A legend lives on

For nearly 50 years, Michael Agganis (Wheelock'67) couldn't speak a word about his uncle Harry Agganis (Wheelock'54), the star BU athlete and Red Sox first baseman who tragically passed away in 1955 at only 26 years old.

Harry, just 13 years his senior, was "like a brother to me," says Michael. "For years, I had many, many people tell me stories about him, but it was too emotional for me to talk about him." Michael couldn't even bring himself to attend Harry's posthumous induction into the College Football Hall of Fame or look at his statue displayed at The Sports Museum in TD Garden.

In 2003, however, he received a phone call that changed everything. "My uncle Phil called and said, 'Boston University wants to name the sports arena after Harry,'" he remembers. "'I know how close you were with Harry. Can you take the reins?'"

Michael agreed. And over the next year, he worked closely with BU Athletics to prepare for the 2004 dedication of Agganis Arena and unveiling of a life-size bronze statue of Harry branded with his nickname, "The Golden Greek."

But Michael didn't stop there. In Harry's honor, he established a scholarship for BU student-athletes, donated generously to the Athletics endowment, and joined the Board of Trustees' athletic and fundraising committees as well as what is now the University Advisory Board. He kept giving in the decades that followed and continues to give today in Harry's name, encouraging other BU graduates to do the same.

"The majority of my estate is going to BU," affirms Michael. "That's out of appreciation of what BU has done for Harry. I will always be grateful."

The strongest DNA

These days, Michael is comfortable speaking at length about Harry and other members of the Agganis family, who emigrated from Greece in the early 1900s and settled down in Lynn, Massachusetts.

"My father [Jimmy Agganis] was an extremely brilliant man, and also an athlete," says Michael, ticking off proof points: Jimmy made the National Honor Society, scored nearly 800s on his SAT, was awarded a full scholarship to Tufts University, and received a contract to play for the New York Yankees-which he turned down, concerned that he couldn't both play and provide for the family.

Harry, meanwhile, was the first Wigwam Wisemen All-American High School Football player and captain of the team, a first baseman in All-Star Baseball for New England, a dual-sport athlete for BU who set 15 records, and a member of the BU Hall of Fame. "Boston University acquired a kid that was the greatest high school baseball player in New England, and one of the greatest high school football players in the history of America," Michael says.

He was also a man of great moral character, Michael adds. In 1947, one year after Harry led his high school team to a national championship victory and was named MVP, "he refused to go to the national championship again because the team wasn't allowed to bring two of their players who were Black," he says. "So, the team didn't go-but Harry was still named National Athlete of the Year."

During his junior year at BU, Harry was the Cleveland Browns' first-round quarterback pick. He rejected the offer in favor of a much less lucrative contract with the Red Sox because he wanted to stay close to his widowed mother, Georgina. "He was very devoted to her," Michael says. "He used to go home from Red Sox baseball games and rub his mother's feet because she had arthritis."

Georgina was also strong in her own right, Michael adds. "After she gave birth to Harry on the kitchen floor, she got up and cooked everyone dinner."

Onward and upward

Like Harry, Michael was a talented athlete who received a baseball scholarship to play at a Division I school. "But I flunked out," he says matter-of-factly. "That was the greatest thing that happened to me. It turned my life around."

Motivated to study hard, Michael went from having failing grades to straight As. He finished his bachelor's degree at a state school, then pursued a master's in education and a doctorate at BU and earned his MBA. He even enrolled in law school for one year "to better understand torts and contracts," he says.

His career followed a similar upward trajectory. While working as a university psychologist, he started a construction business from scratch and grew it into a successful venture. In 1981, he pivoted to professional baseball, buying Lynn's minor league baseball team "when it was the worst of 186 teams in the nation," Michael remembers. "And then it became one of the best." In 1996, by then based in Akron, Ohio, the team drew the highest attendance in the Eastern League-a record it still holds to this day.

Michael's son, Greg Agganis (SHA'92), also inherited many of the Agganis family's talents. "At 14 years old, he could hit a baseball 100 mph," Michael says. Although Greg decided to focus on academics instead of sports at BU, he now serves on the BU Athletic Director's Council. He and Michael also co-produced a two-hour documentary about Harry and have donated all proceeds from the film to BU to fund student-athlete scholarships.

That's what Harry would have wanted, Michael says. "He started a scholarship; he gave money to the church. He was just a giving guy, and those are the qualities I try to have."