Schools

EPHS Hall of Fame Inductees Announced

Five selected to be inducted at dinner on Oct. 14.

The 2013 inductees for the East Providence High School Hall of Fame have been announced. They include former sports stars, renowned teachers and coaches, a business executive, and a radio celebrity.

The annual event takes places on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 20, at the Venus de Milo Restaurant in Swansea. Tickets must be purchased by Oct. 14. 

The newest inductees include Bill “Corsair” McGroarty, Class of 1959; Michael McGuinn, Class of 1967; John “Sandy” Gorham, Class of 1970; Mark Hellendrung, Class of 1986, and Nathan B. Lovett, Class of 2008.

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McGroarty has been a celebrated radio host in Rhode Island and Philadelphia. He is a member of the RI Radio Hall of Fame. A West Point graduate, he served in Vietnam, where he earned a Bronze Star and Combat Air Medal.

McGuinn is a retired middle school teacher who coached basketball at Bryant College and played for Providence College. He was an All-State basketball player at East Providence in 1967 and earned honors in outdoor track and football as well. He served on the Smithfield Town Council and School Committee and retired as a Lt. Colonel in the Army Reserve. 

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Gorham is a physical education teacher and most noted, perhaps, as coach of the Townies’ football team for 21 years, during which he has won five state championships and taken seven teams to the state-title game. He also has won two state titles as a boys’ swimming coach at EPHS and a state football title as head coach in Barrington in 1986. He also coaches the Barrington swimming teams.

Gorham has been RI Football Coach of the year four times and RI Male Coach of the year twice. He has been inducted into the RI Football Coaches Hall of Fame, the Providence Gridiron Hall of Fame, and the RI Aquatics Hall of Fame.

Hellendrung is the founder, president and CEO of the new Narragansett Beer Company in RI. He was the president of Nantucket Nectar before it moved to New York. He is a two-time All-State athlete in football and baseball and a National Honor Society member. He was captain of the Brown University baseball team.

Lovett led the Townies to a state football championship in 2006 and also earned letters in basketball and baseball each year at EPHS. He received multiple All-State and All-Division honors in football. He graduated from Brown, where he was an All-Ivy League punter. Strong in the classroom as well, he was a National Honor Society member and served as vice president of the Townie Athletic Board and on the Student Council. 

The Hall of Fame dinner is open to the public. You can buy tickets at the main office at the high school, at the offices at Martin and Riverside middle schools, and from Don and Linda Carlson at 401-433-3693. The cost is $40 each. Dinner starts at 1 pm with a reception at noon.


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