Remember When: Haverhill High Boy Greats
Dec. 5—Today in our "Remember When" series we take a look back at a slew of talented Haverhill Hillie boys from through the years.
Of course, we can't highlight everyone, but here are some of my favorite memories.
There was a ton of brainpower and football greatness at the 2005 Hillie reunion including the Conways (Dan, BC; Mike, Princeton; and Pat, Harvard) and the legendary Don White, who played at Notre Dame.
The three Eastern Mass. All-Scholastic Conway brothers were brilliant for the Brown and Gold and in college. It started with their dad, Dan Sr. (Haverhill '35), who also was an All-Scholastic.
Gerard LaFlamme was a star distance runner for Haverhill and then UMaine (Class of '76).
Another great picture is MLB slugger Carlos Pena with Hillie icon John Ottaviani. I guess good things happen to good people as "Coach O." just won the lottery. Pena was No. 9 on our "Area Athletes of the 20th Century" rankings.
Toney Pendleton was the All-State long jump champ (21-11.5) and at UMass Amherst went 23-0.25 and 9.6 in the 100 yards.
Wally Wright starred at Haverhill (HHS '76) and was later inducted into the Mississippi Valley State Hall of Fame for his football career there. Another MVSU Hall of Famer is one Jerry Rice.
Keith Cutler was the 1991 Eagle-Tribune MVP in golf one of many Hillies greats on the links under John Abromovitch and Kevin Murphy.
Ken Sciacca starred at Haverhill, was a captain at Northeastern and then had a stellar coaching career. The first year we named Coaches of the Year, Sciacca was the football winner (2001 with Haverhill).
Jeff Molesso was a three-time Tribune All-Star in football. We've only had 16 stars do that in the 51 years we've had football all-stars (1970-present). He's the lone Hillie.
In 1998, Sean Sughrue led the area in TD passes (13) and passing yards (1,269). As a senior he averaged 19.2 ppg in basketball. His older brother, the late Dennis Sughrue, was a rebounding machine and an Eagle-Tribune All-Star hoopster, too.
Sandro Paulino led the area with 20.3 ppg in 1996, when he and brother Victor Paulino were both Eagle-Tribune All-Stars.
Hockey star David Thompson scored an area-best 30 goals in 2001.
The Battistinis were good to Haverhill. Rick was the Hall of Fame swim coach while Matt threw 60-5 in the shotput in 1978. Nobody else from the region has ever cracked 60 feet.
Distance man Danny Wang put up stellar times for the Hillies and UMass Lowell, making his dad, nationally known track historian Larry Newman, beam with pride.
You can reach Mike Muldoon by email at mmuldoon@eagletribune.com or @mullyET on Twitter
