12 minute read
Crusader Life
Holy Cross Legends Remember Longtime Basketball, Football Broadcaster Bob Fouracre
Member of the Holy Cross Varsity Club Hall of Fame, Fouracre called Crusader sports for 48 years.
BY BILL DOYLE
S
portscaster Bob Fouracre always took pride in calling himself the “voice and the spirit” of Holy Cross Athletics.
“Holy Cross meant everything to Bob Fouracre,” says Ron Perry ’54, a close friend of Fouracre’s who played basketball and baseball for the Crusaders before serving as Athletics director. “I met a lot of people over the 26 years I was AD, and no one that I could tell really cared about Holy Cross like Bob Fouracre.”
Fouracre worked as a television and radio broadcaster for 57 years, 48 of them announcing Holy Cross football and basketball games before he retired in 2018. On April 17, 2021, he passed away at age 83 after a period of declining health.
As a child, Fouracre attended Holy Cross games with his father and he often replayed the Crusaders’ 1947 NCAA basketball championship victory in his living room. White pencils represented Holy Cross, blue pencils Kentucky. In the closing seconds, Bob Cousy ’50 would always get injured and be carried off the court by two pencils that Fouracre called “stretcher boys.” Fouracre would replace Cousy and hit the game-winning shot. He’d scream, “Yes!”, which later became one of his signature calls as a sportscaster.
“The fact that he was introduced to Holy Cross as a child and then fulfilled his fantasy, maybe not as a player for Holy Cross, but being part of Holy Cross as an announcer, that was it for him,” says his daughter, Elizabeth Fouracre-Anderson. Fouracre grew up in nearby Northborough, Massachusetts, where he captained the football, basketball and baseball teams at Northborough High School, and served as class president for four years. He went on to graduate from Cushing Academy and the Cambridge School of Broadcasting.
When he began his broadcasting career at WARE Radio in Ware, Massachusetts, in 1962, the station manager granted his request to do play-by-play for high school games as long as Fouracre sold advertising for them; he later sold ads to support his Holy Cross broadcasts.
Fouracre started calling Holy Cross games on television in 1970 before switching to radio in 1986. He announced Crusader football and men’s basketball through 2015 and finished his career by calling three seasons of Holy Cross women’s basketball. He also produced and hosted coaches shows for football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball.
In addition to Holy Cross, Fouracre announced regular-season games for the Boston Celtics, Bay State Bombardiers of the CBA and Worcester Counts of the WBL, and preseason games for the New England Patriots. In addition, he hosted
(opposite page) At work courtside; with Bob Cousy ’50 and Cousy’s late wife, Missie; (above) a teenage Fouracre with Togo Palazzi ’54 at Cousy’s New Hampshire basketball camp; with fellow 2007 Holy Cross Varsity Club Hall of Fame inductees (left to right): Park Smith ’54, Jim Nairus ’91, Ali (Roberts) Hawk ’99, Steve Raquet ’84 and Don Riedl ’63; a 19-year Fouracre at Cushing Academy, with his sister Patti.
candlepin bowling shows on television and was inducted into the International Candlepin Bowling Hall of Fame in 2008.
Fouracre took great pride in announcing games with Cousy and fellow Holy Cross Hall of Famer Togo Palazzi ’54, both of whom he grew up idolizing.
Fouracre’s joking started early. When he attended Cousy’s New Hampshire basketball camp as a teenager, Palazzi was a camp counselor; Fouracre filled Palazzi’s sneakers with shaving cream. The two became lifelong friends and never stopped ribbing each other.
Palazzi remembers Fouracre telling him that he couldn’t have played in the NBA today. “Because you’re too slow,” Palazzi recalls Fouracre saying, “and not only that, you’re too ugly.” Palazzi would get back at Fouracre by jokingly telling him that Cousy rated him as the worst basketball player he ever had at his summer camp.
Palazzi also spoke daily with Fouracre until shortly before he died. “We laughed, we joked, we cried and we prayed,” Palazzi said. “I miss not talking to him every day.”
Palazzi believes Fouracre richly deserved to be voted into the Holy Cross Varsity Club Hall of Fame in 2007. “He’s one of our greats,” Palazzi said. “That’s the way I feel about him.”
Fouracre did such a good job of poking fun at himself and others during his Hall of Fame acceptance speech, people urged him to try stand-up comedy. He eventually did, even though he was in his 70s. Working mostly fundraisers for charity in Worcester, he would say anything to get a laugh. One night, his daughter brought a friend to watch his act.
