Boston Globe

Weston shot-putter has claim to fame

When the longtime coach thinks back to the mid-1960s, he marvels at a young man who had a knack for shot-putting.

Don Duncan remembers Joe Naughton's brilliance at Weston High. Duncan recalled that only one student-athlete in Massachusetts had recorded a shot-put distance of more than 60 feet before Naughton did it consistently. By his senior year, in 1968, Naughton had set the state and New England record -- 63 feet 10 inches.

The record wasn't broken until 34 years later, in 2002.

Due to that long run of excellence, Naughton will be posthumously inducted into the Massachusetts High School Track Coaches Hall of Fame next month. Duncan, who is now retired, nominated him for the honor.

''It was an exceedingly long time to hold the record; over the 30 years, there were some great people who had a shot at it," said Duncan, noting student-athletes such as Waltham's Fred Smerlas, who later played in the NFL, had chances to break the mark. ''To hold the record that long says something."

Naughton attended Harvard University, where he threw the shot put for the track and field team for two years. In his sophomore season, he was diagnosed with stomach cancer. Duncan sheds a tear when thinking back to his visits to Naughton in the hospital.

''He never did a thing to abuse his body," he said. ''He was an outstanding young man."

Duncan said Naughton died on the morning of his graduation from Harvard. Naughton is remembered each year when a combined Harvard-Yale team competes against a combined Oxford-Cambridge team for the Joe Naughton Trophy.

At Weston High, the 6-foot-4-inch Naughton was a striking presence, although Duncan said the most he weighed was 185 or 190 pounds.

''He never lifted a weight in his life, which is something I'm a big believer in to this day. He lived with his mother, on Route 30, across from the Weston Nurseries. He unloaded and loaded the trucks as they came in. It was heavy work, and that's where his strength came from."

Duncan said Naughton was also a top-notch student, scoring close to 1600 on his SATs. ''He was a student of athletics. I could explain to him the mechanics of the shot put, what he should do, why he should do it, how he should do it, and he understood exactly what it all meant. He was one of the nicest young men I've ever had in coaching.

''He was very special, a great example of what the Track Coaches Association is trying to do with track [Hall of Fame] inductees. He's certainly an inductee high school kids can look up to."

Mike Reiss can be reached at 508-820-4234 or mreiss@globe.com.