Fred Benson, 1895-1996, was a popular teacher, baseball coach and successful Block Island business leader. His devotion and philanthropies to Block Island inspired the "Fred Benson Scholarship Fund", designed to give financial aide to college-bound youth. Read more >
Andrew James “Andy” Coakley was born in the predominantly Irish South Providence neighborhood of the City of Providence on November 20, 1882, the son of Irish immigrants. As a teenager he became a star sandlot pitcher for the St. Michael’s parish team then coached by “the King of the Sandlots,” the legendary Tim O’ Neil. After playing at Providence High School, Coakley enrolled at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, most likely on an athletic scholarship. Read more >
James Joseph Cooney (Jimmy),July 9, 1865 – July 1, 1903 and his four sons: Harry, b. 1892; James E. (Jimmy, Jr.) , 1894 – August 7, 1991; Frank, b. Read more >
John P. Cronin served as Director of Recreation for the City of Providence for many years. He also made major contributions to many other Rhode Island youth programs, serving as a baseball, football, and hockey coach at La Salle Academy for 45 years. Read more >
Hugh Duffy, 1866-1954, from Cranston, was one of major league baseball's greatest hitters and is still the holder of the single-season batting average record of .438, set in 1894, when Duffy was an outfielder for Boston in the National League. In seventeen major league seasons from 1888 through 1906, Duffy compiled a lifetime average of .328. Read more >
William F. Farley, a businessman was chairman and CEO of Fruit of the Loom.
Farley was born to a working-class Irish Catholic family in Pawtucket on October 10, 1942. He is the eldest child of John Farley, a postal worker and part-time musician and Barbara Farley, a receptionist. Read more >
John Anthony “Jack” Flynn (1883-1935), the legendary coach of baseball at Providence College, will be inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame tomorrow. Participating in the ceremony on behalf of Providence College, which dropped baseball in 1999, is Bob Bellemore, a Friar baseball and hockey great, and my former teammate.
Jack Flynn was raised in South Providence when it was an Irish immigrant ghetto. As a boy he lived very near the slaughterhouses where the neighborhood dogs went to feast on the scraps. Read more >
Frank Frisch was a great second baseman and member of the famous Cardinal "Gashouse Gang". He has been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame,and resided in Rhode Island for the last seventeen years of his life. Read more >
Mr. Gomes was the only Rhode Islander to play baseball in the Negro Major Baseball League, and was named an all-star in each of the seven years he played. He compiled a 362-41 pitching record, with a 1.74 earned-run-average in the Majors. Read more >
Gorman, Lou, 1929-2011
Mr. Gorman, a native of Providence, was a highly respected major League Baseball executive, and Senior Vice President and general Manger of the Boston Red Sox. Gorman was born in South Providence and was a He standout athlete at LASalle Academy in Providence and at Stonehill College in Massachusetts. Gorman then played played in 16 games for the Providence Grays in 1948. Read more >
"Gabby" Harnett, 1900-1972, was one of the first three Rhode Island-born men to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Mr. Harnett, born in Woonsocket, was the oldest of fourteen children. He grew up in the nearby small town of Millville, Massachusetts, where he played baseball in the Blackstone Valley League. Read more >
Paul Hines (1855-1935) was born in Virginia and died in Maryland, but no player was more associated with the Providence Grays during that team’s major league heyday.
Hines played in 1659 games in three leagues from 1872 through 1891, made 2,135 hits, batted over .300 eleven times, and posted a career average of .302. Read more >
Walter Jusczvk was a star pitcher at Brown and played in the minor leagues in 1941. The Warwick, RI, native and Providence Journal Honor Roll Boy is the only Brown pitcher to defeat Providence College four times running. He was drafted by the Brooklyn Dodgers, only to have his career interupted by World War II. He was intimately involved in aspects of Brown life, working as a recruiter, and regularly supporting athletics and alumni activities at Brown. Read more >
Labine, Clem
Clem Labine was a three-time National League All-Star who was inducted into the Brooklyn Dodgers Hall of Fame in 1986. He was regarded as baseball's best releif pitcher in the 1950's. Labine played in six World Series and on three World Championship Teams, before retiring in 1963. Raised in Woonsocket, RI, he was named RI Athlete of the Year in 1955. Read more >
Napoleon Lajoie, 1874-1959, was a Hall of Fame second baseman who played for Philadelphia and Cleveland in the National League from 1896 through 1916 and was Cleveland's player-manager for five years (1905-1909). Called "The Big Frenchman", the Woonsocket-born Lajoie compiled a lifetime batting average of .339 and he led his league in batting three times. His . Read more >
Mr. Lopes was a stand-out second baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers, played in four World Series, and was a four-time National League All-Star during his sixteen year Major League career.
