Bedford High School Sports Hall of Fame
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Bedford High School Sports Hall of Fame Seventh Biennial Induction May 18, 2019 St. Michael Parish Center Sponsored by the Bedford Athletic Association Kristen Baratta ’12 Kristen Baratta ’12 has no doubt about the role competitive athletics have played in her life. “Sports shaped who I am now, my character,” she declared. “They gave me a foundation of knowing how to work with a team, of being a leader, of learning how to work with others. Much of my core reflects on being on a sports team and learning how to deal with losing, and how to win.” Sports have been part of her life for as long as she can remember. Beginning as a kindergarten pupil, “my parents started signing me up. I was naturally drawn to the team dynamic and working for a larger purpose.” “From day one I always looked forward to going to practices and games,” she continued. “It never became a burden; it was always the highlight of my day as a kid.” She made travel tems in soccer and basketball. “I had so many coaches and they all influenced me,” Kristen testified. “Their individual teaching and coaching styles have resonated with me.” From an early age, in the fall it was all soccer, in the winter basketball and in the spring softball – the old- school seasonal sport transitions. “Then in high school I decided to pick up a lacrosse stick, and that worked out really well.” In grades 10, 11 and 12, Kristen was a varsity starter in three sports for eight seasons, including six as a Dual County League all-star. Her senior year, 2011-12, she was captain of the soccer and basketball teams, and was chosen a Massachusetts All-Scholastic in soccer and first-team Lowell Sun all-star honors in basketball. She closed out her career with her eighth varsity letter, in lacrosse, and was District A nominee in the Boston Globe’s Richard Phelps Scholar-Athletes All-Scholastics. As a Bedford High School student-athlete, did she have a favorite sport? “My answer seven years ago was the same as it is today: it depends on the season.” Among Kristen’s favorite memories is dressing with other junior varsity freshmen for a post-season tournament basketball game in 2009. “This stage is huge,” she remembers thinking. Just a year later, she was back on that stage as a varsity Lady Buc. “A majority of the teams I was on went to the tournament,” Kristen said. “It never got old. It got more real as time went on -- and it hurt more when we lost.” Right after high school Kristen played in a co-ed soccer league but once she started school, she stuck to intramurals so she could focus on her academics. Kristen went to Providence College for a year before transferring to Bentley University in Waltham. She is now pursuing her master’s degree in business administration at Bentley. She also works full time at Epsilon pharmaceuticals in Wakefield, “I’m very busy all the time,” she laughed. “The ups and downs in high school sports without a doubt shaped me,” Kristen said. “A lot of people say I am very competitive and that never dies.” Michelle Busa ’83 Michelle Busa doesn’t dwell on recognition she received as a Bedford High School student-athlete. “I know that I made all-league teams and other stuff – I can’t remember it all,” she said. Well, here’s a sample. As a senior, Michelle led the Dual County League in soccer scoring and was an all- star. In basketball she also was DCL scoring leader and was co-MVP, as the Lady Bucs won the league. And in softball, she led the DCL in hitting and was 7-0 from the mound, leading to another MVP award, Lowell Sun player-of-the-year and a Boston Globe all-scholastic recognition. And that was just one year. One of Michelle’s earliest memories in sports is playing one-on-one basketball with her neighbor and classmate and future teammate Pam Wetherbee-Metcalf, also a member of the BHS Hall of Fame. The hoop was around the corner in Pam’s driveway. Michelle was playing recreation basketball and soccer by the time she was in fifth grade. A major influence in those early days was Chris Larsen, Michelle noted. “He was the one who would take me from practice to practice. Without him, I never would have been able to a lot of what I did in developing as a basketball player.” “When I got into junior high school, I played on the baseball team because there wasn’t girls’ softball,” she recalled. “It was a great learning opportunity for me.” Indeed, when softball was introduced, “I wanted to stay on the baseball team but my parents wouldn’t let me.” Michelle played on freshman teams, but she never played junior varsity in any sport. She moved from varsity season to varsity season – soccer to basketball to softball – in Grades 10, 11 and 12. “Basketball always was my first love, but I loved them all,” she said. She pitched and played softball for Helen Gfroerer’s softball team, and blasted more than one line drive off the façade of the school building on the old C Field. “That was a lot of fun,” Michelle laughed. “We had some great teams.” In high school she played U.S. Junior Olympics summer basketball. “Most of the players were college or post-college. It was wonderful – I learned a lot.” Michelle was recruited to play basketball at Springfield College, where she began starting as a freshman and served as captain for two seasons. She was named freshman women athlete-of-the-year. The team’s conference included opponents in eastern Massachusetts, including Bentley and Stonehill. “They were a great four years,” said Michelle, who studied business as well as health and fitness. Michelle scored 1,015 points for Springfield, still 13th on the all-time list. These days Michelle is immersed in road cycling in and around Raleigh, NC, where she has lived for the past five years. “I do it for fun and for a lot of benefit rides,” she said. “I belong to three cycling clubs. This is a great cycling community, and because of the weather it’s almost a year-round sport.” After college, “I played basketball for quite some time in recreation leagues. Here in Raleigh I would have played but there are no women’s basketball leagues around here.” She earned a master’s degree in information technology several years ago and now works in the area of clinical child research. Coach Jim Byrnes Jim Byrnes was coaching at Middlesex Community College in the early 1990s – including BHS graduates Phil Kohm and Adam Stuart. He knew former BHS Director of Athletics Barry Haley, who called him when the BHS boys’ basketball position opened. Right away he appreciated the difference. At Middlesex, he said, the players were with him for a maximum, of two years – maybe just one for some transfers. With a high school program, “you have four years, and can really work with the younger kids and develop a strong relationship.” His immediate priority was to overcome “a focus of losing.” The team had missed qualifying for post- season play for five straight seasons. After winning just five games in 1994-1995, Byrnes-coached teams began a run of 15 consecutive seasons of qualifying. Jim’s career record at Bedford was 253-204, with 24 of those wins coming in the tournament. Beginning in 2002-03, and culminating with the North Sectional championship in 2009-10, the Bucs were 131-49, a winning percentage of more than 72. During rhe 1990s the Dual County League was unified, and “we had to play the larger school twice each season. Instead of shrinking from that, we always looked at it as a challenge,” the coach said. “We only can put five players on the court at a time, and we can be competitive.” A milestone, he said, was a first- round tournament victory in 1996 at highly-seeded Dom Savio High School in East Boston. “We had great kids who bought into the program,” Jim said. “We pressed all of the time, so we played more people, and asked them all to just work hard, contribute even a few minutes. Everybody was asked to give up a little bit of himself to become part of something bigger. We always tried to do it the right way. And the players have the rest of their lives to be friends.” “Our goal every year was: Let’s compete for a state championship. That’s a reachable goal,” Jim continued. “Let’s try to get to those big games in March. We have great kids, and if we play hard and smart the winning will come.” Unfortunately, the Bucs were eliminated by championship-caliber Watertown teams, coached by Byrnes’s good friend Steve Harrington, four years in a row. Jim joined the BHS physical; education faculty in 1999 and is still there. “Coaching was a year-round responsibility, and I still love to teach so now I can really focus,” he said. Still, last winter Jim took the reins of John Glenn Middle School boys’ basketball for a season. “It was an opportunity to just teach them how to play. It was a rush of adrenaline – I love the game.” Over the years, he also coached other sports in spots – boys’ tennis, girls’ soccer, boys’ junior varsity soccer. He still lives in Medford, where he grew up and played some high school basketball and soccer.