Belisle among ’17’s top
Clippers, Raiders, Tarmeys, Pass made 2017 special in the Valley
Mount hockey coach notched 1,000th win
Summing up an entire year in one story is a daunting task, though it gets easier when narrowing it down to the individuals you had the good fortune of interacting with along the way.
The best part of my job is meeting people connected with various sports teams or organizations throughout the Blackstone Valley and beyond. When all is said and done, it is the people and the things they say and do that remain long after the final scores have faded away.
Here are some of the individuals who made an indelible impression on me during 2017:
THE KOLEKS – On a Friday afternoon in March, I stood in Cumberland High’s Wellness Center with Kevin Kolek and his two sons, Brandon and Tyler. I had just come from St. Raphael Academy and asking veteran boys’ basketball head coach Tom “Saar” Sorrentine about Kevin, a star player for the Saints from the early 1980s.
“When he was in high school, I would have to kick him out of the gym every day. In between classes, he would always come in and shoot,” said Sorrentine about Papa Kolek.
St. Raphael and Cumberland were prepping to play in an open state tournament game that would determine a spot in the Final Four. On a family level, the game pitted Brandon and Tyler against their dad’s alma mater. As Kevin noted a few days before the Saints won, 64-50, he couldn’t lose regardless of the outcome.
“We know that ‘Saar’ coached our dad,” Brandon Kolek said. “Now he’s coaching against us.”
A basketball family that was already victorious long before the final horn sounded.
ABDUL AJIA – It was a couple days before the boys basketball semifinals when Ajia, then-Shea head coach Matt Pita, and myself sat in the Shea cafeteria. We talked about the smoothness that Ajia displayed on the hardwood, but also his driving force in life.
“I do it for the love of basketball, but I also do this thing for her,” Ajia said in a whispering tone. “She’s always giving me that extra inspiration.”
“Her” is his mother, Floashade. She didn’t want her pride and joy to grow up in a single-parent household, hence she made the decision to move from Brooklyn to Pawtucket when Ajia was 10 years old. Pawtucket was where Ajia’s father – also named Abdul – was living.
“You have that sense of backbone now. I don’t have to look out for mom all the time,” said Ajia.
Ajia was at Max Read Field for the Thanksgiving Eve football contest between Tolman and Shea. He was in very good spirits as he talked about his prep school experience at Bradford Christian (Mass.) Academy. A week later, Ajia tweeted out that he had picked up his first NCAA Division I offer from Baltimore-based Coppin State.
Ajia’s mom always stressed to her son the importance of getting a good education. By honoring that desire, and emerging as a top-notch talent, Ajia has gone above and beyond to ensure that he never disappoints his No. 1 fan.
THE DOMINGUEZS – At a Providence-based gym in April, Jose Dominguez didn’t mince words when he described the hopes he has for his son Dyondre, who was coming off a terrific sophomore year for the Tolman High boys’ basketball team.
Jose wants nothing more than to see Dyondre play college basketball at the highest possible level. To achieve that lofty goal, it’s imperative that Dyondre hit the books in the same fashion he hits long-range shots. Jose told the story that he nearly held Dyondre out of Tolman’s Division II playoff game against Westerly because he noticed Dyondre’s grade in English was slipping. The threat was very real, and Dyondre pleaded to his dad to reconsider, which he ultimately did after seeing Dyondre rebound with his studies.
“Deep down, I didn’t think he earned the right to play,” Jose said, “but (Tolman) has done so much for him.”
Jose Dominguez thinks about his son’s future a lot. Perhaps that stems from enduring his own fair share of pitfalls growing up, going from playing point guard at Framingham High to spending time in jail. Determined to learn from the past, Jose realizes that Dyondre has a golden chance to use basketball as a vehicle for a better life. That’s why Jose – a single dad with full-time custody of Dyondre – is always reminding his son to never settle.
“I’m very appreciative of what my father has done for me, but he tells me all the time to not say it to him. Show it in grades. Show it in basketball,” said Dyondre, who transferred from Tolman to New Hampton Prep.
MATT MARDO – A three-year contributor to the varsity boys’ soccer team at Lincoln High, Mardo applied to 10 colleges and got accepted to each of them.
“It’s been quite the process,” he said while sitting in a Dunkin’ Donuts in April.
Mardo came across as very calm and measured, two traits that served him well during this undertaking of getting into some of the most prestigious colleges and universities in the country. As he progressed through his high-school years, Mardo developed a keen sense of time management. Sometimes, that meant staying up late to study and punting on sports that he played when he first arrived at Lincoln High.
