Wakefield Hall of Fame
William D. Healey
William
Healey graduated from Medford High School where he was a star center on the
football team during the seasons of 1916-1918 and team captain his senior
year. He chose to continue his education
at Holy
Cross where he was a 4 year member of the football team and captain
of the 1922 squad that had a record of 7-2-1. He earned a Master’s degree in education at
Harvard in 1940. Coach Healey spent 4
years as head coach of the Loyola Preparatory School in Louisiana and had one season
of coaching at Fordham Prep in New York.
William
Healey would need all that experience when he took the head coaching position
for the 1928 Wakefield Varsity Football team who had compiled a dismal record
of 9-42-1 over the previous six years.
At the time, Coach Healey was one of the few head coaches in the greater
Boston area who did not have an assistant coach. Perhaps the greatest 
defensive football team in Wakefield history was the
team from 1931 who only
allowed 12 points all season and suffered their only loss on a fluke in the
second to last play of the game. His
list of Hall of Fame players he coached include: Paul Lazzaro, Lawrence Bartnick, James Landrigan, Leon Dulong and Tom Conroy. In 1943, in honor of the struggle in World War 2 and
due to the small number of players who turned out for the team, he elected
different captains for each game. Coach
Healey has the distinction of holding the job of head football coach of
Wakefield for the longest period of time of anyone, 16 years from 1928-1946.
A great
moment of Wakefield football tradition occurred in 1986 during the Wakefield –
Melrose Thanksgiving day game. Coach
Healey, along with his son, William Jr., who played football at Harvard after
Wakefield, came to watch his grandson Dave Healey compete in the annual
event. Three generations were present
and Dave responded with a 23 yard touchdown run and played exceptionally well
from his usual linebacker position in a 32-0 win over Melrose. Dave Healey was co-recipient of the coveted Shawmut Award given to
the outstanding player in the Thanksgiving game.
Mr. Healey was a math teacher at Wakefield High from 1928 until 1955 then took the position of principal of the Dolbeare and Montrose schools until his retirement in 1970. In 42 years, he never missed a day due to sickness. ‘Smiling Bill’ as one writer called him in 1928, was a member of the Gridiron Club, the Holy Cross Club of Boston, the Wakefield Knights of Columbus and a former director of the Wakefield Recreation Commission. Updated 8/08
Coach Healey’s Wakefield Football Coaching Record
|
Year |
Captain |
Captain |
W |
L |
T |
PF |
PA |
|
1944 |
John F. Manning |
Guido Tine |
0 |
8 |
1 |
13 |
123 |
|
1943 |
|
|
2 |
6 |
1 |
19 |
85 |
|
1942 |
5 |
5 |
0 |
101 |
97 |
||
|
George Morgan |
7 |
2 |
1 |
135 |
26 |
||
|
1940 |
Vernon M. Bliss |
|
4 |
6 |
0 |
73 |
64 |
|
1939 |
Bob McKenna |
|
5 |
4 |
1 |
61 |
78 |
|
Tony Guttadauro |
|
7 |
2 |
0 |
134 |
64 |
|
|
1937 |
Fred DeFelice |
Jim Horton |
5 |
2 |
2 |
90 |
55 |
|
1936 |
F. Donald Parker |
|
5 |
3 |
1 |
42 |
44 |
|
1935 |
John Hall |
|
2 |
4 |
4 |
53 |
94 |
|
1934 |
Rowland Bliss |
|
2 |
7 |
1 |
32 |
64 |
|
1933 |
Richard Curley |
|
4 |
1 |
4 |
51 |
58 |
|
1932 |
|
7 |
1 |
3 |
182 |
12 |
|
|
1931 |
|
6 |
4 |
0 |
78 |
70 |
|
|
1930 |
Robert Sparkes |
|
2 |
5 |
2 |
51 |
124 |
|
1929 |
Charles Wilkinson |
|
1 |
6 |
2 |
43 |
103 |
|
16 |
16 years-153 games |
0.418 win percentage |
64 |
66 |
23 |
|
|
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