Melvin J. "Mel" DeVeau, a native of Beverly, graduated from BHS with the Class of 1929 and earned induction into the Sports Hall of Fame for his dedication as a fan.

DeVeau grew up during trying economic times and had to work to help support his family. Although he was unable to devote his time to participating in sports at the high school, he attended numerous football games starting in the 1920s, when BHS played its home games at Cooney Field.

DeVeau claims to have attended every Beverly-Salem Thanksgiving Day game since 1920. As a youngster, he used to walk over to Salem for road games. When the games were held in Beverly, at Cooney Field in the early days, young Mel used to dig a hole under a wooden fence that hemmed the venue.

"I can remember Officer Foley," said DeVeau. "He was a nice, big cop who told me and my friends to wait to crawl under the fence until he had walked away so he 'wouldn't see us.'"

As an adult, DeVeau helped establish the BHS Sports Club in 1945 and, to the best of his knowledge, is the only one of 30 charter members of that booster organization who is still alive. In the early days, DeVeau served as the Sports Club's president for three years.

Today, the 91-year-old DeVeau lives across the street from the high school and keeps an eye out for school buses coming in from other cities and towns. When he finds one parked in the BHS lot, he takes it as an indication that a sporting event must be taking place, prompting him to amble over and see how he can lend his support to the local team.

Mel DeVeau is generally regarded as Beverly High school's "fan among fans."

Flavio "Flav" Tosi was a native of Beverly and graduated from BHS in 1929. He was on the track team, but certainly made his greatest mark on the gridiron.

At Beverly High, Tosi played at the offensive and defensive end positions, earning a reputation as a fierce competitor and a devastating tackler. His greatest successes came following his graduation, when he attended Boston College and, subsequently, played for the Boston Redskins (now Washington Redskins) of the National Football League.

According to Tosi's son Steve, in one Redskins game against the Chicago Bears, his father collided with the legendary Bronco Nagurski on an end-around. Nagurski knocked Tosi out cold, but the Bears running back dropped into the 'skins locker room after the game and, with Tosi still lying on the trainer's table, told his tackler, "I don't think I've ever been hit so hard."

With the Eagles, Tosi was named an All-American and once recorded 10 quarterback sacks in a single game against Holy Cross. He graduated from college in 1934 and, 50 years later, was inducted into the Boston College Sports Hall of Fame. Tosi then became the first B.C. product to play in the NFL, accepting an offer from the Redskins, with whom he spent three years before a career-ending injury. As an outstanding local athlete, after his playing days, he was honored with a Flavio Tosi Day at Fenway Park.

Tosi was employed by General Electric in Lynn for 35 years, and passed away in 1994 at the age of 82. His widow, Lana, lives in Danvers, and the couple had five children, Steve (who still resides in Beverly), Sue Ellen, Lana Catherine, Phil and Patricia.

Columbus "Charlie" Pelonzi, a Beverly High School graduate from the Class of 1933, played and coached football for his hometown team.

He played quarterback for the BHS gridiron guys, but gained greater fame at the school as a 15-year defensive coach during the head coaching days of Charlie Walsh, another of this year's BHS Sports Hall of Fame inductees. Pelonzi gained a reputation as a savvy improviser of defensive plans, employing unique schemes that left later generations of sideline strategists recognizing him as being ahead of his time. Pelonzi was also noted for his incisive work as a scout.

After graduating from BHS, he attended St. Anselm's College in N.H. on a four-year football scholarship. As a freshman defensive back there, Pelonzi played a game opposite Boston College's Flavio Tosi, a former Beverly neighbor and another fellow inductee into the BHS Sports Hall of Fame. He graduated from college in 1937, and was inducted into St. Anselm's Sports Hall of Fame in 1989.

Pelonzi was a teacher in Beverly public schools for 35 years. His wife, Aurelia, passed away eight years ago. At the age of 88, he currently resides in Rhode Island.

Hugh "Hughie" Nelson, a native of Scotland and a 1937 graduate of Beverly High School, made his sporting mark on the football and baseball teams, both of which he captained in his senior year.

The highlight of his athletic career with the Orange and Black came during the 1935 Thanksgiving Day football game against Salem. Beverly hadn't scored a single point against their rivals in nine years of play, but Nelson broke that scoreless streak by catching a touchdown pass. It represented a moral victory for Beverly, despite a 25-6 setback.

