Franklin’s DeLucia to Enter Hall of Fame at Assumption

Franklin’s Ralph DeLucia guided Assumption College’s softball teams to four championships during his 18-year tenure as the Greyhounds’ head coach, and his 412 career victories are the most ever compiled in the program’s history.
On Friday night, November 4th, at the college’s Worcester campus, the 74-year-old DeLucia will be inducted into Assumption’s hall of fame, an honor that not only is deserving, but also gives him the distinction of being a hall of fame coach and player.
DeLucia competed in four varsity sports at Franklin High and later excelled in football and baseball at Dean Junior College, where he became a hall of fame inductee in 2005. The 5-foot-8, 155-pound DeLucia was a junior college All-American as a running back and also was Dean’s MVP. A pitcher, second baseman and shortstop, he hit .335 during his collegiate days.
“I’m very honored to be going into Assumption’s hall of fame,’’ DeLucia said. “I’m not so sure what I did was that special, but I know I was blessed to have excellent players who were receptive to my coaching. My speech will focus on thanking all my players and also Assumption’s staff and its administrators.’’
A native of Franklin, DeLucia worked for 31 years on the town’s police force, serving his final 18 years at a lieutenant. During that time, he coached two of his three daughters in Franklin’s youth softball program. He was a coach at that level for six years, and he was the program’s president for three seasons.
“I later became the jayvee coach at Franklin High in 1987,’’ DeLucia recalled. “We went 14-1, suffering our only loss on the last day of the season. A year later, I was appointed the varsity coach at Franklin.’’
DeLucia’s 10-year stint as the Panthers’ coach was dynamic, compiling a career record of 165-47 and capturing four Hockomock League titles. His 1992 team went 20-0 but lost in the third round of tourney play to Case of Swansea.
Coaching his two daughters (Danielle and Stephanie) made DeLucia’s years at Franklin delightful.
“We has some fantastic athletes at Franklin,’’ he emphasized. “Winning the four titles was a thrill and going undefeated in 1992 was exciting. But coaching my daughters and girls like Heather and Kristen Swanson, Holly Price and Stacey Taraskawitz was such a delight. All six of them ended their careers at Franklin with 100 hits or more.’’
DeLucia’s daughters were the catalysts that led him to coaching. Danielle was a league all-star and a two-time Boston Globe all-scholastic while Stephanie was a league all-star and a Globe and Boston Herald all-scholastic. Both of them excelled at Assumption where DeLucia coached Stephanie for two years.
Taking the varsity post at Assumption in 1998, DeLucia retired from coaching last year after compiling a career record of 412-384-6. His teams won one Northeast-10 regular season championship and were Northeast-10 Tournament champs on three occasions.
“I considered myself a teacher first,’’ DeLucia said. “Fundamentals were important, and I stressed them. I always tried to be calm. On the field I resorted to playing small ball at times and I also relied on power some years.’’
One of DeLucia’s top memories includes coaching his daughter Stephanie and seeing her lead the nation in hitting (Division 2) with a .566 batting average. There were other highlights, too.
“In my first year at Assumption we posted a 34-13-1 record,’’ DeLucia recalled. “That set a record for a single season. Then, we won 36 games my second year and 38 my third season, which still stands as the school’s all-time best single season record. Those were thrilling times but I also admired coaching pitchers like Kristen Ladebauche and Jennifer Lowery. Kristen finished with 695 career strikeouts and Jennifer had 705.’’
The titles, the statistics and the records were all admirable but DeLucia also enjoyed turning out players who became good citizens. “I liked seeing my players achieve their vocational goals,’’ he said. “Learning life lessons in softball was important and my philosophy was to compete to win. But if you gave 100 percent and lost, that was okay.’’
The father of three daughters, DeLucia, who has lived in Franklin all his life, has been widowed for the last four years.
His late wife (Suzanne) no doubt will be watching his induction ceremony Friday from on high but his greatest fans, daughters Danielle and Stephanie, will witness one of Franklin’s all-time great coaches receive a very deserving honor.