Site News & Updates

Check here for updates and news: the site keeps changing!

A FEW HEARTFELT THANKS…

This site is a result of the massive efforts of a small group of people who have spent 25+ years tending to our annual Field of Dreams. It was easy to take their raw material, shine it up and display on a website for y’all to see.  Please THANK THEM if you enjoy this website–it is their baby!

MARK BYRNE & HIS BAND OF GREATER-LOWELL VOCATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
Mark had a group of students meticuolously scan in, tag, and save every page: 25 years worth of LHS Athletic Hall of Fame programs. They provided the raw content for this site: all the athlete bios,  headshots of every inductee, lists of committee members, sponsors and LHS sports coaches and teams. It was truly a gold mine of material on a little thumb drive.

COACH JIM MCGUIRK
A coach who loves numbers, but an English teacher at heart. Jim McGuirk (a.k.a. Jimmy Stewart/George Bailey) has singlehandedly written almost all of the Hall of Famers biographies since the first induction in 1986. Each is beautifully crafted, and while they all have a similar cadence, he brings out the unique talents and personalities of each athlete.  Working from only a few notes–or from 68 pages of clippings!–he has been able to mix statistics, awards and legendary stories with the panache of a true writer.  Look for his favorite word–“juggernaut”!

COACH & SECRET KEEPER BOB BOEHM
Like the proud uncle who tends to his favorite nephew’s scrapbook, Bob has ferreted away the history of the LHS Athletic Hall of Fame in his basement. From all the recipient applications to every newspaper clipping, he has it (well, now we have digital copies of everything too!). And was very generous to share them, along with stories and statistics to put it all in perspective.

TRUDY VAIL MICHEL
From my first inquiry in 2007, “Don’t you have a Hall of Fame website yet?,” Trudy has been a big supporter of building a Hall of Fame website.  Each year she asnwered, “No, not yet, but we’d love one!”  It only took 4 years  to make it happen–and she was helpful, encouraging, complimentary and instrumental in crossing the finish line. She’s the heart and soul of our Hall of Fame.

OUR FRIENDS AT THE LOWELL SUN
Who else has catalogued our history so beautifully but The Lowell Sun? Their writers (especially the talented Dave Pevear) and photographers have captured our special moments: our annual creation of a sports event where we can virtually see, remember, and celebrate our Hall of Famers throughout their life spans.

BASIC BIOS UP!

NOV 17, 2011–The site was up for the 26th Lowell High School Athletic Hall of Fame. All 135 athletes bios and single photos from their program induction ceremony are up and on the site! Admit it, you looked yourself up.

Can you help us move toward completion?

TYPOS & ERRORS CORRECTED

NOV 20, 2011–Many of the listings have been reviewed and corrected for typos: Have you ever been to Fenway “Pork”? Do you live in the state of “Moss.”? Do you know “Roy” Riddick? Have you ever taken a “four” shot in basketball?

When converting all the of the old programs, 25 years worth, the scanner and software sometimes mis-read common letters and substitute something similar. Since the words are “real” words they aren’t picked up by spell-check, just a lucky human reader.

STANDARDIZED PHRASES & NAMES

NOV 20, 2011–Were you an M.V.P. in the M.V.C. before you won an E.C.A.C. championship, were an All American and All Star and went to ULowell or UMass @ Lowell or UMass, Lowell or UMass at Lowell?  We standardized many of the  terms such as MVP, MVC, ECAC, All-American, and UMass, Lowell, so they are the same in all the biographies. And yes, it was a bit of a P.I.T.A.

LOGOS & WEBSITE HEADERS

NOV 21, 2011–Added an explanation page to better explain how we got the site “look” and header you see on the top of the pages. We’ll keep changing it and switching out athletes and coaches.