Nelson was scouted by the Detroit Tigers major league baseball team during the spring of his senior year. That organization drafted him after high school and he played on the Tigers' minor league team in Pocomoke, Md., in 1938-39. He also spent time, as a young adult, playing football for town teams in Danvers, Haverhill, Ipswich and Peabody.

Nelson, widely regarded as a gentleman, worked as a molder in the foundry at the United Shoe Machinery Corp. Now, at the age of 84, he lives in Beverly with his wife of 55 years, Peggy (nee Healey, from the BHS Class of 1944).

Charles "Charlie" Walsh, for generations of Beverly High School football players, will forever be known simply as "Coach," and is still spoken of with utmost respect whenever people reminisce about BHS teams of the past.

In 15 seasons at Beverly's helm, from 1944 through 1958, Walsh's teams compiled a remarkable regular season record of 95-33-7. In 1948, four years after he was recruited by Beverly High School, he led the team to its first undefeated season. Beverly beat Salem 10 times in Walsh's 15 seasons on the sidelines, including eight of the last nine.

During his playing days, Walsh toiled for Abington High School as a guard, tackle and halfback. He graduated from Georgetown University and played a season of professional football for the Buffalo Bears, concurrently coaching at Seneca Vocational High School in Buffalo, N.Y. He later returned to Abington and coached his alma mater for 13 years.

Walsh brought renewal to a Beverly football program that had become used to losing. He took eager boys and molded them into young men with self respect and pride in their school and community.

Although Walsh passed away in 1992, at the age of 86, he is remembered annually with a scholarship presented to a BHS senior football player in his name.

Robert "Robbie" Robinson, a native of Beverly, graduated from BHS in 1946 with a long athletic resume that included participation in football, baseball, basketball, track and golf. In his three years of representing the Orange and Black, the versatile Robinson earned 13 varsity letters, five in his senior year.

He was named to the All-North Shore football team in 1944, at the age of 15. That season, in the Thanksgiving Day game against Salem, Robinson completed 10 of 21 passes for 143 yards. The Boston Record newspaper included Robinson on its All-Scholastic football roster in 1945, and he was awarded the coveted Beverly Sports Club scholarship in 1946.

Robinson went on to play football for the University of Missouri and, as a sophomore, played in the 1949 Gator Bowl. After transferring to Georgia Tech, he took the field for the undefeated Ramblin' Wreck in 1951 and played in the 1952 Orange Bowl.

Robinson worked for Bostik, the chemical division of United Shoe Machinery Corp., and operated Robinson's Homemade Ice Cream in Ipswich. At the age of 73, he is a golf pro at the Candlewood Golf Course in Ipswich, the town in which he now resides.

Kenneth "Sandy" Kessaris, a native of Wenham, graduated from Beverly High School in 1949 after a stellar sporting career with the Orange and Black.

In baseball, in 1949, he batted .541 (33 for 61) and was named first-string first baseman on the Boston Herald-American and Boston Post newspapers' All-Scholastic teams. On the gridiron, Kessaris' most memorable season was spent as a member of the undefeated 1948 team. He was voted Most Valuable Player of his team that year, and was subsequently named to the All-North Shore roster. Kessaris also played three seasons for the BHS basketball team.

After high school, Kessaris attended Wilbraham Academy for one year before going on to play football at Brown University where, in 1952, he was named first-string halfback on the All-New England collegiate team. He was the Brown's leading rusher and receiver in his sophomore and junior years. In his senior year, following the death of his father, he accepted Unsung Hero recognition from the football team. After graduating, Kessaris was offered a contract by the Los Angeles Dodgers major league baseball team.

Kessaris worked for Jordan Marsh in Mass., and Item House, Inc., in N.Y. At the age of 72, he resides with Sylvia, his wife of 28 years, in Wenham, but spends winters in Florida.

Roy Norden didn't attend Beverly High School, but is welcomed into the Sports Hall of Fame for 33 years of service as a teacher, coach and athletic director.

Norden coached lacrosse and football, spending 16 years (1959-74) in the latter role. He directed Beverly teams to two undefeated seasons, in 1960 and 1964, and coached two other teams that went 8-1. His most memorable game was a defeat of Watertown, a contest that featured a match-up between teams that stood 8-0 before the kickoff.

For his football coaching career, which also included 11 years' worth of gridiron guidance in Wareham, Stoughton and Marlborough, as well as several sideline stints for North Shore area all-star teams, he was named to the Massachusetts High School Football Coaches Association's Hall of Fame.

