Born in Lynn, Massachusetts, Agganis was a star football player at Boston University, primarily at quarterback. After a sophomore season in 1949, when he set a school record by tossing fifteen touchdown passes, he entered the Marine Corps. Agganis played for the Camp Lejeune (N.C.) football and baseball teams. He received a dependency discharge from the Marines to support his mother and returned to college to play in 1951-52. Agganis became the school's first All-American in football.
Agganis set another Boston University mark by passing for 1,402 yards for the season and won the Bulger Lowe Award as New England's outstanding football player. Coach Paul Brown of the Cleveland Browns thought he could be the successor to Otto Graham and drafted the college junior in the first round of the 1952 NFL draft, offering him a bonus of $25,000. Boston Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey outdid Brown, however, and signed Agganis to play Major League Baseball for the Red Sox as a first baseman for $35,000. He batted and threw left-handed.
Following his 1953 college graduation, Agganis played with the Triple-A Louisville where he hit .281 with 23 home runs and 108 RBI. He made his major league debut on April 13, 1954. Agganis had a modest rookie campaign, though he did lead American League first basemen in assists and fielding percentage.
In 1955, Agganis was off to a good start when tragedy struck. On June 2, he was hospitalized with pneumonia after complaining of severe fever and chest pains. Though he rejoined the Red Sox ten days later, he fell ill again in Kansas City on June 27 and was flown back to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he died of a pulmonary embolism at age of 26. Ten thousand mourners attended his wake.
Agganis was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1974. Gaffney Street, near the former site of Braves Field in Boston, was renamed Harry Agganis Way in his honor on November 11, 1995. In 2005, Boston University opened their new athletic facility, Agganis Arena.
Batting and fielding statistics
YEAR TEAM AGE G AB R H 2B 3B HR HR% RBI BB SO SB CS AVG SLG OBA OPS
1954 Redsox 25 132 434 54 109 13 8 11 2.53 57 47 57 6 3 .251 .394 .321 .715
1955 Redsox 26 25 83 11 26 10 1 0 0.00 10 10 10 2 0 .313 .458 .383 .841
TOTALS 157 517 65 135 23 9 11 2.13 67 57 67 8 3 .261 .404 .331 .735
LG AVERAGE 518 67 137 21 5 11 2.15 63 59 57 5 4 .266 .389 .342 .731
POS AVERAGE 525 67 143 23 5 15 2.79 75 58 58 3 2 .272 .421 .344 .764
YEAR TEAM RC RCAA RCAP OWP RC/G TB EBH ISO SEC BPA IBB HBP SAC SF GIDP OUTS PA POS
1954 Redsox 56 -5 -11 .460 4.37 171 32 .143 .258 .442 0 0 7 5 6 346 493 1B
1955 Redsox 15 1 -1 .523 6.64 38 11 .145 .289 .500 0 0 0 1 3 61 94 1B
TOTALS 71 -4 -12 .471 4.71 209 43 .143 .263 .452 0 0 7 6 9 407 587
LG AVERAGE 70 0 0 .500 4.63 202 37 .124 .240 .432 1 3 6 5 12 407 591
POS AVERAGE 76 7 0 .541 5.07 221 43 .149 .261 .458 1 3 5 6 11 407 597
Quote
"No longer are we foreigners. Thanks to Harry we are the Golden Greeks once more." Those were the words of Harry Agganis' mother two years after her son's death. They are not the exaggerations of a proud parent. They are the words of a Greek woman who saw. - Harry Agganis' legend lives on, by By Courtney Deveau, at The Daily Item of Lynn
Links
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