WILLIAM J. DELANEY  

William J. Delaney was a tight end as a member of the football team and was a center fielder for the baseball team. He held several records at the end of his football career, including career receptions (119), career receiving yards (1,884), receptions in a single season (56), and single season receiving yards (803). Delaney's single game record of 18 receptions still stands after 42 years. He was the co-captain of the 1966 football team and received numerous awards throughout his football career, including the Most Courageous Award and the Player of the Decade award for the 1960's. Delaney was an All-New England and All-ECAC selection in 1964 and 1965 and was named to the Small College All-America team in 1965.

As the fifth-round choice of the Atlanta Falcons, Delaney was the first tight end to be selected in the 1967 NFL Draft. When his football career was over, he became a probation officer in the Springfield District Court System, and was Springfield's Assistant Chief Probation Officer when he died of leukemia in 1983 at the age of 38.