Home of the Leominster Blue Devils

-An excerpt from www.telegram.com article dated May 22,2008:

Elio was a graduate of Leominster High School — class of 1939 — where he was an outstanding football player on one of the legendary football squads built by Charlie Broderick, who was a legend in his own right. It was during the Depression that C.B. was creating the foundation of what was to become Blue Devil football, and Elio was in on the ground floor.

Like most of the young men of that era, Elio soon became part of the “Greatest Generation” when he joined the Army Air Corps during World War II, and like thousands of those young men, Elio returned to Leominster determined to make his hometown a better place. Loving sports, he decided to dedicate himself to trying to provide athletic opportunities to the youth of Leominster.

As America was beginning to recover from the horrors of WWII, the phenomenon called Little League Baseball was being developed out in Williamsport, Pa., and everyone was intrigued. Organized baseball with uniforms, equipment and your own special ball park — what a great idea. In 1951 Elio Torcoletti helped bring Little League Baseball to Leominster, and thus began a lifetime of service to Leominster’s kids. He would coach in the Little League, and later would become one of the region’s best known umpires.

Later, Elio was a chief founder of the Leominster Pop Warner League which produced so many great players for his beloved Blue Devils. He would become the commissioner of the North Central Pop Warner League, which entailed contests between the neighboring communities of Central Mass. It took a man with the patience of Job to handle the many zealous coaches and parents found in Pop Warner football, and that was Elio. His calm demeanor could always make a difficult situation better. Elio’s proudest moments occurred when a young man in his 20s would thank him for the opportunity to play baseball or football when he was a kid.

But Elio’s happiest moments happened on Friday evening or Saturday afternoon when he could return to Doyle Field, and operate the clock for his Blue Devils. I had an opportunity to talk to Dave Clark of WEIM about Elio shortly after his passing, and he related a story that was so typical of Elio. Doyle Field has a press box that is located on the visitor’s side of the field. In enemy territory, if you must. Dave told me that during the reconstruction of the press box, Elio would call him to ask if there were any particular improvements which could be placed in the booth to make Dave’s job easier on Thanksgiving morning or when the Devils played teams like Brockton or St. John’s. Remember, this is a Fitchburg radio station with a Fitchburg guy behind the microphone. That’s the kind of guy that Elio Torcoletti was.

Dave also recalled the joy and pleasure that Elio showed as the final seconds ticked off in that famous Leominster defeat of Brockton in the late 1980s. Men of Leominster loved those great victories over Brockton, St. John’s and of course, Fitchburg High, and Elio Torcoletti was really a Man of Leominster High School.