In February 1951, New Bedford Vocational High sophomore Al Porter and Arlington High junior Billy Squires battled every step of the way during the mile run at the indoor state track meet in Boston Garden.
“For thrills, the Class B mile was tops,’’ said the Globe’s report, which added: “Over the 11 laps, at least 11 times, Squires tried to pass Porter, but Porter always sprinted to keep in front.’’
Mr. Porter won, but the margin was so close “that we slapped hands near the finish line and the officials had to sort it all out,’’ Squires recalled.
That inner drive and finishing kick, Mr. Porter would later tell his family, were fueled by the haunting sound of the factory looms where he worked between track seasons to support his family, and by the inspiration of his coach, Francis Holt.
Mr. Porter, one of a select few inductees as both a coach and athlete to the Massachusetts State Track Coaches Association Hall of Fame, died Sept. 20 in St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford from complications of leukemia. He was 82 and lived in Dartmouth.
His accolades as a high school runner included state and New England 880-yard titles and repeat All-American honors in the national mile run at Madison Square Garden in New York City. He was also an inductee to the Dartmouth High and Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational-Technical High athletic halls of fame.
From 1957 to 1978, his cross-country and indoor and outdoor track teams at Dartmouth High won a combined nine state championships and compiled a 296-72-8 record.
“Al was a tough coach, no doubt, but in a positive way,’’ said longtime Seekonk High coach Frank Mooney, whose teams competed against Mr. Porter’s squads. “If you did what he asked you to do, you could perform at a high level.’’
Mooney, the state Track Coaches Association executive director, said Mr. Porter gave back “as a meet director, race official, and a member of our executive board who rarely, if ever, missed a meeting.’’
In January, a day after he had directed the Coaches Invitational Meet, Mr. Porter was inducted into the state coaches Hall of Fame as an athlete during ceremonies at the Coaches Elite Meet, both at the Reggie Lewis Center.
“His workouts always had a purpose and he was a hands-on coach who would run diagonally across the infield of the track to give you your split times. You could always hear his voice,’’ recalled Rick Barry, a state 300-yard indoor champion for the former New Bedford Vocational High in the early 1960s.
“There was never a star system with Al,’’ Barry said. “We were treated equally. He touched our lives and made a difference.’’
In 2002, Mr. Porter was presented with the official baton at the final outdoor meet at the old Dartmouth High track. Four years later, the new track was named for him.
After graduating in 1957 from the University of Notre Dame, where he was a varsity cross-country and track letterman, Mr. Porter taught physical education at Dartmouth High. He also was a guidance counselor and assistant principal there before retiring.
He received a master’s degree in secondary education administration from Bridgewater State College.
“Al was both charismatic and a disciplinarian, and a man of integrity with a big heart,’’ said Carlin Lynch, a former Dartmouth High athletic director and coach.
A past Boston Marathon qualifier who competed in road races when he was in his 70s, Mr. Porter “was supportive and caring and he liked to give advice to the kids, like reminding them to put their sweats on when they finished racing,’’ said Dartmouth High cross-country coach Hilary Sousa. “He also appreciated the work you put in as a coach. I valued my time with him.’’
Albert M.P. Porter Jr. initially grew up in Lynn and was raised by his mother, Annie (Goldrick) Porter, who later returned to her hometown of New Bedford, where she was a secretary at Acushnet Process Co.
Mr. Porter “had a great grasp of being a mentor because he had one in coach Holt, the male role model he needed,’’ said his son Albert III of Natick. “Dad often said that after the starting pistol goes off, it doesn’t matter what your ethnicity is or where you came from, there’s no debating who is the winner. They can’t take that away from you.’’
In the world of track, Mr. Porter would again meet Squires, his opponent from that 1951 state indoor meet. Squires became an All-American runner at Notre Dame and a renowned coach at Boston State College and the Greater Boston Track Club.
“After I arrived at Notre Dame, I told our coach, Alex Winter, about Al, who had a lot of energy and could really navigate the corners of the track,’’ Squires recalled.
Mr. Porter received a full scholarship to Notre Dame, where he “was the ideal second leg of our relay, setting up the rest of the race for us,’’ Squires said.
In a sense, Mr. Porter ran for his athletic and academic life in college, his son said, because “he saw young men leave because they couldn’t handle both, and he was terrified of losing that scholarship. It was his shot at a better life and he realized it. And when he was honored last January, dad said his bucket list was complete.’’
In a 1983 interview with the New Bedford Standard-Times that appeared when he was first inducted into the state coaches Hall of Fame, Mr. Porter said he still got “goose bumps’’ when he heard the “Notre Dame Victory March.’’
A member and past president of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick who always displayed the Irish flag on St. Patrick’s Day, Mr. Porter participated in ROTC at Notre Dame and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve.
A service has been held for Mr. Porter, whose marriage ended in divorce. Burial was in Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne next to his son Timothy, a former New Bedford High track athlete who died in 2009.
In addition to his son Albert III, Mr. Porter leaves another son, Jeremy of North Andover; a daughter, Jane Rousseau of Lakeville; two brothers, James of Fall River and John of Shelton, Conn.; his fiancee and longtime companion, Ann Santacroce of Harwich; and nine grandchildren.
In a eulogy, Albert III said Mr. Porter celebrated his family, colleagues, and former students and athletes “every day of his life. He was our coach, our teacher, our defender, and our father. He chose to do these things for a very simple reason. He loved us.’’
Marvin Pave can be reached at marvin.pave@rcn.com.
