‘Spiritual mentor and unwavering supporter,’ Father Gallagher inducted into Athletic Hall of Fame

By Bill Doyle | CFP Correspondent

WORCESTER – Assumptionist Father Dennis Gallagher couldn’t believe it when Assumption University athletic director, Eric Gobiel, informed him that he was going to be inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

“It was the last thing I ever thought I was going to receive,” he said, “and I was, at the moment, really quite moved by it.”

Father Gallagher recalls putting his head in his hands and being left speechless. All he could say was “wow.”

Father Gallagher, 77, never played a sport for Assumption, but the university said he was selected for the hall because he has “spent decades as a spiritual mentor and unwavering supporter of Greyhound student-athletes.”

The university also said it honored him because he “attended countless games and served as a constant source of encouragement, guidance and inspiration to generations of students, coaches and staff.”

“His presence in our athletic community,” Mr. Gobiel said, “has exemplified Assumption's mission of faith and service and he has been a tremendous leader, mentor, and role model for all.”  

Father Gallagher graduated from Assumption in 1969 and he was one of the rowdy students who sat in what was known as the “Animal Section” at Laska Gym for basketball games.
When he and Father John Franck, current associate pastor at St. Anne and St. Patrick Parish in Sturbridge, attended Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge in the early 1970s, they would drive atop a hill at Framingham State College so they could tune in the Assumption basketball games on their car radio.

Later, as a member of the school’s faculty and administration, he served as chaplain for the football team when Bob Chesney was coach from 2013-2017, and at times also for the men’s and women’s basketball teams and men’s lacrosse team. Currently, he’s chaplain for the softball team.

As chaplain, he says a prayer prior to each home game and lets the players know he is available if they need any counsel.

“There’s nothing quite so pious,” he said, “as a big football player kneeling down to say a prayer right before they’re heading out to play the game."

Father Gallagher refuses to credit any of his pregame prayers for spurring the Greyhounds to victory, but he does have many lasting memories of watching them play.

Kerry Phayre, about to enter her 29th season as women’s basketball coach, expected Father Gallagher to be modest during the induction ceremony.  

“I’m sure he’s very honored,” she said, “but he’s not going up to be there talking about his accomplishments or what he’s done. He’s going to say he doesn’t deserve the honor and that’s just the type of person he is, but I think everybody in that room is going to know that he does deserve the honor and that he has had a big impact on athletics as athlete, as an administrator, as a priest on campus. He’s impacted Assumption in many, many ways and I hope that night it’s evident to him the impact that he’s had.”

Father Gallagher takes part in the candlelight service for the student-athletes at the beginning of each year and he gives the blessing and invocation at the annual department awards ceremony and academic awards breakfast.  

For many years, he wrote a column for the Assumption alumni magazine and he often found a way to make a connection between the educational mission of the college and the importance of playing intercollegiate or intramural sports.

He spent many years playing intramural basketball at Assumption with students and faculty.
“Lots of students that I had in the classroom,” he said, “remember me more for my being a basketball player than they do for my teaching, I think, but it was a nice way of getting to know students on another level.”

Many years ago he coached a women’s intramural basketball team called, “Divine Comedy.”
Father Gallagher was inducted into the hall Oct. 24, at the university’s Tstosis Ballroom along with six others: Ray Fagnant, a 1969 graduate who played baseball for Assumption and who is a scouting supervisor for the Boston Red Sox; Kevin Glanzman, a 2012 graduate who starred in hockey and who passed away in 2018; Keith Hughes, a 1994 graduate who was inducted as a hockey coach after he was previously inducted as a hockey player; Andrea Marcoccio, a 2006 graduate, who excelled in soccer; Antonia Pagliucca, a 2018 graduate who stood out in cross country and track and field; and Herb Woodard, a 2011 graduate who was a dominant running back in football.

Father Gallagher played basketball for Keith Academy, a Xaverian Brothers high school in Lowell, but his late brother, Tom, was the standout athlete in the family. Tom is a member of the athletic hall of fame at Chelmsford High School and UMass Lowell for his exploits in football, baseball and basketball. Tom also started at forward alongside future NBA Hall of Famer Lenny Wilkens on the freshmen basketball team at Providence College and attended Boston University for a short time on a football scholarship.

Tom’s son, Tim Gallagher, and Tim’s wife, Colleen, were among the family and friends who were set to attend the induction ceremony. Colleen was valedictorian of the Class of 1990 at Assumption and Father Gallagher introduced her to his nephew.

From 2000-2017, Father Gallagher served as Assumption’s Vice President for Mission. He helped support, encourage and educate the Catholic and Assumptionist character of the university. Among his duties were helping hire all tenure-track faculty and overseeing the campus ministry.

In 2017, he became Provincial Superior of the North American Province of the Augustinians of the Assumption in Brighton, but he returned to campus two years ago to resume serving as Vice President for Mission.

He has also helped out on weekends at St. Rose of Lima Parish in Northborough for many years.

Father Gallagher isn’t the first individual to be inducted into Assumption’s Athletic Hall of Fame for supporting the athletic program. In fact, he knew Brother Armand Lemaire, a 1948 graduate who spent 40 years as the university’s assistant treasurer and was described as the athletic department’s “most ardent cheerleader” when he was inducted in 2008.

Father Gallagher has been a “cheerleader” in many ways too.

“When you think of Assumption,” Ms. Phayre said, “you have to think of Father Dennis and he’s been involved at the university in so many different ways. He’s always been a huge supporter of the athletic department.”