Xaverian baseball coach gets Hall call
In early November, at a Massachusetts Baseball Coaches Association meeting, the 2023 Hall of Fame nominations were on the agenda. Xaverian coach Gerry Lambert, a board member for a decade-plus, was asked to leave the room.
No hidden agenda. “I didn’t know I was being nominated,” said Lambert.
When he returned to the room, the proud Xaverian grad (1988) was in the Class of 2023 with Dennis Baker (Ashland and Bellingham), Mike O’Keefe (Chelmsford), and Tom Brassil (Holyoke). He’s the only active coach of the four inductees.
“Very humbling, to be honest. I was not thinking of going into [the Hall] any time soon. A little awkward,” said Lambert, who has 264 wins as he approaches his 20th season.
“I’m not in the middle of my career, and certainly not at the end,” he said. “It’s a little strange to talk in the past tense, because I’ve got to talk a little bit about the present, and the future, too.”
Hired as a teacher at his alma mater in 1994, Lambert was a varsity assistant for four seasons before leading the freshman program for three years. The Hawks were 10-11 in 2002, his first varsity season as coach. Three state titles have followed, headlined by the 18-1 finish in the return-fromthe-pandemic campaign in 2021, capped by a 2-0 victory over Leominster at Doyle Field on July 5.
“Top to bottom, that was the best team I have ever had,” said Lambert of a squad headlined by Catholic Conference MVP Matt Brinker, now a freshman catcher at Northeastern, pitchers Marc Cedrone (Bentley), John Connolly (Endicott), and Ryan Douglas (Stonehill). His third base/shortstop/second base trio committed four errors in 19 games.
“There was no data from the previous year [the 2020 COVIDcanceled year], but we knew we had a very good baseball team. It’s one thing to have the talent, but what is the mind-set? Can you get it done? You have to remember, those seniors graduated in late May. We won the title on July 5 . . . They checked every box.”
Lambert will start putting together notes for his induction, but his focus remains teaching the game, and teaching young men life lessons. “I’ve been in that [voting] room for 12 years. I know the quality of the candidates every year, including the other inductees this year. I am humbled.”
Baker, the former athletic director at Bellingham, coached a combined 50 seasons at Ashland (baseball) and Bellingham (softball), accumulating more than 300 wins. Brassil led Holyoke to 20 state tournament berths in 26 seasons, while O’Keefe guided Chelmsford to 320 wins and six Merrimack Valley Conference titles during his stint from 19952016.
The class will be inducted at the 55th annual MBCA banquet Jan. 28 at the Four Points by Sheraton in Wakefield. The speakers at the event include Boston College coach Mike Gambino, Holy Cross coach Ed Kahovec, and Stoneman Douglas (Fla.) coach
Todd Fitz-Gerald, who had the topranked team nationally in 2022.
Tickets are $50 per guest and may be purchased online at massbca.com. For more information, contact Steve Freker at the same address.
Remembering Ortiz
Victor Ortiz won 385 games and a Division 1 state title (1985) in a memorable 24-year run as the boys’ basketball coach at Brockton High.
On Jan. 24, 2020, the court at the high school was renamed the Victor M. Ortiz Court in his honor, on a night the Boxers rallied from a 14-point, first-half deficit for a 72-69 win over Cambridge.
Following a long illness, the 74year-old Ortiz died Monday, surrounded by family. Beloved in his community, and respected as a coach and friend, Ortiz grew up in Puerto Rico before serving in the US Navy in Vietnam and the Mediterranean Sea. After earning degrees in psychology (Stonehill) and counseling (BC), he was a counselor in the Brockton Public Schools for 31 years.
“It was always enjoyable coaching against Victor’s teams,” said
Brian Buckley, the coach at BC High from 1990-96.
“They were well-coached and always pressed. If you weren’t prepared his teams could take you out of the game quickly. But most importantly after the final whistle, both teams shook hands. He loved to compete, he loved basketball, and his enthusiasm was amplified by his teams.”
In 1985, Buckley was in the midst of his run as coach of the men’s basketball team at Curry. But he was on the radio call, for WBET, as color analyst, for that Brockton vs. Cambridge Rindge & Latin state final. “What a great team that was,” he said. “He was a rival, and yet a great friend.”
That 24-1 team avenged its only regular-season loss, 71-58, to the Rumeal Robinson-led Falcons with a 65-63 victory for the title.
Notables
Dan Lee was a soccer and lacrosse stalwart at Lincoln-Sudbury, culminating with a 56-goal, 34-assist season in the latter as a senior in 1997, when he was a Globe All-Scholastic. Since 2017, the Holy Cross graduate has been the athletic director at Needham, and a respected voice in the Bay State Conference and beyond. On July 1, he will be heading home, as the new AD at L-S, replacing the retiring Art Reilly. “Needham is an elite program, and have loved my time there. Lincoln-Sudbury is the one job that I would leave [Needham] for,” said Lee, who resides in Sudbury . . . The Globe’s 2022 Fall All-Scholastic section will be published on Sunday, Jan. 15, saluting athletes and coaches in crosscountry, field hockey, girls’ volleyball, golf, football, soccer, and swimming, plus the preps.