The 1972 Lady Bulldogs’ track team made it look easy in winning 11 of 12 dual meets to rank second only to the team that topped them (Falmouth) in the state’s Div. 2 rankings. One of the school’s biggest wins at the time was over Div. 1 power Brockton. “Winning is self-improvement,” Rodrigues was quoted as saying in a 1983 interview with The Standard-Times. Then in his 14th season as the girls head coach, John’s teams had compiled an overall winning percentage of just under 82 percent. After being diagnosed with cancer early in the new millennium, John Rodrigues passed away in May 2001 at the age of 55. In October of 2007, the Old Rochester family honored the memory of their legendary teacher and coach by officially dedicating the school’s athletic complex in his memory — “The Joao Rodrigues Memorial Athletic Complex.” A plaque designed in his honor is placed on the boulder at the entrance to the track and football facilities. That 1983 spring track team breezed through the regular season with a record of 10-0, won the Southeastern Massachusetts Conference Relays (all divisions), captured the SMC Div. 2 Meet, finished second behind Falmouth at the Falmouth Relays, third in the Falmouth Invitational and was fourth in the Class D State Championships. Numbers were never a problem for the charismatic coach. Anywhere from 80-to-85 girls competed on an annual basis and they were the only numbers Rodrigues focused on. “We had an average turnout of roughly 32 percent of the female enrollment at Old Rochester coming out for girls track every year,” he was once quoted as saying. “We chart every kid in every event so each is trying to better her own personal record which, of course, helps the whole team. When a girl finishes her event, there’s always some other girls from other events to greet her or walk her around. We’ve always had the feeling here.” In whatever sport he coached, success seemed to follow. In the fall of 1977, Rodrigues guided the Old Rochester girls volleyball team to an undefeated season and, in the process, captured the Div. 1 championship of the Southeastern Massachusetts Conference. From 1975-1977, his volleyball teams won 91 per cent of their matches, including 29 in a row. “Mr. Rod” also wore the label of athletic director during the later portion of his three-plus-decades at Old Rochester. However, much of his reign as AD came during tumultuous times when budget woes, controversial conference realignments and rape allegations against the boys’ head basketball coach clouded that period. Through it all, however. Rodrigues was remembered as the man who stayed the course. But it was the man they called “coach” who will never be forgotten.
Inducted: 2001