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CHS grad
Pendergast named Paul Callahan award recipient
By Jeffrey
Pickette
Citizen Staff
As the
starting quarterback for the Canton High football team, the
starting shooting guard for the basketball team, and the
starting centerfielder for the baseball team, Dan Pendergast was
a fixture for the Bulldogs on the playing fields in his four
years at CHS. And with his wide-ranging athletic abilities,
Pendergast, a member of the class of 2008, was a clear-cut
choice to be this year’s recipient of the Paul Callahan
Memorial Award.
 Paul
Callahan, a 1959 graduate of CHS, received 14 varsity letters in
football, basketball, baseball, and track — more than any other
athlete in school history. He passed away suddenly in March of
2005, two months before his May induction into the CHS Hall of
Fame.
To honor his
memory, the Copeland Family Foundation in Milton made a donation
to CHS for an award to be created in Callahan’s name. Since
2006, the Paul Callahan Memorial Award has been presented to a
graduating student-athlete who exemplified Callahan’s character
and participated in at least one of the sports in which he
played.
“It’s a
definite honor to be in the same category as someone who’s
accomplished as much as he has,” said Pendergast, who captained
the football, basketball, and baseball teams this past year.
Pendergast
credits his two older brothers, Brian, 26, and David, 23 — both
graduates of CHS — for spurring his athletic passion.
“My whole
family influenced me through sports,” Pendergast said. “It was
[easier] going from the backyard to the regular court when I was
playing against kids my own age after playing with [my brothers]
my whole life.”
While
Pendergast had his share of highlights on the field — robbing a
homerun against Scituate in the baseball team’s season opener
this past year, or sinking five three-pointers in a close
victory for the basketball team over North Attleboro in his
junior year — there was no better feeling for him than scoring a
touchdown in football.
“Scoring a
touchdown is pretty much the most exciting thing in sports to
me,” Pendergast said. “It’s not just me getting into the end
zone; the whole team had to work together to achieve a common
goal. It means that everyone did their assignment.”
Fittingly,
Pendergast’s CHS football career ended with him leading his team
into the end zone. Late in the fourth quarter of the team’s
Thanksgiving Day loss to Stoughton, Pendergast connected with
Mike Stone for a 40-yard touchdown pass.
Even with
all of Pendergast’s accomplishments on the field, CHS Athletic
Director Danny Erickson credited the sports star with remaining
humble.
“He was
critical on all the teams he played on, and yet he tried to fly
under the radar,” Erickson said. “He never really looked for all
the attention. He really devoted himself to his teams, always
putting team first.”
In the fall,
Pendergast will attend Colby-Sawyer College in New London, New
Hampshire, where he plans to try out for both the basketball and
baseball teams.
August 7, 2008
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