Good morning!
Conway’s Jimmy Recore wrote that someone was missing from last week’s story about the blossoming of interscholastic athletics at Franklin County Tech. “Ray Willis deserves more credit than he ever got for scratching out varsity sports programs in those early days,” wrote Recore, who was a freshman at Tech in 1976 and part of the school’s first four-year graduating class.
“I remember him cruising past tables at lunch one day recruiting runners for a cross country meet. He convinced me to run what was my first and last distance race, and for that I got to see my lunch for a second time.
“Our first track team he had 23 boys and girls and famed Athol High School coach Rocky Stone rolled in with 100 boys on two buses. We made it close before Athol moved in for the kill. Rocky’s never failed to remind me of that whenever we see each other.”
Willis also coached baseball, gym, volleyball and golf, everything but squash and croquet. He was at Tech from the day it opened until he retired in 1993. He was tall and thin with glasses, graying hair and a constant smile. At UMass hockey games he’d be with his grandkids, talking up everything from hiking to running to the oil business he owned in Charlemont. “We loved cold winters,” he’d say.
Born and raised in Greenfield, Willis was an Air Force mechanic during the Korean War and was on leave in London when he met his future wife Doreen. After settling in Charlemont and raising four children, he returned to UMass and earned his master’s degree in education when he was 49.
He ran marathons, was a Special Olympics volunteer and celebrated turning 90 by running two miles. Two years later in 2023 he “crossed the finish line into Heaven” as his obituary reported.
“I learned so much from Coach Willis about life, not just sports,” said Recore. “He was always there to protect us. In 1982 he guarded the keg at the Conway Sportsman’s Club at my brother Wally’s graduation party.
“I used what he taught me during my 23 years of coaching girls track at Frontier. I told him that, and in true form he played it down.”
The new $236.6 million Tech School is scheduled to open in four years. The current school building will be razed and replaced by state-of-the-art athletic facilities, including a track & field complex. It will be an opportunity to memorialize a man who was there from the start. “He influenced my life and others,” wrote Recore. “He was a great coach and friend to all of us, and he deserves to be remembered.”
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ALCS NOTES: Tampa’s pitchers avoided Cleveland’s Chase DeLauter like the plague after he singled, doubled, homered and walked in Cleveland’s 7-3 win in the series opener. Thereafter DeLauter was 3-for-13 with a double and three walks.
Baseball author Jane Leavy marveled at DeLauter in Make Me Commissioner about the way analytics has changed the game. “Chase DeLauter could only be hatched outside the system in a hollow in West Virginia,” she wrote. “This is the kid you root for. The kid who feels about baseball the way lots of American kids, including me, used to feel.”
Meanwhile, Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez was 7-for-19 with two walks against the Rays. Ramirez could be in LA making Kyle Tucker money but instead signed for seven years and $175 million compared to Tucker’s four years and $240 million.
A native of the Dominican Republic, Ramirez contributed $2.7 million toward a youth baseball complex in the Latino section of Cleveland.
Every spring I’ll see at least one Rays exhibition game and watch them work on the fundamentals — covering first base, bunting, hitting to the opposite field, etc. Their lineup is composed of unknowns named Williams, Walls, and Mesa Jr.
Their No. 1 starter Drew Rasmussen came into this season with 30 career wins and three major arm surgeries. In August, the Rays traded three prospects to the Mets for struggling right-hander Freddy Peralta. The Rays’ pitching coaches made Peralta speed up his tempo, change his release point and pitch from the stretch, and the result was two wins and the Series’ MVP.
After sweeping the Dodgers, the Brewers are a solid favorite to beat the Rays. The franchise hasn’t won a Fall Classic, but Milwaukee did in 1957 when the Braves beat the Yankees in seven games behind Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews, Warren Spahn and Lew Burdette.
Whichever team wins, let’s hope it goes seven games.
UMass Football: “Nobody cares,” UMass coach Joe Harasymiak said after UMass lost in overtime to Buffalo last week. He’s right. Nobody cares that you’re down to your third-string quarterback and fourth-string receiver. Nobody cares that half the players who helped you beat Rutgers seven weeks ago are on crutches.
D-I teams step on your throat till the ref waves the white hat. It’s survival of the fittest and if you don’t have the manpower or willpower to survive, nobody cares.
Last night the Minutemen were 14 1/2-point underdogs against UConn at Rentschler Field in East Hartford. If they pulled off a Rutgers-type upset it was because Pop Watson exploited a UConn secondary that had allowed 290.5 passing yards per game, ranking them 135th of 138 in FBS.
Otherwise, UMass woke up 4-4 this morning, putting AD Ryan Bamford’s promise of getting a bowl bid in jeopardy.
Meanwhile, the second half of last week’s game at Buffalo was as ugly as ugly gets — thirty minutes of dropped passes, interceptions, blown leads and sacks. UMass went from leading 18-15 with two minutes left in regulation to losing 25-18 in overtime. Bettors who took UMass and the 6 1/2 points are still in shock.
SQUIBBERS: Former Frontier baller Garrett Dredge is a freshman defensive back at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. Asked in the Hawks’ media guide to name his favorite athlete, Dredge chose his father, Frontier coach Scott Dredge. … Condolences to the Campbells on the passing of family matriarch Barbara Ann at age 77 this month. … I finally figured out the reason MLB is starting every World Series game after 8 p.m. is to keep the kids away from all the ED ads. … The Boston Globe reports that 6-foot-2, 220-pound Xaverian High School quarterback Will Wood has flipped from Penn State to BC. “I live 20 minutes from the stadium, that’s what it came down to,” said Wood. … When Hoosiers quarterback Josh Hoover was nearly flagged for intentional grounding last week, Indiana radio analyst Buck Suhr joked, “Little bit shaky on the receiver-in-the-area. I mean, he was in the United States.” … The Texas Longhorns became the first team in 90 years to lose back-to-back games after being ranked No. 1 in the AP poll. … Tix to watch Frontier play at Northampton High School last Saturday cost $9. Welcome to the big city. “Budget cuts,” said the ticket taker. … NY Mets communications director Ethan Wilson is on the mend after undergoing surgery in a Manhattan hospital, and his visitors have included Darryl Strawberry. Regarded as “a NY Mets Treasure” by radio voice Howie Rose, Wilson went to UMass and was manager of the UMass football team. “Everyone on our team loved him,” said former coach Jim Reid. … Colorado State defensive coordinator Tyson Summers was fired by coach Jim Mora Jr. during the first half of the Rams’ 56-26 loss to Oregon State. … Northern Illinois, which jumped from the MAC to the Mountain West Conference this year and is 0-6 and has been outscored 214-85. … Figuring they couldn’t keep a coach who lost to a team that couldn’t beat UMass, Maryland fired coach Mike Locksley this week after the Terps lost to Rutgers. … All but trackside admission is sold out for next weekend’s Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland. Tickets cost $86 and management “strongly discourages wearing hoodies; graphic tees or distressed clothing; shorts, athletic attire, visible midriffs, flip-flops and clothing with offensive or explicit messaging.” In other words, nothing you’d see at the airport.