Archive 2008 - 2019

A Super Day for Two Former Hollistonians

by John Shannahan
2/11/2012

The Patriots may have lost, but Sunday was still a pretty super day for a couple of former Holliston residents.

For one, the game’s final play surely stirred memories of an earlier time, when a similar Hail Mary pass by Natick’s Doug Flutie landed softly in the hands of Gerard Phelan. On that day in 1984, Jack Bicknell Jr. was on the field, centering the ball to Flutie before the miracle play which propelled Boston College over powerful Miami. His father Jack was the Boston College head coach, and the family lived on Marked Tree Road. It was the second stint as Holliston residents for the Bicknell family, who had also lived in town prior to Jack Sr. accepting a position at the University of Maine in 1976.

On Sunday, Jack Jr. was again on the field, this time as the assistant offensive line coach for the New York Giants. He had previously served as head football coach at Louisiana Tech from 1999-2006.

 

Kevin Systrom is in the middle, black shirt. in this 1998 team photo

For those who believe that commercials are just as important as football on Super Bowl Sunday, then the appearance of former Holliston resident Kevin Systrom in a Phone Innovators commercial for Best Buy, must come as a minor thrill. “I created Instagram”, states Systrom, of his iphone application which turns mundane photos into vintage classics. Systrom graduated from Stanford in 2006, but of greater importance, he was a member of the 1998 Holliston High School Cross Country team. He’s just the latest of Phil Ryan’s running factory of high quality kids doing well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cavHNSZTyAg