You know, when I was a kid growing up in Natick, I had a lot of heroes. My first was Ted Williams. Boy, did I admire him as a hitter! And like a lot of young kids in Natick, my other early heroes included: Willie Mays, Henry Aaron, Stan Musial, Roberto Clemente, Al Kaline, and Brooks Robinson. I admired and respected them, and couldn't wait to get the morning paper to see how they did the night before.
In Junior High I had new heroes—many, in fact. They were the Varsity Athletes at Natick High School. One in particular, though, was Walt Hriniak. He was the greatest athlete to ever graduate from Natick H.S. I admired his talents, loved pitching batting practice to him on the playgrounds, and grew to respect his unbelievable work ethic and true character.
When I was in high school, I had new heroes for different reasons. My older brother, my father, Father Sweeney, and JFK. I began to learn what respect, integrity, ethics, and morals were all about. Not only concerning the game of baseball, but also in life. I thank my family and those great people for that.
My ultimate heroes became the Coaches' at Natick H.S. We were truly blessed as student/athletes at Natick to have the greatest coaches young men could play for. The late Dan Bennett, Bob Whalen and Jim Stehlin, our Hall of Fame football coaches. Charlie Christie, now a Hall of Fame Basketball coach. But my greatest hero of all was John Carroll, my Baseball coach, who taught me real life lessons that I can never repay. He is still my idol!
After high school there were still a few heroes left out there. There was Alex Nahigian, my Providence College coach. There were Nolan Ryan and Johnny Unitas. John Havlichek and Oscar Robinson. I feel that I grew up in the best of times in Natick, Massachusetts. Because in the 1950s, small town USA still catered to the youth of America and kept us active all year long with, in my case, sports activities that shaped the kind of person I'd grow up to be.
How fortunate we all were back then.
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