Brewster Academy Athletics

June 1, 2013 – Bob Roland followed his Gloucester High School graduation by enrolling as a postgraduate at Brewster. He had been a standout three-sport athlete at Gloucester in football, basketball, and track and continued on that path while at Brewster playing football, basketball, and lacrosse, since Brewster did not have a track team. He was captain of Brewster’s basketball team and an All-New England selection in football. After Brewster, Roland went to Heidleberg College in Ohio where he played football and track and earned a degree in physical education. Upon his graduation in 1970, he returned to his alma mater in Gloucester and became a teacher and a football coach and in 1993 the athletic director.

While at Gloucester, Bob earned numerous accolades including Assistant Football Coach of the Year for the Northeastern Conference in 1988; Head Football Coach of the Year for Northeastern Conference in 1993; a Northeastern Conference Certification of Merit – for Devotion, Inspiration, and Guidance – in 2006. A year later the Massachusetts Secondary Schools Athletic Directors Association presented him with the President’s Award for Inspiration and Dedication.

At the ceremony, Roland shared the following:

“I’ve always reflected on calling Brewster Academy, Brewster family I had a wonderful experience … I had wonderful classmates; roommates were fantastic. … the faculty very supportive it’s like a family, the administration, and particularly my coaches. You had to play sports which was fine with me … it was the experiences of the various coaches who were so supportive and I certainly carried that on into my professional career as athletic director and coach. …

I was surrounded by great coaches … I took what Brewster gave to me … sincere individuals that were teachers on the court, on the football field and lacrosse field, starting off with Coach Wright and coach Richardson … I can’t say enough about Bob Richardson and the effort, the time, and the direction that Bob Richardson gave to us as football players and to me individually. Bill Bradford, he was a football coach here for two years, my year I was fortunate to have him as our basketball coach. (Bill drove up for the luncheon and to meet me; couldn’t be there for induction due to previous engagement).

He recounted how his former lacrosse coach and dorm parent, Mal Murray, who was at the ceremony, asked Roland to come out for lacrosse since there was no track team. Roland showed the audience his 1966 version of a long stick – crafted from real wood and gut – and pointed out a fiberglass patch put on by Murray because he “had a little incident with a Berwick player” which Roland then described.

“Playing Berwick Academy down on the field, I’m a center defenseman because they moved me into center defenseman because the coach said ‘you control Mr. Roland anything that comes in that area in front of the goalie’ which I did. I had fun doing that. I was a bit too aggressive one game against Berwick, and I may have cracked that stick on a player or two. This is during the game now; this isn’t half time; this isn’t a timeout. I’m there with my wonderful stick and from the corner of my eye I see somebody walking down. Mr. Paro was our headmaster. And I’m out there in front of my goalie doing my job, and Mr. Paro walks up to me during the game and – again I was a bit too aggressive. I’ll admit that. He said “Mr. Roland if you continue to be that aggressive, you are going to be on the next bus back to Gloucester. So I had to tone it down there.”

Before concluding, he thanked Pop Whalen, along with his other coaches Murray, Richardson, Wright, and Bradford, for setting the stage for him to want to instill, inspire, teach, and coach student athletes with all the passion and compassion that was bestowed upon him during his one year as a postgraduate at Brewster.

There was so much in that one brief year … thank you very much Brewster for all you have done for the Roland family and me.”