Regina Damm
Graduating class: 1959
Inducted into Hall of Fame: 2006
Hall of Fame Category: Athlete
"She was a natural athlete, a very private person with a dignity about her". These were the words that Coach Anne Hayes used to describe Reggie Damm. She played basketball for four years and in her junior year was on the 1958 team that won the Narragansett League Championship. She was the team captain for her senior season in 1958-59.
Reggie played four years of softball and volleyball for three seasons. She was a four year member of the Girls Athletic Association and served as president during her senior year. She was honored to be selected as the "Most Athletic" in her Class of 1959.
Reggie's greatest accomplishments were in tennis and bowling, sports not offered at FHS. Between the ages of 14-22 she won some 40 tournaments. Some of the titles included: Cape Gateway Singles ('57) and doubles ('58), New Bedford Tennis Association 18 and under Singles ('58 and '59), New Bedford ('62) Tennis Association Whaling City Singles and Doubles ('59), Rhode Island State Junior Doubles ('59), New England Junior Wightman Cup ('59, '60, '61), Coles River Junior Girls Doubles ('59), Greater New Bedford Mixed Doubles ('62), New Bedford Tennis Association City Open Mixed Doubles and Women's Doubles ('63).
Don Budge, the first player to win the world's four major tennis championships (known at the Grand Slam) used Reggie to demonstrate the fundamentals of tennis in a clinic held at Buttonwood Park in New Bedford. It was an occasion that she would always remember very proudly.
As a bowler, Reggie was the first woman in the area to break a high single record, with a score of 251. This achievement listed her in the "Around the Nation High Games and High Spirits". She was a member of the Women's International Bowling Congress and was on league championship teams, as well as placing in Mass State Doubles Tournaments.
Following her graduation from Fairhaven High School Reggie matriculated at Bridgewater State College, where she earned her bachelor's and master's degrees. As an educator in Westport, Reggie served as an elementary school teacher, assistant principal and acting principal. She retired in 1996.