Born in East Providence, Lopes grew up in South Providence and payed in the Fox Point Little League. Davey Lopes became one of LaSalle Academy's all-time athletes. Read more >
Frank Maznicki, 1920-2013, was a former all-sports star at Westerly High School who gained football fame with the Boston College Eagles and the Chicago Bears. He became highly successful as a high school football and baseball coach. Read more >
Bernard Mondor, 1925-2010, was a Canadian-born business man who became one of R.I.'s most outstanding sports promoters as owner of the Pawtucket Red Sox Baseball Team, which was recognized as the strongest franchise in the International League. He entered the business world after service in the Navy, acquiring seven corporations with sales over $13 million. Read more >
John E. Moran, 1913-1997, served as President and Co-founder of McLaughin & Moran Distributors, which was a recognized leader in its' field for over fifty years. An outstanding all-state athlete out of LaSalle Academy, he starred for Manhattan College in football and baseball. For the next fifty years, with time out for U. Read more >
Ms. Murphy, a native of Warren was an outstanding athlete who was the first woman ever to play in Major Legue Baseball competition, and who starred for more than thirty years for otherwise all-male professional, semi-professional, and amateur baseball teams throughout New England and other Eastern states.
On August 14, 1922, Lizzie Murphy made history for being the first female baseball player to play against major league players. She was born to make history, showing a natural inclination for boys' sports growing up in Warren. Read more >
Mr. Pappas was an Executive Vice President for the Pawtucket Boys & Girls Club, for which he served in various capacities for more than forty years. He was also a sportscaster for several RI radio stations, a prominant public relations advocate for many area sports events, and a public address announcer for professional hockey and baseball teams. He became very active in variuos civic and community organizations, and was a Boys Club of America "National Alumnus of the Year. Read more >
George Pulliam, 1923-1956, is regarded by some as Rhode Island's greatest all-around schoolboy athlete. At Cranston High, he won All-State honors twice in football and hockey and once in baseball, where he played at every position but catcher. For his extraordinary efforts he was nicknamed "The Cranston Crusher." He was the fullback and star of the 1940 Cranston eleven that was undefeated, untied, and unscored upon, and was chosen the 1941 Journal Honor Role Boy. Read more >
Charles G. Radbourn, 1854-1897, born in Rochester, New York, "Old Hoss" played baseball for Providence, Boston, and Cincinnati in the National League from 1881 through 1891. He is regarded as the greatest pitcher of the 19th century with 308 wins and 191 losses in 12 years of competition. In 1884, he pitched the Providence Grays to the first World Series title winning 60 games, an all time major league record, with only 12 losses. Read more >
Albert Henry "Hank" Soar, 1914-2001, was one of Rhode Island's most talented athletes. After starring at the old Pawtucket High School (now Tolman)and Providence College in football and baseball, Soar played in the National Football League as an all-purpose back for the New York Giants for nine seasons from 1937 through 1946. After his playing days were over, Soar served as an American League baseball umpire for twenty-four years. Read more >
David R. Stenhouse’s well-rounded career includes playing high school, college, and professional sports; college coaching; business; fundraising; and community service. For his athletic attainments, he has been inducted into the University of Rhode Island and the Rhode Island College Halls of Fame.
A native of Westerly, Dave was a star athlete at Westerly High School before enrolling at URI in 1951 on a baseball and basketball scholarship. Read more >
George R. "Birdie" Tebbetts, 1912–1999: Raised in New Hampshire, “Birdie” Tebbetts was a precocious, intelligent, and athletic youngster who served as the team mascot for the “Nashua Millionaires,” an independent semi-professional team owned by the future New Hampshire Governor, Francis Parnell Murphy.
Murphy encouraged young Tebbetts to aim high. Tebbetts did just that, becoming an All-State High School quarterback and a star baseball catcher. Read more >
William Walden, 1907-1987, a native of Providence, was a pioneer Rhode Island radio and television sportscaster. He was also a former athlete who served for twenty years as secretary of the Tim O'Neil amateur baseball league. He was the former News Director of WJAR-TV, and a native of Providence. Walden was actively involved with many charities including the Cystic Fibrosis organization, the March of Dimes, Catholic Youth Organization, the Jimmy Fund, the American Cancer Society and St. Read more >
John Montgomery “Monte” Ward, 1860-1925, a member of baseball's Hall of Fame, was a native of Bellefonte, Pennsylvania who attended Pennsylvania State College before embarking upon a career as a professional ballplayer. He reached the major leagues in 1878 as a pitcher for the Providence Grays of the National League, just two years after the founding of the so-called “Senior Circuit.”
In his first year, the eighteen-year-old Ward recorded the National League's lowest earned run average (1.51) while compiling a record of 22 wins and 13 losses. Read more >
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