After 11 years as MHS Athletic Director, it’s a wrap
Published in the March 11, 2016 edition
AFTER OVER a decade at the helm, Melrose High School Athletic Director Pat Ruggiero will retire at the end of the 2015-16 school year. (Donna Larsson photo)
By JENNIFER GENTILE
MELROSE — After 11 years as Athletic Director of Melrose High School, Pat Ruggiero has announced she will retire at the end of the 2015-16 school year. Ruggiero’s last day at Melrose High School will be June 30, 2016.
In 2005 Ruggiero replaced Alice MacInnes in the role of Director of Health, P.E. & Athletics, K-12 (MacInnes took over for the retired Ellis “Sonny” Lane). Since then it’s been a decade of milestones for Ruggiero, a University of Rhode Island Athletic Hall of Famer, who came to Melrose in 2005 after serving as A.D. at Newton Country Day School and Tolman High School in Rhode Island.
During her tenure, Melrose athletics saw a remarkable change in landscape. She was Athletic Director during the building of the Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School and Gymnasium and the 2010 redesign of the Melrose athletic facilities (including Fred Green Field and Pine Banks Park). In 2012 Melrose ended a 40-year drought in state championships when the girls’ volleyball team captured the Div. 2 title, the first Melrose ever female state championship team. Other crowning achievements include back-to-back Super Bowl appearances for football at Gillette Stadium in 2014 and 2015 and the creation of the girls’ hockey and boys’ and girls’ lacrosse programs.
Successes aside, the role hasn’t been without its challenges. In an interview with Melrose Weekly News Ruggiero chuckles when recalling those early days. “Well, it was an interesting start. We had no gymnasium. The Middle School was being built and Stoneham was lending us facilities, which was nice of them.”
Ruggiero admits to growing pains in the early days of her Melrose career. “There might have been a bit of hesitation for others to embrace my role in the beginning. I was an outsider. Maybe the question was; “does this woman know what she’s doing?” and I answered that. Honestly, the last few years have been terrific.”
Athletic participation in the school has risen from 50 percent in 2005 to 62 percent in 2016. A highlight of athletic achievements since 2005 include:
*36 league titles
*10 sectional titles
*1 state championship.
*several All-State and All-Scholastic selections
*dynasty run by the girls’ hoop team from 2000-10
*record-breaking seasons by the boys’ and girls’ swim teams
*back-to-back State Final appearances – boys’ cross country team
*individual state championship titles – wrestling and track
*six straight undefeated seasons by gymnastic team
*undefeated Red Raider hoop team in 2012
*boys’ tennis team – ML title after 47 years.
While it’s easy to point to championships as a measure of success, Ruggiero takes just as much pride in the performances of student athletes off the field. The average G.P.A of a Melrose High student athlete is a 3.5, though many student athletes earn above 4.0. Melrose High has seen two student athletes awarded the rare Richard Phelps Scholar-Athlete Award in recent years (Hannah Brickley and Zeke Vainer) and several MIAA Sportsmanship awards.
The Melrose Athletic Director position also oversees the Health & P.E. curriculum for grades K-12 in Melrose schools; thus, a candidate must have certification as Supervisor, Non-Core from the Department of Education. Ruggiero’s successor will inherit 25 sports teams, an average of 350 athletes per season and a K-12 Health & Physical Education curriculum. With MHS sports flourishing, it certainly matters to many who takes the reins this summer. That lands in the hands of the Melrose School Committee.
“People ask me why I care [who replaces me] but this job requires building relationships and partnership with the community,” says Ruggiero. “It takes a lot to get it all done, there are so many elements. And we are in a good place right now.”
As for future needs for Melrose athletics? Ruggiero suggests a partnership with a local hockey rink that allows more ice time for the school’s hockey teams, as well as securing an additional artificial surface for outdoor athletic play. A “pie in the sky” wish by Ruggiero is a swim facility or partnership with a community-based organization (like a YMCA) to improve its swim facilities in an effort to benefit both.
After over a decade at MHS, Ruggiero notes that it’s the students who have made this job so memorable. “I take pride in witnessing the overall development of our student athletes and watching them achieve their goals,” she says. “These kids have bought into what this school expects of our student athletes. They really are terrific kids.”
On March 23 Ruggiero will accept the 2016 Massachusetts Women in Athletics Distinguished Service Award, awarded by the MIAA. The honor is a perfect way for her to cap off her career as A.D.
It’s been a fun ride for Ruggiero, who cites Melrose’s volleyball state title and its back-to-back Super Bowl appearances as personal favorite moments on the job. And while it may be more difficult to locate the Salem resident after June, don’t rule out her showing up at games as a Raider fan. As Ruggiero quips, “If football goes all the way again, you will see me at Gillette Stadium.”
