Twenty years ago, Bill Foley walked into the job of Waltham High athletic director facing a much different landscape.
The school’s athletic teams were forging their way in the Greater Boston League following the recent dismantling of the old Suburban League. While they enjoyed some success on the fields and courts of the GBL, major projects loomed on the horizon as the city’s athletic infrastructure crumbled and its demographics changed.
Over the course of two decades, Foley oversaw those dramatic changes. From the renovation of Leary Field, J. Lee Gould Track and Yetten Baseball Diamond a decade ago, to the implementation of state-of-the-art synthetic turf fields behind the high school and at the old Army Corps of Engineers site in the years that followed, to the school’s move from the unreliable, inner-city realm of the GBL to the suburban-flavored Dual County League four years ago.
Through it all, Foley has been a consistent voice at the school and among the state’s athletic directors. When there was a job to be done, it needed to be done thoroughly and according to guidelines. When a change needed to be made, it needed to be thought out carefully and then embraced once it occurred. When faced with a question, the answer must always be foremost how it would most benefit the student-athletes of Waltham and the surrounding communities.
To Foley, this way of doing the job was a no-brainer. Yet in a state when actions and decisions are often made that make you shake your head and wonder ‘What were they thinking?’ that consistency and responsibility became a valued trait at the high school and among his AD peers.
Last Wednesday, those efforts were recognized at the Massachusetts Secondary Schools Athletic Directors Association annual meeting when Foley was awarded the District A President’s Award of Merit.
“It’s nice,” said Foley, who received the award at a Hyannis banquet with his wife, Jacqueline, and his two children, Ryan and Joanna, in attendance. “It’s a reflection on what you do, but it’s also a reflection on Waltham High School. A lot of times it’s based on your programs and how your kids are doing, how they’re performing. I don’t mean wins and losses, but sportsmanship, how they act and how they’re recognized. In this league, we’ve impressed a lot of people with how we’ve acted and how we’ve done.”
While the most arduous work of Foley’s tenure was likely the field construction and renovations, the most controversial may have been the move from the GBL to the DCL. Many had grown comfortable in the league that included nearby schools such as Cambridge, Everett, Malden, Medford and Somerville. Waltham won a lot of games against sometimes underfunded and inferior competition, and those schools had an evolving demographic makeup that closely resembled that of Waltham.
But as the GBL lost one team after another, Foley determined the school’s longterm athletic future needed the support of a league that put a premium on academics, participation, sub-varsity development and – perhaps most of all – opportunity and promotion of girls sports. Foley oversaw the move to the DCL along with Arlington and Tyngsboro.
Four years later, only Waltham remains among the newest arrivals. But while Arlington and Tyngsboro sought an easier road outside of the DCL, Foley insisted Waltham instead prepare to rise and meet the challenges of a more affluent, competitive league.
“Making a commitment and following through is a big thing,” he said. “It’s just like when someone plays a sport, you make a commitment to yourself and your teammates. It’s on a larger scale when you go to a new league. We wanted to join a new league, they wanted us. You are asked to do different things and everyone here’s done that. Whether it’s our coaches, or (athletic trainer) Debbie Riggott when we’ve hosted events or workshops, we are committed.”
After some tough years, that commitment has shown signs of the benefits envisioned when Waltham made the move. Foley has worked with the DCL to create schedules that take into account competitive balance and the school’s shrinking population, while the teams have responded with increased success where some thought it might be impossible.
Last spring, the Waltham girls outdoor track team beat perennial state championship contender Newton South in a meet at J. Lee Gould Track that was so significant several senior members of the squad burst into tears when coach Francois Joseph announced the final score. This fall, the previously overwhelmed girls soccer program also beat Newton South, and nearly knotted traditional behemoths Acton-Boxboro, Westford Academy and Newton North.
This winter, Waltham won its first DCL title in any sport when the boys basketball team shared the DCL Small crown, while the girls hockey team overcame a 1-6 start, and the girls basketball team won five straight games after a 1-14 start, to both rally into the state tournament. Senior Nathan Pierre Louis won a New England championship in the 300 meters on the track, while junior Laban Christenson won two matches at All-States on the wrestling mat.
“Waltham has changed,” Foley said. “But some things have stayed the same. I think it’s still a blue-collar town. We have some kids who are willing to put their noses to the grindstone and work hard to achieve. You have Nathan Pierre Louis, the girls on the track team last year, and the winter teams this year that didn’t give up when it was very easy to look at the standings and think there is no way they can do this.”
Foley has also be trusted source of assistance whenever neighboring schools have needed it – helping the Watertown High field hockey team host tournament games in recent years as its grass field deteriorated, and offering up fields for DCL rivals Weston and Wayland to play and practice when theirs were waterlogged.
But over the course of two decades, his primary focus has been the student-athletes of Waltham High and how to help them strive to be the better than they thought they could be.
“You can put a spin on anything,” he said. “The best spin to put on is a positive spin. I was taught years ago that you can either turn a negative into a positive, or dwell ‘Oh, woe is me.’ You don’t help your kids if you do that.
“Things change over the years. You can’t always do things the way you used to do things. You have to come up with different ways to get the word out there. I think our coaches have done a good job of that. Sometimes you (as an AD) get credit for that, maybe when it isn’t even due.”
And sometimes, as was the case when Foley received the President’s Award at last week’s AD’s banquet, you get credit when it is.
(Scott Souza can be reached at 781-398-8006 or ssouza@wickedlocal.com.)