Lorenzo Recupero – Everett Leader Herald

Bullock led Tide as captain in late 1800s

Matthew Bullock, Everett High School star went on to Dartmouth College. (Creative Commons)

By LORENZO RECUPERO

Everett is no stranger to great athletes and sports teams. We all know names such as Diamond Ferri, Omar Easy, who both excelled on the football field for the Crimson Tide before runs in the NFL, and even Ghared Boyce, the city’s all-time leading basketball scorer, among many other names that proved their ability in a special way on the field and hardwood of play.

But what do all the aforementioned athletes have in common? They are all achieving Black men.

In honor of Black History Month, we at the Leader Herald would like to shed light on the first documented African American leader in Everett sports history – Mr. Matthew Bullock.

Tide turns to DiLoreto as season prepares to kickoff

Everett Veterans Memorial Stadium. (Photo by Jim Mahoney)

By LORENZO RECUPERO

Everett football’s newest head coach is looking to continue rolling out the winning recipe behind the Crimson Tide’s storied championship history and plans to do so by bringing to the table one main ingredient: Trust.

**ROBERT DILORETO**
(photo courtesy of EHS)

“My motivation [as coach] is to earn trust and build relationships with players,” said Everett’s newest graduate turned head coach, Robert DiLoreto, who met with players for the first time this season via Zoom last week. “I want the team to learn from my actions and see I care about their well-being as student-athletes first,” said DiLoreto, a graduate of Everett High School’s 1984 class.

“My main motivation is to support students. Championships are great, but building relationships is most important. I want to get them to believe in themselves more than X’s and O’s,” said DiLoreto, a major advocate of sports and learning life lessons going hand-in-hand.

In our increasingly peculiar society strapped down by the Coronavirus pandemic, DiLoreto’s first duty as head coach was not performed on the gridiron but instead from his living room.

DiLoreto takes over Tide football, season starts Feb. 22

By LORENZO RECUPERO

The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association announced there will be a 2021 MIAA High School Football season beginning February 22.

The rescheduled fall sports season, or “Fall 2” season as it’s been dubbed by the MIAA, will be allowed to start later this month after the pandemic ravaged any plans of play when the school year started remotely in September.

The safeguards in place for the upcoming football season include larger team boxes, to ensure social distancing, and face masks must be worn by players and coaches at all times.

With the MIAA’s announcement came an equally as important announcement for the Everett Crimson Tide: a familiar face will be taking over as new head football coach.

The hometown hire of Robert DiLoreto, a graduate of Everett High’s 1984 class, keeps with the school’s trend of bringing in familiar faces to help lead its youth athletes, as he joins a group of former EHS graduates who have come back to lead at their alma mater, including basketball coach Stanley Chamblain, softball coach Stacy Poste, and former football coach Theluxon Pierre.

School sports set to start immediately

Everett High School Dance Squad members (from left) Rejeana Guillaume, Melissa Dalice and Fransisca Vales perform a routine at halftime of a Crimson Tide basketball game on February 10, 2020. (Photo by Jim Mahoney)

By LORENZO RECUPERO

With recent approval from the Everett Board of Health, sports teams at Everett High School will be allowed to compete for the first time in the 2020-2021 school year.

The highly anticipated decision from the Everett BOH comes weeks after much delegation and planning on behalf of the school, city, and state administrators on how best to safely conduct school sports during the ongoing pandemic.

Because Everett’s been deemed a red zone by the state due to higher Coronavirus infection rates here, none of the fall or winter sports teams at Everett High School have been able to gather or practice in any formal way.

Since the pandemic started closing schools last March, coaches and players from each respective sport have been closed-off from any in-person communication, making the recent developments to continue school sports in Everett this season a relief to those involved.

City overrides school committee, MIAA holds off winter sports

Plans to start tryouts, practice tabled until January due to rising Coronavirus numbers

By LORENZO RECUPERO

The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association and the Everett School Committee both formally agreed to allow winter sports at EHS to start but Everett’s governing bodies at City Hall put a hold on the planned start date of December 15.

The city is still in the red but Everett High School (EHS) had been given the green light to jump-start its Winter Sports season.

With authorization from the MIAA and a unanimous 8-0 vote from the Everett School Committee, Winter Sports at EHS will (prospectively) be allowed.

Instead, according to boy’s basketball coach Stanley Chamblain, the school committee and the city will reconvene after the holiday break to confirm the unanimous vote or deny it and cancel the Winter Sports season altogether.

Chamblain was a huge proponent of continuing play through the ongoing pandemic – with all the safeguards in place – as he believed a winter void of sports in Everett could have degenerative effects on the long-term health of Everett academics. His voice was heard loud and clear by the School Committee ahead of the unanimous vote.