The Revere High School (RHS) Athletic Hall of Fame continues to support and recognize athletes who excelled during their high school careers.
While the Athletic Hall of Fame creates a significant impact on the Revere community, the program was formed relatively recently. Phil Heyn, a RHS social studies teacher and football coach, came up with the idea for the program when he began teaching in the Revere Local Schools district in the early 2000s.
“A lot of schools recognized their former great athletes in a number of different ways. Some have pictures in the seats, and their hallways leading to their gymnasium. . . . Some had formal Athletic Hall of Fames; we didn’t have either. When I came here, that was one of my goals: how can we kind of recognize past athletes’ greatness and then try to aspire our current athletes to become one of those people on the wall?” Heyn said.
The idea for Athletic Hall of Fame was in the works long before it’s first official induction, which happened in 2014. .
“I worked on it for a few years and never quite came to fruition. Then finally, in 2013, we got the okay to do [the first selections], and 2014 was our first induction class,” Heyn said.
The process for choosing who gets to walk across the football field starts the year before they are eligible for induction. This is the first year that RHS principal, Doug Faris, was able to be a part of the induction process.
“I got the chance to sit in the room when they decided who was going to be in the [Athletic] Hall of Fame. That usually happens in late May or early June for the next year. . . . In the room are former coaches, like Mr. Heideman, Mr. Pipano, Mr. Heyn, the athletic director and the principal. . . . They make up a committee. It’s people that have been here long enough to remember truly the impact that other people had,” Faris said.
The process of choosing who will get recognized begins long before Heyn spoke about some of the requirements that the athletes need before being chosen for the following years’ inductions.
“Anyone can nominate an [athlete] and then it goes to the selection committee. . . . That committee will sit down, and everyone will have their votes. [The votes] get tallied and [then they] discuss and then [the athletes are] selected,” Heyn said.
The members of the 1966 football team and cheer team were inducted into the program on October 4. Mary Hartman, a member of the cheerleading team, joked about the real reason they were inducted.
“The cheerleaders were the ones who really did all the work. They had jackets when it was cold, we were out there with nothing but our pom-poms, but they deserve it,” Hartman said.
This year is a special year, not only for the 1966 teams, but for Heyn as he was inducted into his own program. Heyn is a Revere alumnus and was a multi-sport athlete during his academic time at RHS.
“Obviously, it’s different this year being an inductee and not just trying to plan the event. It’s super cool. . . . [It is] one of those things where I was excited, but didn’t realize how excited I was until the week of and got a little giddy. . . . The hairs on your arm raise. It’s kind of cool to be recognized for what I did as an athlete and what I did as a coach and what I do in some of the other capacities for the athletic program,” Heyn said.
The program will continue its tradition into the following years of RHS and continue to honor the athletes that made a difference in the Revere community.
