HOLDEN — When high school student-athletes sustain season-ending injuries, it can be devastating. In many cases, playbooks are returned, team meetings become irrelevant, and sometimes a deep depression can result.
For Wachusett Regional High’s Sam Mulroy, not so much.
Mulroy, of Holden, suffered a broken elbow during a Mountaineer football practice in his sophomore season (he is currently a junior), and knew from the resulting pain that football season was over. But what of his even more beloved basketball? WRHS varsity basketball head coach Tom Gibbons explains it best.
“Freshman year he played on the JV 2 team, and then played football last year where he broke his elbow,” said Gibbons. “He was out for the entire season but came to practice, watched film and learned from watching. He gradually got better, and losing that sophomore year obviously hurt, but he’s gotten better. He’s in the starting line now, and that’s from working so hard.
“He’s done a great job. He’s a great kid. His teammates love him, and he has everything in balance. We like having multisport kids, and Sam’s just another in a long line of multisport kids.”
“Before the game had started, we were walking through game play for the game,” Mulroy, who comes across as instantly likeable, humble and mature beyond his years, explained. “I was running out to cover a kid and I tripped over my own feet, I tried to stop myself with the ground and caught myself, but I was a little too hard on my arm and it broke. It was pretty devastating. I remember I was on the ground, and I saw the trainer and the coach there, and I kept asking them if I was going to be OK for basketball. They told me that things would be good. Once the adrenaline wore off, I knew I wasn’t going to recover in time. That was pretty hard. There were some rough days during that stretch.
“But I still came to all the team events because I love the sport and being around it. I knew there wasn’t much I could do with a broken arm, so I tried to make the best of it, like hanging around the team and learning from an outside perspective almost. There were days that it was hard because I was just sitting there and couldn’t do anything, but I think it really helped me for this year. It was worth it going to every practice and game.”
Another setback for Mulroy and his teammates of this recently concluded 2023-2024 season was the shortage of victories, but still there was full effort and a play-for-pride attitude from players and coaches.
“We knew as a team that we were better than what our record showed, and it made it look like we lost a lot of games,” he continued. “Some of the games we were losing by 10 or less points, and we knew we had to finish it out. We were in most of these games, and we were competing hard, and that’s what drove us, especially when we knew we weren’t going to make playoffs. We knew we had to play for pride. Having that Wachusett jersey on and playing gave us pride.
“I tried to spread leadership characteristics even though I wasn’t the best player on the team. I feel like I’m respected by my teammates, and I respect them, too, by being as positive and as kind as I can towards all of them and all my coaches. That gave me some respect from my teammates, and it puts me in a good position to be a leader and listen to me even if I’m not the one scoring all the points.”
It’s not just sports that Mulroy takes pride in. He excels in the classroom as well, having made consistently high honors, and has earned membership in the National Honor Society. He is an avid fisherman and loves the outdoors. One program that he leads at school, Young Life, is a support group for students that meets Mondays for get-togethers that involve exploring Christianity and other topics.
“People can just come and be themselves,” he said. “We dive somewhat into the Bible, but it’s not too religious because we don’t want to scare new people who aren’t super-religious by doing too much of that. I’m a leader in that so I can help a lot of the kids come to their clubs.”
Mulroy is quick to admit that putting on the Wachusett uniform for two of the school’s most recognized sports is special, and there is no other place he would rather be than contributing to Wachusett games.
“Representing my school makes me proud, but not in an arrogant sense, and that’s pretty special,” he said. “I remember as a kid when I would watch some of the big high school games, and now it’s really a cool thing that I can represent my school and community.”
