WHS Athletics Celebrates its Smiles

It’s been 44 years since the Westborough High School boys cross-country team sung “Smile a Little Smile For Me, Rose Marie” by The Flying Machine.

During the team photo, which was displayed during Saturday’s WHS Athletic Hall of Fame induction ceremonies in the high school cafeteria.

“I think we were all at ‘Rose’ when the picture was taken,” team captain Chris Bogden told the audience.

The 1969 team was among eight inductees into the Hall on Saturday. The boys cross-country program won the Southern Worcester County League Championship three straight years, from 1967 to 1969.

The 2013 Hall of Fame class included:

• Kara Dickman Tassinari (Class of 2003): field hockey and track star
• Jan Gebo (Class of 1966): Football and baseball star, and holds the WHS records for longest football coaching career, and most football wins
• Christopher Devaux (Class of 1988): football, basketball and baseball star
• Jamie Irwin McIntosh (Class of 1992): field hockey star
• Joseph Nava (Class of 1948): football and basketball star
• Dr. Gary Peters, M.D.: former president of the Boosters Association, and nearly 20 years as the school’s voluntary team doctor
• John Schaefer (Class of 1991): football and basketball star 

Westborough High seeks to induct classes every two years, Director of Athletics Johanna DiCarlo said.

This class was her third. 

“And each year, I enjoy it more and more, every single time,” she said.

“Getting to know all of the inductees, and even the nominees through the nomination process is just something that’s so fun, so rich in history. I get to appreciate and learn more about this great place every single year we do it.” 

Current WHS student-athletes assisted at the ceremony, DiCarlo said.

“We feel it’s so important for them to be here, for a number of reasons,” she said. 

“They’re some of our best and brightest here. We get to showcase what wonderful student-athletes we have here. But on the flip side, we really feel it’s important for them to get a good sense of history and a sense of the people that have come before them that have made this place the wonderful, the wonderful athletics program that it is today.”

Nava said he flew in from his home in Alaska, a 16-hour flight. 

“This school gave me the education that was the foundation of my further schooling and everything that went on and happened in my life,” he said.

Coaches Rick Hebert and Roger Anderson introduced Tassinari.

Hebert said the WHS track and field program has “three basic philosophies”: “the relationships that we have with our student-athletes”; to “represent Westborough High School with integrity, dignity and sportsmanship”; and competition. 

“If anybody knew Kara, it wasn’t just for the competition. It was for the person that she was,” Hebert said.

Field hockey coach Colleen Debish said four of her former players attended Saturday’s ceremony: Tassinari, McIntosh, Erin O’Toole and Susan Smith.

Those teams were “a first for Westborough field hockey. They won district champions back to back in 1990 and 1991. That was quite an accomplishment for our program. I don’t think when we were doing it we really realized how special it was,” Debish said. 

For Westborough High, 1990 “was the era of Jamie Irwin: track star. Records in the 50 yard dash, 1000 yards, and one-mile relay team,” Debish said.

As a field hockey player, “Jamie brought excitement to the game,” the coach said.

“Turf was just coming into the high school scene. And opponents defending her were trashed trying to keep up with her tremendous field coverage and good stick work,” Debish said. 

Meanwhile, Joe Mewhiney said Gebo was among the first athletes he met when he became football coach in 1962.

“He was a freshman. He had speed. He had athletic strength. Leg strength. Upper body strength. I knew right away he was going to be a football player for me,” Mewhiney said.

“Because of his speed, I used a lot of trick plays back then. We only had 32 boys on the team. And the trick plays would always be on kickoffs and punt returns. I wanted to make sure that the ball ended up in Jan’s hands. There was always that quick pop, burst of speed, and it would either be in the end zone or it would be a long run.”