The former football coach was an exceptional athlete at Technical High School.
Ted Plumb Editor’s note: This is part of an occasional series dedicated to names that grace the fields, arenas and playgrounds of the Pioneer Valley.
When construction began for the new Roger L. Putnam Vocational-Technical High School, Springfield lost a field named for a beloved coach.
The new school occupies what used to be Trade Field, a long-standing football/soccer venue that was renamed for coach Ted Plumb in 1970, the year after his retirement from the Trade High School coaching staff.
Plumb coached football at the school now known as Putnam Vocational for 35 years, from 1936 through 1969. Earlier in his career, he also coached basketball and baseball at the school.
His players lovingly called him “The Plumber.” Many of them stayed in contact with him long after their school days were over.
Before he entered the Springfield school system as a coach, Ted was one of the city’s all-time great athletes. At Technical High School, he earned 14 varsity letters, competing in football, hockey, swimming and baseball from the fall of 1923 through his graduation year, 1927.
He went on to Worcester Academy and Springfield College, where he excelled as a running back. He graduated from SC in 1932.
Ted Plumb died on Feb. 28, 1988, at the age of 80.
When the Springfield Public Schools Athletic Hall of Fame was formed in 2007, he was elected as part of its first class.
Will the city ever find land for a new Ted Plumb Field?
A good question, and a legion of his admirers and former players awaits the answer.