In short, he’s a young man who knows exactly what he wants and how to go about getting it. Before heading off to Harvard, Mardo graduated from Lincoln as the Class of 2017’s salutatorian.
“He’s mature beyond his years. He just made everything work,” said John D’Aloisio, LHS boys’ soccer head coach. “He came up with a plan, he worked the plan, and he’s gotten the ultimate reward.”
THE TARMEYS – This Father’s Day story featured an emotional tug. The father (Peter Tarmey, Woonsocket High Class of 1988) realized that it was up to him to pick up the pieces in wake of the 2015 death of his wife and the mother of his only child, daughter Maggie, a 2017 graduate of Lincoln High.
Maggie became an accomplished thrower at LHS. When it came time for her to contemplate her college options, her dad had just one request.
“He gave me a 50-mile radius that I could not be inside of,” said Maggie as she sat next to her dad at the kitchen counter of the family’s cozy home off Great Road. “I had some thoughts about, ‘What’s he going to do here by himself?’”
“Regardless of what she thinks I’m going through, these next four years are very important in terms of shaping the rest of your life,” Peter said as he looked at Maggie, who accepted a track scholarship to Lehigh (Pa.) University.
Thrust together to form a new kind of family following grief and heartache, the Tarmeys have gone on to make a nice home for themselves. Rest assured the dynamic isn’t going to suffer just because Maggie is attending school out of state.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine,” said Peter to Maggie, a declaration that speaks volumes about a dad who seeks nothing but the best for his daughter.
A.J. REEVES – It’s clear that Providence basketball head coach Ed Cooley is getting a special one in Reeves, a youngster who clearly gets it.
A few months before he verbally committed to the Friars, Reeves provided an eloquent response about the importance of finding the right school and settling in for the long haul as opposed to transferring out – a problem that continues to run rampant throughout college basketball.
“Not only are you going to school to play basketball, but you’re going there to build your future and help solidify your brand,” Reeves said after a March exhibition game at CCRI-Warwick. “It’s unfortunate to see a lot of these kids transferring. In a way, it kind of shows that they didn’t pick the right school. You don’t want to have to sit out a year if you don’t have to, but that’s why picking the right school is so important.”
A Roxbury, Mass. native, Reeves solidified his pledge to the Friars when he and his parents drove to PC’s campus on a Sunday morning in late June. Reeves didn’t want to tell Cooley the good news over the phone. He didn’t have a countdown that would lead to publicizing his announcement on social media. Instead, Reeves opted for the direct approach … to look Cooley straight in the eye.
“Doing something like this in person makes it that much more important … seeing the body language and the reaction,” Reeves said while standing outside PC’s Peterson Recreation Center.
Reeves comes across as a teenager who doesn’t need his ego to be pumped up by pomp and circumstance. It’s an approach that figures to mesh quite well with the no-nonsense Cooley upon officially joining the Friars later this year.
ANNE MARIE BRENTZ – Reflections from a baseball wife took on extra meaning in July when the cameras caught Anne Marie beaming with pride after husband Bryce captured the Triple-A Home Run Derby. Anne Marie screamed with joy, though she did manage to compose herself just long enough to take out her cell phone for a picture of Bryce as he draped the wrestling-style championship belt over his left shoulder.
A few days before Bryce blasted one shot after another into the Tacoma, Wash. sky, she sat on a couch in the McCoy Stadium wives’ lounge. All baseball wives share, to some extent, the excitement and tension of their husbands’ careers.
“You hear the stories from the other wives and girlfriends about how their husbands or boyfriends come home and talk about the game. Even if Bryce has a bad game, he doesn’t bring it home. If he does, he quickly talks about it and moves on,” Anne Marie said.
In 2017, Anne Marie was part of a roller coaster filled with highs – seeing Bryce lead the International League with 31 home runs – and accompany lows – getting removed from the Red Sox’ 40-man roster at the end of spring training and not getting called up in September. Boston did put Brentz back on the 40-man in November, a happy conclusion that a certain wife deserves to revel in just as much as her home-run producing husband.
GIANA SAVASTANO – Growing up in Burrillville, Savastano spent her high school years living at two out-of-state prep schools as she pursued her dream of playing women’s college hockey. When it came time to pick a college, she believed some well-deserved payback for parents Dave and Kerri was in order. As we wrote in August, these are the same folks who drove six hours to Lake Placid, N.Y. to take Gianna to the dentist because she had an issue with her braces.
