Varsity Club salutes St. Mary’s legacy

LYNN – St. Mary’s High School is rich in tradition when it comes to athletics and Friday night some of the people who helped build that legacy were inducted into the newly created Varsity Club.The ceremony was held in the Tony Conigliaro Gymnasium, which is only fitting because among the inductees was the late Tony Conigliaro (1962) who was a three-sport athlete in high school who hit 24 home runs as a 19-year-old rookie with the Boston Red Sox.Conigliaro was one of 14 individuals and three championship teams comprising the first class of inductees into the club.St. Mary’s athletic director Jeff Newhall said the creation of the Varsity Club is something that had been talked about for a long time.”To see it come together is great and it’s due in large part to a lot of work from a lot of people,” Newhall said. “We’ve had great success in athletics forever. It would be unfortunate to not get a chance to celebrate and honor our teams and athletes,”Newhall said the first class of inductees “represents a great cross-section of coaches, players and teams..”Head of School Grace Cotter Regan said when she first arrived at the school, she sat down with Newhall and one of the things they discussed was forming the Varsity Club. Regan said they received between 70-100 nominations.The purpose of the Varsity Club, she said, is to honor the athlete and re-engage them in the school. She said although the school has changed, it’s still the same and its important to try and honor the athletic legacy.Mike Reddy, a 1980 graduate of the school, trustee and chairman of the Event Committee, said it’s important to recognize the great athletic history at St. Mary’s because it’s such a big part of the school. Athletics and extra-curricular activities, he said. go hand-and-hand with academics with the academics always coming first .In addition to Conigliaro, the list of honorees includes former football coach John Miller, who coached the Spartans for 15 years and led his teams to three consecutive Catholic Central League titles in 1975, 1976 and 1977. Miller played college football at Boston College, serving as a captain in 1955.The late Monsignor John Dillon Day served curate at St. Mary’s Parish from 1943 to 1962 and was the athletic director at the school. He’s credited with starting the football program, which initially work maroon and gold (He was a Boston College guy). He died in 2007 at the age of 2007.Francis “Wank” Nagle (1942) played second base and shortstop for St. Mary’s. After he graduated, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps in Dec. 1942. He was shot down over Europe on his first mission, captured by the Germans and spent the rest of World War II in a prison camp.Nick Consoles (1952) was a quarterback for the Spartans. He is remembered for throwing a 60-yard touchdown pass to beat Central Catholic in the final seconds of a game in 1951. He also played basketball and baseball and went on to play football at Wake Forest. He was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles, but his career was cut short by an injury.Dick Truax (1956) earned 12 varsity letters at St. Mary’s, playing football, basketball and baseball. He went on to become a Lynn firefighter and coach baseball at St. Mary’s. He also became the school’s athletic director.William “Skip” Falasca (1962) played football, baseball and hockey and went on to play baseball on scholarship at Parsons College in Iowa for two years before suffering a leg injury. He played two years in the Detroit Tigers farm system.Ed Lipson (1963) combined academics and athletics, earning a full football scholarship to Boston College after playing four years at St. Mary’s. He was also a Class C state champion in the shot put in 1962.Joe DiVito (1964) was sophomore on the St. Mary’s team that beat the Lynn Lions, the combined English-Classical-Tech football team, in 1961. He went on to play three years at Boston College and he spent one year with the Denver Broncos.Pamela Murphy (1971) was captain of the girls basket