“My girlfriend said to me, ‘Gosh, is he funny, but I think if I was his daughter, I’d be a little embarrassed,’” she recalls with a laugh.
Gordie Lockbaum ’88 analyzed Crusader football games alongside Fouracre on radio in the 1990s and early 2000s. “It was an awesome experience,” he says, “because he approached every game with a level of professionalism, preparation and a newness. For somebody that did it all those years, he was so excited to do the games every week.”
Lockbaum is among the many who believe that while Fouracre may no longer be the voice of Holy Cross Athletics, he remains the spirit in more ways than ever upon his passing. “He had an excitement that he brought to every broadcast and that’s not just being professional, that’s something that comes from the heart,” Lockbaum says. “That’s what he was all about.”
Fouracre is survived by his daughter; two sons; two grandchildren; three brothers; and one sister. ■
Holy Cross Football Captures Back-to-Back Patriot League Titles
Team ends season with a national ranking, first since 2017.
Holy Cross beat Bucknell University, 33-10, on Saturday, April 17, in the first-ever Patriot League Championship
Game to capture its secondconsecutive conference title and a national ranking.
The championship capped a pandemicabbreviated spring season and is the program’s eighth Patriot League Championship. The Crusaders advanced to the first round of the NCAA football championship subdivision (FCS) playoffs, falling to top seed South Dakota State University the following week. This was the Crusaders’ second consecutive appearance in the FCS playoffs. The team earned a No. 25 national ranking in the final American Football Coaches Association FCS Coaches’ Spring Top 25 Poll, its first national ranking since 2017.
Fifteen members of the Holy Cross football team received All-Patriot League honors for the spring 2021 season. Freshman quarterback Matthew Sluka was named the Patriot League’s Rookie of the Year. Six were named to the All-Patriot League first team: senior offensive lineman Brian Foley, junior placekicker Derek Ng, senior defensive lineman Benton Whitley, sophomore linebacker Jacob Dobbs, junior defensive back John Smith and senior special teamer Macklin Kortebein. Additionally, eight Crusaders earned All-Patriot League second team honors: junior running back Peter Oliver, sophomore wide receiver Ayir Asante, junior offensive lineman Nick Olsofka, sophomore kick returner Tyler Purdy, senior defensive lineman Jordan Jackson, junior defensive lineman Dan Kuznetsov, senior defensive back Grant Holloman and sophomore punter Patrick Haughney.
Foley earned All-Patriot League first team honors for the third straight season, while Whitley earned All-Patriot League first team honors for the second consecutive season. Dobbs was named to the All-Patriot League first team after earning a second team nod in 2019, and Asante earned second team honors for the second straight season.
The Crusaders will open the fall 2021 season at the University of Connecticut on Sept. 4. The team returns to Fitton Field for the home opener on Sept. 11 against Merrimack College. ■
Riga Tapped to Lead Men’s Hockey
Massachusetts native heads to Mount St. James after 13 years at Quinnipiac.
Bill Riga has been named the new head coach of Holy
Cross men’s ice hockey, following 13 years at
Quinnipiac University, the last seven as the
Bobcats’ associate head coach.
“Bill Riga is the right person at the right time to lead our men’s ice hockey program,” said Marcus Blossom, Holy Cross director of Athletics. “He is a tireless recruiter, committed teacher and extremely competitive coach who has contributed to great successes as an assistant. He is ready for this moment. I am excited to welcome Bill and his family into our community, and I look forward to partnering with him as we elevate Holy Cross men’s ice hockey.”
A native of Westborough, Massachusetts, Riga helped lead the Bobcats to five ECAC regularseason championships, six NCAA Tournament appearances, two Frozen Fours and two NCAA National Championship games during his 13 years in Hamden, Connecticut.
“It is an honor and a blessing to be the next head men’s ice hockey coach at Holy Cross,” Riga said. “My family and I are grateful and humbled by this amazing opportunity, and I can’t wait to get started creating relationships with our studentathletes, members of our campus community and our alumni who love this program. This is truly a homecoming for me, and I’m eager to lead our great student-athletes in relentless pursuit of excellence on the ice, in the classroom and in the community.”
