DANIEL “DAN” MCCONAGHY (Athlete, Charter Class of 1998)
Dan McConaghy is one of only three players in the history of Rhode Island high school baseball to be named All State three years in a row.
As a freshman Dan pitched a no-hitter for the La Salle Academy baseball squad. In 1983 and 1984 La Salle won the State Championship, and, in both years, he was named the Most Valuable Player of the playoffs. Having struck out nineteen during the state finals of 1983, he was named All State, an honor that was repeated in 1984 when he struck out fifteen in the final game of the playoffs.
In 1985 Dan “doubled up,” first being named All State in basketball (when he scored twenty-five points in the state finals loss to Classical) and then being named an All State outfielder as La Salle again reached the finals of the state baseball playoffs. Like Warren High School in 1947, the Rams were unsuccessful in their try for a “Three-Peat.”
That summer he was the only Rhode Island representative on the American Baseball Coaches Association Team USA tour of Europe.
At Harvard University he hit .409 in 1987 and finished his college career with the school’s ninth highest batting average at .348. Dan was named to the 1988 and 1989 Greater Boston Baseball League’s first team. In the latter year he was also named the league’s Player of the Year.
Earlier in his career Dan had starred for two Warren Babe Ruth Baseball All Star teams that captured District Two Championships. He also helped lead the Midgets to the state Youth Football title of 1980. As his career wound down, he was a key member of the Radon Control five that won the Warren Basketball League playoff title of 1993.