I told them that I couldn't because I was still at the East School, but they convinced me that nobody would ever find out.

There were barely any Americans in the NHL at that point, and they only had the six teams - so there wasn't much of an opportunity there. By the time the WHL came along, I was a little too old to be trying to make it in pro hockey - but that old New England League was some great hockey. Those rinks used to be packed every night, and played in tournaments all over the Eastern United States and Canada.

He said to me 'How come I haven't seen you in the classrooms or the hallways at the Junior High? I told him it was because I was still at the East School. He said to me 'Son, you can't be on this team if you're not at the Junior High.' But he'd seen me skate and the way I could play, and he told me I could be on the team as long as I didn't tell anyone I was still going to the East School.

Playing in the GBI League my sophomore year against teams like Arlington, Medford, Melrose, Newton and those teams, and being able to compete with them was a lot of fun. We played a lot of games in the Boston Garden my junior and senior year, which was also nice. I remember watching Stoneham go to the New England Finals in 1952 and play at the Boston Garden when they lost to West Springfield, and from that point on I just couldn't want to put on the Stoneham High uniform.

It's a great honor to be included with all these other great athletes in the Hall of Fame, and it's also a real treat to join my daughter Kristin (a member of the inaugural Stoneham Athletic Hall of Fame Class) as an inductee.

Good humor isn't a trait of character, it is an art which requires practice.