The Most Famous Unknown Person You'll Ever Get to Know

 

    


 I’m sure every small town has some claim to fame, especially in the form of graduates who have moved on to greatness.  My hometown of Uxbridge (the Spartans) has its own examples of alumni who have distinguished themselves from the pack, some to incredible levels. Brian Skerry (UHS Class of 1979) is considered by many to be the best underwater photographer in the world and works for National Geographic. Jeannine Oppewall (Whitinsville Christian Class of 1961) has been nominated for four Oscars for best Art Direction/Set Direction for movies like L.A. Confidential.  Tim Fortugno (UHS Class of 1980) pitched in the major leagues for years. Diane Becker (UHS Class of 1987) was nominated for an Emmy this year as a producer of the HBO documentary, Tina.  Greatness usually brings a large amount of attention, but if you were to poll every resident of Uxbridge, I’m not sure how many would be aware of any of these people, never mind all of them.  This leads me to the latest example of Uxbridge greatness that most probably have no idea about.  A former student of mine who is on a Tom Brady track, and who’s jersey is now in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

      The Boston Renegades team is a member of the Women’s Football Alliance.  Last month, they won their sixth (third straight) WFA championship, and the quarterback for each of these championships was a 5’ 5” red-headed UHS graduate (1999) named Allison Cahill.  I personally have known her family since I was in high school, but first  became aware of her as the stories of her junior high flag football exploits made their way around the high school. Of course, there wasn’t much of a future for a female football player back then, and to this day I wonder what she could have accomplished if she had tried playing for the UHS football team (which I assisted on in those years).   Instead, she (probably wisely) concentrated on basketball and softball, which she excelled (no, dominated!) at.  The UHS girl’s basketball team drew some relatively large crowds due to their success and toughness.  Allison and her teammates worked well as a team under the leadership of long time teacher and coach Dean Tourangeau.  But, make no mistake.  Allison was the key, and she was always money from downtown.  By the time her career ended at UHS, she was the school’s leading scorer, easily breaking 1,000 points.

     Allison then moved on to Princeton University, where I somehow lost track of her.  I would occasionally get reports back from teachers or students who had heard something, but her success was not front page news.  It turns out she became a co-captain at Princeton, joined their 1,000 point club, and was one of the best long-range shooters in program history.  Despite all this success in basketball, it wasn’t really her passion.  Football was, and always had been.

       After Princeton, according to Princeton Alumni Weekly, Allison found her way to a women’s football tryout in Providence, and made the team.  It was a very modest beginning to what is still a stellar career.  Football is a very complex game of chess, and the position of quarterback is the most difficult to learn (successfully) in all of sports. On top of this, you can start stacking up the obstacles that stood in her way; a very limited field of experience (flag football), the lack of equipment and field access for a women’s football team, the necessity to hold down a full time job while also playing and practicing, and the lack of public recognition for all the work and sacrifice. You do not endure all of this for a sport you do not love.  

      What did all her hard work get her?  Only this.  According to her player bio on the Boston Renegades website, Allison is a (record) six time champion, four time league MVP, 13 time All-Star, 100 career victories (a record for a women’s tackle football QB), 20,000 passing yards, 300 passing touchdowns, a 134-24 record (28-8 in postseason), 62% completion rate, and 118.5 QB rating.  She was named MVP of the National Championship game, and her signed jersey has been curated by the Professional Football Hall of Fame.  This is a “drop the mic” moment, but if you asked her how her football career was going, she would probably smile and say, “pretty good.”

     Living through a pandemic has been very difficult, but it also has allowed for some slivers of silver lining.  Sitting at home during a lockdown causes a person to find things on TV that they would not normally watch.  After hearing some buzz from friends, I found the ESPN documentary, Born to Play.  In a few hours I was able to catch up on the life of my former student and her climb to the top of her ladder of ambition, and it was a thrill.  There are few things left that me, my wife, and four children will sit down and watch together, but this was one of them, and I’m thankful for it.

      The Cahill family still resides in Uxbridge.  I don’t see them as much as I did when Ali and her brother Josh were students at UHS and playing sports, but occasionally our paths cross.  They are still nice, authentic people, and clearly established the roots that have kept Ali grounded all these years.  After her latest championship, I finally  took the time to text her, not knowing if she wanted to hear from an old teacher after more than two decades.  She texted back almost immediately, and could not have been more gracious.

      Allison is a personal trainer by occupation, and looks 10-15 years younger than her actual age.   When I asked her how many more years she thought she had in her to play football, her answer was, “Hard to say but I’m 100% playing next year.  I’m living out my dream, why would I stop??”  Thank God.  I’m ashamed to say that I have never seen her play, a problem I plan to remedy next Spring when the Renegades begin their title defense.  How cool would it be to fill up the stadium in Revere with Uxbridge Spartans and show her the support she should have been getting for the last twenty years. 


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