Community Corner

Bondelevitch Way Open for Travel

The father of Big Blue football stressed academics as much as athletics. On Saturday, a large crowd came to honor the memory of the coach and see his new sign unveiled.

The way was as much about hitting the books as it was about hitting the opposing player on the football field. Maybe more so. 

On Saturday morning son David Bondelevitch stood on a step ladder and reached high to push away black plastic and unveil the new sign at the corner of Humphrey Street at the entrance to the tennis courts.

Under the plastic bag the sign read Bondelevitch Way.

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A crowd had assembled for the occasion to honor the father of Big Blue football.

Bondelevitch’s accomplishments — his winning record, titles and having four football players play in the NFL — still inspire daily conversation in Swampscott coffee shops.

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But the coach’s greatest triumph was inspiring people to work hard and believe in themselves, speakers said.

Bondelevitch, who was a voracious reader, was most proud of having so many players go on to become doctors and lawyers and enter other professions.

Bondelevitch assistant Dick Lynch said Bondelevitch “was one of the greatest motivators you’d ever see.”

He’d take a player who did not appear to have a lot of athletic ability and get that player to develop and believe in himself.

Dick Lynch’s son, Channel 5 sportscaster Mike Lynch, a former Big Blue player, said Bondelevitch rallied the entire school and town around Big Blue football.

Some businesses closed on game days in those years. Thousands of parents, students and family and friends came to the game, Mike Lynch said.

Bondelevitch coached Swampscott twice, from 1953-1976 and 1983-1986. 

“The first was unparalleled in high school football compiling undefeated seasons in 1957, 1958, 1963, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970 and 1972,” coach Steve Dembowski wrote in a preview of Saturday’s ceremony. “His 1972 team won the first ever high school Super Bowl played in Massachusetts defeating Catholic Memorial at B.U.’s field, 28-21.”

It wasn’t only football players who the coach motivated.

Town historian Lou Gallo recalled Bondelevitch asking him to draw a booster sign for the school math team before a big math competition.

Gallo said he delivered the sign to the math team and he witnessed Bondelevitch give them a rousing pep talk. 

Swampscot football coach Steve Dembowski said it was Bondelevitch who got him to pay attention to his classwork.

David Bondelevitch, who teaches recording arts at the University of Colorado at Denver, said his father was most proud of getting kids into colleges. 

That was the case long before the coach’s career ended.

Fifty years ago, in 1961, a Lynn Daily Item reporter wrote something similar about Bondelevitch.

The sportswriter said Bondelevitch was entering his 16th season as a coach and seeking his 100th win.

Still, the the coach was not all about winning.

Here’s a quote from coach Bondelevitch in the article.

“The real thrill comes when you take some kid who wouldn't ordinarily get a break, coax him into coming out for the team, and then see him make good. Maybe he gets a scholarship or somehow goes on to a school of higher learning.”

 


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