JOHN L. “JOHNNY” ABBRUZZI (Athlete, Class of 2000)

As a freshman, Johnny Abbruzzi was a key member of the Warren High School Class C and State Baseball Champions of 1939.  This team was the first Class C team to win a Rhode Island title in any sport.

In 1940 John played for the Class C Eastern Baseball Champions and received Class C honors.  And then he was named an All Class C and All State left fielder while hitting a state leading .454 for a very good 1942 Warren High team.

He led the 1939 Red Raiders to a 7-0 victory over Barrington with “brilliant ball carrying.”  Prior to that game, the  Providence Journal Bulletin’s Dick Reynolds had this to say, “It is not improbable that the game will revolve around two forward passing artists of no mean ability, John (Little Duke) Abbruzzi and Barrington’s Lefty O’Neil.  Both are regarded as the foremost exponents of the (air game) in the county, if not the league.”  In 1940 his touchdown produced the only points that Colt Memorial had allowed all season.  And the following year, after passing for one hundred and thirty-seven yards in a loss to Colt, John was named the All Class C quarterback.

Returning from World War Two, where he was injured in the Battle of the Bulge, Johnny played for the Warren Twilight Baseball League’s Centrals and Massasoits who won the 1946 title.  In 1949 he was named to the League’s All Star second team.

In the Warren versus Bristol Baseball Little World Series John played in all five games of the 1946 Series and was a player/coach in the final year of 1949.

He starred in football for the 1946 and 1947 Warren Townies, “seldom running better than he had (in a win over) Riverside” and scoring the winning touchdown in a 7-6 defeat of the South Providence Tigers.

Johnny served as a game official in Little League Baseball, Community Services Basketball, the Midget Football League, and the Warren Men’s Softball League.  For many years he and fellow Hall of Fame member Johnny Karcz refereed Warren High School junior varsity basketball games.

He also served as a volunteer exercise class leader at the Barrington YMCA.