Sports in Massachusetts

Massachusetts has produced several successful Olympians including Thomas Burke, James Connolly, and John Thomas (track & field); Butch Johnson (archery); Nancy Kerrigan (figure skating); Todd Richards (snowboarding); Albina Osipowich (swimming); Aly Raisman (gymnastics); Patrick Ewing (basketball); as well as Jim Craig, Mike Eruzione, Bill Cleary, and Keith Tkachuk (ice hockey).{{cite web |title=25 Olympians from Massachusetts |url=http://www.golocalworcester.com/sports/top-25-olympic-athletes-from-massachusetts |publisher=GoLocalWorcester |access-date=May 7, 2015}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.masslive.com/sports/2017/05/ranking_the_top_50_athletes_fr.html|title=Ranking the Top 50 Athletes from Massachusetts|date=May 30, 2017}}

Notable soccer (or association football) players from Massachusetts include Bert Patenaude, Billy Gonsalves, Geoff Cameron, Miles Robinson, Sam Mewis, and Kristie Mewis. Patenaude and Gonsalves, both inductees of the National Soccer Hall of Fame and natives of Fall River, Massachusetts,{{cite book |last1=Jose |first1=Colin |title=The American Soccer League: The Golden Years of American Soccer 1921–1931 |date=1998 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |pages=11, 477}}{{cite book |last1=Foulds |first1=Alan E. |title=Boston's Ballparks & Arenas |date=2005 |publisher=University Press of New England |page=53}} played for the U.S. men's national team at the inaugural FIFA World Cup in 1930 (hosted in Uruguay). Patenaude scored the first hat-trick in World Cup history.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jul/18/bert-patenaude-usa-world-cup-hat-trick|title=Bert Patenaude, the forgotten hero who scored the first ever World Cup hat-trick|access-date=July 21, 2015|date =July 19, 2015|first = Jack|last = Williams|newspaper=The Guardian}} The USMNT finished in third place.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ussoccer.com/history/timeline|title = Timeline}}

In 1999, Sports Illustrated published the fifty (50) greatest 19th and 20th century sports figures from each U.S. state. The criteria used was "not necessarily to where [the athletes] were born, but to where they first showed flashes of the greatness to come." The ten highest ranked Massachusetts athletes were as follows:[https://vault.si.com/vault/1999/12/27/the-50-greatest-sports-figures-from-massachusetts "The 50 Greatest Sports Figures from Massachusetts"] Sports Illustrated (December 27, 1999)

File:Rocky Marciano Postcard 1953.jpg|{{center|Rocky Marciano
(Boxer)

File:Doug Flutie, Generals football press conference.jpg|{{center|Doug Flutie
(American football)

File:Patrick Ewing 1984.jpg|{{center|Patrick Ewing
(Basketball Hall of Famer)

File:Aly Raisman Rio 2016b.jpg|{{center|Aly Raisman
(Olympic gymnast)

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9 World Series titles

• 1903
• 1912
• 1915
• 1916
• 1918
• 2004
• 2007
• 2013
• 2018

1 World Series title

• 1914

6 Super Bowl titles

• 2001 (XXXVI)
• 2003 (XXXVIII)
• 2004 (XXXIX)
• 2014 (XLIX)
• 2016 (LI)
• 2018 (LIII)

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18 NBA Finals titles

• 1957
• 1959
• 1960
• 1961
• 1962
• 1963
• 1964
• 1965
• 1966
• 1968
• 1969
• 1974
• 1976
• 1981
• 1984
• 1986
• 2008
• 2024

6 Stanley Cup titles

• 1929
• 1939
• 1941
• 1970
• 1972
• 2011

1 Avco World Trophy

• 1973

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File:Fall River Rovers.jpg soccer club (a semi-professional club in the Southern New England Soccer League) after winning the 1917 U.S. Open Cup]]

File:Holy Cross vs Boston College (Fenway Park 1916).jpg takes on Boston College in 1916 at Fenway Park. Boston College won the game, 17–14.]]

File:RFK 1948 football.jpg, a native of Brookline, Massachusetts and brother of President John F. Kennedy, was an end at Milton Academy and Harvard]]

File:Julius Erving UMass.jpg playing at UMass during the 1970–71 season]]

File:NCAA champions 1947 Holy Cross (1963 NCAA Basketball Championship program).jpg won the NCAA basketball championship in 1947, defeating Oklahoma 58-47. Bob Cousy (All-American and NBA Hall-of-Famer) is in the front row, second from left]]

In addition to the schools listed here, Franklin Pierce University, a full Division II member located near the state border in Rindge, New Hampshire, plays its men's and women's ice hockey home games in Massachusetts on the campus of The Winchendon School. FPU plays men's hockey in the Northeast-10 and women's hockey as a D-I program in the New England Women's Hockey Alliance.

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File:Matt Hasselbeck XBHS.jpg (Pro-Bowl NFL quarterback) playing at Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood, Massachusetts]]

{{main article|Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association}}

The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) is an organization that sponsors activities in thirty-three sports, comprising 374 public and private high schools in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The MIAA is a member of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), which writes the rules for most U.S. high school sports and activities. The MIAA was founded in 1978, and was preceded by both the Massachusetts Secondary School Principals' Association (MSSPA) (1942–78) and the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Council (MIAC) (1950–78).

Rugby is the MIAA's 35th sport in 2016, following a 2015 MIAA vote that passed by a wide majority.[https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2015/05/05/schrdpweb/gmLWqIPL0AemYv8vKt481O/story.html?event=event25 "Tuesday's school roundup: MIAA votes to add rugby for 2016–17"], Boston Globe, Eric Russo, May 6, 2015. As of 2015, there are 19 boys’ teams and 5 girls’ teams across the state, with the majority of the Catholic Conference schools fielding rugby teams.

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• [https://www.pickboss.com/massachusetts-sports-teams Massachusetts Sports Teams List 2023]

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{{Sports in the United States}}

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