Induction CLass Of 2025

Shelly DePina ’08 was a three-sport all-star during her varsity career at New Bedford High

School where she earned a total of nine varsity letters; three in each season. She was named

the New Bedford High School Female Athlete of the Year in 2008 for her accomplishments in all

three sports.

In the fall, she excelled on the volleyball court, where she was a two-time Big Three and

Standard-Times all-star. The Whalers played in three consecutive South Sectional finals during

Shelly’s varsity career at New Bedford. She punctuated her senior year by recording 304 kills

, which at that time was a school record. Hall of Fame coach Neil Macedo was quoted in the

Standard-Times as saying “we know that when she’s in the front row, we get a good pass that

we have a real good shot at getting a point”. As a senior, Shelly was named to the Boston

Herald All-Scholastic team.

In the winter months, Shelly stayed on the court and at 5’7” she played center for the Whalers

basketball team. The team had come off a 7-13 record during her freshman year and over her

next three seasons on varsity, the team recorded 49 wins with only 21 losses for a seventy

percent winning percentage, with Shelly playing a huge role during all three seasons. Along with

fellow Hall of Fame member, Stephanie (Houtman) Canery, they propelled the team to the first

South Sectional Basketball Championship in school history. Hall of Fame Coach, Mickey

Gonsalves, was quoted in the Boston Globe after the teams South Sectional win over Sandwich

by saying of Shelly, “it’s going to be very tough to replace her…she just gives you everything

she’s got every night. There’s a lot of intangibles there you can’t teach”. Once again, Shelly

earned both Standard-Times and Big Three All-Star status.

In the spring, Shelly took her athletic talents outside and competed on the track and field team.

Not surprisingly, she excelled both on the track and in the field. Her two primary events were

the 100-meter hurdles and the high jump. She placed in the high jump at the State Division 1

meet in three consecutive years (sixth, third and fourth) as well as in the hurdles as she finished

fifth behind two of her teammates; HOF’er Lauren Barber who won and Linee Mello-Frost who

finished third. She is a member of three school relay records ( 4 x 100, shuttle hurdles and high

jump) that still stand today. No surprise, Shelly earned Big Three All Star status in all three years

that she competed in track and field.

Upon graduation, Shelly continued with both her volleyball and basketball careers at

Bridgewater State where she earned All Conference accolades in both sports. She scored 1162

points in her basketball career. At the conclusion of her senior year, she was named the BSU

Athlete of the Year. Today, Shelly resides in New Bedford and is employed by where she serves

as a Territory Sales Representative for Luxottica; a leader in the optical industry.

John Marsh ’04 is one of the most decorated athletes in New Bedford High School’s wrestling

history. A four-year member of the wrestling program, John compiled an impressive career

record of one hundred twenty victories to only sixteen losses.

Over his career, John showed steady improvement throughout his four years. He earned his

first of three consecutive Big 3 All-Star berths as a sophomore and was knocking on the door

entering his senior year after finishing runner-up in both the South Sectional and State Division

1 tournament at one hundred-thirty pounds as a junior.

One of the improvements that John made between his junior and senior year was working on a

weakness in his technique that was exposed in that State Division 1 championship match. His

first three years, John was what might be called more of a “mat wrestler,” meaning he would

wait to counter his opponents and then try to beat them on the mat. In John’s words, he was

not “as offensive on his feet”. He came back for his senior season as more of an ”attacker”

rather than the counter wrestler that he had been in the past. The “quiet assassin” had a

remarkable final season wearing the Whaler uniform as he compiled a seasonal record of 43-2

wrestling the best in New England. Wrestling at one hundred thirty-five pounds, he started off

his championship run by tearing through the South Sectional, State Division 1 and All State

tournaments capturing the Outstanding Wrestler in all three weekend tournaments (he shared

the Outstanding wrestler award with Central Catholic’s Joe Fendone at the All State

Championship). He set a state record for most pins in the least amount of time in state

competition. His four pins required a total time of only four minutes and fifty-five seconds.

