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Salem Hall of Fame rules could be changed 17 years after Perrone snubbed
For all the controversy swirling around Ken Perrone’s absence from Salem High’s athletic Hall of Fame, Perrone himself has seem to have made his peace with what so many of his supports have called a snub for 17 years. The former Salem High football coach was fired after he crossed the picket line in the 1994 teachers strike to lead his team to the Super Bowl.
City Councilor-at-large Tom Furey has been lobbying the School Committee for years to help put Perrone in the Hall of Fame. But while Furey, who was a longtime teacher and school committee member during the1994 strike, is so adamant about Perrone’s placement in the Hall, Perrone said he is content with the fact that he is in five other halls of fame, including the Massachusetts Football Coaches Hall of Fame.
“I really appreciate Tom Furey’s efforts, but one way or another it’s not going to change my life,” the 76-year-old Danvers resident said during a telephone interview hours before the School Committee conducted a hearing on the Hall of Fame’s rules for induction last night. “My Hall of Fame is going to be the kids that I coached and that’s the important part of my life. Life goes on. If he’s successful I’d be very appreciative but if he’s not it’s not it’s not going to make a difference.
“God has blessed me. I‘m in five other halls of fames.”
Perrone, who has also coached Salem State’s baseball team for 30 years, did not even attend the policy subcommittee’s meeting last night at the Collins Middle School. But Furey sure did.
“The strike was the perfect storm of wrong leadership and wrong decisions,” Furey said before the meeting. “Everyone came out losers, including myself. One of the fall guys was Ken Perrone. We set up a committee of five for the sports Hall of Fame to recognize the best athletes and coaches in Salem [in 1990]. For four years it was working out good and then the strike hit the fan and I think some of the personalities on that committee took it too personal.
“I believe there was a deep injustice. As Martin Luther King said, an injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere.”
After 500 teachers walked off the job during the 11-day strike in 1994, the 22-year coach who finished his career at the school with 151 wins kept coaching the football team against the wishes of his bosses, including the superintendent at the time, Ed Curtin, who to this day remains one of the original members on the Hall of Fame board. Any member of the five-member board can “veto” a nomination to the Hall of Fame on their own.
Before the meeting School Committee member Janet Crane, who chairs the subcommittee said the hearing was an informational meeting to examine the rules of the Hall of Fame’s board.
“I have to listen to the will of the people and other members of the community and people who are there,” she said before the meeting. “I’ve been doing some research and tried to invite a broad spectrum of people to come and weigh in on the Hall of Fame.
“We’re just trying to look at how [the Hall of Fame] was initiated and how it’s evolved over time and we’ll go from there.”
Furey said the subcommittee voted to set up an independent committee to draft bylaws for the Hall of Fame. The bylaw committee will meet Nov. 5.
“That’s long overdue, I think that was lacking,” Furey said in a phone interview this morning.
Yesterday afternoon Perrone himself said nothing will change unless the rules of the Hall’s boards change and he admitted that it would be nice if he does ultimately make it into the Hall of Fame. But he reiterated that he’s had a fulfilling coaching career that includes winning four baseball state championships as a coach in Maine. He also had an illustrious playing career.
“I played on the last [US National] team that beat Cuba before they closed the door in 1954,” said Perrone who on Nov. 17 will be inducted into another hall of fame in his boyhood town in Connecticut. “I’m not lacking for hall of fames. Whatever happens it will definitely not change the course of my life.”
Justin A. Rice can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com.
City Councilor-at-large Tom Furey has been lobbying the School Committee for years to help put Perrone in the Hall of Fame. But while Furey, who was a longtime teacher and school committee member during the1994 strike, is so adamant about Perrone’s placement in the Hall, Perrone said he is content with the fact that he is in five other halls of fame, including the Massachusetts Football Coaches Hall of Fame.
“I really appreciate Tom Furey’s efforts, but one way or another it’s not going to change my life,” the 76-year-old Danvers resident said during a telephone interview hours before the School Committee conducted a hearing on the Hall of Fame’s rules for induction last night. “My Hall of Fame is going to be the kids that I coached and that’s the important part of my life. Life goes on. If he’s successful I’d be very appreciative but if he’s not it’s not it’s not going to make a difference.
“God has blessed me. I‘m in five other halls of fames.”
Perrone, who has also coached Salem State’s baseball team for 30 years, did not even attend the policy subcommittee’s meeting last night at the Collins Middle School. But Furey sure did.
“The strike was the perfect storm of wrong leadership and wrong decisions,” Furey said before the meeting. “Everyone came out losers, including myself. One of the fall guys was Ken Perrone. We set up a committee of five for the sports Hall of Fame to recognize the best athletes and coaches in Salem [in 1990]. For four years it was working out good and then the strike hit the fan and I think some of the personalities on that committee took it too personal.
“I believe there was a deep injustice. As Martin Luther King said, an injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere.”
After 500 teachers walked off the job during the 11-day strike in 1994, the 22-year coach who finished his career at the school with 151 wins kept coaching the football team against the wishes of his bosses, including the superintendent at the time, Ed Curtin, who to this day remains one of the original members on the Hall of Fame board. Any member of the five-member board can “veto” a nomination to the Hall of Fame on their own.
Before the meeting School Committee member Janet Crane, who chairs the subcommittee said the hearing was an informational meeting to examine the rules of the Hall of Fame’s board.
“I have to listen to the will of the people and other members of the community and people who are there,” she said before the meeting. “I’ve been doing some research and tried to invite a broad spectrum of people to come and weigh in on the Hall of Fame.
“We’re just trying to look at how [the Hall of Fame] was initiated and how it’s evolved over time and we’ll go from there.”
Furey said the subcommittee voted to set up an independent committee to draft bylaws for the Hall of Fame. The bylaw committee will meet Nov. 5.
“That’s long overdue, I think that was lacking,” Furey said in a phone interview this morning.
Yesterday afternoon Perrone himself said nothing will change unless the rules of the Hall’s boards change and he admitted that it would be nice if he does ultimately make it into the Hall of Fame. But he reiterated that he’s had a fulfilling coaching career that includes winning four baseball state championships as a coach in Maine. He also had an illustrious playing career.
“I played on the last [US National] team that beat Cuba before they closed the door in 1954,” said Perrone who on Nov. 17 will be inducted into another hall of fame in his boyhood town in Connecticut. “I’m not lacking for hall of fames. Whatever happens it will definitely not change the course of my life.”
Justin A. Rice can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com.
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