HOLYOKE — The 2025 Holyoke Public Schools Athletic Hall of Fame will feature Ron DeRoy, Brian Griffin, Mike Levin, Tina Mertes, Robert Sisson and Leslie St. Lawrence.
The induction weekend festivities will include the newest members being introduced as part of the Friday, Oct. 24, halftime ceremonies of the Holyoke-Taconic football game.
An induction dinner will take place on Saturday, Oct. 25 at Wyckoff Country Club, 233 Easthampton Road, to honor these all-star athletes, with highlights covering both city high schools and seven sports, spanning four decades.
The Holyoke Public School Athletic Hall of Fame was created in 2017 to acknowledge the past achievements of Holyoke’s elite athletes, coaches, teams, contributors and legends, while also recognizing past Holyoke athletic role models for future generations to admire and emulate.
In addition to Roger Marquis and John DesFosses, who have already been named to the “Legends” category, this year’s class will also feature six athletes, one coach, two teams and one contributor.
To qualify as a “legend,” nominees must be a graduate for 65 years or longer, according to Selection Committee member Rick Lajoie. Lajoie explained nominations are solicited from the public by the Hall of Fame Committee, who then decide the honorees for each year.
The athletic careers of the athletes being inducted cover both of Holyoke’s high schools and span 50 years with their “fields of honor” taking place in eight sports.
Lajoie discussed what it means to be able to honor the members of the 2025 class and stated, “For me personally, it is celebrating glory days of yore. I grew up in the 1960s and have followed Holyoke sports ever since. Bill Keating was my uncle, so I had an inside track to the Holyoke sports scene and the outside sports world. Holyoke has a long and totally awesome history and to be a part of the team that brings that back to life is exciting and rewarding.”
A press release sent to Reminder Publishing highlighted the accomplishments of the 2025 inductees.
DeRoy was a three-year starter and two-time co-captain of the Holyoke Trade basketball team, and a four-year starter in baseball. DeRoy won the Bi-County League batting as a senior in 1975.
Levin was a two-time all-WMass hockey and baseball team selection and led the 1985 state champion Purple Knights in hitting with a .450 average.
Mertes, a 1985 grad, excelled in three sports for all four years, and was named the “Athlete of the Year” by the Holyoke “Transcript-Telegram” in 1984 after winning the state slalom ski title, leading Holyoke in hitting on the softball diamond and scoring 22 goals and eight assists to lead the girls’ soccer to the WMass D-I quarterfinals.
Sisson will always be remembered for the “shot at the buzzer,” when he drained a three-pointer to beat Central High School in the WMass DI finals in 1993, but he was also a three-time All-WMass first team selection, and his career scoring mark of 1,118 was then Holyoke High’s all-time best.
Griffin, member of the class of 2001, the three-sport standout was named the Angelo Bertelli Award winner as WMass’ top football player in his senior year.
St. Lawrence was a four-time All-WMass First Team swimmer and owned seven Holyoke individual swimming records, and was a part of the school’s fastest medley relay when she graduated.
The two teams to be inducted include the 1979 Purple Knight football team, which went undefeated and was Holyoke High’s first ever Super Bowl champion, and the 1990 Holyoke boys’ tennis team, which went undefeated and won the Western Mass. championship.
The one coach being inducted in the 2025 class is Dave Reinhart, who guided the HHS boys cross country team to five league championships and the 2015 WMass championship, as well as four league boys track titles, and the school’s only WMass track championship,
The contributor being inducted is Bill Keating. The former Holyoke Transcript-Telegram sports editor is being honored for his more than 50 years of supporting Holyoke sports.
“The inductees have all expressed a sense of unbelief that they were selected,” Lajoie said, “But that’s because they didn’t realize how outstanding they were. They lived through it, but now they have a chance to really look back and it’s a ‘wow’ factor for them. For them, it was just about doing it back then and enjoying the ride, the competition and the camaraderie. Now they can say, ‘Gee, we look what we did.’”
