Former Bishop Hendricken track coach Raymond Dwyer is one of 11 persons elected to the inaugural class of the Hall of Fame of the Rhode Island Interscholastic League that will be inducted in April 2003.
According to a news release submitted by the RIIL, Dwyer and 10 other athletes, coaches, officials and administrators will be officially installed as the first Hall of Fame class of the RIIL on Wednesday, April 30, 2003, during a ceremony and banquet at the Quidnesset Country Club in North Kingstown. Joining Dwyer in the RIIL's maiden class will be Monsignor Robert C. Newbold, Alice Sullivan, John “Jack” Cronin, Cindy Neal, Dick Reynolds, Frank “Monk” Maznicki, James Federico, Sr., John Toppa, George Tracy, Sr. and Gordon Ernst.
Dwyer graduated from LaSalle Academy in Providence and Rhode Island State College (now the University of Rhode Island) before embarking on a long and illustrious career in track as a coach and official. He coached the sport at LaSalle, Cranston East and Hendricken and captured state and New England championships while at LaSalle.
Dwyer is still active in track as a member of the U.S.A. Track Officials Association and works at both the high school and college levels. He is also credited with founding the RIIL's Injury Fund, which continues to provide coverage for injuries in all high school sports in the state.
Newbold was the RIIL's executive director for 26 years and was active in scholastic sports in the state as a coach, director and administrator for over three decades.
Sullivan is recognized as a pioneer of girls' sports in Rhode Island and later became the RIIL's Coordinator of Girls Sports and its assistant executive director. Despite retiring in 1996, she remains active today as a volunteer administrator with the RIIL.
Cronin was football coach at LaSalle for 45 seasons, ice hockey coach for 17 years, baseball coach for 16 campaigns, and basketball coach for one season. He also served as director of recreation for the City of Providence for 27 years.
Neal has held numerous administrative positions with the RIIL and state-based coaching organizations and has also prominently promoted girls' sports in the state. Currently the RIIL's director of girls' basketball and director of athletics at St. Mary Academy/Bay View of East Providence, she previously taught and coached at Smithfield High School for 30 years, was the RIIL's director of girls' slow-pitch softball and has officiated in three different sports.
Reynolds chronicled the exploits of Rhode Island high school players, coaches and teams for over three decades as Schoolboy Sports Editor of The Providence Journal until his retirement in 1977. The RIIL annually presents Sportsmanship Awards in his memory (he died in 1995).
After a fabled football playing career at West Warwick High School, Boston College and with the Chicago Bears of the National Football League, Maznicki returned to West Warwick, where he coached the Wizards to 17 football championships and a glossy career record of 256-79-15.
Federico was head boys' basketball coach at Westerly High for 17 campaigns and steered the Bulldogs to 14 class or league championships (including 11 in succession) and four state titles. He also coached Westerly's baseball clubs for three seasons and its football program for two years and was a member of several RIIL committees during his coaching tenure.
Toppa served as head football coach at Woonsocket High School for four seasons before moving to Rogers in Newport, where he directed the Vikings to 13 division championships and 11 state titles, ending his career in 1990 on a 34-game winning streak. He was also Rogers' director of athletics for 25 years. The well-known Freebody Park in Newport was renamed John Toppa Field in 1989 in his honor.
A long-time educator in Smithfield and former principal of North Providence High School, Tracy has made his mark for the past half century as a game official in football, basketball and baseball. He has served as rules interpreter for the Rhode Island Football Officials Association for the last 25 years and “is considered one of the most knowledgeable and versatile schoolboy football officials in the history of the organization,” the news release stated.
Ernst is the lone exclusive athlete to be included in the inaugural Hall of Fame class. At Cranston East, he garnered an unprecedented seven All-State selections (four in tennis and three in ice hockey), won the state high school individual tennis championship four straight years, and captured the state doubles tennis title four times as well. In ice hockey, he tallied 60 or more points in three successive campaigns, and his 19 playoff points in 1984 established a new state record.
Ernst was drafted by the Minnesota North Stars of the National Hockey League after graduating from East, but opted instead to attend Brown University in Providence, where he played four years of varsity tennis and ice hockey. He later became a tennis professional for three years and won the Rhode Island Metropolitan Tennis Championship on a record-setting six occasions.
“I am very pleased with the outstanding individuals who were nominated for induction into the Hall of Fame,” present RIIL Executive Director Richard Lynch said in a prepared statement. “The 11 inductees into the inaugural class will set the standard for future classes.”
According to the RIIL news release, this year's selections were finalized by the Hall of Fame Selection Committee (comprised of administrators, directors of athletics, media representatives, coaches and officials) and approved by the Principals' Committee on Athletics.