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Prep’s model pays dividends

By supporting all sports, St. John’s winning titles at an unparalleled rate

By Zuri Berry
Globe Staff / April 10, 2011

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DANVERS — Step into Griffin Hall and take the short flight of stairs up to the Fred Glatz room. In it are all of the league championships St. John’s Prep has earned. The walls are filled.

Walk into the next room, the Paul “Buster’’ DiVincenzo room, and say hello to all of the state championships the Eagles have amassed. There’s little room to paint.

But lastly, in an old office for the converted steam room building, lies all of the league titles and championships from the last fall and winter. They’re in overflowing boxes. The St. John’s staff hasn’t yet found time to display their latest accomplishments. As Charlie Sheen would say, the school’s too busy winning.

“You go into people’s gyms, and they have all those banners hanging up for North sectionals and semifinals North,’’ said Jim O’Leary, the school’s athletic director and football coach. “We only have state championships, New England championships, and league championships. And there’s a bunch out there.’’

However, the nature of Prep’s unheralded success is, what most observers believe, odd due to its balance among all sports and its funding model.

Since last spring, St. John’s Prep, with an enrollment of 1,200 students, has accumulated seven state championships. So it’s no coincidence that the Danvers private school has its own trophy building and is poised to win its eighth straight Globe Scholastic trophy — an honor bestowed upon the school with the highest winning percentage in its division.

“Certainly long term I don’t think they’ve been that dominant in what some people would refer to as the major sport areas,’’ said Charlie Stevenson, athletic director and football coach at Xaverian, a Catholic Conference rival. “But certainly they’re very difficult in some of the other sports: swimming, wrestling, fencing. In the major sports, they have their years, we have our years.’’

Last spring, in addition to knocking off powerhouse Duxbury for the Division 1 lacrosse championship, the Eagles procured state titles in sailing and rugby — two sports low in popularity and not tabulated for the Globe Scholastic awards.

The Eagles have followed that up with state championships in golf, fencing, swimming, and their first state title in basketball. The school has won six straight in the pool and seven straight fencing titles.

“This year [the win] was particularly gratifying because, as the host school, we got to win it at home,’’ said Jim Carter, the school’s fencing coach.

The football and hockey teams lost in their respective title games.

The mentality at Prep, according to its athletic director — as well as its coaches and players — is that no sport is bigger, better, or more important than the other.

“There is a culture of positive inclusion,’’ said Tony Padvaiskas, Prep’s swimming coach. “The ideals of St. John’s spread through all of their programs. In swimming [and] diving, we never leave someone off the team. If you care, work hard, and commit to the program, we have a place for you.’’

The same can be said of the 20 varsity sports the Eagles support. The all-boys school can afford to support the varied interests of its students in varsity competition, including rugby, ultimate disc, and others that would more likely be club sports on college campuses.

Take a look out from the balcony at Griffin Hall to the east, where the baseball and football fields are joined. The 4 1/2 acres is the single largest piece of turf in Massachusetts, costing $5 million, according to O’Leary. Most field sports are played on the football field. The varsity football team, for which O’Leary coaches, doesn’t even play on that field. (It plays on the grass field of Cronin Memorial Stadium on campus.)

While many other schools ask students to pay an athletic fee, St. John’s Prep depends on its development office, a replacement for its booster club that was discontinued three years ago, to fund the school’s athletic programs and extracurricular activities. O’Leary declined to comment on the school’s athletic budget, but noted that the school’s tuition ($18,695) more than suffices.

“What I can say is that no unreasonable request [from the teams] will be denied,’’ O’Leary said.

The development office raises money to fund all the sports programs. But the added bonus is that it also raises funds for all other extracurricular activities and is an outlet for the school’s parents group, O’Leary said.

That difference in fund-raising has allowed the school’s athletic program to provide for each sport, funneling dollars from otherwise uninterested parents and donors. Whereas football and hockey would normally dominate the flow of dollars, the wealth is spread around campus.

“There are the traditional sports, like football, basketball, baseball, and the hockey team, that have always been prominent here,’’ said John Roy, Prep’s lacrosse coach. “Some people may have the perception that those teams get more attention. And certainly because of the draw that football has always had with the nature of football on Saturday afternoons in the fall, it’s popular. But within the school, I think everyone gets equal recognition and everyone is supportive of one another. So from the top down, from the headmaster down, I think all of the sports are equally recognized.’’

That equal eye view has flowed down to the students, who support each other’s endeavors.

“What’s great about St. John’s is everyone is wicked competitive here,’’ said Pat Connaughton, a Globe All-Scholastic in basketball and baseball. “Somebody might play [a little] in one sport, and they might be a star in another. People compete with each other and it gets people more motivated to do well. Even if you don’t play that sport, you’re behind that person. If a team is doing something great, like a state championship, or just having a big game, everyone just has each other’s back.’’

As the school transitions into the spring season, with its lacrosse championship to defend, St. John’s Prep is poised for another strong season in its major sports. But it’s the others where the battleground is fought for supremacy in Eastern Massachusetts.

“I’m hoping that this spring season is different,’’ said Stevenson, whose Xaverian Hawks are in the thick of the competition as well. “Hopefully it is. I mean, we beat them in volleyball the other night . . . We still got another season to go before we put a crown on their head.’’

Zuri Berry can be reached at zberry@boston.com. Follow him on Twitter @zuriberry.