NMH Magazine : Spring 2006

Days of Glory

MANY GIFTED ATHLETES have blazed their way through NMH, gracing our playing fields and gymnasiums while leaving their mark in our record books. A number of these prodigies have gone on to Olympic glory or professional fame, while others have pursued quieter paths. On the following pages are a crop of current students athletes and some of the greats who preceded them.

Brian O’Malley ’06
All-New England linebacker
Member of team that ranked second nationally in high school hockey, 2002–03. Enrolled at Hamilton College, where he’ll play Division III football and hockey
If at first you succeed Played football for the first time last fall and earned All-New England title
Sports hero NHL player Chris Chelios, who’s still playing hockey at 44

Jerrell Williams ’07
Plays basketball
Averaged 13 points, six rebounds, three steals
Worst start to the season He broke his hand on the first day of practice
Hot prospect Providence College has offered him a scholarship
Summer plans He and his twin brother Terrell are traveling the country as member of the New Heights Scholar-Athlete AAU basketball program

Nina Tedeschi ’06
First team All-American in lacrosse
Enrolled at the University of Fairfield, where she’ll play Division I lacrosse
Greatest lesson learned as an athlete Always have perseverance
Learned at NMH How to be a true leader and to mentor younger students
Little-known fact Occasional neat freak

Terrell Williams ’07
Plays basketball
Stands 6’8” tall. Helped lead the team to a ranking of 13th in the nation
Tough streets He and his twin brother come from hardscrabble Paterson, New Jersey; both are scholarship students
Brings to the court Boundless energy

Rebecca Donald ’07
Rows regatta and crew; swims
Broke one minute in the 100 freestyle at New Englands. Cocaptain of varsity swim team, cocaptain of crew team. Made varsity four in her first regatta season
Firm belief Everyone growing up should participate in some sort of sport
Twin peeks At home, she and her twin sister do push-ups, crunches, and wall sits before bedtime

Proudest of Being undefeated in the first novice eight at Brown last season and winning the EAWRC (eastern sprints) championships.

Favorite moment as an NMH athlete Rowing at the Head of the Charles her senior year, where she spoke for the first time to Brown’s varsity rowing coach, John Murphy.

A stroke of genius “The first race I stroked at Brown was against Yale, and I remember being extremely nervous because I’d never stroked in high school or considered myself as a stroke. We beat Yale by open water.”

Training regimen Six days a week (ergometer, weight lifting, rowing), with training beginning in fall and building up to the spring racing season.

Life off the river She’s concentrating in human biology and hopes to go to med school. Olson is raising $4,000 to participate this summer in Bike and Build, in which she’ll bike cross country and help build affordable housing along the way. The money goes toward building a Habitat house in Providence.

Best box seat When he signed with the Rangers, they flew him to New York during the ’94 Stanley Cup playoffs (which the Rangers won); he sat with the general manager and team president in their private box.

Toughest moment as an athlete Realizing his dream of playing in the NHL was over and adjusting to life after hockey. “All the great coaches I’ve had don’t teach you what life is like after the game is over.”

Best thing about being a pro “Getting paid for something you love to do. It’s a long way from the ‘rink rat’ days of South Boston to flying all over the United States and Europe to pursue a lifelong dream.”

Greatest off-rink accomplishment Working with people in Florida and Mississippi after hurricanes demolished the Gulf Coast.

Life post-hockey Malone is director of corporate sales for Utix Group, a small start-up company near Boston.

Greatest athletic victory Winning the National Collegiate Athletic Association Championship in 1987.

Most unforgettable LPGA moment On tour during her rookie year, she played with Nancy Lopez and finished third (Lopez won). It was Mother’s Day and Keggi’s mother and two grandmothers stood proudly on the sidelines.

The zen of golf “Golf is so much like the game of life: Players call the rules on themselves. You can’t cheat. It’s the ultimate in integrity and etiquette.”

Silliest moments Painting silhouettes that looked like coroner’s marks around her caddy’s body every time he rested on the grass. The marks left behind mystified the tour and got laughs for several months.

What she’d most like to do over again “Not drink the water. In 1993 I got E. coli poisoning, which affected my game tremendously. I went from the top 20 on tour to the bottom 120.”

All in the family Her sister Mara Keggi Ford ’80 was an Olympic rower.

What she’s doing now Living in Arizona and Florida, playing golf, coaching privately, and contemplating a senior tour. She hopes to play competitively again at 45.

Proudest athletic accomplishment Being named All-American during her junior year, putting her among the top ten high-school divers in the country.

Most memorable NMH moment Diving 56 feet off a bridge over the Connecticut River.

On becoming a master “I began competing at the masters level in 1994, when my younger daughter was four. It wasn’t easy coming back to diving after a 15-year hiatus and the births of two children!”

High point as a masters-level diver Winning the world championships in the three-meter event in Sheffield, England, in 1996.

The longest dive She plans to keep diving competitively as long as she’s alive and kicking.

Her other career Heaslip teaches third grade at Ridgefield Academy in Connecticut and has volunteered locally as a diving coach.

Early promise He came to NMH as a cross-country skier but switched to running during junior year. He won the Pie Race in 1964 with a time of 23:34, then returned to set the course record in 1968 and 1979. (His record still stands because the race no longer covers the same ground.)

Late bloomer A Yale graduate, Shorter didn’t become a nationally ranked runner until the end of his college days.

The weather gods were smiling “At the ’72 Olympics, I was lucky that the weather held during the race and didn’t start raining until after.”

Besides Olympic bling He’s a five-time national 10,000-meter champion and a four-time national cross-country champion. He was the World Masters Biathlon Champion in 1989.

Fallback careers Shorter earned a law degree in 1974 and later started his own athletic clothing company. He’s worked as a TV sports commentator for NBC, ESPN, and Fox, and is founding chairman of the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

Life today He lives in Boulder, Colorado, and works as a consultant on drug and educational issues.

Most memorable moment Pitching in 1961 against New York Yankee Roger Maris, who was two runs shy of tying Babe Ruth’s 60-home run record. “Every time Maris came to bat, it was like the last inning of the seventh game of the World Series.”

On the pressures of baseball “Now I work as a CPA three months of the year. If I make a mistake, I can white it out. When you give up a home run in front of twenty thousand people, there’s no way you can get it back.”

Favorite stat not in the record books In 14 years, Hall had only one wild pitch, and during his last six consecutive seasons of pitching he had more wins than unintentional walks.

Craziest locker room stunt Biting a 17-year locust in half and eating moths on a dare (“There’s nothing to them. They’re just fluff.”).

What he’s doing now Living in Maryland, working as an accountant, playing golf, and watching his nine grandchildren play sports.

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