Wakefield Hall of Fame

 

Steve Harrington

     It is as hard to find a Wakefield athlete with more impressive qualifying credentials for induction into the Wakefield Athletic Hall of Fame, as it is to decide in which high school sport Steve Harrington excelled in the most.  Steve earned 11 varsity letters and the 1987 Daily Times Chronicle Player of the Year in baseball, basketball, and soccer with brilliant individual performances and record setting accomplishments.

     In baseball, Steve was captain and named Middlesex All-League his senior year. He pitched a no-hitter with 14 strikeouts in a 7-0 win over Dracut and compiled 7 wins against 2 losses while batting .370.  As a captain in soccer in 1987, he was the team’s leading scorer in his final three years to become Wakefield’s career all-time leading scorer with 61 goals.  Steve was named to the All-State team, the All-New England Team and was a key to Wakefield making it to the Eastern state finals in his final two years.  Steve scored 1,399 points in basketball to become the second highest all-time leading scorer.  He was a two time All-Scholastic in 1987 and 1988, named three times Middlesex All-league, and captain his senior year.  Steve was a major reason Wakefield won a state sectional victory over a very powerful Wayland team.  “I can’t say enough about how good a player Steve was,” said his high school coach, Ellis “Sonny” Lane HOF. “He was exceptionally quick.  In over 80 years of basketball at Wakefield High, he is definitely one of their top 10 players.  What I really loved about him is that the bigger the game, the better he played.”

 

       He enrolled at Brandeis University in Waltham where he made a similar impact in the college ranks.  Steve ended up as the second all-time leading scorer in Brandeis history and was inducted into their Hall of Fame.  “What separated him from the rest of the players was his intelligence and understanding of the game,” said Anthony Latina, his former teammate at Brandeis and then an assistant coach at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield Connecticut.  “He could read defenses so well that there were times where it looked like the opposing team got out of his way so he can drive in for a lay-up.”  “He knew more about the game than I did,” said Ken Still, the first year Brandeis basketball coach.  “Being a math major, he was so in tune with the little pieces of the game like the numbers and the percentages that he would freak us all out.”

 

     It was a natural progression for Steve to become involved in some aspect of athletics but it might have come as a bit of a surprise to some when Mr. Harrington was named head coach at Watertown High School at the age of 24.  “I remember there were a lot of questions about his age and the fact that he didn’t have any previous coaching experience,” said Elaine Paradis, the 1997 Athletic Director in Watertown and assistant under former AD Richard Garabedian. “But Mr. Garabedian stuck to his guns. He knew what kind of basketball player Steve was, and recognized his intelligence and passion for the game.”  Head coach Steve Harrington’s presence immediately had a positive effect.  He took over a team with just one win in the 1993-94 season and transformed the Watertown basketball program into a perennial power in the early 2000’s by averaging 17 wins a season, numerous Middlesex League titles, 12 straight post-season tournament appearances, and the first state title for Watertown Basketball.  Perhaps his greatest accomplishment might be his six All-Scholastic and five Middlesex League All-Star players he has coached at Watertown High.   “Words cannot describe how good a coach he is,” said 2000 Watertown High graduate Bobby Murgo.  “I know I wouldn’t have been half the player I was without him.  When I went to Merrimack after I graduated, I can honestly tell you I felt that I was a step ahead of everyone on the team because of his knowledge.”

 

 

 Wakefield High School

 
Soccer
-4 year letterman
-Middlesex League MVP 1987
-Boston Globe and Herald All-Scholastic 1987
-All Time Leading Career
Goal Scorer 61 Goals
All New England 1987
-All State Team 1987- Captain
 
Basketball
-4 year letterman
-3 time All-League
-two time All-Scholastic 1987 + 1988
-2nd All Time Leading Scorer 399pts
Captain

 

 
Baseball
-3 year letterman
-no hitter April 7, 1988
7-0 vs Dracut (14 strikeouts)
-7 wins 2 losses
-Batted .320 Senior year
-All League -Captain

 

   Brandeis University

 
Basketball
-All-New England 1991-92
-2nd all-time leading scorer 1632pts
-UAA All-League 1991-92
-ECAC Tournament MVP 1991-92 (32.3 ppg)
-Captain
 
Baseball
-All-New England pitcher 1991
-Greater Boston All-Star 1991
-17 career wins - Captain
-NCAA Tournament win May 9, 1992
vs. Bridgewater State
 
  Watertown High School
 
-Hired as head basketball coach at 26 years old

-12 straight tournament appearances - Three Middlesex League titles

-Three sectional championships - One state semifinal

-The school’s first state title in 2006-2007

-Coached six All-Scholastics and five Middlesex League MVPs

-Twice named the Boston Globe Division 3 Coach of the Year.
-Inducted into Watertown High School Hall of Fame

 

 

 

 

 
Quotation reference

“Harrington becomes second active coach to gain Watertown Hall of Fame” Watertown Tab  By Frank Santarpio,  Tue Apr 29, 2008

 

1987 team

Front Row: B. Monahan, S. Bonner, R. Crowell, S. Harrington, J. Perra, T. Watson, G. Moore, D. Ellis

2nd Row: F. Leone, K. Meillenkini, T. Santoro, J. Anjimi, S. Lopez, P. Broding, J. Townsend, H. Melanson, D. Sagarino

Standing: Coach Wood, Coach McAullife, S. Sheridan, S, Pastorello, S. Harrington, S. Higgins, P. Skulley, B. Purcell, D. Sagorino, J. Ross, Coach Kelly

 

 

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