DALTON, Mass. – As a former college basketball standout and professional player who helped build a successful youth program from the ground up in the hoop wilderness that was North East England, Deirdre Tozer-Hayes knows about the importance of community.

 

And she recognizes a strong one in the town she now calls home.

 

“My daughters know they were born and lived in England, but, to them, home is Dalton,” said Toser-Hayes, a native of Plymouth who relocated with her family to Central Berkshire in 2017. “They take pride in representing Dalton.”

 

Tozer-Hayes shared a little about her life and enduring love for basketball as the keynote speaker at Sunday’s induction ceremony for the Dalton CRA Athletic Hall of Fame.

 

“As I learned about the individuals and teams being inducted today, it was evident that, besides each being deserving, there was a connection between their stories and my own journey,” Tozer-Hayes said. “Through the work of each of you and those who came before you as well as those who will come after, Dalton is a community.

 

“People often throw the word around, but it cannot always be said about other places. A community is people who are invested in each other and in creating opportunities for individuals and the community to thrive. Being a part of a community makes us feel as if we are part of something greater than ourselves. It gives us opportunities to connect with people, to reach our goals, to make us feel safe and secure.”

 

Sunday marked the sixth year in a row that the Dalton CRA Hall of Fame has recognized individuals and teams who stand out in the storied history of the town’s athletic community.

 

The list of inductees includes seven athletes, three coaches, three teams and three members of the Hall’s growing list of “contributors” who helped pave the way for those athletes.

 

This year’s individual athletes in the class included: 

 

• Glenn Campbell, an all-Western Massachusetts selection in baseball and basketball in the late 1960s who went on to play baseball at the University of Massachusetts;

 

• Jamie Chisum, an all-Western Mass athlete in track and field and cross country who went on to be an all-New England competitor in both sports at Brandeis University;

 

• Tim Cripps, who was all-Western Mass in football in 1970, ‘71 and ‘72, was a three-sport captain in high school and played football at UMass;

 

• Aliah Curry, a member of Wahconah’s 2008 and ‘09 soccer state finalist teams and 2011 Western Mass Championship basketball squad who went on to be the all-time leading basketball scorer at Vermont’s Norwich University;

 

• Frank Dwyer, a letter-winner at Dalton High School who played professional Major League Baseball for 12 years at the turn of the 20th century, posting two 20-win seasons on the mound;

 

• William “Mickey” Glendon, a football, track and baseball star at Dalton High who the Springfield Union called the finest back in Western Massachusetts in 1926;

 

• and Suzanne “Sweep” Voll, who earned 12 varsity letters in soccer, skiing and softball at Wahconah in the 1970s and went on to be the first skier ever from UMass to qualify for the national championships.

 

The Hall of Fame Sunday also welcomed three teams to its ranks: the 1943 Dalton High baseball team that went to the state finals, the 1985 Wahconah gymnastics team that went undefeated and won a Western Mass title, and the 2005 Wahconah golf team that won a Division 2 State Championship.

 

That 1985 gymnastics team was, in a way, doubly honored on Sunday. Its coach, Eileen Moynihan, who got the sport recognized at the school, was inducted in her own right as one of 21 coaches now enshrined in the hall. Joining her in the Class of ‘24 were Jim Walton, who coached more than three decades in the Dalton-Hinsdale Little League program, and Dustin Belcher, Wahconah’s current boys basketball and softball head coach and chairman of the Hall of Fame.

 

The ‘05 Wahconah golf team also had a double honor of sorts. Its coach, Pete Terpak, is still the head coach at the school, and he was joined at Sunday’s ceremony by members of the 2023 varsity squad, which the Hall of Fame recognized as its Story of the Year for its run to a Western Mass Championship last fall.

 

But the first people honored in Sunday's ceremony were the contributors. Since its inaugural class in 2019, the Dalton CRA Hall of Fame has made it a point to recognize people whose names may not be as easily recognizable to fans but whose contributions to the community allow others to grab the headlines.

 

“The contributors are the ones that set the table,” Hall of Fame Executive Committee member Gary Campbell Jr. said. “They’re the ones that provide the launching pad for all our coaches, for all our athletes, for all our teams. These are the glue people. These are the people who are behind the scenes and usually don’t want the recognition.”

 

This year, that list of contributors expanded to include longtime youth sports coach Louis C. Allegrone Sr., former Dalton Youth Center/CRA director Archie DeAngelus and former Dalton Youth Center and founding director of the Hinsdale Youth Center Charles J. DeAngelus.

 

While most of Sunday’s ceremony, of course, focused on accomplishments of the distant past, like Dwyer or the recent past like the 2023 golf team, the day, as always, also was about the future of the Dalton sports community.

 

“We live in the best small town in the state, not just because of our athletic achievements, but because we come together, across generations, to support one another,” Belcher said in his introductory remarks. “Today we connect to celebrate our past, we continue to be inspired by our present athletes and we invest in our future. We come together to ensure that every child who dreams of making a game-winning shot, scoring a touchdown under the lights on Friday night, scoring a big goal or crossing the finish line in victory has a chance to do so.

 

“I am proud of the work the Hall of Fame team has accomplished. … We have helped raise over $50,000 the first five years, and we have supported over 700 kids to play sports in this community.”