Rice Hall of Fame

Last June Kevin was notified that he had been nominated to enter his high school's Hall of Fame.  WOW!  What a great honor.  There are some stipulations.  You have to have graduated from Rice Memorial High School in good standing, be out of high school for 10 years and someone already in the Hall of Fame has to nominate you for you to even be considered.  You also have to have a quality of greatness.  It can be defined as striving to be an outstanding athlete or coach or be of strong personal dedication.  We learned later that teammates tend to go in together, so it made sense that some of Kevin's buddies and teammates went in with him.  I was super proud, but that feeling would grow as the Induction Brunch approached.

In late September, we traveled up to Vermont for Kevin's Hall of Fame weekend.  My mama joined us, which was awesome!  Her first time in Kevin's hometown.  We enjoyed some time with family after arriving on Saturday evening and then got ready for the ceremony on Sunday morning.  The Rice Memorial High School Hall of Fame Induction Brunch was held at the Burlington Country Club at noon on Sunday, September 27.  We started with eating brunch and then the ceremony started.

It wasn't until I started looking at the program that I realized the Hall of Fame was started in 1993.  It's fairly new.  Then I realized they've only inducted 17 years, so not every year since 1993.  When looking at the Hall of Fame Classes, I noticed that most classes included Rice graduates from the 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, etc.  So, these aren't all present-day all-stars.  When they started the Hall of Fame in 1993, they had to go back many, many years to include the best of the best in Rice High School history.  The class of 2013 includes a 1950 graduate, one from 1968 and a few from the 80s.  Kevin's 2015 class includes a 1970 graduate and a 1971 graduate and then the rest are from 2000 and above.  When I realized this, I was even more impressed.  This truly was an honor.

Kevin's former Principal and Priest at his hometown's catholic church was the MC for the event and gave such a wonderful introduction for Kevin, who went in for Soccer, Basketball and Baseball.  Once again, I was so proud!

I didn't record Kevin's speech because I didn't want him to feel extra nervous and potentially beat himself up about the way he delivered it or if he left someone out, but he did a marvelous job of thanking everyone and speaking about what being in the Hall of Fame means to him!  I was so proud of him!  Kevin was a state champion in soccer and basketball and was named Player of the Year in baseball his senior year.

We ended the event with pictures with other inductees and family members.  One of the other inductees was Kevin's coach Gamache, so it was really nice to be inducted with someone who helped shape Kevin's life!

The next day we had a chance to visit Kevin's high school...something I've never gotten to see.  And there was a special Hall of Fame spot.  I was once again, really proud!

For me, this weekend wasn't just about a Hall of Fame induction, it was about a kid who played with everything he had and was good enough to get a college scholarship for baseball.  A kid who chose to go down to Wilson, NC and play for the Barton Bulldogs and then to take a job in Cary, NC with the RailHawks.  A kid from Winooski, VT, who happened to cross paths with me and made me a proud girlfriend and then fiance and now wife.  A man who has a quality of greatness.  A man I'm extremely proud of and love fiercely!  Yeah, I'm pretty darn proud of my hall-of-famer!