DURFEE HALL OF FAME: Class of 2018 announced

FALL RIVER — The Durfee High School Athletics Hall of Fame has announced the six members of its Class of 2018. And the recognition factor at the induction ceremony should be high as four of the athletes – Alexandra Rego, Nicholas Christ, Taylor Brown, Brandon Gomes — are graduates of the classes of 2000 to 2002. The comparative old-timers are Mike Martin (1990) and Louis Pereira (1981).

The induction dinner and ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 22, at the Fall River Country Club, with the reception from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and dinner at 6:30 p.m.

ALEXANDRA REGO, Class of 2002

Strong, fast and very competitive, Rego was a major force in Durfee athletics in the turn-of-the-century era. She played four sports, four years each of soccer and outdoor track, three years of basketball and one year of indoor track. Rego ranks as one of the top players in Durfee girls’ soccer history, a four-year starter who had a three-goal game her freshman year and netted 21 goals her second year en route to setting a school career record of 55 goals. Durfee posted a won-lost-tied record 45-12-16 over her four years. In outdoor track, Rego set school records of 16 feet, 11 inches in the long jump, 27.5 seconds in the 200 meters, 12.8 seconds in the 100 meters and 4:34 as part of the 4x100-meter relay. A three-year letter winner in basketball, Rego in her one season of winter track (sophomore year) helped the Hilltoppers to their first Big 3 Conference championship.

BRANDON GOMES, Class of 2002

One of the top baseball players in school history, Gomes was a three-year starter and made his mark with his strong right pitching arm and powerful bat. His career pitching numbers include a 19-5 record with a 1.66 ERA and an amazing 287 strikeouts. At the plate, the righthanded-hitting Gomes batted .425 with 14 home runs and 83 runs batted in. He was named the Massachusetts Gatorade Player of the Year after his senior season after being a Wendy’s High School Heisman nominee his junior year. He was a two-time all-state selection, a three-time Big 3 Conference all star and a 2002 Massachusetts Baseball Coaches Association Eastern Massachusetts All Star his senior year. Gomes was also a superstar in the classroom, ranking in the top five of his class. He pitched for Tulane University and then had a five-year major league career with the Tampa Bay Rays. He is currently the Director of Player Development for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

TAYLOR BROWN, Class of 2001

In a fine athletics career bridging two millennium, Brown made his biggest impact in football and baseball. Brown quarterbacked Durfee football to its greatest success of the last few decades, highlighted by a Super Bowl appearance in 2000, the same season he was an Eastern Massachusetts all star and helped lead the Hilltoppers to their lone Big 3 Conference crown. For his career, he passed for 1,300 yards and 11 touchdowns and rushed for 1,050 yards and five touchdowns on just 128 carries. He also caught a touchdown pass and returned four punts for TD, including two punt return TDs in one game against Acton Boxboro, the same game in which he threw two scoring passes. In baseball, Brown was a three-year starter, hitting .390 with 11 stolen bases his junior year and .302 with 10 steals and a home run his senior year. Brown also competed in indoor track and field for one season. He had a standout football career at Norwich University. Brown is a vice-principal and head football coach at Durfee.

MIKE MARTIN, Class of 1990

Martin was one of those athletes who quickly prompted the learned observer to say, “That kid knows how to play the game.” A baseball and basketball player, Martin put his superb eye-hand coordination and game smarts to very good use. On the baseball diamond, the scrappy second baseman was a three-year letterman and part of the talented 1988 team which went to the sectional finals. Durfee qualified for the state playoffs in all three of his years. Martin batted .405 with 22 runs scored as a junior and .333 with 11 stolen bases as a senior. He subsequently enjoyed a superb baseball career at Division 1 Boston College. On the basketball court, Martin played point guard and, in his senior year, was all-Big 3 Conference, team captain and winner of the Kaplan Award as team MVP. He was a backup guard on the 1989 Division 1 state championship team.

LOUIS PEREIRA, Class of 1981

He was there for the infancy of Durfee High’s swimming and diving program and immediately helped put the Hilltoppers on the map. An immigrant from the Azores, Pereira goes down in history as Durfee first great diver, even though he entered Durfee unable to swim or dive. He held the school diving scoring record for almost 40 years and was the South Sectional champion in the one-meter dive in 1981, scoring 351.8 points. He followed that by placing second at both the State Championships and the New England Championships. One year earlier, Pereira, as a junior, had taken fourth place at the South Sectional Championships. After his senior season, he was named as Boston Globe all scholastic. Pereira was a diver at Appalachian State before Title IX compliance prompted the termination of that program. He owns Project Management Solutions, a software company with its development shop in the Azores and sales and marketing headquarters in Canton.

NICHOLAS CHRIST, Class of 2000

If Nick started out in the shadow of his older brother (and Durfee Hall of Famer) Colin Christ, then he certainly managed to escape it before his four years on Elsbree Street were complete. Tall, strong and athletic, Christ quarterbacked the Hilltopper football team, lettering three times and captaining his senior year when he was also the team’s nominee for the Otto Graham Award. Among his football awards were Gridiron Club’s Sophomore of the Year and Coaches Award, and a Boston Globe Player of the Week honor in 1999. Chris went on to play football at Brown University. On the basketball court, Christ stands as the school’s No. 14 career scorer (1,041 points). He averaged 19.3 points per game as a junior and 18.5 points and 8 rebounds as a senior, when he was definitely a marked man by opposing defenses. He finished with 600-plus career rebounds. Christ had a career single-game high of 35 points against Brockton.

Tickets for the hall of fame ceremony, $40 for adults and $20 for children 12 and younger, may be purchased by contacting HOF chairman Bob Hargraves, Jr. at 401-225-9395.

Email Greg Sullivan at gsullivan@heraldnews.com. Follow him @GregSullivanHN.