MANCHESTER, NH – The Millyard Museum in Manchester opened its brand new exhibit on the erstwhile Queen City Athletic Hall of Fame Tuesday evening, with supporters, inductees and family members of late athletes in attendance.
The exhibit features over 90 photographs of hall of famers in their prime, curated by museum director John Clayton and museum educator Kristy Ellsworth, memorabilia, trophies, as well as old and updated name plaques.
Several names from 2000 to 2009 were never engraved, so Clayton took it upon himself to bring the plaques up to date.
“The search for photos started innocently enough,” Clayton told attendees Tuesday. “I had one.”
He had taken a photo of his wife Colleen Kelley playing basketball for New Hampshire College.
A group of men led by former city Parks and Recreation Director Clem Lemire, along with Bill Allen and Robert “Bo” Dickson started the Queen City Athletic Hall of Fame in 1989. Dickson’s wife Cheryl Dickson said she remembers their meetings.
“They would meet in my living room,” Dickson said.
Lemire’s son Brent Lemire of Litchfield said his father’s life’s work was to give young people recreational opportunities and pride in their accomplishments.
“His passion was recreation for kids of the city, and make sure they had the best opportunities available,” Lemire said. “That was his legacy.”
Before long, the group grew to include several men and women who would deliberate, sometimes with spirited debate, and decide who would be inducted. At its peak the selection committee would include up to 40 volunteers.
They started by recognizing athletic notables from the 1940s and 1950s, such as William “Bill” Pappas, who was present at the exhibit opening. A photo of Pappas jumping in the air, poised to exuberantly spike a football, from circa 1952 to 1955 is on the wall. Pappas was about 18 to 22 at the time, playing football, along with baseball and basketball for the University of New Hampshire.
As the years went on, more women and racial minorities were represented among the inductees. Katie Gayman of Lexington, Massachusetts played soccer, basketball and track for Central High School. She graduated in 1997 and was inducted in the Queen City Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008.
“My former track coach, Ellen O’Neil was one of the first [women to be inducted],” Gayman said. “She was one of my role models.”
Today, Gayman is a school counselor and former cross country and soccer coach at Buckingham Browne & Nichols School in Cambridge, Mass.
Some of the inductees went on to national renown, such as Ryan Day, Chip Kelly, Mike Flanagan and Chris Carpenter.
Longtime Manchester state Sen. Lou D’Allesandro, a former football star, was also an inductee.
“It’s a great feeling to be with so many great athletes and so many friends,” D’Allesandro said Tuesday.
Clayton said the idea for the exhibit began with the discovery of the old name plaques and eventually the unfinished plaques for 2000 to 2009 at Harris Trophy.
The original plaque recognized 144 names, and the newly engraved plaque added 109 athletes.
Of the total 253 inductees, 213 were men and 40 were women. Since there was no central repository of photos for these athletes, the Manchester Historic Association set out to find as many as they could by reaching out to athletes and family members.
About the Exhibit
The Millyard Museum will celebrate the enduring legacy of the Queen City Athletic Hall of Fame with an original photo exhibit honoring many of the 240 inductees, along with trophies, artifacts and memorabilia from the organization that was an annual highlight for the city’s sporting community from 1989-2009. The exhibit runs from Oct 2021 to January 2022.
Queen City Athletic Hall of Fame Members
Pre-1940s
Hubie McDonough- John Dodie Healy
- Ed Cullen
- Ben Roy
- Bob Chabot
- John “Jumbo” Reilly
1950s
- Bill Pappas
- Sonny Cronin
- Don Sarette
- Bo Dickson
- Lou Kirouac
1960s
- Darrell Buck
- Steve Schubert
- Mike Flanagan
- Dick Powers
1970s
- Don Macek
- Mike Lavalliere
- Dan Duval
1990
- John Bozek
- Sam Harris
- Tom Padden
- Bill Carignan
- Rachel Plante
- Chris Tonery
- Gus Giardi
- Dick Loiselle
- Dick Fuller
- Paul Lavigne
- Jim Schubert
- Mark Telge
- Steve Balboni
- Dave Croasdale
- Peter Reilly
- Cindy Vaios
- 1991
- Walter Tafe, Sr.
- Bob Savage
- Bob Durand
- Frankie O’Donnell
- Bob Rivard
- Walter Rozmus
- Ken Thomas MD
- Ron Beaurivage
- Linda Dunn
- Hubie McDonough III
1992
- Ron Content
- Steve DeGrandmaison
- Andy Dominick
- Andy Wilson
- Al Grenert
- Paul Houle
- Carl Schlender
- Martha Shea Geissler
- William Shea
- Chuck Smyrl
- Warren Tibbetts
- Dr. James Vailas
1993
- Chuck Bournival
- Stanley “Bull” Dubisz
- Holly Flanders
- Tom Kathan
- Clement Lemire
- Paul Lemire
- Hubie McDonough, Jr.
