LYNN — The Walter J. Boverini holiday basketball tournament is back on.
Earlier this year, it had been announced that the three Lynn public schools involved in the tournament — Classical, English, and Lynn Tech — were pulling out and forming their own tournament, named for the late Lynn coach Ron Bennett, and including KIPP Academy as a fourth team.
That left St. Mary’s, the fourth school in the Boverini, out in the cold. The Spartans were both boys and girls champions last year at the tournament, and went on to win dual state championships as well.
However, said Tech Athletic Director Adolphe Graciale, the five athletic directors, plus acting Superintendent Debra Ruggiero, put their heads together and came up with a formula that is even more inclusive than before. There will now be five teams in the tournament — St. Mary’s, KIPP, English, Tech and Classical — and one school will sit out every year.
This was the format that was used over 25 years ago with the Nipper J. Clancy baseball tournament when English was admitted to a foursome that included St. Mary’s, Classical, Tech, and North Reading.
St. Mary’s will sit this year’s tournament, which is generally held right after Christmas so it can wrap up in plenty of time for New Year’s Day. In future years, the host school — in this case, Classical in December — will sit out the next year’s tournament.
We’re happy that the Boverini Tournament will remain in Lynn Public Schools,” said Graciale. “It was great communication among the LPS administration and schools involved.
“KIPP will join as well, and this means that all of Lynn’s kids will be involved,” Graciale said. “We are very happy with the outcome. And we’re looking forward to the Boverini Tournament during the Christmas vacation.”
The Boverini Tournament began in 2006 as a way to pay tribute to the former state Senate majority leader while he was still alive. Boverini, who taught in the Lynn school system for 18 years before entering politics, died of cancer in November 2008.
The Tech girls bowed out for about six years, during which time Swampscott became the fourth girls team. However, once Tech Coach Kaitlyn Wechsler indicated she wanted to be part of it, the Tiger girls were readmitted.
Although Athletic Directors Dick Newton of English and Bill Devin of Classical said that talks about disbanding the original format had been going on for several years, the tipping point might have been last December, when both St. Mary’s boys and girls won lopsided victories.
“The talks had been going on for a while, but after the COVID year and everything, we decided that it was best to reshuffle things,” said Newton, whose Bulldogs hosted the tournament this past December. “We’ve always wanted to have an all-Lynn public school tournament, and now we get the opportunity to do that.”
“There have been a lot of great battles over the history of the tournament, but I think at the end of the day this will be best for competitive balance for everyone,” said Classical Athletic Director Bill Devin. “Some of the results, especially this past year, weren’t helping either side win or lose.”
Boverini was a coach while he was a teacher in Lynn, and even after he left the schools and entered politics, he was a friend to high school athletes.