By STEVE KRAUSE
They are the pioneers — the ones who, whether they had a hand in creating the Agganis Foundation or, by their work, represented the best of its ideals.
Each year, before any of the nine Agganis all-star games has begun, five new members of the foundation’s Hall of Fame are inducted. Each inductee is given an award named for a person who has, in one way or another, been instrumental in furthering the cause of the foundation, which is to present scholarships to deserving scholar-athletes.
Since its inception in 1955, the foundation has awarded almost $1.75 in scholarships to 927 scholar-athletes. The funds have been raised largely through the nine Agganis all-star games, which begin Sunday (noon) at Fraser Field with the softball game, which is preceded at 10 a.m. at Manning Field by the awards ceremony.
Three of those memorialized by the Hall of Fame awards are pioneers: Attorney Charles Demakis, Harold O. Zimman and Dr. Elmo F. Benedetto. The other two, Paul F. Cavanagh and David C. Weidner, did much in their brief lives to actively promote the foundation and the games.
Agganis was voted, at the end of the last century, Lynn’s best athlete ever. He was a three-sport star at Lynn Classical who later played football for Boston University, taking that school to heretofore unscaled heights. Upon graduating from BU, he played for the Boston Red Sox. He became ill with a viral infection in June of 1955, and his sudden death on June 27 of that year, as the result of a pulmonary embolism, stunned the region, and Lynn in particular.
Upon his death, Demakis proposed to The Item that a scholarship foundation be established in honor of Agganis. Thus, the Agganis Foundation was born.
Three principles were of significant importance to Demakis were his Greek heritage, education, and the law. The Attorney Charles Demakis Heritage Award goes to someone of Greek heritage who advances the Agganis Foundation’s ideals of academics and ethics.
The name Harold O. Zimman is synonymous with the Agganis Foundation.
Shortly after Harry Agganis died in 1955, Zimman, along with The Item and the Red Sox, at the behest of Demakis, established the foundation, with the goal of providing money to deserving high school seniors. For 37 years, he was chairman of the foundation, and helped keep alive the Agganis legacy until his death in 1994.
The Zimman Award is given for dedication and service to foundation and its ideals of academics and athletics.
Benedetto founded the Agganis All-Star Football Game in 1956. His dedication and devotion helped perpetuate the Agganis legacy, and the games that are played in his honor.
Benedetto, who died in 1985, was Lynn’s athletic director for 26 years and greatly helped students throughout his 40-year career in the school department. It is he who famously said “there’s a college for every kid.”
The Benedetto Athletics Award is given to the person who best symbolizes Benedetto’s dedication to student-athletes.
Cavanagh was an outstanding three-sport athlete at Lynn English and a defensive end at Boston College.
He was a local recruiter for BC and helped establish the Boosters Club at English, where the fieldhouse was dedicated in his honor in 2000.
Cavanagh was a member of the Agganis games committee before being killed in a plane crash in 1990 at age 43 while on assignment for the FBI.
The Cavanagh Award goes to one who conveys Cavanagh’s, and the Foundation’s, ideals of sportsmanship, education and community.
Weidner was a promising young sportswriter at The Item when he was stricken with a heart attack and died, at age 24, in 1992. Weidner came to The Item while a student at BU and worked there for five years. His potential, it was said, was limitless.
The Weidner Award is given to one who provides ongoing, outstanding coverage and support of youth and amateur sports in general, and the Agganis games in particular.
Also Sunday, the 22nd Agganis baseball game will be played at 2 p.m. at Fraser.