A dedicated community volunteer, Norden was chairman of the American Cancer Society's Cancer Crusade fundraiser for 10 years, and has served Hospice of the North Shore since 1988. He will be recognized, later this month, as a Community Hero by the Greater Beverly Chapter of the American Red Cross.

Norden, 77, is a native of Boston, attended Boston English H.S., and resides in Beverly with Marilyn, his wife of 52 years.

Charles H. "Charlie" Woods graduated from Beverly High School in 1958 and has earned a place in the Sports Hall of Fame as a devoted fan of Panthers sports teams. He was best known for the thousands of pictures he took of BHS student-athletes over the course of approximately three decades, prior to his death in 1996.

His personal game plan included shooting the pictures, having them developed, and giving them to Beverly's student-athletes, entirely at his own expense.

No discriminator on the sports scene, Woods made his way to every field, court, gym, course and stage where a BHS event took place. So tireless was he in his pursuit of photo opportunities, there were times when it appeared that he was magically in attendance at several venues at once.

At his funeral, attended by scores of BHS student-athletes, then-BHS Athletic Director Bill Hamor said, in his eulogy for Woods, "He was one of the nicest and kindest people I have known. No matter where our athletes went to compete, you would always see that very familiar friend with the cameras slung over his shoulder, walking the sidelines, so very happy to be there with 'his kids' from Beverly."

Billy Ransom is a native of Danvers who began attending Beverly High School in the spring of his sophomore year. He graduated from BHS with the Class of 1950. An electrifying runner, he excelled in football, baseball and track.

Ransom spent two football seasons each with Danvers and Beverly, accumulating more than 4,000 rushing yards as a halfback. In Beverly, he was twice named to Boston newspapers' All-Scholastic teams.

On the cinders, Ransom set state records in the 50- and 100-yard dashes, and was a New England sprint champion in 1950. In baseball, he spend three years on the varsity team, patrolling centerfield. Over the course of Ransom's scholastic sports career, he earned 14 school letters.

After leaving BHS, he attended the Univ. of Rhode Island, where he played two seasons of football. Ransom later transferred to Boston University and graduated in 1960.

Ransom earned his master's degree, in health education from B.U., and later taught at Woburn High School and Malden Catholic High School. He is a union bricklayer of 43 years, and currently resides in Lynn with his wife of 24 years, Patty.

Frederick "Fred" Hammond, a native of Beverly who graduated with the Beverly High School Class of 1953, ran cross country and track, but made a far greater impact on BHS sports by coaching those teams and their individual performers to numerous successes.

Hammond coached 20 seasons of cross country, 17 seasons of indoor track, and 11 seasons of outdoor track. His astonishing composite coaching record was 354-39-3, racked up between 1963 and 1982. The day after the Lodge Field House opened in 1964, Hammond's indoor track team embarked on a four-year, 28-meet winning streak, despite facing an independent schedule of opponents that included several Boston-area schools that were significantly larger than BHS.

Hammond coached 16 individual boys state champions, guided two spring relay quartets to state championships in 1965 and 1966, and a relay team to a New England title in 1967. He was also instrumental in establishing the first girls track team at BHS in 1973, and was inducted into Massachusetts Track Coaches Hall of Fame in 1987.

Hammond, 67, also served BHS as a history teacher for 38 years, and currently resides in Hamilton with his wife of 44 years, Gay.

Emily (Witwicki) Morency, a native of Beverly, was the only woman chosen by the BHS Sports Hall of Fame Nominating Committee. A graduate with the Beverly High School Class of 1959, she played basketball when it was the only interscholastic game for girls.

During Morency's playing days, there were six girls on a team. Three girls had to stay in the back court, three were restricted to the front court, and only two dribbles were allowed per player possession.

Rules like those made Morency's single-game scoring record for BHS basketball, boys or girls, extraordinary. In a 1959 game against Saugus, she connected on 18 field goals and nine free throws for 45 points.

A resident of Beverly, Morency still occasionally crosses paths and reminisces with Claudette (Tache) Turner, who was a senior teammate of hers when Morency was a sophomore. It was Turner whose record of 37 points in a single game was broken by Morency.

Morency, 61, was an honors student at BHS and later at Salem State College. She was a teacher in Beverly public schools for 23 years, and has been married to her husband Roger, for 37 years.

William "Bill" Hamor, a member of Beverly High School's Class of 1959, played football, ice hockey and baseball. He later spent 12 seasons as the BHS head football coach (1978-89), 10 straight of which were winning campaigns. He subsequently became the school's athletic director.