Savastano is now a freshman defenseman at Providence College. As she sat in concourse of Schneider Arena, she spoke about her homecoming that pleased Dave and Kerri to no avail.
“It’s good being so close now,” said Savastano. “My parents would say, ‘We would love to be around to see all your games.’ I thought they deserved that. It’s a choice that I wanted, but it’s also one that made them happy.”
PATRICK PASS – The football turf at Barry Field sure seemed like an unlikely setting for a three-time NFL Super Bowl champion, all coming as a fullback with the New England Patriots.
Serving as Woonsocket High’s defensive coordinator suits Pass just fine, a post-career landing spot that the 39-year-old readily admitted is the perfect match for what he wishes to accomplish.
In September, he spoke about X’s and O’s being a secondary concern. Pass fancies himself more as a life coach than a football coach. He sees the Woonsocket players and it reminds him of how he came of age in a single-family home located 20 minutes outside of Atlanta, one infested by gangs, drugs and violence.
At Woonsocket, Pass sought to make a difference. As a youngster, he avoided pitfalls and emerged as a better person/success story because of it. His message to the Novans is to follow his lead.
“I didn’t have this type of leadership growing up, but I know it’s important to go into the neighborhood and give these kids love, appreciation, and respect,” said Pass. “It’s about getting them on the straight and narrow now because there’s a lot of distractions.
“I have a voice, so why not use it?” he adds.
A voice that is about more than just tales of Super Bowl glory.
THE GRONKOWSKIS – Given Rob Gronkowski’s superstar status, Patriots fans might be surprised to learn that his family members are regular tailgaters in the Gillette Stadium parking lot. A recognizable last name usually paves the way for primo VIP perks – special reserved parking and an exclusive entrance to club seats that offer the chance to sit inside in the event of extreme cold or inclement weather.
The Gronkowskis love to soak up the tailgate ambiance along with fellow hardcore fans in the hours leading up to kickoff. If you wish to have your picture taken with father Gordon, also known as “Mr. Gronk,” or brother Gordie, chances are they’ll oblige with a smile.
“We enjoy people. That’s who we are,” said Gordon Gronkowski in an interview prior to the Patriots-Dolphins game on Nov. 26. “We’re lucky we have a superstar in Rob, but I’ll ask people what they do for a living. They’ll say they’re doctors or lawyers and I’ll say, ‘That’s great, too.’ It’s crazy when you see how sports draws people in, but they should be proud of what they do, too.”
The Gronkowski tailgate setup could be described as modest – one grill and a few tables for food and drink. There’s no elaborate tent to block out the elements, or televisions or other luxury accoutrements. Basically, the scene is that of a football-loving family con- gregating, eating, and having a great time.
Getting interruptions from curious onlookers is expected, and welcomed.
“We could easily go inside the stadium, but to see the lives you’ve impacted, it makes you feel good,” said Gordie Gronkowski. There are a few other moments that left an impression upon this scribe:
• Covering all the Senate Finance Committee hearings regarding the PawSox’ ballpark pursuit represented new territory. To go from writing about final scores to setting foot into a political-themed arena was challenging at times, but just like writing a game story, the importance of sticking to the facts that have been presented and writing stories that are right down the middle cannot be underscored.
• We also took in a few Lincoln School Committee meetings this year. Again, that represented fresh terrain as officials sought to clean up a high school athletic program that at times in 2017 was dragged unceremoniously through the mud.
I bumped into a couple of Lincoln school committee members at Cumberland High during last week’s annual Boys & Girls Club of Cumberland-Lincoln’s Roadshow Holiday Classic boys’ basketball tournament. They joked that they hadn’t heard from me in a while. That’s because it’s been extremely quiet, I said.
Let’s hope it stays that way.
• Having Tom Brady saying, “you’re right” when responding to a postgame question I asked following a November game goes into the books as a major bright spot. I’m still trying to figure out a way to sync up the audio from that presser so “you’re right” becomes a ring tone for my phone.
• No matter where Henry Owens’ baseball travels take him, he probably won’t have another reporter bring him his game pants in a plastic bag, which yours truly did this past July shortly after Owens was sent down from Pawtucket to Double-A Portland and the Sea Dogs happened to be in Hartford.
Space dictates we wrap things up on a look back at some of the people I crossed paths with and the memories I take with me from 2017 into the new year.
Happy 2018, everyone! Follow Brendan McGair on Twitter @ BWMcGair03