The Nashua Hall of Fame Class of 2023 celebrates its induction at the conclusion of Sunday's ceremony, the first in-person induction for the Hall since November of 2000. (Telegrah photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – They all answered the call sometime during the last 60 years, whether it was to be an exceptional athlete, coach, or special contributor at the one Nashua High School, or Nashua North or South, or any combination thereof.

And Sunday made it all worthwhile.

The Nashua Athletics Hall of Fame held its first in-person induction ceremony in over 22 years, welcoming in 10 new members – nine indivudals and one team – at the Courtyard Marriott.

“Today you all gave us a reason to celebrate the accomplishments of some extraordinary people,” master of ceremonies and Hall of Fame committee member Jason Robie said to the sold-out crowd of some 270.

And celebrate they did, with video interviews of the inductees that included former athletes Jim Tebbetts, Robyn Proctor-Selent, Phil Greenwood, Mickey Cernuda, Femi Ayi, Matt Valuk, Mike Grillakas, longtime coach Art Kobs, special contributor Ed Lecius, and, as one inductee, the 1987 national champion Nashua High girls basketball team.

In some ways, because of their accomplishment, the 1987 team that finished the 1987 season ranked by USA Today as the No. 1 girls basketball team in the country somewhat stole the show. Not only did they collect their Hall of Fame plaques but also on display was their national championship trophy, which had been lost in the high school renovations years ago but since returned.

“We’re so grateful for the Nashua Athletics to do this for us,” the point guard from that team, Missy Ayotte said. “It feels like we’re putting an exclamation point on the entire experience, and to come back and see each other as adults. … We had a lot of laughs about things at that point in our lives we didn’t know what was going on and now as adults say ‘Wow, that was amazing or incredible.’ And we talked a lot about Coach Fagula, of course.”

As in the architect of that team and it’s success, the late legendary coach John Fagula. Sarah Rolfe was the assistant coach and players included Ayotte, Joy Barry, Stephanie Byrd (now Kane), Michelle Grenier, Laurie Largy, Celeste Lavoie, Michelle LeBoeuf, Becky Shrigley, C.J. Stuart, and Maryse Veilleux. Ayotte, Barry, Byrd, and Lavoie are in the Nashua Hall of Fame as individuals.

“They were the ones who drove me to where I was,” said fellow Hall inductee Mickey Cernuda of the 1987 team. “I feel so honored being inducted at the same time.”

Cernuda was strong academically as well as athletically on the softball field and basketball court, leading the Panther girls hoop team to three state titles in 1992-93 and 1995, that latter season earning New Hampshire Gatorade Player of the Year. Currently an elementary teacher in Concord, she played for the University of New Hampshire and also was the head girls hoop coach at Alvirne High school.

Known for her quick wit but also leadership ability, Cernuda offered advice to all the student athletes in the city.

“Play hard, do your best,” she said, “and giggle while you’re doing it.”

It was fitting that the popular Kobs,who drew a huge applause when first introduced, has coached for parts of six decades and 110 consecutive seasons that produced 16 championship and runnerup banners and 42 individual champions, be inducted in the same year with one of his favorite runners, Greenwood. Greenwood holds several school and state records as one of the country’s top distance runners, and was a New England champion in 1992.

“Phil and I are talking, and we can’t understand why people would come (to honor him),” Kobs, who is still the North boys cross country coach but has stepped away from the head varsity boys indoor/outdoor track position. “Because what we did,we just did every day, it was just what we did. Phil ran, I coached him.”

Greenwood said he was almost embarassed by the attention, but certainly appreciative, especially since he was being inducted in the same class as the coach he enjoyed competing for so much, Kobs.

“I’ve been flustered getting up to this point,” Greenwood said, “and now I’m even more flustered.

“This is really awesome for me to be inducted into the Hall of Fame with (Kobs). It’s really cool.”

Proctor-Select was one of Nashua’s top track and field athletes from the early 1980s. She was a top runner, hurdler, and jumper and in 1984 was voted as Nashua High School’s Female Athlete of the Year. She went on to a successful track career at the University of Vermont and now coaches and teaches at a high school in Riverside, Ohio.

Proctor-Select paid tribute to the late Nashua legendary girls track coach Pauline Albert. “How amazing was she?” she said. “She was so influential in my life.

“The best thing is we worked so hard … but the most important thing is we had a lot of fun.”

The quiet Grillakis was just the opposite on the wrestling mat as well as the football and lacrosse fields. He was a New England wrestling champion and in 2009 became the first All-American wrestler from Nashua since 1978. As one of his former coaches said, “He was a leader by example, always a team guy.”

Tebbetts was a Nashua football standout from 1959-63 and joins his brother George and uncle Birdie Tebbetts into the Hall. At the time he was at Nashua, it was the second largest high school not only in New England but in the eastern half of the country, and that made competition to not only make a team but earn a starting spot fierece.

“It was a privilege,” he said, “to play at Holman Stadium.” As a matter of fact, he is also in the Legends of Holman Hall of Fame as well.

Valuk was a standout in cross country, indoor and outdoor track, and in his senior season led the Panthers to the 2003 Class L outdoor track title as well as winning the New Hampshire Decathlon. He paid tribute to his teammates, who gave him lots of support during the passing of his father while he was a student-athlete at Nashua.

“They got me through a tough time,” he said, “and that has stayed with me my whole life.”

Ayi was a fierce two-way player on the offensive and defensive lines for Nashua. There were several members of his 1997 state title team in attendance.

“This is great,” he said. “Being able to see a whole bunch of people again, being able to see guys from the team, knowing that (Nashua athletics is) doing things like inducting teams into the Hall of Fame, it’s amazing. It’s tremendous to see this many people all in one spot.”

Known for his candor and humor, he didn’t disappoint in his video interview. He amusingly recounted how he overruled his own coach, Bill Hardy, on the offensive play call that led to the game-clinching TD run in the 1997 Division I title win over Londnderry.

“It was like a TV show where the start player tells the coach to get out of the huddle,” Ayi said with a grin.

But also offered great advice.

“If you learn to be part of a team, if you’re going to be a good team player,” he said, “then you’re going to be a good human being.”

Many would certainly give that tribute to Lecius, who was honored to be inducted into the same Hall of Fame as his late father, Ed Lecius, Sr., not only for his work in supporting Nashua athletics but his broadcasting career, calling games mainly at WSMN and WMVU radio. He’s been a community leader most of his adult life, and is in the NHIAA Hall of Fame as well as one of the Legends of Holman. He is also a Nashua Hall of Fame committee member.

“To be able to get things from the community,” he said, “you have to be willing to give back to it, too.”

Members of the Hall of Fame Class of 2020 were also recognized and many were in attendance. That group, which had a virtual induction only due to the pandemic, included included the late Bob DeMello, Kole Ayi, Farley Gates, Laura Gerraughty Ekstrand, Trevor Knight, Kendall Reyes, Mark Russell, Amy Ruston, Al Savage, John Schroeder and Brad Zapenas..

Many speaking at the induction also paid tribute to Nashua Athletic Director Lisa Gingras, who spearheaded the effort to revive the Hall of Fame five years ago after it was dormant following its last induction ceremony in 2000. Gingras, in closing Sunday’s event, noted nominations for the next induction will open on April 1, 2024, and the next ceremony will be in May of 2025.

“The Hall of Fame is back,” she declared, “and it’s not going anywhere this time.”

(Please note: Telegraph staff writer Tom King is also a member of the Nashua Hall of Fame Committee.)

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