After a successful athletic career in Beverly, Hamor played football for Northern Michigan University, where he was named an Associated Press All-State defensive tackle. He earned a master's degree from Eastern Michigan University, while serving as a graduate assistant for the football program there. Hamor returned to Massachusetts in 1968 to coach football at Lynn Classical High School, and served as an assistant in Beverly and Danvers before being named the Panthers' top man.

Hamor guided the Panthers to the Northeastern Conference crown three times, earning a trip to the Division 2 Super Bowl in 1988, the first year Beverly rolled up a 10-0 regular season.

Hamor coached the Agganis All-Stars ('82) and the Shriners All-Stars ('85), and was named NEC Football Coach of the Year in 1988. He was inducted into the Massachusetts High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1999.

Hamor, 62, is retired and lives in Beverly with his wife of 39 years, Carol.

Jeffrey R. Forbes was a graduate with the Beverly High School Class of 1960. He played a starring role on Golden Warriors (the BHS nickname at the time) football and baseball teams from 1957-60, and had the unenviable task of quarterbacking the 1959 team. Beverly had been undefeated the year before and was trying to adapt to the program of a first-year head coach by the name of Roy Norden, also a Sports Hall of Fame inductee this year.

Forbes, remembered by Norden as a "nice boy and a very coachable player," led Beverly to a 5-4 record in his senior season. In the most extraordinary football game of his BHS career, he kept the Panthers competitive in the tooth-and-nail 1959 Thanksgiving Day game, won by Salem, 2-0. Serving the team as punter as well as QB, Forbes was able to unload a liberating 70-yard punt from deep in the Panthers' own territory. One of his later punts was blocked, which led to the Witches' winning points, but that only allowed the strength of Forbes' character to shine through.

After BHS, he attended Harvard and played Crimson football for two years before graduating in 1964. As a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army, he served in Vietnam and was awarded three Bronze Stars for heroism and valor. Forbes died in 1991 after a courageous 13-year battle with cancer.

Robert "Rocky" Ellis, a native of Boston, graduated from Beverly High School with the Class of 1962 after achieving significant successes in football and track.

Excelling in track, he competed in the 1962 Nationals at Madison Square Garden, having made the trip with teammate Bill Norris, another inductee in the BHS Sports Hall of Fame. Ellis finished second in the high jump, clearing 6-5 1/2, a school record that stood for four decades. On the BHS track team, the versatile Ellis also competed in the quarter-mile, 220-yard dash, the shot put and any other events as requested

Ellis attended the University of Massachusetts on a football scholarship, and played for two Yankee Conference championship teams. He began his collegiate sports career as a sophomore end for the Fighting Redmen, and was later shifted to a running back position. In all of his athletic endeavors, Ellis gained a reputation for being a tremendous competitor.

Ellis, 58, is a self-employed painter whose resume includes teaching in the Danvers public school system for 20 years. He resides in Beverly with his wife of eight years, Laura.

Walter "Walt" Grant is a native of Beverly who graduated with the BHS Class of 1962. He competed in football, basketball and track at the high school.

On the gridiron, Grant led the team in rushing in 1960 and 1961. The 1960 team was undefeated. In the summer after his senior year, he starred for the North squad in the Harry Agganis All-Star football game, running for two touchdowns and playing on both sides of the ball the entire game.

In basketball, Grant was a two-year starter. He was not an exceptional scorer, but earned his spot on the team as an outstanding rebounder and a daunting presence under the basket. In track, in his senior year, he established the BHS record in the 440-yard race (49 seconds flat) and qualified for the All-New England Meet.

After graduating BHS, Grant attended Harvard University, where he was a three-year starter in football and lacrosse. He was an Honorable Mention All-American in football in his sophomore season, and was named to the weekly Coaches All-East team several times during his pigskin career with the Crimson.

Grant, 58, lives in Downingtown, Pa., and is a hedge fund investment consultant.

William "Bill" Norris was on the run throughout his four-year athletic career at Beverly High School. A graduate with the Class of 1962, the Beverly native excelled as a member of the cross country and track teams.

Norris was a Class A state champion in cross country in his junior and senior years, a state champion in the mile in indoor track those same years, and a state champion in the mile in outdoor track in his sophomore, junior and senior years. As a senior, he was invited to compete in the indoor mile at the 1962 National Schoolboy Championship Meet at Madison Square Garden in New York City, where he placed second.

