TURNERS FALLS — The Turners Falls High School Hall of Fame will enshrine five new members Thursday.
Gary Mullins, George Bush, Norm Gerber, Brian Marsh and Sharon Chisholm will have their names etched into Turners Falls history, as the five make up the 2022 Hall of Fame Class.
The Turners Falls Hall of Fame was established in 2011. The inductions take place every two years, and this year’s edition is the fifth class in its history. Thirty-three individuals and two athletic teams — the 1942 baseball and 1938 football teams — have been inducted thus far.
“It was a democratic process to decide who got in,” Anne Maddern, chair of the Turners Hall of Fame committee, said. “The committee voted on a blind ballot. We had probably 20 names of worthy candidates.”
Mullins is a decorated coach and athletic director at Turners. He has been coaching the Thunder for over 40 years, winning well over 1,000 games total in softball, boys basketball and boys soccer. Mullins has amassed 10 state titles on the softball field, and Turners is one of the top programs in the state on a yearly basis. Mullins still serves as the Thunders’ boys basketball and softball coach.
Gerber, who graduated from Turners Falls High School in 1953, was a star football player with the Thunder. He went on to play at UConn and spent the rest of his career coaching the sport. He took a coaching job at Bristol Central (Conn.) after graduating from UConn, before coaching at East Catholic High School. He then went on to be an assistant coach at Columbia before serving as the linebacker coach at Boston College.
Gerber left BC to be the defensive coordinator at Syracuse under head coach Dick McPherson, a position he held from 1981-1991. Gerber followed McPherson to the New England Patriots, where he coached linebackers for two seasons. He closed out his career going back to Syracuse as the defensive coordinator.
If you’ve been to any Turners Falls sporting event in the last 40 years, there’s a high chance you’ve seen Bush there. He graduated from Turners Falls High School in 1944 and was part of the 1942 baseball team that beat Arlington for the state championship.
Bush went on to teach and coach at the junior high in Turners in 1952, moving up and coaching basketball as well as teaching at the high school in 1959. He stayed there until his retirement in 1982.
Bush ran the Montague Summer Playground for 20 years as well as coordinating the summer swim program. Since his retirement, he has been Turners’ top sports fan.
Marsh graduated from Turners Falls High School in 1966 and went on to become a bishop with the Anglican Church. He started out as an actor, moved on to become a priest and eventually became a bishop.
Chisholm is part of the 1968 class at Turners, and spent her life working with the homeless, hungry and mentally ill in San Diego and Kingston, New York.
The Hall of Fame ceremony is scheduled to take place Thursday, beginning at 1 p.m. at the Turners Falls High School auditorium.
“The public is invited to the event,” Maddern said. “We want to see people there who know these people. We would love the public to come. Everyone at the high school has been wonderful about this process. The principal, the librarian, the tech people … everyone helped so much. I’d like to thank them for all their help.”