SALEM — The smiles and the laughter came easily, good friends catching up and reliving athletic feats of yesteryear while wondering where their time as Witches had gone.
The 21st annual Salem High School Athletic Hall of Fame banquet took place Tuesday night at Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse, where 14 former greats were inducted and at least 10 times as many stories shared.
Paul Tucker, the former Chief of Police in Salem and now the District Attorney for Essex County, is one of the Witches’ all-time great runners. He joked with his wife Ann that not only was he the oldest inductee Tuesday night, but probably the only one eligible for retirement benefits.
Sisters Sarah and Hannah Mullarkey, legendary players from the Salem High volleyball program, fondly recalled the one season how they got to play together and helping the Witches claim their first-ever playoff berth.
Edwin Demoya, a two-year soccer captain from the Class of 2011, has spent almost six years in the U.S. Navy, with time spent on both the Dwight D. Eisenhower and the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carriers. He was back in his hometown getting his haircut when he received the Hall call, he said, bringing back a flood of good memories for the now 33-year-old.
Alix Bryant spoke passionately about her freshman year playing basketball for the Witches, a team filled with talent but that began their season 0-7 before righting the ship, ripping off 12 wins over their last 15 regular season games to qualify for the postseason. Salem then upset fourth ranked Danvers in the first round of the Division 2 North state tournament before bowing out in the next round.
These were just some of the compelling stories shared by this year’s Hall of Fame class, which included former track and field star Brian Lockard (Class of 1978), preeminent football and baseball player Rick O’Leary (1988), three-sport superstar Joe Fabiano (1994), football and track standouts Joe Freeman and Jamal Mercado, both from the Class of 1995; one of the school’s all-time great gymnasts, Jessica Corneau (2007), terrific golfer, basketball and baseball player Beau Theriault (2008), legendary football player and trackster Melikke Van Alstyne (2009), and football, basketball, and spring track mainstay Jared Louf Woods (2013).
‘Joy and happiness’
When Fabiano hung up his football jersey, he was the Witches’ all-time leader in career touchdowns with 30. Now has the pleasure of watching his two sons, Jack and Jett, play at Masconomet Regional — with Jack, a running back like his father, having scored 37 times this season alone.
“It’s been so fun watching them play,” said Fabiano, who not only played football (and college baseball at Salem State) for Ken Perrone, but also hockey for Bob Sweezey and on the diamond for Al Giardi. “The old (Salem High) record had been 21 career touchdowns, and I was fortunate to be on some great teams to get the chances that I did.”
Fabiano had never played organized hockey before going out for, and making, the Salem High varsity as a freshman. By the time he was a senior, he led the Witches in scoring.
Louf Woods, who was part of some NEC championship basketball teams at Salem High in addition to his exploits in football and spring track, went on to UMass Dartmouth, where he met his wife, got a job with the UMass Dartmouth police force and settled in the area. He and his family now call Fairhaven home.
“It seemed like whatever season it was, the teams all supported each other,” Louf Woods remembered. “It was a really supportive community, especially the sports teams. To see a whole team from another sport show up to cheer you on, that was pretty cool.
“We had a really good student section, too. They got a little too rowdy at times,” he chuckled, “but it was all good intentions.”
Bryant, a 2014 graduate, also played soccer and spring track in addition to starring on the hardcourt at SHS. Some of her closest friends to this day, she said with a wide smile, are her former teammates.
“I look back at my time here with a lot of joy and happiness,” said Bryant, who as a freshman played with her older sister Jasmine on the basketball team under head coach John Fortunato. “I loved it here; I had phenomenal relationships with my teachers, my coaches and teammates. There was never a need for me to leave and go anywhere else.”
Special times
Demoya, a striker and midfielder who graduated with 89 goals and 38 assists for a school record 127 points, echoed Bryant’s sentiments, pointing out that many of the values he learned suiting up for the Witches have paid off for him in adulthood.
“Camaraderie, teamwork, building trust, problem solving … you get thrown together with a bunch of guys on the sea, and you depend on and lean on them to get you through the hard times,” he said. “Working towards the same goal is what we did when I was here (at Salem High), and looking back on it now it’s one of the better times in my life.”
The Mullarkey sisters grew up playing volleyball before Salem High even offered the sport and still making it a big part of their lives. Their favorite memories from playing for the Witches both revolve around team success.
“Senior Night against Beverly,” Sarah Mullarkey said. “We beat them to help secure a share of the (NEC) title and go on to the playoffs in just our fourth year as a program. That was special.”
Hannah, who as a defensive player at libero specialized in getting to ball to her older sister, is now the assistant director at a volleyball club in Danvers.
“My own senior year, we went 13-7 and hosted a playoff game for the first, and only time, in school history,” she said proudly.
Tucker still runs when he can; he and his then-9-year-old granddaughter completed a 5K in Boston last year as part of a program called Girls on the Run. His own favorite memories running for Salem High are as clear to him now as they were when they took place in his senior year of 1975-76.
“We had a dual meet against Beverly that fall where we were both 8-0; Beverly was a powerhouse under (coach) Fred Hammond and hadn’t lost in 40-something meets. We were coached by Dave Dunsky; it was two goliaths of cross country,” Tucker, who went on to win the 800 title in spring track,” he recalled.
“We got first, second and fourth place to win at Gallows Hill, and I finished fourth. My brand new girlfriend came to support me that day … and now we’ve been married 44 years.”
Much like the legendary parquet floor at the old Boston Garden, Tucker and his cross country teammates reveled in their ‘secret weapon’ on their home course at Gallows Hill.
“We called it a toboggan slide,” he recalled with fondness. “It was a thin strip of hot top that was about a foot-and-a-half thick that went straight uphill. We drilled on that all year, and in meets we’d zoom to the top and our opponents would be hurting. It demoralized them.”
Contact Phil Stacey
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