William J. Foley, Jr., Best known as a very successful BHS soccer coach, William J. Foley Ir., a graduate of the Beverly High School class of 1969, he was also a hockey and baseball player for three years. He quickly moved the BHS soccer program from club level to interscholastic league play and to North Shore prominence.
His father, William Foley, Sr, who was Superintendent of schools, helped to develop the BHS boys hockey program in its early years with no inside rink (practiced on Kelleher’s pond) and with no youth hockey teams. So both coaches started from ‘scratch’.
The challenge for the soccer coach was to motivate and recruit students who wanted to play football or cross country in the fall season. Coach Foley was able to assemble a full varsity and IV team from the very first season. His teams were famous for not backing down or backing up. Each year the team’s skill level and the record improved, reaching the State finals against Lexington in 1979.
Bill’s greatest talent as a coach was as a motivator. He did not want BHS teams to be out- worked, to be prepared to represent Beverly High School as a group of student athletes. BHS may not have had the most skilled players, but no team in the NEC played harder. A notable player was Mayor Cahill.
Statistically, Bill had a record of 114-34-26, first or second in NEC each year, in the State Tournament for eight straight years, and two-time Salem News ‘Coach of the Year’
Beyond statistics, the most important trait of Coach Bill Foley was that he was remembered as the supreme motivator of his teams, often times with less talented players.
Good Morning Gloucester 
Very nice honor! Congratulations to the Foley family! He worked hard- his daughter follows in his footsteps!
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