schedule isn’t that great this year.
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Longtime Hilltopper and St. Mary of the
Hills star Joe Noris came down from the Bedford
VA hospital in a medical van to attend the Hilltoppers’ St. Patrick’s Day party at The Common
Market.
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Walpole High has appointed 35-year assistant football coach and longtime tennis and wrestling coach Barry Greener to the head coaching job in football. He succeeds former New England Patriots player Danny Villa, who won a Super Bowl last fall but ran into some off-field problems.
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Now that Steve Traister has decided to be athletic director and a teacher and has given up the football job at Milton High, many Milton stars have asked me if former Milton High football stars and highly successfully football coaches Jack Martinelli or Greg Burke would be interested in returning to their alma mater for their final years in coaching. I can’t answer for them and both are eligible for retirement, but I kind of doubt it.
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Franklin Pierce, where former Milton High star Tara Bligh played basketball a few years back, went all the way to the women’s finals this year in Division 2 in the NCAA finals, where they lost to Minnesota State-Mankato after having the lead.
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On May 3, from 8 a.m. to noon, the Rotary
Club, in conjunction with the Blue Hills Cycling Club, will hold the annual Classic Bike Races
as a community service to enhance the Rotary Scholarship Fund, as well as the Massachusetts Conservation Trust.
Information about the races can found on the Web site bikereg.com. The races start in the Houghtons Pond parking lot.
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The Boston College baseball team drew a lot of fans in its recent home games with Clemson, averaging about 2,500 per game.
(Ed Baker can be reached at miltonsports@hotmail.com.)