Keeping Score with Chip Ainsworth: Honoring Greg Belanger this weekend

Published: 08-23-2024 2:11 PM

Modified: 08-23-2024 5:50 PM

Good morning!

The next time you’re at the curve on Rte. 5 a half-mile south of Richardson’s Candy Kitchen, look east and you’ll see a large boulder with a bronze plaque attached to it. The monument memorializes Sgt. Gregory Allen Belanger, who died Aug. 27, 2003.

According to the Department of Defense, the Deerfield native was the 374th of 2,676 soldiers who was killed in action during Operation Iraqi Freedom, a seven year campaign that began on March 19, 2003.

Saturday over a hundred family and friends, and others who never knew Greg will be at Camp Apex to celebrate his life and sacrifice.

There will be laughter and music, food and raffles, gift cards will be donated for homeless vets and money will be raised for the Frontier Regional School scholarship fund in his name.

No one expected that 2,996 people in America would die in terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Two years earlier during an era of relative calm, Greg had enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve to help pay for school at Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island where he was learning to be a chef.

Assigned to the 325th Military Intelligence Battalion, he shipped out for a 10-month tour of duty at Camp Anaconda on the Tigris River in Balad, the site of the second largest U.S. base in Iraq.

He stayed out of harm’s way until the last Wednesday in August when he volunteered to go on a transport mission. He didn’t have to, he was a cook. Maybe he felt guilty about not being part of the action, or maybe there was no such thing as being a volunteer. Maybe, in reality, he had no choice.

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Sgt. George Hendrickson told the Boston Globe’s Hanna Krueger at about 3 p.m. that afternoon soldiers began rushing through the gate to safety. “We’re going to stop work today,” his commanding officer told him. “We lost a soldier. It was Belanger.”

Greg died of “body-wide trauma” from the roadside bomb that impacted his Humvee. He was buried less than a mile from his home, in Laurel Hill Cemetery on Pine Nook Road. His family has organized Saturday’s event for 21 years. The BBQ starts at 2 p.m. It’s free, but bring a gift card from Walmart, Big Y or Stop & Shop for homeless veterans.

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Greenfield High School has 30 players out for football, including three each from TFHS and Pioneer and two from Mohawk. The season opener is Sept. 16 at 6 p.m. at Chicopee High School.

“It’s been pulling teeth trying to get the camaraderie back,” said GHS coach and AD Mike Kuchieski. “It’s been tough. We don’t have nearly the amount of families who want to buy in anymore, same for soccer and field hockey — the numbers are low.

“Our coaches are all trying to make kids believe that athletics is life. Ninety-nine percent of the CEOs in this country played sports, it’s not all algebra and...”

Kuchieski’s son Trevor is a sophomore at Dean College in Franklin. He’s on the football team and will play in the offensive backfield. “Slot receiver last year to slot running back this year. They’re changing the offense, so I brought him some bubble wrap for all the hits he’s going to be taking.”

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Kenny McPeek’s talented 3-year-old filly Thorpedo Anna (3-1 Morning Line) seeks to become the first filly to beat the boys in the Travers Stakes since Lady Rotha did it in 1915. During last week’s preview, Fox analyst Richard Migliore gave a handicapping lesson about why she might have an added edge exiting the one post.

Referencing the 2020 Preakness winner Swiss Skydiver, Migliore said: “Swiss Skydiver won the Preakness because the runner up did not want to go by her. He was a colt and he was very content to run alongside the filly.”

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Ross Tucker invited West County native Mike Ryan onto his podcast to explain his role as a behind-the-scenes sports medicine analyst for NBC’s Sunday Night Football and Amazon Prime’s Thursday Night Football.

“How many people besides your friends and family know what you do, or that you have this job?” asked Tucker.

“It’s a fun niche role that helps keep the guys in the booth updated with accurate medical information,” answered Ryan. “The thing I stay away from is I don’t speculate. We focus on the things we know for sure.”

Ryan was a head trainer in the NFL for 26 years, first for the Giants under Bill Parcells and then for the Jaguars under Tom Coughlin. Working for tough coaches always impresses Tucker, himself a seven year offensive lineman in the league. “I played with guys that had been on that Jags team,” Tucker said of the Coughlin regime, “and they talk about it like it was Vietnam.”

“You weren’t gonna get a lot of ‘attaboys’ with Coughlin,” agreed Ryan. “He’d cut guys during practice.”

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Reprising last week’s take on McGuirk Alumni Stadium, Mark Enoch remembered his father Don telling him: “Either Warren (McGuirk) or Vic (Fusia) told Don that the stadium was from a blueprint of the original Beaver Stadium. Having seen many a game at State College in the ‘60s, I can see it.”

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During the Yankees-Red Sox game on July 26, Johnny Damon showed up in the Red Sox radio booth and talked about how great it was to be on the ’04 championship team, then went over to the Yankees’ booth and gave the same spiel about playing for the Bombers when they won in ’09.    

The real reason Damon was there was to push his new sports drink, billed as a “premium hydration option.” 

Of course, the cheaper hydration option would be to take a few gulps from the water fountain.

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SQUIBBERS: The over/under win total is 4 1/2 for the Patriots and BC Eagles and 3 1/2 wins for UMass, not what you’d call the Bermuda Triangle of football. … Oddsmakers say one of those UMass wins will be at home next week against Eastern Michigan. UMass is a 2 1/2-point favorite. …. Meanwhile MAC member Akron opens at Ohio State next week and the Buckeyes are favored by 49 1/2 to whip the Zips. … Memo from PFT’s Mike Florio to Giants QB Daniel Jones: “Shave the beard, it didn’t work for you.” … John Sterling stepped in to do two innings of play-by-play with his sidekick Suzyn Waldman on Tuesday and the Voice of the Yankees hadn’t skipped a beat. … Waldman worked Sunday night’s Little League Classic between the Yankees and Tigers and said of the trip home: “We didn’t walk through the door until 2:30 a.m. Who knew Williamsport was so far?” … The Mets organization is getting less and less likable, as reported by Phil Mushnick in Sunday’s NY Post: “The Mets fired two long-time employees, including their popular PA announcer, because a newly hired female — an eavesdropper — complained that she overheard one telling a dirty joke to the other.” … According to Ian O’Connor’s “Out of the Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers,” actress Olivia Munn played Meghan Markle to Rodgers’s Prince Harry in his family’s falling out. …  In case you missed it, the Pirates ran out of fireworks on July 5 when the Bucs hit seven home runs against the Mets. ... Mass. plates spotted on a Nissan Titan in town: WVUFAN. Anyone know a bigtime Mountaineers fan? Ask 'em to drop us a line. … Foot-in-Mouth Dept.: After running back Ollie Gordon II was busted for DUI, Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy said: “I’ve probably done it a thousand times, so I got lucky.”

Chip Ainsworth is an award-winning columnist who has penned his observations about sports for decades in the Pioneer Valley. He can be reached at chipjet715@icloud.com