Wrestling is unlike most of the “team” sports in that the wrestlers culminate their state

championship experience by wrestling against athletes from all schools throughout the state

, regardless of location or size of school. Thus, it is a true state championship. John’s losses in his

senior year were suffered at the New England Championships, where he took home a very

strong fourth place finish. For his efforts he was named to the Boston Globe All Scholastic team

and was the D1 Wrestler of the Year.

John went on to wrestle and graduate from Bridgewater State in 2010; that same year that he

was a NCAA Division III All American at 149lbs. Also, in 2010, John was named the Bridgewater

State Athlete of the Year. He is a member of the New England Wrestling Association (NEWA)

Hall of Fame.

Today, John resides in Valley Cottage, New York with his wife Salle and son, Theo John (age 1).

He is the owner of Essential Strength and Conditioning where he has worked and trained

athletes from the beginner level up to national champions in a variety of fighting disciplines.

The sport of basketball has been part of Marques Houtman ’97’s life basically since the day he

was born. Named Marques partly after the former UCLA and NBA great Marques Johnson (who

coincidently was named after the Harlem Globetrotters' great Marques Haynes) by his father

Raymond and late mother, Yvonne, basketball and Marques have been a match made in

heaven.

As a youngster, Marques honed his skills at the New Bedford Boys Club and on the playgrounds

of New Bedford before entering New Bedford High School in the fall of 1993. By his junior year,

he had established himself on a largely senior-dominated varsity basketball team during the

1995-96 school year. During that season, he gradually worked his way into the starting line-up

and emerged during the state tournament when he averaged twenty-two points a game

throughout the post-season run.

The experience he gained as a junior proved worthwhile as he flourished as a senior and helped

lead the Whalers to a 17-7 overall record and a trip into the South Sectional Championship

game. He started off the year by being named to the prestigious Newport Christmas

Tournament All-Tourney team. His 24-point-per-game average helped lead the young varsity

squad that started primarily freshman and sophomores to a Big Three team title. He poured in

39 points in their 81-80 loss to Big 3 rival Durfee. In the tournament, Marques poured in 23 in a

72-60 victory over Needham and followed that up with twenty-three more, including six three-

pointers in a 65-60 win over Attleboro, which put the Whalers into the South Sectional final. In a

64-56 loss to Taunton, Marques scored one-third of the team's 56 points. For his efforts, he was

named the Standard-Times Player of the Year for the 1996-97 season.

Marques also displayed his outstanding leaping ability during his junior year when he was part

of the track and field team. Competing in both the high jump and triple jump, he showed great

potential during the short ten-week season; consistently scoring in both the high jump and

triple events throughout the spring. He took a first place in the high jump at Quincy where he

also triple jumped forty-one feet.

Marques went on to have a fabulous career at UMass Dartmouth, where he was a thousand

point scorer and is a member of that school’s Hall of Fame, Post collegiately, Marques took his

basketball talents overseas and also was a member of the Cape Verdean National team. He was

a 2024 nominee to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame for his contributions to the sport for

the country of Cape Verde and the continent of Africa.

Today, Marques resides in New Bedford where he is a teacher at Greater New Bedford Regional

Vocational High School.

Jeff Coelho’95 was an outstanding three-year varsity soccer player for the Whalers. He

graduated as the all time leading scorer in New Bedford High School history with 63 goals and

38 assists. Little known fact, Jeff actually scored 7 goals and added 2 assists as the leading scorer

as a freshman at Dennis-Yarmouth prior to moving to New Bedford for his sophomore year.

Playing for New Bedford High School Hall of Fame player and coach, the late Manny Matos,

Jeff was a Boston Globe All Scholastic player during his senior year. He was named to the Globe

“Super Seven” which recognized the seven best players on the Globe All Scholastic Team. That

senior season, saw Jeff score 22 goals and assisting on 18 others. The team was ranked nationally

during both his junior and senior years.

