University of Vermont Athletic Hall of Fame
William A. Dempsey 1950 - Baseball, Football, Hockey
While accumulating nine varsity letters at UVM, William Dempsey, a 1984 Athletic Hall of Fame inductee, established himself as the type of Renaissance athlete you seldom see in sports today. Between the years of 1947 and 1950, Dempsey garnered four letters in hockey, three in football, and two in baseball.
He started every game for four seasons on the hockey squad, and served the team as captain in his senior year of 1950. As a Catamount footballer, he started at end in 1948 and moved into the middle, playing at center and linebacker, in 1949 and 1950. As a senior grid star, Dempsey won All-Vermont accolades at the center position. In his two-year Vermont baseball career, Dempsey was a starting outfielder, and batted cleanup in 1948 and fifth in 1949.
Fitting the true mold of a three-sport letterman, Dempsey dabbled in a host of other sports, and found time to play four years of basketball and volleyball for his fraternity, Phi Delta Theta. He also coached football as an assistant to John (Fuzzy) Evans during his graduate year of 1950-51.
Presently the director of athletics for the Weymouth, Mass. public school system, a post he has held since 1974, Dempsey was a teacher and coach for Weymouth North High School for 18 years, from 1955-1974. While there, he taught social science, served as head coach of hockey and tennis, and assistant coach of football. Prior to that, he taught social studies at Hopkinton, Mass. High School, also coaching football, basketball, and baseball.
Dempsey is currently a member of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) Board of Control. He was voted into the Massachusetts Hockey Coaches' Hall of Fame in 1979, and was chosen the Massachusetts Athletic Director of the Year in 1981. He and his wife, Wilma (UVM '49), live in East Weymouth and have eight children; William Jr., Kathleen, Patrick, Brian, Margaret, Michael, James and Eileen.
