From Tournament Heartbreak, A Legend Emerges

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A young Dave Gavitt (with ball) in Peterborough with teammates Bernie Cutter (left) and Ron Bailey, and as legendary coach at Providence College.


In the 1954-55 season, Peterborough High School enjoyed its finest year since the 1941 state champions. The Hilanders, paced by Wayne Crowell, Ron Bailey, Gary Brown, former Hancock High standout Bob Kierstead (Hancock had just begun sending its high school students to PHS), and a kid named Dave Gavitt, finished the regular season 14-2 and won the Monadnock League Championship.


Highly ranked in the Class B state tournament, the Hilanders were heavy favorites against St. John of Concord (now Bishop Brady) in the first round. The Green and White seemed well on their way to the quarter-finals, holding a 10-point lead heading into the fourth quarter. Then, as the Peterborough Transcript reported, “everything went wrong. Not a tally was scored by the luckless Hilanders until co-captain Gavitt netted a desperation two points after six minutes of play had elapsed.”


It was the Hilanders’ only two points of the period as St. John rallied for a 46-44 upset.


“The large crowd was gasping when the game was finished. St John had done the impossible, while Peterborough fans and players alike couldn’t believe it happened,” said the Transcript of the atmosphere after the game—an atmosphere that the Conval Nation family tree has experienced all too often in state tournament play.


But as is often the case, out of something heartbreaking comes something good.


Gavitt, nicknamed “Dead Eye,” was regarded as “the best schoolboy guard in the state.” Although his team lost unexpectedly, Dave never lost his competitive spirit and won the Class B state foul shot shooting contest.


They were skills that were engrained at an early age when Gavitt, along with dozens of his Peterborough friends, were members of Milt’s Tigers highly successful youth basketball program in the early 1950s, led by Milt Fontaine. Even as a grade-school player, Gavitt was singled out as someone to watch:


“Davey Gavitt looks like the best high school prospect. Gavitt is a dead eye on set shots and is fast learning how to hook shoot with either hand. He should become one of Peterborough’s greats."


Indeed he was. After graduating from PHS, Gavitt went on to star at Dartmouth where he helped lead the Big Green to the Ivy League championship in 1959. He then became an assistant coach at Worcester Academy, and then directed the Providence College freshmen to a 21-0 record in the 1963-64 season. After serving as an assistant coach at Providence, the Peterborough High standout returned to Dartmouth where he eventually assumed the head coach position when the team’s leader, Doggie Julian, suffered a heart attack. Under Gavitt’s leadership, Dartmouth experienced great success, and he was named New England Coach of the Year in 1968.


And that was just the beginning.


Returning to Providence to succeed the legendary Joe Mullaney, the small town hero led the Friars to eight consecutive postseason tournaments and won three more Coach of the Year honors over 10 years. Gavitt's 1973 team was the first in school history to reach the NCAA Final Four.


Then, in 1979, Gavitt was instrumental in forming what is now known as the Big East Conference, and became its first commissioner until 1990. He was named head coach of the 1980 USA Olympic basketball team and helped develop the Dream Team Olympic basketball team. From 1990-1994, Dave was CEO of the Boston Celtics, and was inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006. Sadly, Dave Gavitt passed away suddenly in September 2011.


From state tournament heartbreak to a legend of the game. To think that a life well-lived can begin in a small New Hampshire town and by making “dead eye” foul shots. 


#historymatters

#newhampshire

#highschoolbasketball

#foul-shots

#rollcougs

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