LYNN — Harry Agganis All-Star Week featured plenty of touchdowns, goals, 3-pointers, and base hits to go around.
But with nine games across four days – featuring more than 300 student-athletes – it also came with planning, communication, and teamwork.
John Meklis, principal of JGM Financial, took over as president of the Agganis Foundation this year, only the fourth president in 69 years. The others were Harold Zimman, Ted Grant, and Andrew Demakes, who took over in 2019 and served until this year before becoming chair of the board of trustees.
“So far, it’s very good. I’m just taking it all in,” said Meklis, also the tournament director of the annual Harry Agganis Basketball Tournament. “I said I’d come aboard and it’s a great cause.”
Meklis said he’s been a “sponge” throughout the process, asking as many questions as he can.
“I ran the first couple of meetings . . . but it’s more about learning this year,” he said. “I’ve been coming to these games forever. I’ve always been a fan and I love what the foundation stands for.”
Jeff Newhall, athletic director and girls basketball coach at St. Mary’s, served as this year’s co-director of the Agganis Games alongside Paul Halloran. The plan is for Newhall to transition into the role of director, with Halloran staying on in a leadership role with the foundation.
“I had been helping for quite a while with Paul,” Newhall said. “This year, I really took on the nomination process, confirmation process, and building of the rosters for each game. We expanded and we had kids respond. We had soccer players from Minnechaug, we had a softball pitcher from Greenfield, and we had a couple of kids register for football from Worcester.”
From college orientations to graduation parties – and even the heat – Newhall admitted it’s becoming harder to build rosters.
“But I think, overall, we had pretty good roster sizes across the board,” he said. “The foundation is great, the coaches are great, and we have a ton of connections so we can adjust if we get into a situation.”
As for Halloran, former news and sports editor with The Item, it’s been quite the journey.
“I covered the Agganis Football Game for the first time, for The Item, in 1985 as a sports stringer out of college,” he said “I’m transitioning the game director role to Jeff, but I’ll still be involved.”
Halloran touched upon the continuity of the foundation.
“For 69 years, there have only been four real leaders of the foundation. Ted Grant did a great job taking over for Harold Zimman and brought it to a new level. (Under Grant’s leadership, eight All-Star games were added in softball, baseball, boys and girls basketball, soccer, and lacrosse.) Andrew took over for Ted . . . and now John has an opportunity to take it even further.
“And Jeff is hyper-organized,” Halloran added. “He’s in a position where he’s communicating with ADs across the state between his MIAA roles and his St. Mary’s job. It will be as seamless a transition as it gets.”
Peter Katsos has taken over as treasurer from Jeremy Hmura, who served in the role since 2019.
To date, the foundation has awarded $2,588,000 in scholarships to 1,074 student-athletes.
