PROVIDENCE — October 18 marks a milestone for the Catholic Athletic League, when 14 men and women will be inducted into their newly created Hall of Fame at their gala and fundraiser at the Crowne Plaza in Warwick.
“In honor of the 90th anniversary of the Catholic Athletic League, we are taking this time to celebrate extraordinary figures who have aided in making the league what it is today,” the CAL website declares.
CAL director Benjamin Gorewitz spoke to Rhode Island Catholic about this momentous event. “I was presented with all these incredible people who wanted to be involved in the League and helped the League,” he commented. “I was just amazed at how many really good people were involved in the Catholic Athletic League for so long.” He realized that there was currently no way to honor those men and women as was fitting for their contributions to Catholic sports in R.I.
“This is really an opportunity to honor them and to thank them” for their dedication and witness, not just to sports but to the Catholic faith, Gorewitz stated.
A committee was established to review potential nominees, and an open call was sent throughout the diocese. The first to be considered were those with longer tenures or ones who made a great impact on the CAL.
The reactions received from inductees were those of surprise and gratitude. “One of the joys of doing this has been calling people and telling them that they’re being inducted,” Gorewitz continued. “Especially some of the ones who are posthumous, calling their families … It has been an incredible joy.”
One such honoree is Charles “Chuck” Vermette. He had a passion for teaching, both in the classroom and on the sports field. And it showed. Though Vermette passed away in 2021, he is still earning recognition for the mark he left on the lives of those he taught and coached. He is among the first members to be inducted into the CAL Hall of Fame this year.
According to his wife of 58 years, Carolyn, Chuck began his athletic career at 12 years old at Sacred Heart Grammar School, where he later coached baseball, basketball and track.
“For years he coached all the CYO basketball teams, he also played in the senior league,” she said.
Chuck was blessed with a great intellect, starting school at age four and graduating from Providence College by age 20. Throughout his time at La Salle Academy, he played baseball and basketball. After earning his bachelor’s degree in education in 1958, he taught mathematics at Riverside Junior High School and later became assistant principal. There he coached baseball and football, leading the baseball team to two state championships. He also coached basketball at Bryant College for a year.
In 1963, the year they wed, Chuck was honored as the CYO “Man of the Year.”
Carolyn has a whole scrapbook of his achievements through the years.
“He just loved it. He didn’t get paid for all the years that he did it.”
Carolyn [four years younger and five years behind Chuck in school] was a cheerleader at Sacred Heart. When they met he was the coach of the basketball teams.
The two became a couple years later, when Carolyn was a student at the Rhode Island Hospital School of Nursing. On her 20th birthday, she learned that Guy Lombardo was playing locally and wanted to go see him. “Ten minutes later, the phone rang, and it was Chuck. He said that his brother and his wife were going to see Guy Lombardo and I was wondering if you’d like to go. And I’ll tell you I took that as a sign from God that we were meant to be.”
They kept bumping into each other at church functions at Sacred Heart and started dating and were married two years later. Their marriage produced “four great kids and seven wonderful grandchildren.”
She fondly recalled Chuck’s three great loves: his family, sports and teaching, spending 32 years in the classroom and administration. Never a day went by that he bemoaned going to work in the morning, she said. “He just loved it.”
While he coached for many years, his induction into the CAL Hall of Fame honors the 58 years he spent as an umpire and referee for grade school and high school baseball, football, softball and basketball games. This honor marks his fifth hall of fame induction, after the East Providence High School Hall of Fame, where he served as assistant principal, the R.I. Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame, the R.I. Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame and the New England U.S.S.S.A. Softball Hall of Fame.
Among the many honors he received for his years of service are the Eagle of the Cross Youth Award and the East Bay Region C.Y.O. “Man of the Year” award, the Arthur Iannotti Award for an official who has made distinguished contributions to basketball and the Bob Farrell Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award for New England U.S.S.S.A. Softball.
The good he did in his life, however, he did without looking for rewards or recognition. Chuck’s faith manifested itself early on as an altar server at Sacred Heart and continued throughout his life, seen in his generous spirit.
Carolyn shared a story that demonstrated his silent giving. “There was a kid at school who wasn’t taking gym because they didn’t have sneakers, and he went down to the shoe place and got the kid some sneakers.”
She remains a parishioner at Our Lady of Loretto in East Providence following Chuck’s passing. She recalled that at his funeral, many people approached her with humorous and sincere stories about him that she had never heard before.
“He just enjoyed helping people and doing all that he could.”
Carolyn knows how much her husband would have enjoyed attending the gala, and not to hear his own praises sung. “He loved going to anybody’s testimonial,” she said. “They used to call him the Frequent Flyer at Perry McStay Funeral Home because he saw it as important to always have a presence whenever someone he knew or was connected to through sports died.”
Almost four years after his own funeral, Carolyn confessed: “I miss him. He left a big void in all our lives because he was such a presence. I still think of him coming upstairs at night after refereeing a game.”
Tickets for the gala can be purchased online at www.givebutter.com/c/CALGala. All funds raised will go toward financial aid and scholarships, “as well as aiding in furthering the mission of CAL and the efforts of the Office of Evangelization,” Gorewitz concluded.
Charles “Chuck” Vermette (Official-Posthumous)
George Manupelli (Administrator)
Bishop James Ruggieri (Clergy)
Michael Murphy (Coach)
Walter “Buster” Wall (Coach-Posthumous)
Stephen Martin (Administrator)
Armand Batastini (Coach-Posthumous)
Louise “Duce” Dussault (Administrator)
Paul Viverios (Official)
Gene Fogarty (Coach-Posthumous)
William St. Laurent (Administrator)
Kevin McKenna (Coach)
Daniel McDonald (Administrator-Posthumous)
Sister Ann Keefe (Religious-Posthumous)
