Good morning!
Three years ago on Dec. 19, 2019, golf pro Kevin M. Kennedy was indicted by a federal grand jury in Springfield on over a dozen charges including fraud, tax evasion and money laundering.

Kennedy was the head pro of Springfield’s two municipally-owned courses, Franconia Golf Course and Veterans Memorial Golf Course. He was hired in 2006 at a starting annual salary of $67,000, but golf is a cash business and by the time he was indicted he had allegedly skimmed hundreds of thousands of dollars.

According to a press release from the Dept. of Justice’s Office of Public Affairs, Kennedy began taking money directly from the cash register and putting it into his Kennedy Golf Management (KGM) accounts in 2010. One thing led to another — two sets of books, filing false tax returns, making false statements to the bank, wire fraud and conspiring with a father-son homebuilding team to launder money.

Kent and Jason Pecoy of Kent Pecoy & Sons Construction in West Springfield are charged with conspiring to defraud the U.S. by using cash payments from Kennedy to build homes in East Longmeadow and West Dennis. IRS Agents raided both homes and pro shops in 2016, and according to a published report that year by Stephanie Barry of Masslive, those homes had a combined assessed value of $1.185 million.

Three years later the indictments were handed down, and 3 1/2 years since then the case has yet to be heard. Jury selection was supposed to begin on March 7, but the wheels of justice grind slowly in Springfield.

That might be because Kennedy’s father, Kevin E. Kennedy, worked 25 years for U.S. Congressman Richie Neal in the Springfield mayor’s office and later as his congressional aide. In 2011 he was named the city’s Chief Economics Development Officer under Mayor Dominic Sarno. 

If the name rings a bell to older basketball fans, it’s because Kennedy played and coached at Cathedral High School. In the early 2000s, he teamed up with play-by-play announcer Bob Behler to do award winning radio broadcasts of UMass basketball. He retired from public life in 2019 and died of cancer last August at age 70.

Kennedy the younger has retained one of the best criminal defense attorneys in Western Mass., David Hoose of Sasson, Turnbull & Hoose in Northampton. “Nothing to say at this point, except that trial is scheduled for [July 17],” Hoose emailed.

Considering the leisurely pace, we can only assume he means 2023.

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TRIVIA: Who said: “After Jackie Robinson, the most important Black in baseball history is Reggie Jackson.”

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“There are three kids playing pro hockey who should still be on this team,” texted UMass hockey coach Greg Carvel. “It’s hard to always hit home runs in recruiting when your players are leaving after two years and you expect them to be here four years.”

Carvel didn’t name namers, but former Hockey East rookie of the year Josh Lopina, a 98th overall pick of the Ducks, has three goals in 62 games for the San Diego Gulls, and defenseman Zac Jones, a 68th overall pick of the New York Rangers, has 17 goals in 95 games in Hartford and one in 38 games for the Rangers. 

Other UMass stars like Bobby Trivigno, Marc Del Gaizo and Matt Kessel haven’t had a sniff of the NHL since they turned pro.

“They all think they are different and better than the others,” wrote Carvel. “Really unfortunate because college hockey is as good as it gets for most of them. Outside of (Cale) Makar and (Mario) Ferraro, they all play in the AHL. College hockey is much more glamorous than minor pro hockey.”

Goaltenders at last week’s Hockey East playoffs had a collective .944 save percentage in three games. UMass goaltenders were a collective .914 this season, just average. Two of them, Luke Pavicich and Henry Graham, have entered the transfer portal. Others include defenseman Mikey Adamson and forwards Ryan Sullivan, Reed Lebster and Cal Kiefiuk. Lebster’s going to Michigan State to reunite with former assistant coach Jared DeMichiel, the rest are still waiting for offers.

Thus far Carvel has plucked three players from the transfer portal – Brown defenseman Samuli Niinisaari, Blackhawks prospect Liam Gorman who scored 14 goals and had 14 assists in 32 games at Princeton last season, and 25-year-old journeyman goaltender David Fessenden of UNH and Ala.-Huntsville who has a .907 save percentage in 57 career games.

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Think you know your football X’s and O’s? Listen to Greg Cosell telling Ross Tucker why 6-foot-4 wideout Kenny Golladay was a bust with the Giants: “The way defenses are now matching the trip side with a lot of zone and taking the boundary safety and making him part of the coverage to the trip side, if you need a boundary dog at alpha x there’s not that many around and there’s none in the draft. Golladay looked like that guy but it never turned out.”

Yeah, my thoughts exactly.

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SQUIBBERS: Dan Patrick on why Princeton isn’t a Cinderella team: “I think it’s hard to root for kids who go to Princeton. They’ve already won.” … The only two A-10 teams in the NCAA tourney were both ousted in the first round, the VCU men to St. Mary’s, 63-51, and the Saint Louis women to Tennessee, 95-50. …  Billionaire Mike Repole told the NY Post he’s “waited over 15 years for St. John’s to hire a Hall of Fame coach like Rick Pitino.” UMass might’ve landed Pitino but alumni are huffy that he stiffed them on a donation pledge. St. John’s got him for six years and $20 million. … Meanwhile, Frank Martin was hired one year ago today. For a good laugh, go to YouTube and watch the press conference. The next revival of “Promises, Promises” should be dedicated to the UMass basketball and football teams. … Lookalikes: Aaron Rodgers and Hunter Biden. … The Cuban government wasn’t happy that MLB allowed expats to sit behind homeplate at the WBC in Miami holding an “Abajo La Dictadura” banner (Down with Dictatorship). … Two college nicknames gently mocking the alma maters: You Can’t Fail (UCF); Fairly Ridiculous (Fairleigh Dickinson). … Joe Sarfield reports that Angelina Nardolillo had 13 points in Rhode Island College’s 56-51 loss to Christopher Newport in the D-III semis last week. The 6-1 center was named all-state three straight years at Hinsdale High School. …  Smith College’s quest for the D-III title ended with a 76-65 loss to Transylvania. … Merrimack hockey players were ordered by the training staff to take ice baths after they beat BC last week. People in the hallways must’ve been wondering what all the screaming was about.  …. Fifty-three teams qualified for the MIAA D-5 boys state tournament. “Too many unqualified teams,” writes Mike Cadran. “When you have teams with losing records just to make them feel good, you get lopsided scores.” … Marlins executives must be dumbfounded why their ballpark was packed for the WBC but never for their own games. … “In my utopian future,” writes David from Philly in the NYT’s comments section, “our current World Series is merely the North American final for a true world championship.” …. Trivia Answer: Reggie Jackson. … Astros over Mets in seven games. You heard it here first.

Chip Ainsworth is an award-winning columnist who has penned his observations about sports for decades in the Pioneer Valley. He can be reached at chipjet715@icloud.com]]>