Acton Boxborough Colonial Club
Bob Coan
It not is not easy being the sports editor/lone field reporter and jack-of-all-trades in a local newspaper. Add that to a full teaching load in Social Studies in the Junior High School. You must have the patience of Job, the wit of Will Rogers, and a love of athletics at all levels. Bob Coan pulled this all off brilliantly while remaining humble and always placing the student athletes best interest at heart. He championed the athletes and their causes. He elated with their successes and bore their defeats with aplomb. He poured his heart and soul into his articles. He was accurate, fair and knowledgeable, never at the expense of the high school athlete.
His expertise ranged from football, to basketball, to baseball and softball. His real expertise was in human nature. What is most impressive is that although we honor him as a contributor to the AB Hall of Fame as a Life-Time Achievement Award Winner. He was an even better teacher. The highlights of Bob's reporting career were covering AB basketball and football and getting to know Coaches Ed Leary and Larry McNulty on a personal level. Bob was trustworthy enough to be allowed into their inner sanctum. Not an easy task. If Bob were paid by the inch, he would be a multi-millionaire today. He paid all of us with his caring words of praise. He was a champion of high school athletics. He did his best to promote awareness and enthusiasm by letting the public know that they should fill the stands in Blanchard Auditorium and the Hill at "Quagmire Field" (now Leary Field).