Rhode Island Interscholastic League Announces Hall of Fame Inaugural Class
Providence, RI (December 2002) -- Monsignor Robert C. Newbold, former Executive Director for 26 years of the Rhode Island Interscholastic League, heads the 2003 list of 11 athletes, coaches, officials and administrators to be inducted into the Inaugural Class of Rhode Island Interscholastic League High School Athletic Hall of Fame. Monsignor Newbold has been a fixture in Rhode Island high school athletics for the better part of 30 years as a coach, sport director, chairman, and executive director of the Rhode Island Interscholastic League.
Joining Monsignor Newbold in the Class of 2003 will be Alice Sullivan, well known throughout the state as the pioneer of girls’ sports. In the early 1950’s, Sullivan and some of her friends began sponsoring Intramural Playdays for girls. Those Playdays were the start of what was to become the Rhode Island Interscholastic League girls’ sports program. Mrs. Sullivan went on to become the RIIL Coordinator of Girls’ Sports and, later, Assistant Executive Director of the RIIL, a position which she held for many years until her retirement in 1996.
Also selected for induction into the Class of 2003 is John ‘Jack’ Cronin, who served in many capacities to benefit youth and high school sports. Cronin served at LaSalle Academy as football coach for 45 years, from 1927-1972; hockey coach from 1929-1945; baseball coach from 1927-1945; and, basketball coach in 1927, during which time he held the position of President of the respective coaches associations. Cronin also served as Director of Recreation for the City of Providence from 1945-1972. It was noted in his nomination that “He turned around many a kid’s life. He gave up college coaching chances because he felt he could help kids better at the high school level. Thousands of young men and women were influenced and impacted by Jack Cronin, not just for their high school days, but for life.”
Cindy Neal is among the honorees to be inducted into the Class of 2003. Neal, who is presently the Director of Girls’ Basketball for the Rhode Island Interscholastic League and Director of Athletics at St. Mary Academy-Bay View, has served in many capacities throughout her career, all of which have benefited high school student-athletes. Neal has held numerous offices in several associations, including, but not limited to, Past Treasurer of the R. I. Field Hockey Officials Association; two separate terms as President of the R. I. High School Girls Basketball Coaches Association; and Director of RIIL Girls Slowpitch Softball.
During her 30-year [physical education] teaching career at Smithfield High School, Neal also coached girls basketball (26 years), field hockey (10 years), and outdoor track (5 years). She also officiated high school field hockey for 18 years.
Dick Reynolds will be among those honored in the Class of 2003. Reynolds is remembered as the long-time chronicler of high schools sports for The Providence Journal. With unwavering enthusiasm, Reynolds covered two generations of student-athletes, holding the position of schoolboy sports editor for 32 years until his retirement in 1977. Following his retirement, Reynolds became a popular and familiar after-dinner speaker at many events. As stated in a Providence Journal article following his death in 1995, “Thousands are indebted to Reynolds for his unselfish devotion to athletics, to education, to the newspaper business and to a wide range of community projects. Dick considered his life’s work covering the playing fields of the high school athlete. He was an effective champion of fair play and good sportsmanship whose voice reached into every bastion of youth-oriented sports activity.”
Frank ‘Monk’ Maznicki is best known for producing seventeen football championships and a career record of 256-79-15 as Head Football Coach at West Warwick High School. West Warwick High School continues to present the Frank Maznicki Award to a football player who has played three years of outstanding varsity football. After graduating from West Warwick High School in 1938, he entered Boston College, where he went on to lead the nation’s freshman in scoring in 1938 and was named an All-American Football Player in 1941. During his career at Boston College, he played for the undefeated team in the Cotton Bowl (1940) and in the Sugar Bowl (1941). Maznicki graduated from Boston College in 1942 and was drafted by the Chicago Bears. After an interruption in his professional football career to serve in the U. S. Navy Air Corps during WW II, he returned to the Chicago Bears to play defensive back.
Also to be honored will be James Federico, Sr. Federico served for 17 years as Head Basketball Coach at Westerly High School from 1937-1948; 1949-1954; and 1966-67. Under his leadership, his teams won a total of 14 Class or League championships (11 consecutively), and 4 State Championships. Federico also coached baseball at Westerly High School form 1944-1946 and Football at Westerly H.S. from 1944-1945. He was also actively involved in Interscholastic League committees throughout his career. His [high school athletic] programs were built on hard work and discipline. He was a man of integrity and character who gained the respect of his opponents through fair play and sportsmanship.
