Harry Agganis

Aristotle George Agganis () was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, growing up with four brothers and two sisters. 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. == 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. Agganis became the school's first All-American in football and Boston coach Buff Donelli named Agganis the "greatest football player he ever coached". He also played basketball and baseball at the school. 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 . 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 . 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. == 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. ==Death==

in Lynn. In May 1955, Agganis was hospitalized for 10 days with pneumonia, severe fever, and chest pains. 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". Ten thousand mourners saw his body lie in state at St. George's Greek Orthodox Church in Lynn. ==Legacy==

Agganis was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1974. Gaffney Street, near the former site of Braves Field in Boston, was renamed Harry Agganis Way in 1995. Agganis Arena is a multipurpose sports facility at Boston University. 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. 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. ==See also==