Longtime headmaster of nearly 40 years, Dr. Walter Downey, assembled the class of '55' ,in June of 1954, in the "old" school auditorium for one of the most inspiring speeches I have ever heard. He wanted to impress upon us that our school, with it's great traditions, was embarking on a new course and it was our obligation, as the first graduating class of this new era, to lay down a giant footprint for all future generations of English High graduates to follow. We were charged with setting, and meeting, goals of excellence in all fields including academics, sports and service to the community. English high had graduated such great Americans as J.P. Morgan and General of the Armies, Mathew Bunker Ridgeway, just to mention two of the most recognizable alumni.....He went on with more inspirational stories of our history and, when he finished to a thunderous applause from us all, he assured us that he KNEW we would meet our obligations to the school and named us..."The Great Class of 1955." This spirit stayed with us throughout the year (and life) giving us the confidence and strength of character to carry on our appointed mission.
Our first test was football which began our senior year in September of 1954. It was a great year for English and captured the attention of everyone including the Boston media, the Globe and the other newspapers. (There were about eleven back then). English High had a great backfield that year with John Allen and Ferdie Beckette at the halfback slots and Norm Chaban at fullback. The quarterback was Gerry D'Avolio who had backed up starter, Will McDonough (who went on to become one of the greatest sportswriters in America) the previous year. The entire media world named them the ABCD backfield and wrote often of their winning ways. The team was undefeated
going into the Thanksgiving classic matchup with Boston Latin. (The oldest continuous football rivalry in America.) Leading, going into the final quarter, a serious miscue cost us the game but the mission for excellence was still in place as this historic year unfolded for the great English High class of 1955.
Our hockey team, cross country track team and baseball team went undefeated winning the Boston city league championships. The baseball team went all the way to the N.E. championship game losing a heartbreaker, (on a disputed call at home plate) to a Connecticut team 1-0. (There pitcher was Connie Mack III.)
Academically the class of 1955 produced several graduates who did exceptionally well in meeting the headmaster's challenge.....Gilbert Chin went to MIT (and remained there for the rest of his life) He is credited with inventing the process that allows us all to talk on our cel phones without having to have the speaker right on our lips. His "group" also received a Pulitzer prize for their discoveries in the world of electronics.
John Paris became a teaching priest at Holy Cross, Boston College and the University of Chicago. He was on President Reagans committee for world health and spent two years in Nicaragua establishing a clinic to teach dental care for children. He was also the Pope's emissary to the media in an important case concerning the ethics of removing a patient from a life-support system.
Henry Moody, president of the class of '55', started the first company in the world to manufacture surge protecters for computers. (1975) They are still #1 in their field.
The list is longer but any more would just be "gilding the lily," as they say. The message here is that the importance of sports in education can never be minimized. The 'mandate" put forward by the headmaster on that June, 1954 morning to our class of 1955, that so filled us with a sense of obligation to our great school and its future, started out with our inspirational football season. The team leaders, including the coaches and teachers, stepped up to the challenge with the students and, the rest is history. Teamwork and sense of purpose are just a couple of the lessons learned through sports and they extend far beyond the playing field. Remember Lord Nelson's famous quote, "The battle was really won on the playing fields of Eaton." That could very well apply to the accomplishments that helped earn the title, given us by the headmaster, "The Great Class of 1955."