Plans for Portsmouth High Athletic Hall of Fame underway

Hall will honor those who put PHS sports on the map

Jim McGaw
Posted 7/21/16

PORTSMOUTH — Ray Sullivan, Peter O’Hara, Maureen Ford, Drew Bickel …

It’s been many years since they’ve coached or played for Portsmouth High School, but a …

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Plans for Portsmouth High Athletic Hall of Fame underway

Hall will honor those who put PHS sports on the map

Posted

PORTSMOUTH — Ray Sullivan, Peter O’Hara, Maureen Ford, Drew Bickel …

It’s been many years since they’ve coached or played for Portsmouth High School, but a recently formed group wants to make sure they’re never forgotten.

A volunteer committee headed up by PHS Athletic Director Stephen Trezvant is formulating plans to establish the first Portsmouth High School Athletic Hall of Fame, with a kickoff recognition dinner planned for November.

During a meeting at PHS last week, committee members said they wanted to do something to honor the outstanding coaches, athletes and administrators who made the school’s sports program the success it is today.

“We’re at a point in our school history where some of our longstanding members of our community have passed and they’ve contributed so much to our school,” Mr. Trezvant said. “We’ve certainly lost some of our titans recently.”

One of them was Raymond Sullivan, the school’s first football coach who passed away in December at the age of 80. The School Committee, after hearing a plea from members of the Class of 1966, recently established a committee to study the possibility of naming the main PHS athletic field after Mr. Sullivan.

Committee member John Blaess, a former PHS coach and Town Council member, said an athletic hall of fame is long overdue. His goal is to recognize as many of the standout former coaches and athletes as possible, while they’re still with us.

“It tore my heart out that we didn’t have this set up, and then a Ray Sullivan passes, or a Pete O’Hara passes,” he said. (The latter was a longtime PHS soccer coach and teacher who died in 2013.) 

With that in mind, committee members said they wanted to start the ball rolling by nominating people who made their mark at the high school during the 1960s and early ’70s.

Mr. Blaess said he believed the hall of fame should initially concentrate on the early coaches who first put the school athletics program on the map, “to get this thing going.” He also said he hoped the 1968 football team, the first to win a state championship for Portsmouth High, would be recognized in the first year as well.

Other individuals could be nominated in future years, he said.

First nominees

Still, coaches weren’t the only people committee members came up with while brainstorming last week. Here are some of the names that were bandied about:

Coaches: Ray Sullivan, James P. Martin, Ed Ackucewich, Joe Narcizo, Richard Travers, Pete O’Hara, Roger Vierra, Dick Heisler, Peggy Matteson, Richard Thibault, Ray Sabourin, Joseph Flood, Maureen Ford and Sandy Reynolds

Administrators: George McGaw, the high school’s first athletic director (Full disclosure: Mr. McGaw is the father of this story’s author.)

Athletes: 1968 Football Team, Drew Bickel, Ken Levesque, Doug Stone, Skip Winter, Gary Prichard, Peter Bechtel and Mike Buculo

Bobb Angel, a committee member who broadcasts local school sports on WADK, acknowledged that it’s inevitable that some people will take issue with the committee’s list.

“The first one is the toughest one because somewhere, you always have to draw the line,” Mr. Angel said.

Shooting for fall event

Committee members aren’t discussing a permanent display for now, but it does want to hold a recognition dinner, possibly in November, to honor the first inductees into the new hall of fame.

Mr. Trezvant said he hopes the hall of fame will be self-sustaining. “I want to develop a process that’s going to be long-lasting,” he said.

Anyone who wishes to make suggestions regarding the PHS Athletic Hall of Fame are welcome to e-mail Mr. Trezvant at trezvants@portsmouthschoolsri.org.

Portsmouth High School, PHS sports, Ray Sullivan, Pete O'Hara

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Meet our staff
Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.