Holy Cross Athletics will retire the jerseys of five baseball student-athletes and one softball student-athlete — marking the first time that a jersey has been retired in either sport at Holy Cross. 

All six Crusader Legends are members of the Holy Cross Varsity Club Hall of Fame. The five baseball honorees are Jack Barry (Class of 1910), Owen Carroll (Class of 1925), Jim O'Neill (Class of 1952), Ron Perry (Class of 1954) and Louis Sockalexis (Class of 1897). Genoa Grosch Dickson (Class of 1999) from the softball program will also have her jersey retired. 

The baseball program will honor Barry, Carroll, O'Neill, Perry and Sockalexis as part of the team's upcoming Alumni Day on Saturday, April 26. An on-field recognition is scheduled to begin at approximately 12:30 p.m. prior to Holy Cross' game vs. Lafayette.

Grosch Dickson will be celebrated during the Spring of 2026.

"As a part of our continued efforts to honor our rich, comprehensive tradition of excellence within Holy Cross Athletics, we are thrilled to announce the recognition of these six Crusader legends," said Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Kit Hughes. "Recognizing the storied tradition and competitive achievements within both programs is long overdue, and we look forward to celebrating the immense contributions of these individuals to our athletic department, the broader College community, and the world. We will continue this effort moving forward, but this is an exciting and momentous next step toward honoring our shared history while creating future opportunities for our Crusaders to learn, grow and shine."

Grosch Dickson was the top pitcher on the Crusader softball team for four years from 1996 to 1999, earning first team All-Patriot League honors during each of her four seasons — the only Holy Cross player ever to achieve that feat in softball. She was named the Patriot League Pitcher of the Year in 1996, 1998 and 1999, and also earned Patriot League Tournament MVP honors in 1998, after leading Holy Cross to the conference regular season and tournament titles.

By the time of her graduation, Grosch Dickson set Holy Cross single-season marks for strikeouts (192 in 1999), wins (20 in 1999), earned run average (1.11 in 1998), starts (26 in 1999), complete games (24 in 1998) and shutouts (10 in 1999), in addition to breaking the school career records for strikeouts (579), wins (56), earned run average (1.27), starts (87), complete games (81) and shutouts (27). Her single season marks of 10 shutouts and 192 strikeouts were also Patriot League records, along with her 1.27 career earned run average.

"I am so incredibly honored to have my jersey retired at Holy Cross," Grosch Dickson said. "I hope that all that see it realize the incredible team I had around me that made my success possible."

No coach in Holy Cross history is responsible for more wins than Barry, who compiled a 616-150-6 (.802) record at the helm of the baseball program from 1921 to 1960. His teams recorded eight Eastern Intercollegiate Championships and made six NCAA College World Series appearances, with Holy Cross becoming the first — and to this day, only — Northeast team to win a College World Series title, when they did so in 1952. Barry's teams never lost more than eight games in a season (and then only once), and his best seasons were 1924 (19-0), 1935 (22-1) and 1940 (15-1). He coached 25 players who played in the major leagues, and was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007 and the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1966.

Barry's accomplishments on The Hill began during his playing days, when he served as a team captain during the 1908 season and guided Holy Cross to its first 20-win season as a standout shortstop. He enjoyed an eight-year professional career with the Philadelphia Athletics and Boston Red Sox. 

The winningest pitcher in Crusader history, Carroll compiled a record of 50-2 — his .960 winning percentage is the best in school history — threw 16 shutouts, and helped earn three championships. He also captained the Crusaders to an 18-0 record in 1924. Carroll also has the most career wins for a pitcher, with 28 victories from 1923-1925. He is the only pitcher in school history with a perfect season winning percentage, as he went 16-0 in 1925, 11-0 in 1924, and 10-0 in 1922. Carroll pitched 450.1 career innings, more than any Crusader in history, and also holds the school record for most strikeouts in a season with 118 in 1923 and in a career with 387 from 1922-1925.

After graduating from Holy Cross in 1925, he then went on to a professional career from 1925 to 1934, playing for the Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees, Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers. After retiring, he returned to the college game and coached at Seton Hall for 25 years, sending five Pirates to the Major Leagues. He was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008.

O'Neill was an outstanding two-sport athlete for Holy Cross, excelling in both baseball and basketball. During his senior year on the diamond, Holy Cross won the 1952 College World Series, with O'Neill becoming the first pitcher to win three tournament games. As the winning pitcher in the championship game vs. Missouri, O'Neill was selected as the Most Outstanding Player of the College World Series and was also named to the All-Star team. 

Throughout the 1952 campaign, O'Neill recorded a 1.64 ERA over 103.1 innings, totaling 61 strikeouts. O'Neill finished his career with an overall record of 17-6 on the mound, while Holy Cross went 45-14-1 overall during that time. 

A true Crusader Legend in every sense, Perry was a standout in both baseball and basketball before serving as Holy Cross' athletic director for more than a quarter century. Perry led the Crusaders to a College World Series title in 1952 as a sophomore pitcher. Perry defeated Texas 2-1 with the Crusaders facing elimination in the tournament, and they ran the table after that game to take the title. His next two seasons also saw the Crusaders playing for a championship, but they lost in the NCAA regional each year. 

Perry capped his pitching career off by throwing a no-hitter against Harvard on his birthday during his senior season. Holy Cross was 78-14 during his career on the diamond, and Perry's 20 career wins on the mound rank as the fourth-most in program history. His son, Ronnie (Class of 1980), and grandson, Matthew (Class of 2010), later went on to enjoy Hall-of-Fame careers on The Hill. 

Sockalexis was already something of a folk hero in his native Indian Island, Maine, when he journeyed to Worcester, where he was a great star at Holy Cross. The son of the tribal governor of the Penobscots, Sockalexis excelled in many sports due to his speed and athleticism, but he shined brightest in baseball. At Holy Cross in 1895, he recorded a .436 batting average, returning the following year to hit .444. In his first game, he stole seven bases and hit a grand slam; he held the highest single-season batting average in Holy Cross history for more than eight decades. His career average of .441 holds as the school record to this day. 

In 1897, he signed with the Cleveland Spiders. Sockalexis was an instant sensation in the majors, batting .338 in 1897 and stealing 16 bases. He played professionally for three seasons, and was a largely unrecognized and uncelebrated civil rights icon, experiencing the same extreme racial prejudice playing professional baseball that Jackie Robinson did 50 years later in 1947.