NEW PAGES: CAWLEY STADIUM & MARTIN ALUMNI COMPLEX; UPDATES TO PAGES

NOV 22, 2011–Added a page on the history of Cawley Stadium and Martin Alumni Athletic Complex; updated Board members ; Sponsors pages ; The Road to 1986 Medals and Plaques,  added Coverage of the 2011 induction ceremony; added all the historical Hall of Fame event programs; updated the “In Memoriam” page; updated the HELP US page

SAMPLE PAGES: MORE PHOTOS AND UPDATES

NOV 23, 2011–Just so you can see what is possible (with YOUR photos and clippings): check out a few pages with some added photographs and galleries:
Brian F. Reynolds;
John Lang;
John McManmon;
Brian Akashian, 2011 inductee

Check out the “UPDATES” on athlete bios: what happened next? Coach Bossi even has his own 2nd page!
George Bossi;
Jill Stamp McArdle;
Stanley Stoklosa;
Leo Parent;
Joe Polak;
Ed Murphy;

PHOTO GALLERIES COMING IN…

NOV 26, 2011–The first group photos are coming into galleries….check out our new “Photos!” link on the top menu bar as our first scrapbook photos come in! First up–group shots from (almost) every annual induction ceremony.  Check it out!

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MORE PHOTOS

SEPT 8, 2012–More and more of the thousands of photos are coming into each athlete’s gallery…click on an athlete and see their gallery of their own action shots and articles plus ones they are “tagged” in from their teammates galleries. Thanks again to Bob Boehm who kept great records of each application and all their clippings their moms, dads and fans kept. Now shared with the world!

INDUCTEES ANNOUNCED; “IN MEMORIAM” updated, 2011  PROGRAM ADDED

OCT 8, 2012–Inductees for the 2012 ceremony are announced; the “In Memoriam” gallery is updated; the program from 2011 is added to the list of downloadable PDF programs, found in the top menu.

MORE PHOTOS, MORE FUN! NEW HEADERS

OCT 14 , 2012–In the top menu, check out the “PHOTOS” galleries. In addition to each Hall of Famer having their own gallery on their page, we have some special-interest categories: from group Induction Event photos, to sketches & cartoons, to the old “Lookout” columns, to Girl Power section, to a coaches summary–see some great hightlights.

Also, we created some headers: Coach Bossi and gymnast Brenda Benoit are featured now. Stay tuned for more fun ones.

STUMPERS!

With thousands of cool photos, we will be featuring “Stumpers” to check how well you know your Lowell Sports. Can you name the people in the photos? Check it out on the home page, right side colums for some pics without names.

SPORTS-SPECIFIC GALLERIES–GIRLS TRACK IS FIRST!

OCT 22, 2012–More exciting news–sports scrapbook sections debut with Coach Jim McGuirk’s 13 scrapbooks covering 1979-2000 Girls Cross Country and Track. Indexed by school year, they will be soon tagged with the Hall of Famer names for cross-reference. See the link on the homepage.

So, ladies first. Who’s next? Got an old scrapbook in your attic?

PHOTOS & ARTICLES TOP 4,000

NOV 12, 2012–The site continues to grow…over 4,000 photos and articles have been uploaded, and most “tagged” with people who are in them.

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NOV 14, 2014–We continue to add corrections and new photos to the site; please contact us or one of your Board members if you have materials on a Hall of Famer or something to add, correct or link. We recently added materials on Ed Murphy, Brian Martin, Larry Connell, Tom Lafferty, Jim Scondras, John Freitas, Ramon Rivera, Henry J. Mazur, James P. Liston, Jeff Lambert, Earle McQuaide, George Kacavas, Ray Riddick, Edward Cawley, Walter Wewiorski, George Bossi, Cliff Whalen, Leo Parent, William Furey, Brian Dillon, Max Desilets, James Scott Borodawka ,Tipper Durkin,  Walter Nelson, Fritz  Drescher, John McManmon, Peter Quinlan, Steven Sorota, Brian Reynolds, George Ford,  James Fallon, Menil Mavaraides, James S. Daley,  Carmen Bova, George Spaneas, and Stan Stoklosa, as well as for our newer 2013 and 2014 inductees.

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ENJOY THE SITE!

Brian F. Reynolds and Gail Reynolds Frank, November 1988

Brian F. Reynolds and Gail Reynolds Frank, November 1988

~ Gail Reynolds Frank, Class of 1983, Inducted in 2010 

He loved the internet, spreadsheets, good sportsmanship, and the history of LHS Sports.
Cheers, Dad!

http://LHSAthleticHallofFame.com Copyright 2010-2014, Lowell High School Athletic Hall of Fame. All rights reserved
Many thanks to the Lowell Sun for preserving all our articles, photos and memories throughout the years.