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By Douglas McCulloch
Hometown Weekly Staff
A dedication ceremony was held last week to officially dedicate a memorial at Rosemary Lake in honor of long-time Needham High hockey coach John Chambers.
A plaque was installed and the area was officially named “Chamber’s Cove” in honor of Chambers. The plaque sits on the site of Chambers’ first Needham High hockey game in 1935, and his final hockey game in 2007. Over 50 people attended the official dedication. Chambers led Needham High to multiple state championship wins, with wins in 1966, 1969, and an undefeated 1970 season. He was awarded the Mariucci Award by the Massachusetts Coaches Hall of Fame as well.
The memorial and plaque was made possible by several volunteers, the Park and Recreation Department the Parks and Recreation Commission, the DPW and the Conservation Commission, according to Needham Park and Recreation Director Patricia Carey. When several volunteers helped initiate the creation of the memorial, it quickly became a major project.
Carey explained that the idea to name a section of Rosemary Lake in his honor came about because Chambers would spend a much of the winters on the lake skating.
“[Chambers] would often go down to the lake, back in the days when it would freeze solid, brush off the snow and start skating – soon he would be joined by young skaters.”
Carey noted that for many students who grew up at the time, Coach Chambers and his teams were well known.
“I was in elementary school in the late 1960s when Coach Chambers’ teams were amazing,” Carey recalled. “There was so much excitement in the community.”
