Eleven days from today, the 51st running of the Falmouth Road Race will take place with me in the starting crowd in Woods Hole along with 10,000 or 12,000 other folks. Some are world class runners, many are like me, we are not world-class, in fact we are not even country-class, or state-class, or city-class. But maybe we are neighborhood-class?

We are definitely classy, though, because we are raising money for a cause. Last year, more than $6.55 Million for 183 non-profits. The non-profit that I am running for, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is a fairly new cause for me, but one that I connected with quickly.

Cynthia McGowan, the Senior Development Director, based in Massachusetts shared the following information with me as I prepared to train for this event.

In 2022 The CF Foundation:

• Invested $265 million in research and care programs.
• Fielded over 12,500 requests for help with insurance, financial, legal and other issues through the Foundation’s Compass program saving those in the CF community $1.3 million by connecting them to vital resources.
• Awarded 4 impact grants and facilitated connections to support programs for over 1,000 more helping create diverse CF journeys and hopefully happier, healthier lives.
• Incredibly, the median age of survival for a person born with CF today has risen to 56. While this is great news, we continue to stride toward a treatment and ultimately a cure for all.
• It has taken decades and over $3 billion for the Foundation to achieve the results we have today.

Recently, when I was in New Orleans, I met another alum from the University of Massachusetts who also played soccer there as an undergraduate.

It got me remembering my days as a young world class athlete, and in particular my first game as a freshman soccer player. And, as loyal readers know, when I reminisce, a Wednesday Weblog can’t be far behind.

This story starts in high school. My three best friends, Joe, Jackie and Billy all played soccer throughout high school. Joe and Bill also played hockey with me. 

I remember that my senior year, I decided to try out for the soccer team and made it. Joe, Jackie and Billy were accomplished players and starters on the team, I was an occasional substitution who, for whatever reason, could kick with both feet. (Side note: if you have a child or grandchild playing soccer the best advice you can give them is to learn to kick with the non-dominant foot).

I played enough and did enough to ask Coach Carson, the tenured soccer coach at Braintree, to write a letter for me to the coach at UMass, Coach Broaca, indicating that I might be a good enough player to have on the team. Since a prior member of the Braintree High School soccer team had successfully made the UMass team the year before, it seemed like I could be on my way.

I remember when I arrived at Umass I learned that anyone could try out for the freshman team, and so, on the first day of practice, I was on the field with 84 other freshman. Correct, 85 freshman had aspirations to play college soccer and ‘walked-on’, as the expression goes.

It was a massive crowd that appeared to overwhelm the graduate assistant who was tasked with molding the group into a team. He needed to get his team formed and ready for the first game with Tufts University freshman less than a month away. When I was in school, freshman were not allowed to play varsity sports, so it was a true freshman team.

I remember that his first assignment to the assembled masses was simple: ‘Let’s get started by running two laps around the circumference of the fields.’ Simple directions, right? Except that he just told everyone to run about two miles. I wasn’t a cross-country runner, but I was in shape, and crossed the finish line first, and several minutes ahead of some of the other panting freshman.

We had a convoluted practice using four or five of the soccer fields. I left that day feeling good about my condition but less positive about the sh*t show that freshman soccer looked like. I showered and dressed and headed back to the dorm, not quite sure what I had gotten myself into.



The next day at 4 pm, I knew. Of the 85 kids who showed up the first day, only 25 showed up the second day. Talk about culling the herd or survival of the fittest.! With a crew of two dozen motivated, in shape, former high school star soccer players, (with me being a non-star exception), the team started to take shape quickly.

I remember that at the time, the nickname for sports teams at UMass was Redmen, chosen at an all-campus referendum in 1948, by a vote of 620 to 459.

“The courage, strength, resourcefulness, and charity of the Indians helped sustain the Plymouth settlement, which laid the foundation for subsequent settlements in what we now call Massachusetts. Traditionally Massachusetts has honored the Indian – the name of the Commonwealth itself is an Indian word. The Indian also appears on the seal of the Commonwealth."

UMass changed the nickname for its sports teams after my sophomore year: one of the first schools in the country to move away from the stereotype.

I remember that the town of Ludlow, only about 30 minutes away, was a real soccer hotbed and had a large Portuguese population. There were probably 4-5 kids on the freshman team and an equal number on the varsity from that town.

Over the course of the next few weeks, everyone started communicating on the field messaging in Portuguese, including learning some cool swears in that language. Those language skills held me in good stead for all four years I played, although I don’t remember them today.

I do remember, as the first game got closer, the intensity increased ,and the positions started to fall into place. We still did the two-mile run to start practice every day, and I still generally led the pack. At some point in late September, I was voted co-captain, along with a guy named ‘Whale’ from, where else, Ludlow.



My family planned the two-hour trip to Amherst to see the first game, which was also exciting. My first college game. My first game as a starter. My first game as a captain. Pretty exciting.

Oh, and that Tufts freshman team? Well, my friend Jackie, from Braintree High School’s soccer team went to Tufts, where he was elected co-captain for their freshman team. 

I remember we smiled at each other when we each walked out to midfield to take the coin toss.  I think we both got goosebumps as we shook hands. Looks like we made it.

I remember a lot about that time, but don’t remember who won, because for that game, and that date, in that situation, with that smile, it didn’t matter.