Claremont — Thousands of graduates have gone through the halls of Stevens High School in the 148 years since it opened with the backing of Tremont Hotel owner Paran Stevens. While the building has gone through several renovations, its Broad Street location remains the same, and its students have accomplished much in the classroom and at athletic venues.

As of Saturday night, however, only one student-athlete had ever excelled to the point of having his jersey number retired. The No. 22 of Scott Fitz will never be worn again by a Cardinal athlete, a fate secured at a Frederick Carr Gymnasium ceremony that included Fitz, now an Ohio resident who was back for his 55th reunion.

Fitz only lived in Claremont during his high school years (1957-61), but he did not waste a minute there. He started on the varsity in baseball, basketball and football all four years. He would later spend a year at Kimball Union Academy and, as walk-on at the University of Vermont, became the Catamounts’ starting quarterback on their now-defunct football team for three years, compiling a 19-5 record.

“He was a great teammate and a great guy,” said Roy “Butch” Winot, who played all three sports with Fitz at Stevens. “He was a top athlete in modern times and a tremendous leader. That number should have been retired a long time ago.”

Fitz amassed 1,189 points in boys basketball at Stevens long before the three-point shot came along, gaining New Hampshire Class L player of the year honors from the Manchester Union Leader and honorable mention on the Dell Sports Magazine high school all-America team. He made all-state in football as a junior and senior, gaining a spot in the Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl as well as an honorable mention spot on the Scholastic Coach all-American team. Fitz also made the Connecticut Valley all-star team in baseball.

“I worked at it,” said Fitz, “but so did a lot of other guys.”

Robert “Stretch” Gillam, who coached Fitz in basketball and baseball at Kimball Union Academy, said Fitz had excellent basketball skills. “He certainly could have gone to a Division II or maybe a Division I school and played basketball,” said Gillam. ” He was that good.”

During Fitz’s year at KUA, the Wildcats went to the the New England Prep School Tournament at Boston College. “What a great kid he was,” added Gillam.

While Fitz cherishes the success he had playing football at UVM and was excited to enter that school’s Hall of Fame, it also saddens him that the school no longer offers the program at the varsity level. “It breaks my heart that UVM dropped the football program,” he said in a Valley News interview several years ago.

Fitz is now 73, retired and has lived most of his life in Avon Lake, Ohio, where he worked for Union Carbide and raised four sons. He has returned to the Upper Valley on several occasions for other alumni and family functions.

“This community has been wonderful to me and my family,” he said. “I have nothing but fond memories.”

Things have certainly changed over the years since Fitz departed Stevens High.

Back when he was at the school, the Cardinals competed in what would be now called Division I and included schools in Manchester, Keene, Concord and Dover, among other large towns.

“I never heard of some of the schools Stevens plays now,” he said.

The Stevens football program he quarterbacked way back when shut down in 2001 to rebuild, news that took Fitz by surprised. It has since been revived and is regularly competitive in NHIAA Division III.

“It certainly shocked an saddened me,” he said of the program’s shutdown. “I did think back to the years when Stevens football was successful and wondered what happened. Was it the coaching? Were there not enough athletes? There was a lot of football history at Stevens.

“In 2004, I came back to watch Stevens play Kearsarge under the lights in Barnes Park. This was new to me because all our games were played on Saturday afternoons at Monadnock Park. For me, that showed Stevens High School football was back.”

Fitz also played American Legion baseball in Newport, was on a Claremont swim team for one summer and played semi-pro baseball for the Nashua Dodgers between prep school and college.

Fitz also has fond memories of his Stevens coaches. He played for the legendary Clarence Parker for just his freshman year, prior to Parker’s retirement. Fitz enjoyed working with a number of other coaches, including Howard Mortenson. Bob Walker, Gordon Soflin, Joe Maiola, Don Campbell and Gordon Soflin.

As far as today’s athletes are concerned, Fitz thinks they are too specialized.

“Back in my time, you played whatever sport was in season.” he said. “In the spring, you played baseball, basketball in the winter and football in the fall. That’s the way it was supposed to be.”