HOLYOKE — The Holyoke Public Schools Athletic Hall of Fame announced its full induction Class of 2025 this week. That group will be enshrined at the annual Induction Celebration Dinner on Saturday, Oct. 25 at Wyckoff Country Club in Holyoke.

In addition to Roger Marquis and John DesFosses who have already been named to the “Legends” category, this year’s class will also feature six “athletes,” one “coach,” two “teams” and one “contributor.”

Here’s the list of the entire Class of 2025:

Athletes (6)

The athletic careers of the athletes being inducted cover both of Holyoke’s high schools
and span fifty years with their “fields of honor” taking place in eight sports

Ron DeRoy
A three-year starter and two-time co-captain of the Holyoke Trade basketball team, and a four-year starter in baseball, DeRoy won the Bi-County League batting as a senior in 1975.

Mike Levin
The Holyoke High grad was a two-time all-WMass hockey and baseball team selection and led the 1985 state champion Purple Knights in hitting with a .450 average.

Tina Mertes
Also a 1985 grad, Mertes excelled in three sports for all four years, and was named the “Athlete of the Year” by the Holyoke “Transcript-Telegram” in 1984 after winning the state slalom ski title, leading Holyoke in hitting on the softball diamond, and scoring 22 goals and 8 assists to lead the girls’ soccer to the WMass D-I quarterfinals.

Holyoke’s Tina Mertes, shown here in a 1985 photo, is one of six athletes to be inducted into the Holyoke Public Schools Athletic Hall of Fame’s Class of 2025.

Robert Sisson 
Sisson will always be remembered for the “shot at the buzzer”, when he drained a three-pointer to beat Springfield Central in the WMass DI finals in 1993, but he was also a three-time All-WMass 1st team selection and his career scoring mark of 1,118 was then Holyoke High’s all-time best. 

Brian Griffin
A member of the Class of 2001, the three-sport standout was named the Angelo Bertelli Award winner as WMass’ top football player in his senior year.

Leslie St. Lawrence
Also a Class of 2001 member, St. Lawrence was a four-time All-WMass 1st Team swimmer and owned seven Holyoke individual swimming records, and was a part of the school’s fastest medley relay when she graduated.

Teams (2)

The “teams” to be inducted include the 1979 Purple Knight football team, which went undefeated and was Holyoke High’s first ever Super Bowl champion, and the 1990 Holyoke boys tennis team which went undefeated and won the Western Mass. championship.

Holyoke’s Mike Milledge runs the ball against Greenfield during the 1979 Western Mass. Division 1 Super Bowl at Alumni Stadium in Amherst. Milledge scored both of Holyoke’s TDs in a 14-7 win that capped off an undefeated season. The 1979 team is being inducted into the Holyoke Public Schools Athletic Hall of Fame in October.

Coach (1)

Dave Reinhart
Reinhart guided the HHS boys cross country team to five league championships and the 2015 WMass championship, as well as four league boys track titles and the school’s only WMass track championship,

Contributor (1)

Bill Keating
The former Holyoke Transcript-Telegram sports editor is being honored for his more than 50 years of supporting Holyoke sports.

The Holyoke Public School Athletic Hall of Fame was created in 2017 to acknowledge the past achievements of Holyoke’s elite athletes, coaches, teams, contributors and legends, and recognized past Holyoke athletic role models for future generations to admire and emulate. The Induction weekend festivities will include their being introduced as part of the Friday night halftime ceremonies of the Holyoke-Taconic football game and the annual Hall of Fame Induction Banquet on Saturday. Banquet tickets cost $40.00 and can be purchased online through “Eventbrite.com” beginning Aug. 30, with all proceeds used to support Holyoke Athletics.

Garrett Cote is a sports writer for the Daily Hampshire Gazette, where he covers high school and college athletics – including UMass football and men’s basketball. A lifelong resident of western Massachusetts,...