HOLYOKE — The 2025 Holyoke Public Schools Athletic Hall of Fame Induction dinner will serve up a smorgasbord of all-star athletes, highlighting their successes across seven sports and spanning four decades. The Class of 2025, featuring Ron DeRoy, Brian Griffin, Mike Levin, Tina Mertes, Robert Sisson and Leslie St. Lawrence, is a collection of some of Holyoke’s most outstanding athletes.
Ron DeRoy graduated from Holyoke Trade School in 1975 and was the school’s only three-sport captain. He earned eight varsity letters as a member of the basketball, baseball and soccer teams. A starting forward and leading rebounder, DeRoy helped lead the Hawks to the second round of the Bay State Class D Tournament as a sophomore. After being named captain the following year, DeRoy received the team’s “Coach’s Award,” given annually to the team’s most dedicated player, when the Hawks posted a 12-6 record and earned a WMass Division 3 tournament bid.
As good as DeRoy was on the hardwood, he was even better on the baseball diamond. A four-year starter, he won the Bi-County League batting title with a .410 average in his senior year and was named to the 1975 “Coaches All-League” team for the Bi-County League.
Brian Griffin emerged as the starting quarterback as a sophomore for a Holyoke team that went to the MIAA 1A Super Bowl, but he truly exploded in his senior year. Griffin scored the winning touchdown with five seconds left in the Thanksgiving Day game against rival Chicopee, and after finishing the year completing 72 of 140 passes for 1,098 yards and 10 touchdown passes while rushing for 624 yards and three scores, he was not only named First Team All-WMass, he was also named the winner of the Angelo Bertelli Award as WMass’ top high school and prep football player.
As a point guard for the Knights basketball team, Griffin was a solid offensive contributor on Holyoke’s 1999 and 2000 Western Mass Division 1 championship seasons. Griffin also served as the baseball team’s starting catcher in 2000, and was named Second Team All-WMass. In 2001, Griffin enjoyed a tremendous season at the plate as well as behind it, hitting .422 to earn First Team All-WMass honors.
Nobody was more dangerous with a stick in his hands than Mike Levin, as the 1985 Holyoke High grad carved impressive numbers with his hockey stick and baseball bat, earning All-Star status in both sports. As a junior, Levin led the baseball team to the Valley League title while batting .423 at the plate. He was named to the All-Western Mass First Team. In his senior year, the Purple Knights went 20-1 and won the Massachusetts Division 1 State Championship. Levin batted .450 and repeated as a First Team selection.
Levin traded his baseball bat for a hockey stick each winter and earned a spot on the first line as a sophomore. He stood as the Knights’ top goal scorer with 12 tallies while also recording 21 assists. Levin was voted as the team’s “Rookie of the Year,” and was also named to Second Team All-WMass. Returning to the team as a senior, he again led the team in scoring with 21 goals and 17 assists while receiving All-WMass First Team recognition.
One of Holyoke High’s most outstanding female athletes, Tina Mertes led the girls soccer B Division in scoring in 1983 and was named a First Team All-WMass athlete. As a senior, Mertes again led the Knights in scoring, was named to Second Team All-WMass and finished her soccer career as the school’s all-time leading scorer.
Each winter, Mertes took to the ski slopes and received Pioneer Valley All-League recognition and qualified as a member of the US Junior Olympic Team in her freshman year. In her sophomore year, Mertes received her first of three consecutive First Team All-WMass selections before placing first in the state in slalom and third overall in the U.S. Ski Association Eastern Regionals High School Championship. In her senior year, Mertes completed the “trifecta” at the PVIAC Individuals Championship and added slalom and giant slalom titles at the WMass Championship meet. Mertes emerged as the softball team’s starting first baseman as a junior, and had her best season in 1985, when she batted .380 with 21 RBIs and was named to the All-WMass Second Team.
Robert Sisson will always be remembered for swishing a 3-pointer at the buzzer in the 1993 Western Mass. Division 1 Championship game to dethrone four-time defending champion Central High School, but Sisson was much more than just one shot. He is easily one of the top hoop players to have ever played at Holyoke, as he was a three-time All-WMass First Team selection and finished his high school career third on Holyoke’s all-time scoring list with 1,118 points.
Sisson was an easy choice as the 1993 WMass Division 1 Tournament MVP as a junior, and he led the Knights to another Western Mass. Division 1 championship as a senior, where he was again named tournament MVP. Sisson followed that up by recording 21 points and 12 rebounds to pace the Knights to a 76-65 state semifinal OT win over St. John’s of Shrewsbury, This brought Holyoke to the state finals for only the second time in school history.
Leslie St. Lawrence wasted no time making waves on the Holyoke High School swim team and broke her first school record just after Christmas of her freshman year. She would go on to set three individual Holyoke records and be part of a record-setting relay team before the year was over. She earned the first of four straight First Team All-WMass honors. As a junior, St. Lawrence qualified for every individual event for the Western Mass. Championship meet. She placed second in the 100 butterfly and the 200 freestyle. As a senior, she won the 200 freestyle and 100 butterfly WMass titles and led off Holyoke’s first-place winning medley relay.
In recognition of her tremendous success at the championships, St. Lawerence received the “Outstanding Swimmer Award,” given to the swimmer with the most career points at the WMass Championships. She finished with a whopping 101 points. St. Lawrence owned six individual Knights school records at the time of her graduation.
NOTE: 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. It recognizes past Holyoke athletic role models for future generations to admire and emulate. The induction weekend festivities will include the Class of 2025 being introduced at halftime of the Holyoke-Taconic football game on Friday, Oct. 24. The annual Hall of Fame Induction Banquet is the following night on Saturday, Oct. 25. Banquet tickets cost $40 and can be purchased online through “Eventbrite.com,” with all proceeds used to support Holyoke Athletics.