Jeff made a significant impact on the team throughout his three years on the varsity. As a

sophomore, he scored the only goal in a 1-0 South Sectional semifinal win over Bridgewater-

Raynham that propelled the team into the final. In the final, the Whalers captured the 1992 South

Sectional with a two overtime 3-2 victory over Marshfield. For the season, Jeff scored 14 goals

and assisted on nine others.

His junior year, the Whalers finished with a 16-2-3 record and he led the team with 27 goals and

11 assists and at one time the team was ranked 7 th in the country. His senior the team finished

with a 19-1-2 record and entered the post season as the number one seed and national ranking as

high as number five.

His final game as a Whaler was a heart-breaking defeat (2-1) to Silver Lake in the South

Sectional semifinal; a game in which Jeff scored the teams only goal. Jeff had also come up big

in the quarterfinal game scoring 2 goals in a 4-2 win over Needham. Jeff’s success on the soccer

pitch was rewarded when he was named an All American by the National Soccer Association of

America as well as All-State and All-New England.

Soccer is the sport that is always associated with Jeff Coelho but he also was a two-year member

of the school’s indoor and outdoor track and field teams and he produced some excellent results.

His best high jump was 6’2” and he finished sixth in the Class A indoor championship; a meet

that he also finished seventh in the 600yard run. Those efforts helped the team to a third place

finish in the indoor Division 1 meet. Jeff also is part of a still-standing indoor distance medley

school record. In his senior year, the team won both the outdoor Class A and All State team

championships.

Jeff continued his education at DePaul University where he was a four year starter and team

captain at the Big East school. Upon graduation, Jeff was part of the coaching staff at DePaul for

six years as well as part of the coaching staff of the U16 women’s national team.

Today, Jeff resides in Plymouth with his wife Jessica and children Olivia (12), Madison (10) and

Isabella (8), He is a partner with New York Life.

Susan Marie (Medeiros) Raposo’95 was one of the most outstanding setters to ever wear the

New Bedford High School Volleyball uniform. Sue was a four-year member of the program that

was coached by Hall of Fame Coach Neil Macedo.

As a freshman, Sue played all three seasons with volleyball being played in the fall, freshman

basketball in the winter months and softball in the spring. Beginning in her sophomore year,

she began to devote more of her time to the sport of volleyball by becoming involved with the

Coastal Volleyball program during the off-season months. She remained in the softball program

and was a varsity player on the diamond as a junior but her efforts were primarily focused on

the volleyball court. Coach Macedo was quoted as saying that “Sue Medeiros was one of the

most dedicated volleyball players that I have had the pleasure of coaching. She worked on her

game year-round”.

During her three years on the varsity volleyball team, Sue and her teammates enjoyed

tremendous success as the was team was consistently playing for MIAA championship titles. As

a sophomore the team recorded an overall record of (19-4) before falling in the State Finals; a

lost that would provide great experience for the sophomore members as well as serving as a

huge motivator for the 1994 team. As junior, the team recorded an overall record of 20-3

before losing in the South Sectional final as a junior. She was recognized for her performance as

a junior by being named to the Standard-Times and Big Three All Star teams.

Her senior year was a season for the ages both for Sue, individually, as well as for the team as a

whole. She was the “spark plug” throughout the tournament as she first recorded thirty-two

assists in a three-set victory over rival Brockton in the South Sectional semi-final. She then

turned it up a notch when she recorded 43 assists (a school single match record) in the state

semifinal win over Chelmsford which earned her the Standard-Times Perfection Oil Player of

the Week Award. Not to rest on her laurels, Sue did two better in the state championship win

over North Quincy by setting her teammates up with the astounding number of 45 assists in her

final game as a Whaler. For her efforts, Sue was named to both the Boston Globe All Scholastic

team as well as the Boston Hearld team in addition to the Standard-Times and Big Three teams.

