Acton Boxborough Colonial Club
Joe Bisagnano
After 25 years in the Air Force, the wild blue yonder's loss was
Acton-Boxboro's gain. Joe and his wife Dee wanted to put the
roots in the ground and have lived in the same Acton home for
32 years.
Retiring allowed Joe a second career as a defense analyst
and program manager around Hanscom and the 128 belt. Joe
and Dee encouraged their 4 children to actively participate in
sports. Jennifer, Jean, Jill and Jay participated in field hockey,
football, hockey, baseball, track, cheerleading, soccer and
softball. What a ground work for a burgeoning sportswriter
and sports aficionado.
Joe did quite a lot of writing in the Air Force and always
enjoyed sports, and voila, a perfect recipe. Joe had his first
assignment in 1990 with the boys' soccer team. He had always
been a pro sports fan, but covering high school sports, the pure
effort and enthusiasm won Joe over. Soccer grew into baseball,
softball, boys basketball and football. The Beacon editor must
have been astute. He grabbed Joe and he turned into AB's own
Thomas Moore, a man for all seasons.
Joe's sports writing highlights are many:
-"The Streak": 52 straight football wins including 4 straight
Super Bowls. Most impressionable on Joe was, "--how
many times the team would take the field against larger, and
seemingly tougher teams, but they always managed to outplay
them, out-think them and out-class them."
-"The Abare Era": After their first football game, Bobby and
Larry Abare (ab), never lost again in high school.
-"The Other Streak": During the 1993 football season,
AB began a 26 game winning streak that included the 1994
undefeated season and first Super Bowl win.
-"The Boston/TD Garden": Twice the boys' basketball team
earned their way into the championship round at the TD Garden
-Rich MacLeod (ab), Colonial hoopsters were led by one
of AB's most inspirational athletes, Andy Winders (ab).
The second game, a Rick Kilpatrick coached team led
by Brendan Flynn and Mike DeCesar.
-Steve Desy's softball machine.
-Tore Kapstad's soccer team and their love of the game.
Joe and Dee still live in Acton. He is a Red Sox season
ticket holder, and post graduate of Red Sox Fantasy
Camp. He has run four Boston Marathons and Falmouth.
He is proud of his children and five grandchildren. And is
a long time member of the AFA - a non-profit voice for
our men and women in uniform.
Joe, you are AB Blue and Gold through and through.
Thanks for your dedication to AB sports and our student
athletes.