University of Vermont Athletic Hall of Fame
Ralph Lapointe 1947 - Baseball, Basketball, Football
"We live in deed, not years," is a fitting tribute to Ralph Lapointe, inducted into the UVM Hall of Fame in 1969. When the University of Vermont sports immortal died in the fall of 1967, he left a legacy of accomplishments both on and off the field. Respected not only for athletic achievements, but also for his building character as a coach and for his record as a civic leader, he exemplified his often-repeated ideal: "Athletics are the greatest training for life that I know."
An outstanding athlete whose undergraduate playing days at UVM were interrupted by World War II, Lapointe went on to become one of the region's top baseball coaches at his alma mater.
A native of Winooski, Vt., Lapointe enrolled at UVM in 1941 and after playing freshman football, basketball and baseball, he became one of the school's top football backs in the fall of 1942 earning Associated Press Little All-American honors. During his first winter on the varsity hoop team, he joined the military.
After four years of service he returned stateside and signed with the Philadelphia Phillies organization in 1946. The Phillies called him up a year later and he hit .308 during the later half of 1947 to earn a spot on The Sporting News All-Rookie Team. The middle infielder was dealt to the St. Louis Cardinals where he played 86 games in 1948. After three more minor league seasons he retired from professional baseball in 1951.
Fellow Hall of Famer and UVM AD Larry Gardner tabbed Lapointe to succeed him as Catamount baseball coach for the 1952 season. He went on to become one of the most successful coaches in the county enjoying 16 straight winning years. His Catamounts went 216-127 in his tenure and he sent nearly a dozen players on to professional ball including major league hurler Jack Lamabe '57. Also at UVM he served on the football and basketball coaching staffs as an assistant and as the freshmen team coach.
Lapointe dusted off the cleats and returned to the field in the summer of 1955 as the playing manager of the new Burlington Athletics of the Class C Provincial League at Centennial Field. The Athletics reached the championship series but the Provincial League disbanded the next winter.
Lapointe led UVM to perhaps its best season in history in 1956 as the Catamounts earned their first-ever NCAA Tournament bid. Vermont won its first Yankee Conference title in 1962 and returned to the NCAAs coming one game from reaching the College World Series. In his final season, 1967, Lapointe was named NCAA Region I Coach of the Year.
Lapointe lost a lengthy battle to cancer on September 13, 1967 at the young age of 45. The baseball clubhouse at Centennial Field was named the Ralph Lapointe Fieldhouse in his honor in November 1967. In 1978, Lapointe was named to the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, at the time the ninth New England college coach to receive the honor.
In 1999, Sports Illustrated selected Lapointe as one of the Top 50 Vermont athletes of the 20th Century ranking 36th among the Top 50 Vermonters.
His sons, David '69 and Thomas '78, went on to graduate from UVM. David was an outstanding baseball and basketball player for the Catamounts and was inducted into the UVM Athletic Hall of Fame in 1981.
