The Item’s coverage area had another year to remember in sports. Some of our area teams had outstanding seasons, local athletes fought adversity and taught us what it means to persevere during difficult times, a community rallied around its football coach and we said goodbye to a handful of local sports figures who’ll be remembered for their legacies.
Here are the 10 most-read stories on Itemlive.com:
LYNN ENGLISH BASKETBALL PLAYER DIES OF CANCER
Lynn English High graduate and former Bulldogs girls basketball player Dorothy Ezemba died in December after a long battle with a rare muscle cancer. Ezemba, 18, graduated this past spring and was in her freshman year at UMass-Lowell. She was diagnosed with cancer at the end of her junior basketball season in 2017.
“She never missed a game,” English vice principal Gary Molea said. “She was always there for the girls. I got a few texts and emails from graduates. It’s tough to take, someone that young. I saw her play that junior year and if you told me she had cancer I’d say ‘no way.’ She was quite a competitor, right until the end.”
LYNN HIGH SCHOOL COACHING ICON DIES
Ron Bennett coached for 41 years at Lynn English, beginning in 1965 in basketball; and in 1975 adding baseball to his repertoire.
By the time it was all said and done, in 2006, Bennett had amassed somewhere in the vicinity of 800 wins in both sports combined, according to Jimmy Doyle, his assistant of 32 years, and Paul Halloran, who was sports editor of The Item for much of his tenure. That made Bennett the winningest high school coach in Lynn history.
Bennett, 80, died in March at the Kaplan Hospice in Danvers. And, said English Athletic Director Dick Newton, while he “wanted to win even more than you did,” he had a less-publicized softer side that friends say defined him much better than his rigid, authoritarian reputation.
“I will tell you,” said Newton, “that every trophy, every jacket, and every banquet he ever threw came out of his own pocket, both for baseball and basketball. He worked hard for the kids he coached.”
LYNN’S PETER PEDRO REMEMBERED AS FOOTBALL ROYALTY
Pete Pedro, who earned the alliterative nickname “Pistol” for the electrifying way he ran with the football in high school and college, died in April at 76.
Pedro, a 1959 graduate of Lynn Trade, is considered the best athlete in the school’s history. He later went to West Texas State, where he was one of the nation’s leading rushers and a 1962 Newspaper Enterprise Association All-America selection.
Those who knew Pedro say he is one of the top athletes ever to come out of Lynn.
“No question,” said Frank Carey, himself one of Lynn’s most celebrated athletes and coaches. “He was one heck of an athlete.”
ST. MARY’S PLAYER LOSES MOM, FINDS SOLACE IN FOOTBALL
It’s often said that student-athletes learn life lessons when they challenge themselves during their careers. Whether it’s on the field or in the classroom, the lessons they learn can be carried through life.
St. Mary’s senior Jack Maguire’s story is a perfect example. Maguire, a two-way player guard/defensive end, was set to start his final season of high school football with his biggest fan, his mother Terri, supporting him every step of the way. Then Terri suffered a heart aneurysm and died this past June, two months before Maguire was slated to start his senior season.
“She was my No. 1 fan,” said Maguire, who transferred to St. Mary’s from St. John’s two years ago. “She didn’t miss a game. She supported the team in general. She was always at team dinners. She supported me playing football and my transfer to St. Mary’s. She played a big role.”
SAUGUS FOOTBALL COACH PLACED ON LEAVE BEFORE OPENER
Anthony Nalen, who was set to begin his second year as Saugus High football coach, was placed on administrative leave in September pending an investigation over a team-related issue that happened last month during preseason workouts, according to several reports.
Nalen was not at Saugus’ season opener, which the Sachems lost, 30-12, at Amesbury.
MATT DURGIN RESIGNS AS ST. MARY’S HEAD FOOTBALL COACH
The era of one of Lynn’s most successful high school football coaches came to an end.
Matt Durgin announced in January that he was stepping down as the St. Mary’s coach after a 10-year career during which the Spartans became a football powerhouse. Twice, the Spartans played for state championships in the MIAA Super Bowl (2012 and 2016). They also won three North Sectional titles, and in 2016 and 2017 St. Mary’s finished the season with 11-1 records — the best in the school’s history.
“Matt is one of the most successful football coaches in Lynn history,” said his cousin, Jeff Newhall, who is athletic director at St. Mary’s. “He has taken our program to a level where it is recognized as one of the best in the state. We will miss him greatly, but because of what he accomplished, we are in excellent shape moving forward.”
SAUGUS HIGH FOOTBALL COACH CLEARED OF ALLEGATIONS
Just a few days after missing Saugus’ season opener, Sachems head football coach Anthony Nalen was cleared of all allegations related to a potential hazing incident that took place in August during a preseason practice. Nalen’s attorney, Mike Castano, confirmed the news Tuesday evening.
“We were confident all along that my client had done nothing wrong,” Castano said. “Coach Nalen’s all about the kids. He would never do anything to hurt the kids. We were waiting for him to be cleared so he could go back to coaching football.”
FROM WYOMA SQUARE TO THE WORLD SERIES
If Duncan Webb seemed a little conflicted over the World Series, one can hardly blame him.
Webb, who grew up in Lynn, played Wyoma Little League and starred on a state championship baseball team team while at St. John’s Prep, has strong ties to both the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
A 2000 graduate from The Prep who played baseball at Amherst College, Webb is the current director of international player development for the Dodgers. Previously, until he joined the Dodgers two years ago, he was the assistant director in the same category for the Red Sox.
SWAMPSCOTT COACHING LEGEND DICK LYNCH DIES
Dick Lynch, one of the most important architects of Swampscott High’s two-plus decades of football dominance, died in April.
Lynch joined head coach Stan Bondelevitch in 1954 as an assistant coach and offensive coordinator, and stayed there until 1973, when he became Danvers High’s athletic director. Lynch, who was 91, also coached the Big Blue boys basketball team to a victory in the old Tech Tourney at the Boston Garden in 1968.
LYNN HAS LOST A LEGEND. BILLY DUTCH PASSES AWAY AT THE AGE OF 79.
Pat Dutch couldn’t get over the number of people who visited her house, and the different generations, and walks of life, they represented.
They all came to the Dutch home to pay tribute to her husband, Bill, who died in December of health complications he’d been battling since last winter.
“It has been overwhelming,” she said. “There were former athletes, guys who played Pop Warner for him whose children now play,” she said. “There were just so many people.”