Virginia (Belanger) Piper
Graduating class: 1978
Inducted into Hall of Fame: 2004
Hall of Fame Category: Athlete
Voted best female athlete by her classmates, Ginger was also the recipient of the Mildred Parkinson Tunstall Memorial Trophy, one of Fairhaven High School's highest awards for female athletes.
On the track Ginger proved to be a versatile distance runner. In her three years at the high school, she set eight distance records from the 600 through the two-mile and two relays during both the indoor and outside seasons. Her outside 5:28 mile record, set 26 years ago, still remains unchallenged today.
Always a fierce and tenacious competitor, Ginger once ran and won an 880 event with one shoe after being spiked at the start. Also known for her dramatic finishes, within minutes of completing a one mile race, she would barely edge out her competitor coming from behind by as much as an entire lap in the anchor leg of the 880 distance relay.
Following graduation, Ginger went on to UMass Stockbridge earning a degree in horticulture, the field in which she now works at home in Florida. She confines her running efforts to chasing after her three grandsons.