The 1975 Boston State College football team is the greatest in school history, dominating the 1975 New England Conference with a record of 8-2. The team was led by Tri-Captains Steve Romanowski, Michael Beatrice, and Michael Grassia. Beatrice was perhaps the most valuable player in Boston State College football history. He was a two-time NEFC All-Star, two-time tri-captain, and was named the Most Valuable Player at the end of the 1975 season. He later played professional football with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (CFL).
The all-star team also included other standout players, including Bobby Weaver, Pat Scrima, and Arthur Bibeau. In addition, there were underclassmen and future Hall of Famers Marty Doto ’77 and Billy Joyce ’79. Joyce, the heart and soul of the football team would be chosen Most Valuable Player, Ross O’Hanley Memorial Award winner, First Team all-star NEFC, and All-New England the next season. Marty Doto was the starting fullback for three seasons and a legendary lacrosse player for Hall of Fame Coach Gordie Webb’s great teams.
Hall of Famer Coach Mac Singleton and Assistant Coach Hall of Famer James Kent were dynamic leaders who won the NEFC Championship in their first year coaching the team. Kent had been the captain of the 1974 team and a four-time NEFC All-Star selection. He would later serve as head football coach at the University of Massachusetts Boston from 1984 to 1993.
In 1975 despite the racial violence in the city of Boston during the desegregation busing crisis, the Boston State College football program stood tall as a beacon of racial unity, something the players attributed to Coach Mac Singleton. “At a time when there was a big barrier between black and white in Boston, we loved each other like brothers, and it was because of Mac,” said Hall of Famer Joyce.
