BLACKSTONE VALLEY MEMORIES December 7

1951 Pawtucket West coach Bill Rutledge figures his Rangers will only have a “fair” season in the Class A Suburban Basketball League with 10 veterans returning. He has named his starting lineup for the Taunton game tomorrow as: Don Charpentier, Ken Isherwood, Gordon Holmes, Normie Cartwright and the fifth berth a tussle between Leo Quinn and Joe McKechnie. Rutledge stated that late-coming varsity football players Larry Calabro, John Hunt, Pete Kanelakos and Dick Salisbury are not yet ready for competition.

1961 Don Suggs, the highly touted 6-foot-6 youngster who has dominated every league he has played in, finally hits the high school ranks playing for Tolman coach Ted McConnon. Vic Ventura, a 6-foot, 200-pounder who is an excellent long range shooter averaging 9.7 last year, is the only returning regular. 6-1 Al Nixon is the other definite starter, while juniors 5-8 Al Palagi, 6-0 Doug Thomas, 6-0 Tom Smile and 6-1 Steve Storin along with 5-10 seniors Frank Reis and Craig Douglas are the top candidates for the other two starting slots.

1971 Hoop coach Andy Boyle at Lincoln, rebuilding last year’s undefeated Class C Northern Division champions without a returning starter or varsity letterman, reported that six of the top eight graduates from last year’s junior varsity come from the Lions’ football ranks and one, 6-foot-3 junior Mike Packer, has been unable to practice as yet because of a foot injury. Seniors Alan Casper and Rich Prive are being counted on to carry much of the load in the exhibition season. Boyle said that Packer, along with other footballers, seniors Tom Robertson, Roy Coulombe and Rich Raymond and juniors Craig Lund and Craig Wilson all figure to be in the fight for starting positions by the time the league season gets underway.