Harry Agganis
Encyclopedia
Aristotle George Agganis (Αριστοτέλης Γεώργιος Αγγάνης) (April 20, 1929 – June 27, 1955), nicknamed "The Golden Greek", was an American
athletic star in two sports. His family origins were from Longanikos
near Sparta
, Greece
. http://www.baseballacropolis.org/didyouknow.htm
, Agganis was a star football
player at Boston University
, primarily at quarterback
. After a sophomore season in 1949, when he set a school record by tossing fifteen touchdown
passes, he entered the Marine Corps
. Agganis played for the Camp Lejeune
(N.C.
) football and baseball teams. He received a dependency discharge from the Marines to support his mother and returned to college to play in 1951-52. Agganis became the school's first All-America
n in football.
Agganis set another Boston University mark by passing for 1402 yards (1,282 m) for the season and won the Bulger Lowe Award as New England's outstanding football player. Coach Paul Brown
of the Cleveland Browns
thought he could be the successor to Otto Graham
and drafted the college junior in the first round of the 1952 NFL Draft
, offering him a bonus of $25,000. Boston Red Sox
owner Tom Yawkey
outdid Brown, however, and signed Agganis to play Major League Baseball
for the Red Sox as a first baseman
for $35,000.
Following his 1953 college graduation, Agganis played with the Triple-A Louisville
where he hit
.281 with 23 home run
s and 108 RBI
. He made his major league debut on April 13, 1954. Agganis had a modest rookie
campaign, though he did lead American League
first basemen in assists and fielding percentage
.
In 1955, Agganis was off to a good start, but on June 2, he was hospitalized with pneumonia
after complaining of severe fever and chest pains. Though he rejoined the Red Sox ten days later, he fell ill again in Kansas City
on June 27 and was flown back to Cambridge, Massachusetts
, where he died of a pulmonary embolism
. Ten thousand mourners attended his wake.
Agganis was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame
in 1974. Gaffney Street, near the former site of Braves Field
in Boston
, was renamed Harry Agganis Way in his honor on November 11, 1995. In 2004, the Agganis Arena
on the campus of his alma mater was named in his honor.
opened their new athletic facility, Agganis Arena
, at the intersection of Commonwealth Avenue
and Harry Agganis Way on the Charles River Campus. The arena is arguably the crown jewel of the $325 million John Hancock Student Village complex, competing only with the 270000 square feet (25,083.8 m²) Fitness and Recreation Center next door.
Agganis' legacy has been kept alive by the Agganis Foundation, which has awarded more than $1.1 million in college scholarships to 780 student-athletes from Boston and the North Shore, including Lynn, his hometown. Scholarships are awarded for academic and athletic achievement.
The Foundation was started in 1955 by the Boston Red Sox and owner Thomas A. Yawkey, the (Lynn) Daily Item newspaper and Harold O. Zimman, a mentor of Agganis for whom the football field at Tufts University is named.
The Foundation annually stages a series of high school All-Star games—the Agganis All-Star Classics—which feature the top high school seniors in eastern Massachusetts competing in baseball, basketball, football, soccer and softball.
Every spring there is also an annual Harry Agganis Basketball tournament which takes place in his home town of Lynn, Massachusetts. It takes place at the St. George Church in Lynn and includes teams from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and even Greece. The tournament is a commemoration to Harry's love for sports and along with being an opportunity to showcase respect, competitiveness and fun, it also helps bring the Greek community together.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
athletic star in two sports. His family origins were from Longanikos
Longanikos
Longanikos is a traditional Greek village, located in Laconia, in the ancient and historical Peloponnese area of southern Greece. It is also referred to sometimes in English as "Logganiko" or "Longanico". It is about 30 kilometers north of Sparta, the capital city of Lakonia, and is also very...
near Sparta
Sparta
Sparta or Lacedaemon, was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the banks of the River Eurotas in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. It emerged as a political entity around the 10th century BC, when the invading Dorians subjugated the local, non-Dorian population. From c...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
. http://www.baseballacropolis.org/didyouknow.htm
Career
Born in Lynn, MassachusettsLynn, Massachusetts
Lynn is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 89,050 at the 2000 census. An old industrial center, Lynn is home to Lynn Beach and Lynn Heritage State Park and is about north of downtown Boston.-17th century:...
, Agganis was a star football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
player at Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
, primarily at quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
. After a sophomore season in 1949, when he set a school record by tossing fifteen touchdown
Touchdown
A touchdown is a means of scoring in American and Canadian football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone.-Description:...
passes, he entered the Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
. Agganis played for the Camp Lejeune
Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune
Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune is a United States military training facility in North Carolina. The base's of beaches make it a major area for amphibious assault training, and its location between two deep-water ports allows for fast deployments.The main base is supplemented by five satellite...
(N.C.
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
) football and baseball teams. He received a dependency discharge from the Marines to support his mother and returned to college to play in 1951-52. Agganis became the school's first All-America
All-America
An All-America team is an honorary sports team composed of outstanding amateur players—those considered the best players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply...
n in football.
