John Hennessy
Graduating class: 1950
Inducted into Hall of Fame: 2025
Hall of Fame Category: Athlete
John was part of the starting five on what, arguably, is the greatest boys’ basketball team in school history. That 1949-50 team compiled a school-best record of 25-0 that was never duplicated or bettered through the remainder of the 20th Century or through the present time and revolved around a six-player nucleus.
Bart Leach was the main “go-to” guy with Hennessy, Lou Shurtleff, Dick Norman, George Graves and Norris Drew rounding out the sextet that helped carry the Mel Entin-coached team to the first of back-to-back Class B State Championships.
Next to the talented Leach, Hennessy probably was the best pure basketball player on the roster, and both were named to the Class B Eastern Massachusetts All-Tournament Team. Hennessy was a senior and the acknow-ledged leader of four of the six players who did not return for the 1950-51 championship season, and it was his all-around efforts that played a key role in the team’s first state title.
John was the swing player, who could play the forward and guard positions with equal proficiency, averaged 8.2 points through the ’49-’50 season with his 165 points ranking third on the team behind Leach’s 437 points and Shurtleff’s 216. Hennessy easily was the team’s fastest player (he ran :10.3 in the 100-yard dash) and most of his points came off driving layups and from the free throw line.
John also was the acknowledged best ball-handler, passer, and defensive player on the roster. In the eyes of his head coach Mel Entin, Hennessy was all those things and more. “John was some kind player,” Entin was quoted as saying in a Standard-Times interview when discussing his first state championship team. “He was a driver on offense with a two-handed underhand shot that was tough to stop (and) he was a scrapper, a great competitor who was all over the court diving for loose balls and playing tough defense.”
How tough was Hennessy? “Let me tell you what kind of competitor he was,” Entin continued. “He suffered a badly sprained ankle in one of the tourney games and the Boston Garden doctor told me John wouldn’t play basketball for a month the ankle was so bad. He (John) insisted on playing and that night produced his biggest point effort of the season.”
After graduation John attended Curry College and played basketball before deciding to enlist in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. After his dis-charge John went to work for New England Telephone and married his high school sweetheart, Janice (Tripp) ’51 who passed in 1997. John passed in 2006 leaving behind six children: Cheryl, John, Lisa, James, Jeffrey and Joseph.