Two years of COVID cancellations did little to dampen the enthusiasm of the inductees, their families, friends and teammates at the 2nd Annual Woburn Hall of Fame Induction event. More than 270 people recently gathered at the Hilton Boston/Woburn in this celebration of Tanner Pride, organized by the Woburn Community Educational Foundation in collaboration with Woburn Memorial High School. Part celebration and part reunion, the 2022 event inducted 12 athletes, 4 teams, 2 coaches, 3 community members and 3 distinguished alumni representing several generations, into this newest Woburn institution, joining the inaugural slate of impressive inductees so honored in 2019. The success of these events and the integrity of these early inductees are the foundation of a Woburn Hall of Fame Program that will continue for generations to come.
The Woburn Hall of Fame is also a fundraiser; this year’s event raised almost $20,000 to support WCEF Educator Grants and special projects at Woburn Memorial High School. Special thanks to our event sponsors, who helped ensure this success: Silver Sponsor North Suburban Transportation; Bronze Sponsors Boston Bean Coffee Company, The Boyle Family, Catalano Management/Dunkin’ Donuts, Chapters Recovery Center
International Association of Approved Basketball Officials, Lamacchia Realty, Inc., Rick Metters & Maura Embler and Family, J. Mulkerin Realty, Nocella Paving, Northern Bank, Salem Five Charitable Foundation, Solutions Over Sickness, and Winchester Cooperative Bank.
Special thanks to the evening’s emcee, Alex Thomas, and to Brian Ouellette, Anthony Giglio, Lauren Coleman and Jennifer Gatta at Woburn Public Media, for their outstanding work on the inductee interviews. The evening was dedicated in memoriam to Paul Andrews, former Superintendent of Schools in Woburn and member of the Woburn Hall of Fame Committee. Fellow Committee Members include WMHS Principal Jessica Callanan, Vice Principals Ed Maguire and Meg Patrissi, Athletic Director Jim Duran, WCEF Board Members Mike Martini, Don Queenin, Brian Teague, Maureen Willis, Maria Zeqo, and community members Ken Busa and Doug Lentz.
In closing the Woburn Hall of Fame event, the committee announced that moving forward, the program will seek nominations for the next class of inductees every other year, and will host a biannual induction event to continue this celebration of Tanner Pride. The next installation of inductees into the Woburn Hall of Fame will take place in 2024, with a call for nominations to be announced in 2023.
The induction event was filmed by Woburn Public Media. For a link to the video, to view the Woburn Hall of Fame Event Program, or to orderr copies of the inductee interview video, please visit the Woburn Hall of Fame website at https://bit.ly/WoburnHOF
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