IT’S ABOUT TIME!
By Henry Figueredo
On
Saturday, November 17, 2007, the gymnasium at Springfield Central High School
was transformed into a festive and elegant reception hall as friends,
relatives, former teammates, opponents and community fans gathered to honor 81
former Springfield athletes, coaches and contributors. The four major Springfield high schools from
1900-1996 were represented in the first
annual “Springfield Public High Schools Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.”
Mr. Michael Martin, Director of Athletics
for the Springfield Public Schools, initiated the idea, established a committee
of 12 members, and made this event a long awaited, and, hopefully, annual
event. From the feedback and the sold out attendance of 430 people, we
believe it was a huge success.
Mr. Scott Cohen from abc40 graciously
served as Master of Ceremonies, while Mr. Gary Brown, longtime sports reporter
for The Republican, along with Mr. Ron Chimelis, also a sports reporter
for The Republican, shared comments about some of the honorees.
Former athletic greats such as Hy Neigher
(baseball/basketball), Commerce High School class of 1933; the father and son
duo of Leo and Travis Best (basketball), Classical/Central High School classes
of 1957 and 1991 respectively; Rodney Smith (wrestler), Putnam High School
class of 1984; and Ricky Wallace (basketball), Technical High School class of
1976 were among those on the list of inductees.
Congratulations to all of the honored
individuals, to Mr. Mike Martin for making this long overdue event a reality,
as well as to the committee members for the time and energy spent researching,
organizing, and putting together a wonderful evening.
If you or someone you know would like to request a ballot to nominate a candidate for future induction into the Springfield Public High Schools Hall of Fame or would like to participate as a committee member, please contact Mr. Martin’s office at 413-787-7126 or contact him electronically at martinmi@sps.springfield.ma.us. (All inductee candidates must have attended and participated in a Springfield public high school.)