The walls of the Hank Rogers Gymnasium will come down soon to make way for a brand new Plymouth North High School. The town of Plymouth will get the chance to offer a proper goodbye to the gym this Saturday during the traditional end of the season – the Plymouth North vs. Plymouth South basketball doubleheader.
Whether the name on the front of the jersey has said Plymouth-Carver, Plymouth or Plymouth North, success has followed the basketball teams that have called the Hank Rogers Gymnasium their home.
The girls took home league titles in 1977, 1987 and a three-year span from 1994-1996.
The boys team have 13 banners hanging in the gym from title runs in 1964, 1967, 1968, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1988, 1990 and 2008.
Some players and coaches from those great years recently shared their memories of the gym.
Dennis Azevedo
Girls basketball head coach, 1992-1999
“I started out in 1976 as the freshman boys basketball head coach,” said Azevedo, who recently retired as principal of the Silver Lake Middle School. “Marty Thorson was the head coach of the boys team and the boys, and the girls programs were really on top of their games at the time. Both teams were regarded as a pair of the top programs on the South Shore.”
Azevedo took over the Norwell High boys program in 1980, but was still a physical education teacher at Plymouth High School. He came back to coaching in town as an assistant under girls basketball Head Coach Barbara Waithe in 1989.
In 1992, he took over the Lady Eagle program. And with the help of some very talented basketball players, Azevedo took his team on a great run over the next decade. Five girls basketball titles were won in the Rogers Gym, three of them by Azevedo’s teams in 1994, 1995 and 1996.
“We won the Old Colony League title in 1994, then when we switched to the Atlantic Coach League we won that league title the next two years. Our regular season record in all three of those years was 19-1. I think the mid-’90s was the golden age for girls basketball in this town,” Azevedo remembered. “I was very fortunate to have a run of incredibly talented basketball players. From Nicole Dias (the town’s scoring leader with 1,661 points) to Summer Ivan, Jackie Blanchard, Jamie James and Jen Kelliher, there was a line of great players that came through the program.”
In addition to having all that talent, Azevedo said the gym itself made every game a great experience.
The walls of the Hank Rogers Gymnasium will come down soon to make way for a brand new Plymouth North High School. The town of Plymouth will get the chance to offer a proper goodbye to the gym this Saturday during the traditional end of the season – the Plymouth North vs. Plymouth South basketball doubleheader.
Whether the name on the front of the jersey has said Plymouth-Carver, Plymouth or Plymouth North, success has followed the basketball teams that have called the Hank Rogers Gymnasium their home.
The girls took home league titles in 1977, 1987 and a three-year span from 1994-1996.
The boys team have 13 banners hanging in the gym from title runs in 1964, 1967, 1968, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1988, 1990 and 2008.
Some players and coaches from those great years recently shared their memories of the gym.
Dennis Azevedo
Girls basketball head coach, 1992-1999
“I started out in 1976 as the freshman boys basketball head coach,” said Azevedo, who recently retired as principal of the Silver Lake Middle School. “Marty Thorson was the head coach of the boys team and the boys, and the girls programs were really on top of their games at the time. Both teams were regarded as a pair of the top programs on the South Shore.”
Azevedo took over the Norwell High boys program in 1980, but was still a physical education teacher at Plymouth High School. He came back to coaching in town as an assistant under girls basketball Head Coach Barbara Waithe in 1989.
In 1992, he took over the Lady Eagle program. And with the help of some very talented basketball players, Azevedo took his team on a great run over the next decade. Five girls basketball titles were won in the Rogers Gym, three of them by Azevedo’s teams in 1994, 1995 and 1996.
“We won the Old Colony League title in 1994, then when we switched to the Atlantic Coach League we won that league title the next two years. Our regular season record in all three of those years was 19-1. I think the mid-’90s was the golden age for girls basketball in this town,” Azevedo remembered. “I was very fortunate to have a run of incredibly talented basketball players. From Nicole Dias (the town’s scoring leader with 1,661 points) to Summer Ivan, Jackie Blanchard, Jamie James and Jen Kelliher, there was a line of great players that came through the program.”
In addition to having all that talent, Azevedo said the gym itself made every game a great experience.
“When I think of the Hank Rogers Gym, I’ll always picture it as a real high school basketball gym,” he said. “It was a tremendous place to be able to play basketball. The floor was good, and the place was big enough where we could really pack the fans in. They were right there on top of you for the big games, and that gave the gym a great atmosphere for high school basketball.
“I’ll be sad to see the place close its doors for the final time.”
David Conroy
Basketball player, 1966-1969
Conroy was one of the best players in the area during his time, helping bring league title to town in 1967 and 1968. Basketball excellence was in his genes; both he and his son, Chris, each scored more the 1,000 points over their high school basketball careers.
Chris Conroy was a standout for Dick Arieta at Silver Lake, graduating from the Kingston school in 2001.
“That’s a nice honor that we can share as a father/son duo of 1,000-point scorers,” Conroy said. “At the time when Chris graduated, I think Ron Perry and Ronny Perry Jr. were the only other people who had done it in this state.”
Thinking back to his playing days, Conroy said “the gym always seemed to be packed with fans. They were standing in every nook and cranny to get into the game. The community really came out to support their basketball teams.”
While the individual games have meshed somewhat together over the years, Conroy remembered some great battles with teams from Middleborough, Abington and especially Rockland.
“There was one year when Middleborough came into the gym and beat us. That was quite a game,” Conroy said. “But those games with Rockland were really something else. Back then we were similar types of towns. Hard working, blue collar people who always came out and supported their athletic programs.”
There was also the time when Conroy was able to convert a basket while sitting on the floor.
“It was actually funny how it happened,” Conroy said. “I ended up falling to the ground near the basket, and one of my teammates passed me the basketball. If I get up with the basketball, that’s an automatic call for traveling. So instead of turning the ball over I decided to shoot the ball toward the basket, and somehow the shot actually went into the basket. It’s surprising how many people remember that one particular shot.”
Conroy said he’s been back to the gym several times since leaving for college.
“The gym holds a lot of great memories for me. I’ll be sad to see it go,” Conroy said. “I had some wonderful teammates and met some great coaches like Henry Cryer, Hank Rogers and Doug Edwards.”
Summer Ivan
Basketball player, 1992-1995
Ivan now goes to the gym once a season as the head coach of the Plymouth South girls basketball team, but she was a big part of the success of the basketball program right before it was split into two schools. She spent three years with the combined Plymouth team and then played her senior season with Plymouth South.
Ivan was a 1,000-point scorer in high school and went on to have a stellar college basketball career at Holy Cross. She has coached the Lady Panthers for 11 years, leading them to their first tourney appearances, and is a math teacher at Plymouth South.
“I had some great times playing for those teams. Ann Motyka brought in some of the stats she had from those teams, and it reminded me how much fun I had playing for Dennis Azevedo in that gym and about the talent of the people I was lucky enough to play with,” Ivan said. “We had some great battles for the OCL title with B-R, and I remember really battling with them my junior year and finally coming away with the title.
“We had a home tournament game that year, and you could not believe how many people they got into the gym,” she continued. “The place was packed. It’s sad they are closing the gym down, but a newer and bigger school will be great for the town.”
