HOLYOKE — The Holyoke Athletic Hall of Fame has announced its 2024 induction class which will be honored and enshrined during a ceremony on Saturday, Oct. 26 at Wycoff Country Club.
The Holyoke Public School Athletic Hall of Fame was created in 2017 to honor the achievements and contributions to Holyoke Public Schools athletics. A Hall of Fame banquet takes place each year to honor these inductees, with all proceeds used to support Holyoke Athletics.
Banquet tickets are $35 and can be purchased online at eventbrite.com.
This year’s class will see two new contributors, six new athletes inducted, a longtime coach and three teams including the 1950 “Peanut Bowl” football team. The six new athletes being inducted include Mike Athas, Nate Hernandez, Chris Legowski, Kate McKenna, Max Perez and Selena Yates. The two additional teams being inducted will be the 1970 Holyoke High School football team and the 2004 boys’ soccer team.
Bios and information on all of this year’s inductees can be found on the Holyoke Public Schools Athletic Hall of Fame Facebook page.
“Holyoke has a long and illustrious sports history and they’re proud of the traditions, proud of the athletes and proud of the accomplishments,” Hall of Fame member Rick Lajoie explained. “A lot of them have gone on to do wonderful things in the sports world and in real life so what we try to do is recognize not only what they’ve done, what their achievements have been as a student at Holyoke High or Dean Tech, but also to use those examples as role models for this generation and generations to come.”
Lajoie added the example of the Hall of Fame’s inductees when seen by current student athletes can provide perspective to young people and see themselves in the shoes of adults who were once student athletes just like them.
“We recognize those of our peers or our forefathers for their achievements and we take them and utilize them as role models for the future, and then contribute to the growth of young athletes as they go forward. That’s the whole purpose,” Lajoie said.
Headlining this year’s induction are two contributors to the Holyoke Public Schools sports program in former Mayor and state Sen. Martin J. Dunn and Holyoke Public School teacher and track coach Eileen Kane. Lajoie said both are being selected in recognition of their long and selfless support of Holyoke’s sports programs and their efforts positively touching the lives of so many of the city’s young athletes.
Dunn was a Holyoker through and through, growing up on Beech Street and graduating from Holyoke High in 1974. He continued his athletic career at Columbia University, enjoying significant playing time as a safety and as a part time quarterback.
“He loved sports, and he loved the city of Holyoke,” Lajoie said. “It was all about Marty taking sports and sharing it with as much people as he possible could and he did that as mayor, as state senator and in everyday life.”
Dunn is remembered for his great love of sports and for being a consistent advocate for Holyoke athletes.
“Whether it be fighting for more funding, expanding offerings by the Parks and Recreation Department, and maintaining all the athletic fields and courts, Mayor Martin Dunn’s contributions to the city’s sports programs enabled the city of Holyoke to continue its high level of sports success in its public school system,” the Hall of Fame shared in a statement.
A similar bond between Kane and the community is apparent event for the non-native-born Holyoker. Married to fellow Hall of Famer Bill Kane, Eileen taught in Holyoke Public Schools and was hired by Hall of Famer Barbara Martino to become an assistant track and field coach even though she was not a track athlete. Since then she has stepped up, filling in and supported the student athletes she has come across.
“She added a personality to it. She added an emotion to it. She added a gentleness, but she also added a great deal of dedication to it,” Lajoie said. “People who were athletes under her marvel and remark about how great that experience was. When you can go back and say my high school coach had a tremendous effect on me, then the coach has done the person’s job.”
Most notable of Kane’s role supporting her husband in their long pursuit of a new track and field facility.
“Succumbing to pressure, the Board of Aldermen removed the antiquated cinder track bisecting Mackenzie Field, while promising to build a new facility. As time passed and it appeared that the city forgot its promise, Bill and Eileen remained diligent in reminding them of the promise, and through their continued lobbying, the state of the art ‘Bill and Eileen Track’ at the Arthur Roberts Sports Complex was constructed,” the Hall of Fame said in a statement.
The lone inductee into the “legends” category this year will be the 1950 football team, affectionately known in the community as the “Peanut Bowl” team. The 1950 Holyoke High “Panthers” finished the season as the AA Conference champions, with a 7-0-1 record, the lone blemish being a 7-7 tie on Thanksgiving Day against rival Chicopee.
As conference champions, Holyoke was invited to play in the third annual contest against a representative from the Peach State. According to Lajoie, the Georgia connection came from a man stationed at Westover Air Base in Chicopee who was impressed with the local high school football he would view in Western Mass. and spread word back home.
“He was always impressed with it, so he said to people down there, ‘we should get somebody from up there.’ So they took the whoever the champion was of the AA conference because that was considered the best football,” Lajoie explained. “After a handful of years of teams here getting invited, the Massachusetts headmasters association banned it. But for those 5-6 years, we had a representative for the Peanut Bowl.”
The game was played on New Year’s Day in 1951, and while they fell 19-14 to the Georgia team, the “Peanut Bowl” team was the topic of discussion in the city during the holiday season and has been remembered in Holyoke athletic lore since.
The team’s legend is also solidified by its impressive run that season under Hall of Fame Coach Arthur Roberts. Holyoke led the conference in offense with 344 points (34.3 a game), and defense, allowing a stifling 4.2 points per game.
Longtime soccer and swim Coach Claude Morin, one of the founding fathers of the Holyoke Youth Soccer League, is the lone coach of this year’s induction. Morin enjoyed his best years on the pitch in the mid-1970s as the Knights won back-to-back Pioneer Valley League Division III titles in 1975 and 1976, with the 1976 team boasting seven “Transcript-Telegram” All-League All-Stars.
Morin received the Bruno Rumpal Sportsmanship award from the Pioneer Valley Soccer Officials Association in 1975. When the Knights earned another Western Mass. tournament bid in 1978, he received the Larry Briggs Award, the highest honor for soccer in the region from the association.
While shorter in tenure, Morin remains the most successful swim coach ever at Holyoke High, with a career mark of 82-7, posting 52 consecutive wins between 1966-1972. Under his reign, the Knights won league championships from 1962-65, again from 67-70, four state titles and the New England Championship in 1969. Morin was also elected president of the Western Mass. Swimming Association in 1969.
Bios and information on all of this year’s inductees can be found on the Holyoke Public Schools Athletic Hall of Fame Facebook page.