She graduated as the career record holder in assists (852), aces (103) and points (391).

After graduation, Sue received a partial athletic scholarship to Bryant University where she

played for one year before transferring to UMass Dartmouth where she graduated with a B.S. in

Accounting, Today, Sue resides in New Bedford with her husband Matthew and children, Abigail

(12) and Adrian (11). She is a senior accountant with All Hands and Hearts Smart Response

which is a domestic and international non-profit.

Dr. Kristin Hardy-Fortin ’91 was a three-sport standout during her four- year athletic career at

New Bedford High School.

In the fall, Kristin was a four-year starter on the girls field hockey team where she was a league

all star and second team All Bristol County as a junior. In her senior year as a team captain, she

had several outstanding games including a “hat trick” (3 goals) in a 6-0 win over Plymouth and

later in that season, she topped that effort by scoring four goals in a 7-0 win over Natick. Her

coach, Ron Vaz, was quoted in the Standard-Times when he said “she’d play the ball for us,

direct the team and take all our free hits and she was our top shooter from the top of the circle

and on penalty corners. For her efforts during her senior year, Kristin was named first team All

Bristol County as well as all-league (Big Three).

In the winter months, Kristin took to the basketball court and played under both Jeanne

Bonneau in her early years and Bob Foster in her later years. She again served as a team captain

as a senior and filled the role of the “off guard” for the Whalers.

As winter turned to spring, Kristin’s focus shifted to the softball field and particularly the

pitching mound. Sitting behind Hall of Famer Donna Poyant, Kristin was part of the 1989 girls

Massachusetts Division 1 state title team; the first in program history. By junior year, Kristin slid

into the starting pitcher role and embarked on an incredibly successful two year run in that

role. Her junior year saw her throw a three hitter, a two-hitter, a no-hitter over Barnstable and

also the program’s first ever perfect game in a 9-0 win over Plymouth North. Hardy finished her

junior year with a 12-1 record and owned a 0.54 ERA. More impressively, she concluded the

year having given up only two walks in the entire season that covered 90 innings!

During her senior year, Kristin tossed another no-hitter and was also named a team captain. Her

coach, Hall of Famer Ken Soares, was quoted as saying “she just doesn’t walk people” and

added “sometimes I encourage her to intentionally miss the strike zone with some pitches as

the opponents knew of her pin-point control and we want to get them to swing at some pitches

outside the zone”. During her softball career she was a two time Big Three all star.

At Wheaton College, Kristin played both field hockey as well as softball where she pitched and

played first base as she did in New Bedford. True to form, she was captain in both sports and a

NCAA Division Three All American in softball.

Today, Kristin resides in Dartmouth with her husband James. Her twins, Hannah and Andrew

are both students at Wheaton College where Hannah plays field hockey and James competes

on the Track and Field Team. Dr. Hardy-Fortin earned her Doctoral Degree in Educational

Leadership from Northeastern University and currently serves as School Psychologist at New

Bedford High School.

Steve Wynn ’97 is among a small handful of New Bedford High School basketball players to not

only start as a sophomore but to also average double figures (13 ppg) in their tenth grade

season. That was a start of a three-year run that saw the Whalers compile an impressive 54-11

record and were twice the top seed in the south section of the state tournament.

In Steve’s junior year, the team was a two-headed monster with he and fellow Hall of Famer

Roger Lewis is as potent a combination as any in the state. That junior year saw several

highlights as Steve was selected as player of the week by the Boston Globe for a spectacular

week in February, which saw him first score 28 points on an astounding 13 of 16 shooting

against Somerset High School and then following that up with a Southeastern Massachusetts

Conference (SMC) title clinching effort against rival Durfee. In this Durfee game, he scored

fifteen points but also collected 13 rebounds before a raucous crowd of over three thousand

spectators. Later in the season, he scored 24 points to propel the Whalers over Newton South

(91-75) in the South sectional semi-final. For his efforts as a junior, he was named a SMC and

Standard-Times All Star as well as being named to the Boston Globe second team.