Agganis set another Boston University mark by passing for 1402 yards (1,282 m) for the season and won the Bulger Lowe Award as New England's outstanding football player. Coach Paul Brown
Paul Brown
Paul Eugene Brown was a coach in American football and a major figure in the development of the National Football League...
of the Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
thought he could be the successor to Otto Graham
Otto Graham
Otto Everett Graham, Jr. was a professional American football and basketball player who played for the Cleveland Browns in both the All-America Football Conference and National Football League, as well as the Rochester Royals in the National Basketball League.-Early life:Born in Waukegan,...
and drafted the college junior in the first round of the 1952 NFL Draft
1952 NFL Draft
The 1952 National Football League Draft was held on January 17, 1952. Picks made by New York Yanks were assigned to the new Dallas Texans.-Player selections:-Round one:* HOF Member of the Professional Football Hall of Fame-Round two:-Round three:...
, offering him a bonus of $25,000. Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
owner Tom Yawkey
Tom Yawkey
Thomas Austin Yawkey, born Thomas Austin , was an American industrialist and Major League Baseball executive. Born in Detroit, Michigan, Yawkey became president of the Boston Red Sox in 1933, and was the sole owner of the team for 44 seasons, longer than anyone else in baseball history.-Early...
outdid Brown, however, and signed Agganis to play Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
for the Red Sox as a first baseman
First baseman
First base, or 1B, is the first of four stations on a baseball diamond which must be touched in succession by a baserunner in order to score a run for that player's team...
for $35,000.
Following his 1953 college graduation, Agganis played with the Triple-A Louisville
American Association (20th century)
The American Association was a minor league baseball league at the Triple-A level of baseball in the United States from to and to . Together with the International League, it contested the Junior World Series which determined the championship team in minor league baseball, at least for the...
where he hit
Batting average
Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...
.281 with 23 home run
Home run
In baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process...
s and 108 RBI
Run batted in
Runs batted in or RBIs is a statistic used in baseball and softball to credit a batter when the outcome of his at-bat results in a run being scored, except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play. The first team to track RBI was the Buffalo Bisons.Common nicknames for an RBI...
. He made his major league debut on April 13, 1954. Agganis had a modest rookie
Rookie
Rookie is a term for a person who is in his or her first year of play of their sport or has little or no professional experience. The term also has the more general meaning of anyone new to a profession, training or activity Rookie is a term for a person who is in his or her first year of play of...
campaign, though he did lead American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
first basemen in assists and fielding percentage
Fielding percentage
In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball...
.
In 1955, Agganis was off to a good start, but on June 2, he was hospitalized with pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
after complaining of severe fever and chest pains. Though he rejoined the Red Sox ten days later, he fell ill again in Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
on June 27 and was flown back to Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
, where he died of a pulmonary embolism
Pulmonary embolism
Pulmonary embolism is a blockage of the main artery of the lung or one of its branches by a substance that has travelled from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream . Usually this is due to embolism of a thrombus from the deep veins in the legs, a process termed venous thromboembolism...
. Ten thousand mourners attended his wake.
Agganis was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame
College Football Hall of Fame
The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...
in 1974. Gaffney Street, near the former site of Braves Field
Braves Field
Braves Field was a baseball park that formerly stood on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, Massachusetts. The stadium was home to the Boston Braves National League franchise from 1915–1952, when the team moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin...
in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, was renamed Harry Agganis Way in his honor on November 11, 1995. In 2004, the Agganis Arena
Agganis Arena
Agganis Arena is a 7,200-seat multi-purpose arena in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, on the campus of Boston University. It is named after Harry Agganis, an outstanding football and baseball athlete for BU and the Boston Red Sox. He died at the age of 26, from a massive pulmonary embolism...
on the campus of his alma mater was named in his honor.
Legacy
In 2005, Boston UniversityBoston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
opened their new athletic facility, Agganis Arena
Agganis Arena
Agganis Arena is a 7,200-seat multi-purpose arena in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, on the campus of Boston University. It is named after Harry Agganis, an outstanding football and baseball athlete for BU and the Boston Red Sox. He died at the age of 26, from a massive pulmonary embolism...
, at the intersection of Commonwealth Avenue
Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
Commonwealth Avenue is a major street in the cities of Boston and Newton, Massachusetts. It begins at the western edge of the Public Garden, and continues west through the neighborhoods of the Back Bay, Kenmore Square, Allston, Brighton and Chestnut Hill...
and Harry Agganis Way on the Charles River Campus. The arena is arguably the crown jewel of the $325 million John Hancock Student Village complex, competing only with the 270000 square feet (25,083.8 m²) Fitness and Recreation Center next door.
Agganis' legacy has been kept alive by the Agganis Foundation, which has awarded more than $1.1 million in college scholarships to 780 student-athletes from Boston and the North Shore, including Lynn, his hometown. Scholarships are awarded for academic and athletic achievement.
The Foundation was started in 1955 by the Boston Red Sox and owner Thomas A. Yawkey, the (Lynn) Daily Item newspaper and Harold O. Zimman, a mentor of Agganis for whom the football field at Tufts University is named.
The Foundation annually stages a series of high school All-Star games—the Agganis All-Star Classics—which feature the top high school seniors in eastern Massachusetts competing in baseball, basketball, football, soccer and softball.
Every spring there is also an annual Harry Agganis Basketball tournament which takes place in his home town of Lynn, Massachusetts. It takes place at the St. George Church in Lynn and includes teams from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and even Greece. The tournament is a commemoration to Harry's love for sports and along with being an opportunity to showcase respect, competitiveness and fun, it also helps bring the Greek community together.