The Tenth Board writer/editor Rich Vogel shown here presenting Ed Roberts with his trophy at his induction into the Brockton Athletic Hall of Fame on Dec. 22, 2019. (Photo courtesy of The Enterprise/Alyssa Stone)
I’ve taken on a few service projects on the side recently, and I’m proud of one of them that has a bowling connection.
I’ve developed an association with Bill “Hogie” Hogan, a Brockton native and resident who’s a big Brockton history buff, particularly in sports. He’s known I’m a bowler, so when his idea to develop a Brockton Athletic Hall of Fame for Brockton sports figures that would include the public high school’s Hall of Fame, but also those who can’t be in the BHS Hall of Fame because they didn’t graduate from BHS or their sport isn’t offered by the high school, came to being, he asked me about who would be worthy bowlers to include. Of course, I agreed to join the committee, but, because I also know a fair amount about other Brockton sports, I slid into a role as his lead researcher.
Our first official inductions started last summer with Mike Gordon, a late Brockton High School star in the 1970s who reached the major leagues in baseball as a catcher for the Chicago Cubs, and the Brockton High School Sports Foundation, AKA Save Our Sports, as an organization, at Campanelli Stadium before a Brockton Rox game. Former world welterweight boxing champion, and a friend of the late Rocky Marciano, Tony DeMarco, was recognized last October at the main Brockton Public Library at his book signing, which was part of the Downtown Fest Brockton event.
It was decided that we would induct our first bowler at last December’s Bristol-Plymouth USBC Holiday Doubles tournament at Westgate Lanes, and, with the cooperation of the center and association, the induction was for New England bowling legend Ed Roberts of Braintree, who has bowled in the Coke/Pepsi league at Westgate since the league’s inception over two decades ago, and, indeed, many of his more notable bowling achievements have come since becoming a Westgate league bowler. There will be more bowling inductions to come, so readers should keep an eye on the Hall of Fame’s Facebook page; we will have at least one to announce in the coming week, in fact. As this post’s “administrivia”, the Hall of Fame’s Facebook page is in the Local/New England sidebar list.
Finally, everyone will note the jersey I’m wearing in the photo, which is another design I wanted to promote the website and Facebook page. Although it’s not quite what I had in mind, everyone still seems to like it. Thanks again to Danny Khuu and Solstice Sports Gear, who helped me with my first custom design, the red & black Brockton Boxer design.