Riga, who served as the Bobcats’ recruiting coordinator, has helped develop 13 NHL draft picks and eight NHL players. Before joining the Bobcats, Riga served as an assistant coach at Union College from 2003-08. There, he worked as the team’s primary recruiter and recruited players who would go on to win ECAC Championships and compete in the Frozen Four.
Other stops for Riga included the Boston Junior Bruins, where he was the associate head coach, and the Rivers School in Weston, Massachusetts, as head boys’ hockey coach and director of hockey.
A 1996 graduate of UMass Lowell, Riga was a four-year letterwinner for the River Hawks, playing in two NCAA Tournaments and earning his bachelor’s degree in exercise physiology. He went on to earn his master’s in organizational leadership from Quinnipiac in 2015. ■
High-Def Video Board Installed at Fitton Field
Ahigh-definition 900+-square-foot video board has been installed in Fitton Field’s west end zone to share live video, instant replay, game information and more.
Featuring a 48-foot-wide display boasting 550,000 LEDs, the board made its debut at the class of 2021 commencement in May.
“This video board will significantly enhance our football game day environment and will provide the College with a variety of opportunities to support new or improved campus events at Fitton Field,” said Marcus Blossom, director of Athletics. “This will allow our fans to enjoy Crusader football games in a whole new way, and we are looking forward to adding the next level of entertainment to Saturdays this fall.” ■
HC to Host First Football Game in Red Sox’s New Worcester Ballpark
Oct. 23 game versus Colgate will be shown nationally on ESPN+, live from Polar Park.
Holy Cross will host Colgate on Oct. 23 for the first football game held at brand-new Polar Park, home of the Red Sox’s Triple-A team, the Worcester Red Sox.
“Thanks to Edward Bennett Williams, Holy Cross has played a major role in my life, and it is wholly appropriate that this respected neighbor be the first to demonstrate our ballpark’s versatility as a civic asset,” said Larry Lucchino, Worcester Red Sox chairman and principal owner. The late Williams ’41, a nationally known defense lawyer, was Lucchino’s mentor, as well as president and part-owner of Washington’s NFL club and the Baltimore Orioles.
The 9,500-seat ballpark opened in the city’s Canal District in May and will host 60 Worcester Red Sox home games in 2021, the team’s inaugural season in the city after moving 40 miles north from Pawtucket, Rhode Island. The team and city leaders have plans to use the ballpark for a number of different events during the season and off-season. “All of us with the WooSox are pleased to host our neighbors up on the hill overlooking Polar Park,” said Dan Rea, Worcester Red Sox general manager and executive vice president/business & real estate.
The game will kick off at 5 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPN+. Tickets are on sale now for Holy Cross football season ticket holders; those for the general public will go on sale in August. Visit woosox. com for more information. All Massachusetts COVID-19 guidelines regarding capacity and safety protocols at Polar Park will be followed. ■
Beer, Wine Sales Coming to Fitton Field, Hart Center This Fall
Holy Cross Athletics has announced it will introduce a pilot program for the sale of beer and wine at Fitton Field and inside the Hart Center at the Luth Athletic
Complex for all home football, men’s and women’s basketball, and men’s ice hockey games, beginning this
September.
Offerings will include a mix of domestic and craft beer, wine, hard cider and hard seltzer. Sales will be available at six locations within Fitton Field and the concession area inside the Hart Center. Non-alcoholic seating sections will be designated on both the home and visitor sides; the Athletics department will commit a percentage of the proceeds toward alcohol awareness programming on campus.
“The goal of this program is to enrich the game day experience for our entire community,” said Marcus Blossom, director of Athletics. “Beer and wine sales have been implemented safely and effectively at many collegiate athletics venues over the past few years, and we are certain that we can successfully execute this program at Holy Cross.”
For home football games at Fitton Field, beginning with the home opener against Merrimack on Sept. 11, sales will start when gates open 90 minutes prior to kickoff and conclude with 8 minutes remaining in the third quarter. Alcohol sales during basketball games inside the Hart Center will conclude after the first media timeout of the second half, and sales at men’s hockey will end following the second intermission.
Fans of legal drinking age with valid ID will be able to purchase one alcoholic beverage per person, per transaction in accordance with city of Worcester regulations, with a maximum of three alcoholic beverages per person, per game. A wristband system will be implemented to monitor drink limits, and alcohol will be sold exclusively by Training and Intervention Procedures for Servers of alcohol (TIPS)-certified bartenders. ■
