Harry Agganis

Aristotle George "Harry" Agganis (April 20, 1929 – June 27, 1955), nicknamed "The Golden Greek",<ref name="ottawa">Template:Cite news</ref> was an American college football player and professional baseball player. After passing up a potential professional football career, he played in Major League Baseball as a first baseman from 1954 to 1955 for the Boston Red Sox.

Born in Lynn, Massachusetts, to Greek immigrants Georgios Agganis and Georgia Papalimperis, Agganis first gained notice as a college football player at Boston University, becoming its first student named All-American. He passed up a professional career with the Cleveland Browns in order to play his favorite sport, baseball, close to his hometown. He signed a bonus baby contract, and after one season playing minor league baseball, he started at first base for the Red Sox.

In 1955, Agganis became gravely ill early in the season and was hospitalized for two weeks for pneumonia. He rejoined the Red Sox for a single week before being rehospitalized with a viral infection. After showing some signs of recovery, he died of a pulmonary embolism on June 27.

Early life

Aristotle George Agganis (Template:Langx)Template:Citation needed was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, growing up with four brothers and two sisters.<ref name="APshock"/> His family was from Longanikos, Sparta, Greece. He was a star football and baseball player at Lynn Classical High School as well as a strong student, named "All-Scholastic".<ref name="anotherobit">Template:Cite news</ref> In December 1946, Agganis was quarterback for the Lynn Classical team that defeated Granby High School (quarterbacked by Chuck Stobbs) in the North–South Shrine Game at the Miami Orange Bowl.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

College career

Agganis enrolled at Boston University, where he became a starter, primarily at quarterback. After his sophomore season in 1949, when he set a school record by passing for 15 touchdowns, he entered the Marine Corps. Agganis played for the Camp Lejeune football and baseball teams in North Carolina. He received a dependency discharge from the Marines to support his mother and returned to college to play in 1951–52. Around the same time, Agganis was participating in summer baseball leagues in Augusta, Maine.<ref name="Oharaagain">Template:Cite news</ref>

Agganis became the school's first All-American in football and Boston coach Buff Donelli named Agganis the "greatest football player he ever coached".<ref name="APshock">Template:Cite news</ref> He also played basketball and baseball at the school.<ref name="APshock"/>

Agganis set another Boston University mark by passing for 1,402 yards for the season and won the Bulger Lowe Award as New England's outstanding football player. His number 33 was retired and he was inducted into the university's athletic hall of fame as soon as he graduated.<ref name="Icons" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Coach Paul Brown of the Cleveland Browns thought Agganis could be the successor to Otto Graham and drafted the college junior in the first round of the 1952 NFL draft, offering him a bonus of $25,000 Template:USDCY. Boston Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey outbid Brown, however, and signed Agganis to play major league baseball for the Red Sox as a first baseman for $35,000 Template:USDCY.<ref name="Oharaagain" /> At the time of his death, Agganis was spending his off-season at his alma mater as an assistant coach, tutoring Tom Gastall, another quarterback who decided to play professional baseball and died young.<ref name="Oharaagain" />

Baseball career

Following his 1953 college graduation, Agganis played with the Triple-A Louisville Colonels, where he hit .281 with 23 home runs and 108 RBI.<ref name="APshock"/> He made his major league debut on April 13, 1954. Agganis had a modest rookie season, although he did lead American League first basemen in assists and fielding percentage. He hit 11 home runs that year, with 57 RBI and a .251 batting average.<ref name=BR>Template:Cite web</ref>

Death

File:Grave of Harry Agganis.jpg

Agganis' grave in Pine Grove Cemetery in Lynn.

In May 1955, Agganis was hospitalized for 10 days with pneumonia, severe fever, and chest pains.<ref name="APshock"/> He rejoined the Red Sox on June 1 and played two games against the Chicago White Sox, before falling ill again in Kansas City, Missouri, on June 5. He was diagnosed with a viral infection and flown back to Sancta Maria Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where a doctor partially blamed his playing too soon after the first illness.<ref name="APshock"/> The Red Sox placed him on the voluntary retired list until he recuperated,<ref name="Oharaagain"/> an early version of the disabled list. He began showing signs of improvement, before a fatal pulmonary embolism on June 27.<ref name="ottawa"/>

Red Sox general manager Joe Cronin told the Associated Press that everyone related to the Red Sox organization was "grieved and shocked", calling Agganis "a grand boy", and saying the team would wear #6 black armbands to honor him.<ref name="anotherobit"/><ref name="morereaction">Template:Cite news</ref> American League president Will Harridge said his office was "saddened and shocked", and Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey said he was "stunned", calling Agganis "a man of great character".<ref name="ottawa"/><ref name="morereaction"/> Ten thousand mourners saw his body lie in state at St. George's Greek Orthodox Church in Lynn.<ref name="APshock"/>

Legacy

Agganis was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1974.<ref name=HOF>Template:Cite web</ref> Gaffney Street, near the former site of Braves Field in Boston, was renamed Harry Agganis Way in 1995.<ref name=Icons>Template:Cite web</ref>

Agganis Arena is a multipurpose sports facility at Boston University.<ref name=Arena>Template:Cite web</ref> The Harry Agganis Stadium located on Camp Lejeune was named in his honor.

The Agganis Foundation, founded in 1955 by Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey, the (Lynn) Daily Item, and Harold O. Zimman (a mentor of Agganis and the namesake of the Tufts Jumbos football field), has awarded more than $2.5 million in college scholarships to student-athletes who attend high school in Lynn and surrounding areas.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Actor Telly Savalas, in an episode of The Extraordinary, said he unknowingly met a ghost who said he knew a player from the Boston Red Sox, and the next day Savalas saw in the newspaper headlines that a 26-year-old player had died of mysterious circumstances.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• Boston University athletics
• List of baseball players who died during their careers

Further reading

• Template:Cite news

External links

• Template:College Football HoF
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