LYNN — To hear Nate D’Entremont tell it, Art McManus was every kid’s idea of the perfect grandfather.
McManus, who lived in Lynn and taught history at Lynnfield High, would look after D’Entremont sometimes when his daughter, Rebecca, had to do errands.
“He’d always let me eat Oreo cookies,” D’Entremont said. “My parents didn’t want me to have that much sugar all at once, but he’d let me eat them.
“He was a great grandfather,” D’Entremont said.
It wasn’t just because of the cookies, though. McManus was the girls soccer coach at Lynnfield, aside from being a teacher. He was also a pioneer in that he was the game director for the Agganis girls soccer all-star game right up until the time of his death in February 2011, when D’Entremont was 10 years old. And Tuesday at Manning Field, the game will come full circle when D’Entremont — a North Andover graduate — will be playing defense for the North squad.
“I really wish he could be here to see it,” D’Entremont said Sunday after being introduced as a player and receiving his Agganis jersey. “I have a feeling that he’ll be watching over me, though.
“It just seemed so crazy to me (that he had died in his sleep),” D’Entremont said. “I was so young. It was tough for me to comprehend that I’d ever see him again, after seeing him all the time up to then.”
McManus loved the “beautiful game.” He was captain of the Salem State men’s soccer team, coached it, and then — after he retired — covered it in the fall for The Item.
“I’d always loved it too,” D’Entremont said. “After he passed away, it gave me extra motivation to keep playing.
“To be able to play in this game, with all he contributed toward it, is surreal,” he said. “He always knew I’d be good at it.”
The Agganis Foundation was created after Agganis’ death in 1955. At the time, the former multi-sport Lynn athlete had already stood out on the football and baseball fields at Classical and Boston University and was a starting first baseman for the Red Sox. The football game was the primary fundraiser for the foundation until 1994, when baseball joined the program. Since then, softball, boys and girls basketball, soccer and lacrosse have been added, and the Agganis Game has become Agganis Week.
The awards ceremony, during which five more honorees were inducted into the foundation’s Hall of Fame, took place Sunday morning at Manning Field. Girls and boys basketball games will be played at English Monday night (6 and 7:15 respectively) with girls and boys soccer (5:30 and 7) Tuesday at Manning Field and lacrosse Wednesday (same times). The week concludes with football Thursday (7).
McManus’ work with the foundation has not been forgotten.
“Art served as Agganis All-Star soccer director for many years and played an important role in the games growing to where they are,” said Paul Halloran, executive director of the Agganis Games Committee. “He was a good coach and beloved guy all around. I know he would be thrilled to have his grandson playing in the game.”
“It’s awesome to me to see he had so much to do with this game,” D’Entremont said.
Not only is D’Entremont a defensive star for the North Andover High soccer team, he also plays for North Andover F.C. United, a youth soccer team that played Sunday for the Essex County League title. He will attend Fairfield University in Connecticut in the fall, but his major is still a little bit up in the air.
“I thought maybe biology, because I’ve always loved science,” he said. “Up until last year, I thought that. But then I thought I’d get into the business side of it. Maybe I’ll be a businessman.
“I know one thing,” he said. “I’ll be happy. As long as I’m happy in life, I don’t think I can go wrong. My grandfather was always happy.”