Agganis Games still resonate

Lynn is very proprietary about its athletic heritage. If you want to start a good argument, go into Tony’s on Franklin Street some night and announce unequivocally that a particular basketball player – Anthony Anderson, for the sake of argument – is the best in the city’s history.Someone will hear you, and someone will debate you. Nothing against Anthony Anderson, mind you, but someone will have a different opinion. What about Lou Tsioropoulos? He played for the Celtics. You’re telling me he doesn’t stack up with Anthony Anderson?Or what about Charlie Campbell? Or Dr. Eddie Robinson? He put up 64 one night against Beverly. He’s not in the conversation?You may agree that all of the aforementioned belong in the conversation, but that’s as far as it’ll go. There will be no consensus.That’s a good debate.Now, if you want to start a war, go into Tony’s and try to tell them all that Harry Agganis was overrated, and that there are at least five athletes in the city’s history that could outplay Harry on a football field seven days a week. You’ll be met with silence. And then, after the shock has been absorbed, you’ll be lynched.When the 20th century faded into history, a poll was taken among local sports aficionados to determine, once and for all, the best athlete in Lynn’s history. Harry came out on top easily. So this isn’t just a matter of opinion. It has the weight of that poll behind it, and that’s about as objective as anyone can get.My cousin Bob was considerably older than me … old enough to have hung around with Harry’s contemporaries as a kid, and Bob says that, to a person, the consensus on Agganis was that “he was a man playing with boys.” Those of his contemporaries who are alive today would say the same.Sadly, Agganis never survived long enough to see his legacy played out, and it’s a good bet, again, judging from what people say about him, he’d have discouraged any of the lionization that has come his way. If he knew he was special (and he probably did, because he wasn’t oblivious), he wasn’t going to lord it over people.This year, the Agganis Games hit their 20th year. I say “games” because up until 20 years ago, it was simply the Agganis All-Star Football Game. But in an effort to broaden the experience of celebrating Agganis’ rich athletic legacy, the foundation that bears his name, and that has awarded $1,627,000 in scholarships to 897 male and female student/athletes from throughout the region (including 19 more to be handed out Sunday at the annual awards ceremony at Manning Field), began adding games.First, it was baseball, then softball a year later … followed by soccer, basketball and finally, three years ago, lacrosse.They’ve morphed from being the Agganis Classics to, this year, the Agganis Games. And while the name has been altered slightly, the purpose has not. The games, in their totality, honor the best of high school sports and commemorate someone who was, indeed, a true classic: Aristotle George “Harry” Agganis. They also serve as principal fund raisers for that tremendous scholarship endowment.Your patronage, beginning Sunday with the awards ceremony and ending Thursday night with the football game (which, as Curt Cowdy used to say about the Rose Bowl is the “granddaddy of them all”), would be most welcome and appreciated.Check out the schedule that accompanies this column. Buy a program book and see how many of these athletes are going to college (an overwhelming number). And try to get to one or more of these games for the best indication you can get of how dedicated adults team up with dedicated kids to create something special every summer.