At halftime of Friday night’s football game against Hopkinton, Medfield High took time out of cheering for its current athletes to honor the players, coaches, and administrators that have helped build the athletic program into one of the best in the state.
The annual Wall of Fame inductees were honored on the high school turf. The class of 2015 includes longtime baseball coach Richard “Doc” Nickerson, former athletic director Jon Kirby, standout athlete and coach Kathleen Typadis McCullough, and former three-sport captain Kevin Lynch.
The quartet was introduced to the large crowd at the game and honored with plaques on the track.
The following biographical information was taken from press releases provided to local media:
Richard “Doc” Nickerson
Nickerson spent decades promoting the game of baseball in Medfield. He served on the board of Medfield Park and Recreation and was a youth coach through the 1970s and 80s. In 1985 he became the Medfield High freshman coach before taking the varsity job two years later.
He served as coach for more than 15 years and, according to the release, “served as head coach and mentor to the hundreds of baseball players that came through his program.”
During his tenure, Nickerson racked up more than 200 wins and led the Warriors to the state tournament for 10 straight years in the 90s while compiling a record of 171-87 and recording two Tri-Valley League and two Div. 3 South titles.
The release continued, “He should most be remembered for promoting the sport of baseball in Medfield. His passion for the sport showed through in the way that he coached, and his love for the players that he coached has lived on within their hearts and minds”
Jon Kirby
Kirby spent 20 years as a physical education teacher at Wheelock School before accepting the position of athletic director at Medfield High in 1998. During his 14-year tenure, he oversaw one of the most successful periods in the school’s history and saw Medfield rise to become a perennial power not only in the Tri-Valley League, but across the state.
The Warriors won 15 state titles, 103 Tri-Valley League titles and a “dizzying” amount of league all-stars, MVPs, and Coach of the Year awards in that span. Medfield also earned five prestigious Dalton Awards, given out by the Boston Globe each year to honor the Div. 2 program with the highest winning percentage across all sports during a school year.
Kirby also worked to find funding for the turf field on which he was honored on Friday and introduced boys’ and girls’ lacrosse, which have become two of the most successful programs at the school. He also worked hard to bring a girls’ hockey program to Medfield High and ensure that the cross-country teams had access to McCarthy Park and the Medfield State Hospital.
The release noted, “His coaches viewed him not as an administrator, but as an integral extension of their coaching staff. He watched, he listened and he cared. He was fiercely loyal and equally supportive. Jon Kirby was the ultimate Medfield Warrior.”
Kathleen Typadis McCullough
McCullough competed in four sports at Medfield High. She was a four-year letter winner in lacrosse and soccer and two-year winner in basketball and winter track. She captained the lacrosse and soccer teams her senior year and helped win the basketball team a Tri-Valley League title. She scored 77 goals and had 14 assists during her senior lacrosse season and became the first Medfield High player to reach 100 career goals.
At the University of Massa-chusetts, McCullough broke a 23-year-old program record with 52 goals in a single season and was named to the Atlantic-10 first team. She was named a captain at UMass and also made the second round of cuts for the U.S. Women’s National Team.
She was an assistant coach for the 2012 Medfield High girls’ lacrosse team that won the program’s first state title. McCullough took over as head coach the following year and this past spring led the Warriors to the Div. 2 East title.
According to the release, “Kath’s character augmented her athleticism and made her a superior player and teammate during her active playing career. These same traits make her an excellent coach and mentor to the next generation of student-athletes lucky enough to have her as a coach.”
Kevin Lynch
Lynch captained the baseball, basketball, and football programs at Medfield High. He broke onto the scene as a sophomore quarterback when his one-yard sneak gave Medfield a 14-7 victory over a strong Hopkinton team. The Warriors were 23-5 with Lynch under center, as he amassed more than 3,000 passing yards and another 800 on the ground while winning the 2005 Tri-Valley League MVP as both a quarterback and a middle linebacker.
His senior year, he also led the basketball team to an 18-5 record and the baseball team to a mark of 16-5. He batted .346 that year and was a four-year starter on the mound. He would go on to become a three-sport captain at New Hampton during a post-graduate year and then starred as a quarterback at Southern Connecticut State, setting six single-game records.
Lynch became a professional quarterback in Poland. In 2012, he threw for more than 3,000 yards, rushed for 400, threw 30 touchdown passes, rushed for six scores, and caught a touchdown for the Warsaw Eagles. He was named team MVP.
The release added, “Kevin Lynch epitomized the essence of three-sport athletes…He committed to all three sports equally and earned the respect of his teammates, his coaches, his community and his rivals….Kevin Lynch cleared a path for many athletes by prioritizing what was important now and in the moment.”