Added to the list of inductees is John Toppa, who began his football career as the Head Coach at Woonsocket High School from 1954-1957. In 1958, Toppa became Head Coach at Rogers High School, a position he held until his retirement in 1990. In addition to being football coach and faculty member, he served as Director of Athletics at Rogers High School for 25 years. During his 34 years as Head Coach at Rogers High School, his teams won 11 State Championships and 13 division titles. He ended his coaching career with a 34 game winning streak. In appreciation for his years of dedication to the City of Newport’s student-athletes, the citizens of Newport changed the name of well-known Freebody Park to John Toppa Field in 1989.
After graduating from LaSalle Academy in 1942, Raymond Dwyer attended R. I. State College (now URI). Dwyer has been involved in track in many capacities during his long career, first as a competitor in high school and college, and then as coach at LaSalle Academy, Cranston High School East and Bishop Hendricken High School. Dwyer’s LaSalle team won State and New England Championship titles under his leadership. Dwyer continues his involvement in track as a member of the U.S.A. Track Officials Association and officiates at the high school and college levels. He is also well-known as being responsible for changing the R. I. Football Injury Fund to the RI Interscholastic Injury Fund, which to this day continues to provide coverage for injuries in all high school sports.
When legendary baseball, basketball, and football official George Tracy, Sr. began officiating, Franklin D. Roosevelt was President, World War II was blazing, and a loaf of bread cost a nickel. Tracy, a long-time educator in the Smithfield school system and former principal of North Providence High School, has been covering the state’s interscholastic sports front for fifty years as a football, basketball, and baseball official. At the present time, Tracy continues to indicate a touchdown, mark off a penalty, and call a ball/strike on Rhode Island’s high school playing fields. While a student at Mt. Pleasant High School, where he graduated in 1947, Tracy participated in baseball, football, and track. In 1953, he was accepted into the R. I. Football Officials Association and, since that time, has officiated at the college, high school, and semi-pro levels. For 25 years, he served as the rules interpreter for the R. I. Football Officials Association and annually conducted rules interpretation sessions for the state’s schoolboy grid coaches. He is considered one of the most knowledgeable and versatile schoolboy football officials in the history of the organization.
Rounding out the Class of 2003 is Gordon Ernst, one of the most heralded high-school athletes Rhode Island has ever produced. Ernst graduated from Cranston High School East in 1985 where, as a student-athlete, he earned an unprecedented seven All-State selections in the Interscholastic League - four in tennis and three in hockey. During his three-year career at Cranston East, Ernst won the state high school tennis title each year and was undefeated for four years (97-0). He also won the State doubles title with his brother three times to become the only player to win four R. I. state high school singles and four state doubles titles. Throughout the ’83 and’85 hockey seasons, Ernst was first line, center, and a captain on the Bolt sextet. He became one of only a few players to score 60 or more points in each of his three seasons. In the 1984 schoolboy hockey playoffs, Ernst set a state playoff scoring record with 19 points. In June 1985, Ernst was drafted by the NHL Minnesota North Stars. However, he declined, choosing to attend Brown University where he played four years of varsity hockey and tennis. Following his graduation from Brown University in 1990, Ernst continued to play tennis at the professional level for three years, achieving the rank of #1 in R. I. men’s tennis while winning the R. I. Metropolitan Tennis Championship (the State’s open tourney) a record six times. Ernst is considered to be one of the most outstanding athletes to ever participate in the R. I. Interscholastic League and was respected by all he associated with.
In announcing the honorees, Richard B. Lynch, Executive Director of the Rhode Island Interscholastic League, stated, “I am very pleased with the outstanding individuals who were nominated for induction into the Hall of Fame. The eleven inductees into the inaugural class will set the standard for future classes. Each person has in his/her own way contributed greatly to the RIIL and helped to promote the mission of the Interscholastic League.”
The 2003 Class is the inaugural group to be inducted into The Rhode Island Interscholastic League High School Athletic Hall of Fame, created to preserve the colorful tradition of high school athletics in Rhode Island and to highlight the past in order to insure a promising future for Rhode Island high school athletics.
The eleven inductees were chosen for the RIIL High School Athletic Hall of Fame after a two-level selection process involving a Hall of Fame Selection Committee and the RIIL Principals’ Committee on Athletics. The Hall of Fame Selection Committee, composed of Administrators, Athletic Directors, media representative, coaches, and officials, chose the eleven honorees and submitted their names to the Principals’ Committee on Athletics for final approval.
The Class of 2003 will be sworn in at an Induction Ceremony and Banquet on April 30, 2003 at the Quidnesset Country Club.
