Peabody High’s annual Memorial Day baseball tournament will now be dedicated to not one, but two men who both had huge impacts on the youth of the Tanner City.
The 2023 edition will be the 11th and the first officially known as the James Geanoulis and Gary Linehan Memorial Day Tournament.
Action kicks off next Saturday at Bezemes Diamond when Andover faces Wakefield at 1 p.m. and host Peabody High faces newcomer Danvers at 4 p.m. The consolation and championship games will be held at the same times on Sunday.
A longtime Peabody baseball staple as both a Tanner player, youth coach and later varsity pitching coach, Linehan passed away last spring. Both of his sons played for Peabody head coach Mark Bettencourt and his connection to the Tanner program ran deep. An inductee into the Peabody High Athletic Hall of Fame, Linehan also served as a volunteer on the HOF committee for many years.
Like Geanoulis, for whom the tournament was named ten years ago, Linehan was also a youth sports official. “Mr. G” was known throughout the Tanner City as a smiling face, educator and friendly umpire; he’d often volunteer to officiate baseball or basketball scrimmages for free so kids would have an experienced referee on hand to learn from.
Peabody’s baseball program will also give our two scholarships in Linehan and Geanoulis’ names. Each player interested in the scholarship will have to an essay as to why it is important to give back to the community, following the example set by the award’s namesakes.
There is a GoFundMe page collecting donations for the scholarship, which can be found here:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/james-geanoulis-gary-linehan-scholarship-fund