- Bob Moquin
- Ellen O’Neill
- Mike Shaughnessy
- Parker Wheat
- Jay Whelan
1994
- Emile Bozek
- Richard “Yogi” Cote
- Charles “Chuck” Duffley
- Frank Faggiano
- Marikate Kelley
- Peter Poirier
- John “Phenom” Smith
- Robert “Bobby” Stephen
- Tina Tombs
- Steve Van Der Beken
- Gene Whelan
- Tom Woodring
- Gus Zitrides
1995
- Mary Thornton Battista
- Mike Bradley
- Carroll (Ginny) Gooch
- Joe Grzywacz
- Donna Guimont
- Don Huot
- Ken Klatka
- Gerry Montminy
- Joe O’Neil
- Joe Plentzas
- Ray Sarette
- Jim Shaughnessy
- Stan Spirou
- Robert “Woody” Stone
- Lloyd Wells
1996
- Joe Barnea
- Louise Billy
- Edward Bourassa
- Gene Brown
- Kerry Ann Kelley
- Bob Kerrigan
- Adrien (Al) Lemire
- Paul Martineau
- Robert E. Quirk
- George Smith
- Mark Woods
- 1997
- Lewis Basquil
- Hugh Dickson
- Arnie Douville
- Dr. Robert Elliott
- Lane Fearon
- Don Florence
- Jack Gati
- Bob Hilliard
- Tom Hopkins
- Guy Lavalliere
- Kyle McDonough
- Brooks McQuade
1998
- Matty Bozek
- Jesse Guilford
- Colleen Kelley
- Emile Krupa
- Mary Leary
- Angie Manni
- Scott McQuade
- Bub Millman
- Jeff Noury
- Roger Polichronopoulos
- Charlie Quinn
- Nancy Razcka
1999
- Bill Allen
- Danny Arvanitis
- Robert Gamache
- Frank Harlan
- Bobby Johnston
- Mike Kobilarcsik
- Doug Mitchell
- Frank Monahan
- Kathleen O’Connor
- Ken Roberge
- Wally Tafe
- Vic Tetreault
2000
- Jack Amero
- John Banks
- Don Beleski
- Dan Drewniak
- Bob Elliot
- Kip Griffin
- Don Healy
- Frank Kelley
- John Mazalewski
- “Red” McDonough
- Ron Pappas
- John Raczka
2001
- Jim Arvanitis
- Jennifer Boldwin
- John Cullity
- Gerard Gagnon
- Mickey Hanagan
- Steve LaRose
- Lauren Lavigne
- John Lewandowski
- William Meisel, Sr.
- Percy “Pal” Reed
- Jeff Serowik
- Emmanuel Valavane
- Shawna Walega
- Don York
2002
- Robert Clement
- Richard DeFreitas
- William Genest
- Alan Goode
- Laurie Larkin
- Doug Nute
- Christine O’Rourke
- Lisa Russell
- Brian Stone
- Richard Zielinski
2003
- Nicole Fleury
- Frank “Sonny” Griffin
- Sharon Beaudette Kennedy
- Greg LaRocca
- Don Menswar
- Gary Nutter
- Mary Larkin Quinn
- Christopher Schneider
- George Spiro
- Craig Steckowych
- Ronald Stillman
- Joh Van Uden
2004
- Richard “Dick” Bozoian
- Chris Carpenter
- James Cavanaugh
- Kevin Emond
- Joanne Gosselin Bayog
- Peter Lally
- Rene Mons
- Pat O’Neil
- Michael Pstragowski
- Patsy Sweeney
- Richard “Dick” Taylor
- Patty Larkin-Upton
2005
- Jeanine Bleau
- Robert Camirand
- Walter Duguay
- Ignace J. Gill
- Mike Gunn
- George “Butch” Joseph
- Gerry Kittredge
- Michael Murphy
- Maura Fitzpatrick Ryan
- Daniel Shea
- John Trisciani
2006
- Rocco Boulay
- Plato Canotas
- Michael Fitzpatrick
- Dave Flurey
- Chip Kelly
- Gary Leonard
- James Masson
- Tara Murphy
- Sara O’Connor
- Missy Pappas
- Jim Psaledas
- Nick Vailas
2007
- Dick Caplette
- Al Cloutier
- Anthony Dalpra
- Molly Davenport Guilfoyle
- Jaime Marquis Kyajohnian
- Bob Leonard
- Frank Malik
- Colin O’Meara
- George Smith
- Patrick Smith
- Joseph Sullivan
- Therese Gesel Tansey
- Steve Veilleux
2008
- Ryan Day
- Louis D’Allesandro
- Matthew Morrissey
- John Tippett
- Donn Tibbetts
- Brian Larochelle
- James Triantafillou
- Corey Ficek
- Katie Gayman
- Florant Flo Desmarais
2009
- Angeline Alexakos
- Dan Bowen
- Nicole “Nikki” Brousseau
- Tom Dickson
- Joanne (Duffley) Dow
- James B. “Jimmy” Leonard
- Matt Thibeault
- Aaron Tolson
- Ken Wade
- David Williamson