Kelly-Reid headed to Assumption
By Nate Rosenthal, Sports Correspondent
CHICOPEE – Raheem Kelly-Reid has truly been a special student-athlete in his years at Chicopee High and on Tuesday morning, the school celebrated that fact. A press conference was set up for the signing of his National Letter of Intent for football at Assumption College. With that he will be committing himself to that fine school in Worcester.
In attendance were his parents, Rocky and Veronica, Coach Alex Efstratios and other members of the coaching staff and several teachers and administrators at the school. Principal Roland Joyal got the proceedings underway with a few words of introduction. He mentioned that this scholarship is not just for his prowess on the football field, but also in the classroom. He talked of how Kelly-Reid came to Chicopee in 1999 from Lynn and how he eventually entered Chicopee High as a school choice student. He also made a point about mascots—that the Assumption Greyhound looked strikingly similar to the Chicopee Pacer.
Athletic director Jim Blain talked about not only football and academics, but also how Kelly-Reid can always be seen in the stands leading the cheers for other Chicopee High sports. Coach Efstratios reiterated the same points and talked about how hard Raheem worked in practice and in the weight room. He also made mention of his skills on the track team.
Then at 10:08, Raheem Kelly-Reid took an “official” Chicopee High pen in hand and signed his commitment to Assumption College. He was decked in a school sweatshirt and hat.
Finally the man of the hour had a chance to thank everyone, starting with his parents, his aunt and uncle and two of his best friends and teammates who were there in support, Orlando Harvey and Eddie Green.
Afterwards, people were treated to a couple of stories from his father and mother about how he finally decided upon Assumption. While his ultimate decision had a lot to do with getting away, they are happy that he was able to accomplish that, but still be close enough to be able to attend many if not most of his games.
Chicopee High is lucky to have had such an athlete and student and they did themselves proud in the way they handled this.
