Hill Happenings

Congrats to local tavern-owner Diarmuid O’Neill and his lovely wife Sara O’Neill on the adoption of their four children. The beautiful children—Bezawit, 10;Selamawit, 8; Rahel, 7; and their “wee boy” Andualem, 5—are from Ethiopia. Diarmuid owns the Squealing Pig in Mission Hill, and he recently purchased the West Roxbury Pub in West Roxbury.

Happy birthday (Jan. 31) to Janet Earley, a lovely woman and a dedicated pharmacy tech at Brigham & Womens Hospital.

Janet’s great-uncle Tom Earley is the only Mission Hill athlete to ascend to Major League Baseball. Tom was a brilliant pitcher for Mission High School, graduating from Mission in 1936. He pitched for the Boston Braves from 1938 to 1942 under legendary manager Casey Stengel. After serving in World War II,Tom played one more year, retiring in 1945. Tom’s brother was Walter Earley, a beloved Boston Police officer who lived in Mission Hill.

Gerry O’Connell will celebrate his birthday Feb.11. Gerry was the middle linebacker for the Killilea Club when he anchored the great defense on the 1979 Boston City League Football Championship team.

A thumbnail sketch of Mission Hill hoopsters: Shabazz Napier is playing superbly in his rookie season for the Miami Heat. Shabazz, from the Mission Hill projects, is a U. Conn. graduate.

Former High School All American Wayne Selden is a sophomore at Kansas, and he is co-captain of that school’s terrific hoop team. He is tremendously agile for a hulking 6-foot-5-inch guard.

Goodluck Okonoboh is the freshman 6-foot-10-inch center for UNLV. Goodluck, who graduated from Mission Grammar School, is adept at blocking shots. He and Selden graduated from Tilton Academy in New Hampshire, where they were teammates.

In the schoolboy game of the year, Snowden High beat Charlestown High 58-57 last month at Vine Street Gym, when freshman Anthony Selden—Wayne’s younger brother—nailed a jump shot 2 seconds before the game-ending buzzer.                 Another excellent local player is Noah St.Clair, who is a 6-foot-2-inch sophomore at Malden Catholic High School. Noah’s proud dad, Jim St.Clair, still lives on Mission Hill.

I love watching high-school basketball. Several Hill guys will be attending the Xaverian-Catholic Memorial game on Feb.10 in Westwood. Xaverian has a slick point guard in senior Andrew Kern, the son of Steve and Susan Kern. Steve grew up in Mission Hill, and he often stops by Mikes Donuts to visit the boys.

Last month, the City put up a “No Turn on Red” sign on Tremont Street for the cars coming down Calumet Street. This makes no sense, as the road is structured for vehicles to easily make the right turn, after stopping, onto Tremont. On bad traffic days, the cars are backed up to the top of Calumet.

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