Norris' sporting accomplishments at BHS earned him a full scholarship to Boston College. While with the Eagles, he was an IC4A (Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America) three-year champion in the steeplechase. Norris also qualified for the IC4As in cross country, and was in two Summer Olympic trials, competing in the steeplechase in 1968 and in the marathon in 1972.

Norris, 58, lives in Washington State. He works in land development in Oregon, and is a wholesaler of Christmas trees in New York City.

David "Bippy" Manuel, from the Beverly High School Class of 1963, shared his sporting skills on the football, basketball, baseball and track teams. A native of Beverly and a current resident, he was an assistant coach for Panthers football last fall.

During three seasons on the gridiron, Manuel played quarterback and halfback on teams that went 9-0, 8-1 and 8-1. In his sophomore season, Beverly won the championship of Class A (the equivalent of Division 1 today), and shared the title with Everett in his senior season. He was named to the Boston Record-American's All-Scholastic team in 1962.

Manuel started for Beverly's undefeated 1962-63 basketball team, and was named an Essex County League All-Star in basketball and baseball. In one season on the track team, he qualified for the All-State Meet in the 100-yard dash and broad jump.

In 1967, Manuel was invited to try out for the Boston Patriots professional football team, as well as for the Cleveland Indians major league baseball team. He spent two years with the semi-pro New Hampshire Colts of the Eastern Football League.

Manuel is employed as a customer service representative at General Electric in Lynn.

David "Dave" Tomeo is a native of Beverly and graduated with the Class of 1965 at Beverly High School, where he played football and baseball.

On the gridiron in 1964, he was a tri-captain of the undefeated 1964 team and led Class A (the equivalent of Division 1 today) in scoring. In his final game for BHS, he scored four touchdowns against Salem and gained more than 200 yards, averaging 12 yards per carry. For his efforts that season, Boston newspapers unanimously named him a first-team All-Scholastic fullback.

After graduating from BHS, Tomeo attended Western Junior College (Ariz.) in 1967 and started as a freshman  on offense and defense.  Was named junior college all amercan as a defensive back on the number 1 junior college team in the country.  In 1969, he was a starting DB for the U.S. Marines football team at Quantico, Va., and went to the Univ. of Tampa (Fla.) from 1970-72. There, he started as a sophomore and led the team in tackles. The Spartans went 10-1 that year and became the No. 1 Small College team in the country in 1970  and a  triumph in the Tangerine Bowl in 1972.  In 2002, he was inducted into the University of Tampa Athletic Hall of Fame.

At 56, Tomeo, a commercial real estate broker, lives in Tampa with his wife of 24 years, Carol. They have a son Jon, 22, and a daughter Katie, 19.

Stuart K. "Stu" Irving shared his athletic skills in baseball and ice hockey at Beverly High School with the Class of 1969.

Irving, a Beverly native, was an outstanding hockey player at BHS, but gained fame as a member of the U.S. national team that won a Silver Medal at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan.

After leaving BHS, Irving played Junior A hockey in Canada before serving 18 months with the U.S. Army in Vietnam. Following his Olympic stint, he signed his first professional hockey contract with the Minnesota North Stars, launching an 11-year minor league career.

Irving skated for the Saginaw Gears of the International Hockey League (1972-1979), and with the IHL's Grand Rapids Owls and Muskegon Mohawks from 1979 until his retirement as a player in 1982. He was a player/coach during his last season in Muskegon, and signed on as an assistant coach at Merrimack College in N. Andover in the fall of 1984. He has remained in that role ever since.

Irving, 54, lives in Beverly with his wife of 16 years, Debbie. They have a daughter, Ashley, 13, and a son, Andrew, 8.

William P. "Bill" Gilligan graduated from Beverly High School in 1972, but not before rewriting the Panthers' record books as a three-year member of the ice hockey team, which he captained in his senior season.

In the 1971-72 season, Gilligan led the state in scoring with 77 points and was named Essex County's Player of the Year. His leadership and talent boosted Beverly to a 19-1 record that year, as well as a North Shore Hockey League championship. A skater with a knack for finding the net, Gilligan led the Panthers in scoring in each of the years he was on the team. The team rolled up a 46-6-3 mark during his career, which included an undefeated 1969-70 squad.

Gilligan went on to become one of Brown University's greatest all-time players, earning All-American, All-East and All-Ivy League honors. He ended his collegiate career holding the school records for assists and points, for both a single season and a career. He played two seasons for the professional Cincinnati Stingers of the World Hockey League, and later played and coached professionally in Austria and Switzerland.