Six student-athletes, one long-time coach, and three championship teams will be inducted into the Bedford High School Sports Hall of Fame later this year.
Ceremonies are being planned in-person for Saturday, Dec. 4, at the Double Tree Hotel on Middlesex Turnpike. Details will be announced in a few weeks.
The honorees are:
Samantha Cowan ’14, a four-year starter and two-year captain in women’s basketball. Cowan scored more than 1,000 points in her four-year varsity career and led Bedford to back-to-back Dual County League Small Division titles as a league all-star. She then played basketball for four years as a Catholic University Cardinal.
Erin Dietz ’15, one of the best runners in the annals of the DCL. Dietz won two state cross-country championships and holds school records in the 1,000-meter, mile, two-mile, and 5,000-meter runs. She was an all-scholastic student-athlete for four years by the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, and Lowell Sun. Dietz went on to compete at Harvard and Oregon State.
Jay Porter ’70, to be inducted posthumously. Porter was a two-year starter at BHS in football, basketball, and baseball, and played varsity baseball at Boston College. Porter has been recognized annually by BHS since his untimely passing in 1973 with an award in his name presented to a deserving senior.
Colin Ross ’93, who earned eight BHS varsity letters over three years in baseball, basketball, and football. As a senior, he was a DCL most valuable player and a Boston Herald all-scholastic and Lowell Sun player-of-the-year in football. He was chosen for the 1997 East-West Shrine Game. Ross later excelled for three years as a running back for Furman University in Greenville, SC.
Doug Shamon ’79, a two-year, three-sport letterman – football, hockey, and baseball. As a senior, he was not only a DCL all-star but also a Lowell Sun all-star in both football and baseball. As a volunteer, he was instrumental in advancing youth hockey in South Florida, and in 2015 was honored as coach-of-the-year. Recently he captained a team in the Hockey USA National Adult 60-plus Championship Tournament, which his team won.
Elisabeth Watson ’12, who earned nine varsity letters in lacrosse, basketball, and soccer. Watson was a Boston Globe all-scholastic in both soccer and lacrosse as a senior, and she was a four-year starter for the women’s lacrosse team at the University of Rochester, where she still holds the school record for most draws won in a game and career.
Two men’s basketball teams 36 years apart that both won MIAA North Sectional championships: the 1973-74 Buccaneers, coached by Keith Adams and led by BHS Hall of Famer Mike Elias, and the 2009-10 team, coached by Jim Byrnes and led by Mike Ingram-Rubin, both also in the hall.
The 1976 golf team, which won a playoff with Concord-Carlisle for the DCL championship, then won the Eastern Massachusetts regional team title by a margin of 17 shots with the lowest score statewide. The 1976 golfers finished ninth in the state tournament; the roster included Hall of Fame member Tom McManus.
Al “Dash” Dougherty, who earlier in 2021 retired after 34 years of coaching track and field in Bedford, including 25 years as head coach of boys’ indoor and outdoor programs. In 1990 Dougherty’s winter team won the state championship and was later inducted into the BHS Hall of Fame. The indoor teams of 2002 and 2003 were state finalists.
The Hall of Fame, sponsored by the Bedford Athletic Association since 2006, features individual student-athletes, teams, coaches, and friends connected to interscholastic athletics at BHS. Nominees are evaluated by a selection committee, based on measurable and intangible performance, as well as achievements after BHS.
Mike Rosenberg can be reached at [email protected], or 781-983-1763
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