Hanover High athletic director Mike Jackson and Upper Valley sportswriter Lawrence “Poody” Walsh, along with six other former athletes, coaches and administrators from across New Hampshire, have been named to the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association’s Hall of Fame class of 2016 by NHIAA executive director Jeff Collins.
Inductees will be honored on Sunday at the 16th NHIAA Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Grappone Conference Center Courtyard Marriott in Concord.
Jackson has served as Hanover’s athletic director since 1989 and has overseen a growth in athletic participation and upgrades to the Marauders’ athletic facilities that have allowed its programs to thrive.
A graduate of Baumholder American High in Baumholder, Germany, and Springfield (Mass.) College, Jackson began his career as the part-time AD at Dover High before landing in Hanover. In his time with the Marauders, Jackson also has worked to build feeder programs for the athletic department’s various programs, including junior varsity, freshmen and junior high teams.
Jackson, who served as Hanover’s varsity baseball coach until last year, has taken a leadership role in his advocacy for the American Sport Education Program, which he helped bring to New Hampshire. He has served on committees for the National Federation of High Schools and the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association.
He also has earned the State Award of Recognition and Class I Athletic Director of the Year by the New Hampshire Athletic Directors Association, and was awarded the State Award of Merit in 2007. Jackson received the NHIAA James W. Desmarais Service Award in 2011-12.
Walsh, who is currently a contributor to high school coverage with the Valley News and Rutland Herald, has reported on Upper Valley high school sports for 50 years. He worked for the Eagle Times in Claremont for 34 years, retiring in 2000. He was inducted into the Vermont Principals Association’s Hall of Fame in 2015.
Stevens AD Honored: Stevens High athletic director Doug Beaupre was named the NHIAA Division III’s athletic director of the year in his first year at the helm of the athletic department. Beaupre, who formerly served as D-III Newport High’s AD for 13 years, was named Stevens’ athletic director before the fall 2015 season.
“It’s a honor,” he said. “It’s especially nice that it’s your peers who are voting, in particular your Division III peers, voting on this award. I’m not sure I’ve done anything different than I did at Newport. But it’s still quite an honor.”
Beaupre noted that the transition between schools has taken some adjustment time. He attended his first bowling match at Stevens and has continued to get the Cardinals’ volleyball program off the ground. But Beaupre said he’s encouraged by the amount of attention the Stevens athletic department receives from the Claremont community.
“In my first year, you try to learn the ropes and try to get to know a lot of the folks here in Claremont,” he said. “I try to make my face as recognizable as possible, mostly breaking myself into the way athletics are seen at Stevens. I’ve been lucky. … The attitude is similar. Hinsdale (Beaupre’s first AD gig), Newport and now Stevens, athletics is a passion.”
Beaupre also said there are still long-term projects he’d like to see completed, including a more involved alumni program and a continuing review of the coach’s handbook.
CVL Makes All-League Selections: A representation of coaches from around the Central Vermont League made their all-league and honorable mention selections for boys soccer, girls soccer and cross country this week, selecting several athletes from Sharon, South Royalton and the Whitcomb-Rochester cooperative that “represented the qualities of an ‘all-league’ team, not only of ability, but also of attitude,” according to a news release.
A senior trio from Sharon’s girls soccer team, the goal-scoring tandem Eleanor Frost and Mallory Lloyd and defensive stalwart Lily Crowley, made the all-CVL girls soccer team.
Rivendell underclassmen Mikayla DeBois, Riley Thomson and Jenna Gilbert also made the team. The Phoenix fell to Proctor in the VPA D-IV state championship game. Lloyd became the 10th athlete in Vermont high school history to score 100 career goals on Oct. 18.
Whitchester’s Brianna Hillier and Hayley Mears, as well as Sharon’s Kaila Skeet-Browning, Meghan Shirley and Rivendell’s Mikayla Stever were given honorable mention nods in MVL girls soccer.
Whitchester’s leading goal-scorer, Zak Gillette, who scored 22 goals this season, was named to the all-CVL boys soccer team in his senior season.
South Royalton striker Brais Figueroa, Sharon goalkeeper Thatcher Morrison and Rivendell duo Robert Bergwedel and Chris Gendron also made the team.
The Mountaineers’ Max Stearns, Liam Walker and Gavin Turner, South Royalton’s Stephen Paige and Nicholas Howe, Sharon’s Harvey Kelley and Billy Connelli, as well as Rivendell’s Lucas DeSouza. were given honorable mentions.
The Royals’ Kylen Nelson and Aliza George made the all-CVL girls cross country team, and Nicholas Thornton, also from South Royalton, made the all-league boys cross country team. Sharon’s Dillon Buttner was given an honorable mention.
Hartford Seeks Committee Input: Hartford High’s athletic department is beginning its search for participants to partake in an committee to look at the Hurricanes’ athletics facilities and their usage by Hartford’s athletic programs, according to a news release by Hartford athletic director Jeff Moreno.
“We are looking for a diverse group to look at ways to maximize the potential of our facility and for future Hurricane teams,” the press release said.
Interested participants are asked to send an email to morenoj@hartfordschools.net by Nov. 28.
Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.
Correction
Hanover High athletic director Mike Jackson and Upper Valley sportswriter Lawrence “Poody” Walsh are part of an NHIAA Hall of Fame class of 2016 to be honored on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. (luncheon) and 1:30 p.m. (ceremony) at the Grappone Conference Center Courtyard Mariott in Concord. An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect day for the event.