Hamilton’s public high schools now compete for George O’Gorman Trophy
HAMILTON, N.J. – Hamilton Mayor Kelly Yaede has started a new athletic tradition among Hamilton’s three public high schools, where they will compete against each other annually to earn the new, distinguished George O’Gorman Trophy.
George O’Gorman is a name synonymous with Hamilton high schools’ sports. As a newspaper sports writer for The Times of Trenton, The Trentonian, the Monitor, and Burlington County Times, he has covered nearly every Hamilton high school athlete and team for about half a century.
Therefore, it is appropriate to dedicate a trophy for excellent Hamilton high school athletic champions to a man who has such a sports legacy with the township and who is also a resident.
“I can’t think of no more deserving individual to receive this particular recognition than George O’Gorman,” explains Mayor Yaede.
“During the past 50 years, he has covered the games, matches and competitions that Hamilton high school athletes and their families will remember throughout their lifetimes. Thanks to his dedication and passion to high school sports, a half of century of amazing memories were recounted in ways in which generations of Hamiltonians will always cherish,” said Mayor Yaede.
During his sports reporting career, O’Gorman covered the gambit of high school sports, including every State track and field championships since 1976. He also covered the Cosmos professional soccer team for 12 years, and the New York Giants (NFL) from 1978-2015.
In addition to his reporting, O’Gorman was a former soccer coach for St. Anthony High School. He also started the Mercer County Soccer Hall of Fame. He was a past honoree and recipient of the Trenton Select Man of the Year Award. He was former president of Chambersburg Little League, and recently was a member of Hamilton Township Public Library’s Board of Trustees.
“When you’ve spent over 45 years in a job that never felt like work, you are a very lucky guy. I’ve been that lucky guy,” said O’Gorman.
“Reporting on high school athletics at Hamilton, Steinert and Nottingham has allowed me to compile so many great memories of friendships with coaches, student athletes and administrators who have remained close friends. It’s why five decades covering sports in Hamilton’s three public high schools has been a love – because of all the coaches and athletes who made it happen,” he said.
So, this new competition that Mayor Yaede has started among the public high schools is significant to the schools, to the athletes, and to carry on O’Gorman’s legacy.
The three public high schools track both boys and girls’ sports over the school year, and award the high school athletic program with the most victories in games and matches against their counterparts the George O’Gorman Trophy for that school year.
This year, Steinert High School has achieved the most victories in head-to-head sports competitions against the other two high schools.
Therefore, on Friday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m., Steinert High School will accept the first ever O’Gorman Trophy on their home field at halftime during a football game called Friday Night ‘under the lights’ with Notttingham High School.
“Competitions like this are a constructive way to promote the virtues of hard-work, dedication, commitment, and teamwork in our high schools athletes,” says Councilwoman Dina Thornton, who is a former member of the Hamilton Township School Board.
“Through his distinguished career in covering our young adults as they competed through high school athletics, George O’Gorman truly earned the honor of having this competition’s trophy bear his name,” she said.
