Holy Cross Athletics

Tom Dignan was a native of Wakefield and enrolled at Holy Cross in 1917 after a brilliant athletic career at the high school level in three sports.

He made Coach Luke Kelly’s football squad in 1917 as a freshman but soon decided to concentrate on baseball and his favorite sport, track.

Dignan was a pitcher on the varsity baseball team and in his first three games against Springfield, Columbia and Trinity he posted three victories while collecting 10 hits in 12 times at bat. His baseball career was cut short by a near fatal accident – he was struck on the left ear by a pitch thrown by Del Bissonnette, then pitching for New Hampshire. After that, he devoted his athletic talents to varsity track, where he competed in the shot put and the quarter-mile run. He was the New England Champion in both events and ran the anchor leg on the mile relay team (indoor and outdoor) for three years.

Dignan passed away in 1960.