His senior year showed continued improvement as his scoring average rose from 18 ppg as a

junior to a robust 24 ppg during the 1986-87 school year. Again the Whalers were SMC

champions and once again, the team entered the tournament as the top seed. Unfortunately,

Durfee ended their season in the south sectional semi-final despite Steve’s 29 point effort

before another large crowd of over three thousand. Those 29 points, pushed Steve over the

1200 point career mark and into third on New Bedford’s all time scoring list behind only

legendary “baller” and Hall of Famer, the late Tom Barao and Roger “Tres” Lewis. For his

efforts, he once again was a SMC and Standard-Times All Star but this year he moved up to the

Boston Globe All Scholastic team. At the end of the year, USA Today named him to their

Massachusetts All State team.

Today, Steve still stands as the schools sixth all-time scorer (1225) and resides in New Bedford

with his wife Kelli. Their son, Steven, Jr., is also a New Bedford High School graduate (2012) as

well. Together, Steve and Steve, Jr. scored 1945 career points for the Whalers. Steve, Sr., is

retired after many years at National Lumber.

Michael Oliveira ’72 began participating in sports at New Bedford High School during the winter

of his sophomore year when he competed in the 600-yard run on the indoor team. At that time,

the high school was only grades ten through twelve and was on County Street, where the current

administration building is located. He continued his sophomore year by starting in center field on

the junior varsity baseball team coached by Hall of Fame coach Bob Parker.

As a junior, Mike went out for the football team after playing for the previous five years for the

local youth team, the Barristers. He worked his way into the starting line-up on defense and had

three interceptions in his first varsity game. Cannot imagine any other player in NB history

recording three interceptions in their first varsity start. The team in this 1970-71 season reigned

as Bristol County League co-champions, and he received the “Sportsmanship Award” and was

named co-captain for the following year. Mike continued competing for the winter track team

and moved up to varsity in baseball, where he played for Hall of Fame Coach John Pacheco. He

was named the Standard-Times Player of the Week once, and his .344 batting average (remember

wooden bats) landed him on both the All-Bristol County and All Taunton Gazette teams.

Mike’s senior year saw the co-captain help lead the football team to another successful 6-1-1

season. He never left the field, playing cornerback, all specialty teams, and fullback alongside

Boston Globe All-Scholastic running back David Reynolds. Mike had one game where he rushed

for 125 yards, but was mostly known as a consummate team player. Hall of Famer and Coach Joe

Bettencourt was quoted as saying, “ Mike always leads by example”. He was awarded the Harold

Jaslow Memorial trophy as the team’s “unsung hero”.

Mike concluded his senior year with a rousing exclamation point as he batted .446 with twenty-

nine hits and nineteen runs batted in during the spring season. He was the Standard-Times Player

of the Week on two occasions and was named to both the All-Bristol County and Taunton

Gazette all-star teams for the second year in a row. Several years ago, Standard-Times sports

writer, Buddy Thomas, named Mike as his nineteenth best New Bedford HS baseball player that

he had covered during his fifty years (“Buddy Bests”), as well as an honorable mention for football.

Mike graduated from Springfield College in 1976. He played varsity football, where he was a

starting defensive end, and also played three years of baseball. He returned to New Bedford

where he first taught at Greater New Bedford Vocational and spent his final twenty-four years in

education as a teacher, attendance officer, and finally as a court liaison with the New Bedford

Public Schools, where he also coached football for many years with Hall of Fame coach Wayne

Hamlet.

Mike spent thirty-one years with his soulmate, Nancy Hinkley, until her passing in February of

2020. During his life, he felt that it was important for him to share his journey with a book that

he wrote titled “Don’t Take It For Granted” – the journey within. The book is a memoir about

life’s ups and downs, along with caregiving and grief. The importance of spirit, mind, and body,

with love being the key.