A Slam Dunk: Ron Spinney Earns Obvious Hall of Fame Distinction

Winthrop High School sports fans knew this glorious achievement was coming for a long time.

It wasn’t just the victories – and there were more than 400 of them, or the seven Northeastern Conference titles and 20 state tournament appearances –  that elevated Ron Spinney as a great coach. It’s his status as one of the true pioneers of the growth and popularity of girls’ high school basketball in the state of Massachusetts.

They say in Winthrop that Ron Spinney put the Winthrop High girls basketball program on the map, even before there was a map.

There will now be a special and well-deserved title in front of Ron Spinney’s name: Massachusetts Basketball Coaches Association (MCBA) Hall of Fame inductee, an honor reserved for the best of the best.

Spinney, 77, has received notification from MBCA officials that he will be inducted into the Hall of Fame at an awards dinner in November at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester.

Spinney had a career coaching record of 406-213 and led his Winthrop teams to seven NEC championships, four Eastern Mass. titles, and three state championship games.

Praise from McManus Hill

Some of Winthrop High’s greatest athletes, including Maureen McManus Hill (Lafayette) and Lisa Monteleone Ferrara (Bentley), went on to enjoy outstanding collegiate careers as well after playing varsity basketball under the direction of Ron Spinney and assistant coach Jim Nimblett. McManus Hill and Monteleone Ferrara were superstars on the 1982-83 Winthrop High basketball team that went 23-1  and won the Eastern Mass. crown, avenging its only loss to Westwood in the St. Patrick’s Day final in Braintree. Unfortunately, there was no state championship game in that season due to Proposition 2 ½ cuts.

McManus Hill, who was Lafayette’s all-time leading scorer and is a college Hall of Fame inductee, was among the many former players congratulating Spinney on his election to the MBCA Hall of Fame.

“I have to say that he was the first one to recognize that I had some talent,” recalled McManus Hill. “I still remember the first thing he said to me was to buy a jump rope, and I started jumping rope every day in front of my house, and that was always my go-to after that. Even when I was in Finland playing basketball, I brought a jump rope with me. I even say that now to my own kids: warm up for a game by jumping rope. It warms up your whole body.”

The Vikings’ All-Scholastic 6-foot center and 1,000-point scorer (in only three seasons) said that, in her estimation, Spinney brought “a dynasty” to Winthrop.

“Every year you just expected to win, and it was always a good team,” said McManus. “You just knew you were going to win, and you were going to compete every game. And I think that’s what he and his sidekick – you can’t talk about Mr. Spinney without Mr. Nimblett – because it’s almost like Ted Lasso and Coach Beard, the two of them together, but without all the philosophy, because that’s not how it was in the 1980s. They (Spinney and Nimblett) were the yin and the yang of girls basketball in Winthrop for a long time, and they really created this place at Winthrop High where you knew what was expected of you when you went in there, and you knew it was going to be tough, and you competed, and you won.”

Building a Program

Former Winthrop High School director Jim Evans hired Ron Spinney as the girls basketball head coach for the 1973-74 season.

“Jim asked me if I wanted to take the job and I said, ‘no, I want to wait around for a boys’ job’,’’ recalled Spinney. “I had coached in the lower levels of boys basketball at Nauset Regional High School.”

“He then said to me, ‘take the job for one year and if you don’t like it, I can get somebody else’ and thank you very much’,” said Spinney. “So I did it for one year, and 29 years later, I retired.”

A Scholar-Athlete Award Winner at Winthrop High School

A 1961 graduate of Winthrop High School, Ron Spinney played two seasons of varsity baseball. He was selected the scholar-athlete of the year after being an honor roll student for four years. He received his college degree in Mathematics, with a minor in Education, from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst.

Spinney began his teaching career in 1965 at Nauset Regional High School on Cape Cod before returning to Winthrop to teach in the 1972-73 academic year.

Thoughts on his Hall of Fame induction

Spinney, who still lives in town with his wife Joan Alexander Spinney, talked about the honor of Hall of Fame induction in an interview last week.

“It’s great. It’s something I’ve looked forward to, and something I cherish,” said Spinney. “I think it’s a reflection of the whole program that we established for 30 years, that the Town of Winthrop is recognized as having an excellent basketball program. I’m very proud of what we did over that time, building up our program and playing teams like Christ The King in New York, Portland, Maine, and all the big teams in the New England area. We went to Cape Cod for a preseason tournament every year to show the kids that travel is a part of it, and you can get a good education out of traveling, too.”

Coaching Some Great Athletes

During his storied coaching career, Spinney had the opportunity to coach his three daughters, Elizabeth, who was a captain of the 1991-92 team, and Katherine and Leslie, who were starters on the 1993-94 team that advanced to the state semifinals at the Boston Garden. Katherine and Leslie also became team captains.

Cheri Lee, who was a starter on the 1992-93 team that had advanced to the Garden, current WHS girls soccer coach Tracey Gigliello Martucci, and Jessica DeCost were also members of the two consecutive Division 3 North sectional championship teams.

“Nobody ever expected us to get back to the Garden,” said Spinney. “That was probably the highlight of my career, even with the great seasons that we had, the 25-1 and 23-1 seasons. But that ’93-94 team was my favorite because they just came from nowhere, and no one ever believed that they could do it. We didn’t win the conference, and we just happened to play good basketball, caught a couple of breaks in the tournament and ended up back in the Garden.”

Spinney sent many of his players on to college basketball in all divisions. “Maureen McManus, of course, ended up the Patriot League scoring champion at Lafayette,” said Spinney. “Lisa Montelone went on and had a nice career at Bentley. Amy Sullivan had a nice career at Brandeis. Patty Hansen was a 12-season star at Bentley in the 1970s. Linda Wessling played basketball at BU. Lori Thomas got a scholarship to Maine. Debbie Consoli, Marie Biggio, and Franci Dolan all went to Emmanuel.”

Credit to his Wife

Ron Spinney said his wife, Joan, was “the glue that held the family together, when I was off doing basketball and scouting, and all that stuff.”

Their daughters excelled on and off the court and field. Elizabeth Spinney went to the University of Maryland at College Park and received her Master’s degree from the Kennedy School at Harvard University. Leslie Spinney graduated from the University of Rhode Island. Katherine Spinney, a Winthrop High class valedictorian, graduated from the University of Virginia.

Come November, the Spinney family will be at Holy Cross in Worcester when the hometown legend, Ron Spinney, makes his walk to the stage to accept his Hall of Fame plaque, a walk that everyone in town knew he would make one day.

And that day has arrived.