Maurice “Mudgie” Tavares

Maurice “Mudgie” Tavares built his place in Old Rochester athletics one child at a time. He was not a varsity coach, a star athlete, or a school administrator. For 36 years he served as head custodian at Center School in Mattapoisett, but generations of local families knew him as something more: a trusted adult who noticed when a young person needed help and found a way to provide it.

Born in Mattapoisett in 1931, Tavares graduated from New Bedford Vocational High School in 1949, where he ran track and developed a lifelong attachment to the sport. When Old Rochester Regional High School opened in 1961, he became a constant presence around its teams and athletes. Accounts preserved by his family and the Hall of Fame describe assistance that was deliberately quiet—new sneakers or equipment for a child who needed them, money for camp, a ride to practice, groceries or Christmas gifts for a family, and steady encouragement when a student was struggling.

His station wagon became a familiar part of that work. He drove children to practices and games, brought them home safely, and kept young people connected to constructive places and dependable adults. The purpose was simple and serious: he did not want local children to be left without somewhere to go or someone looking out for them.

Tavares turned that conviction into programs. He founded the Mattapoisett Track Club, whose roots local sources place in the early 1970s, and created the town’s Thursday night Wharf Dances to raise money for the club while giving young people a safe summer gathering place. He also organized two summer women’s basketball leagues and a field hockey league. These efforts widened access to recreation, gave young athletes structured competition, and created leadership opportunities for the older students who helped teach the younger ones.

The club’s endurance shows the scale of his contribution. A 1990 local newspaper recorded Track Club meets and Wharf Dance activity while Tavares was still active. Later reporting found that the program continued to serve children from kindergarten through eighth grade, welcomed participants from beyond the tri-town area, and employed high school and college athletes as coaches. After Tavares suffered a stroke in 1996, community members reorganized the program rather than let it disappear. He continued to attend in a wheelchair as long as he was able. The club and its intergenerational model remain active decades later.

Recognition followed, although recognition was never the point. Tavares received the Mattapoisett Lions Club Citizen of the Year Award in 1983 and the town’s Keel Award in 1994. He also received the Marian Medal from the Catholic Diocese of Fall River. The Maurice “Mudgie” Tavares Playground at Center School and the Maurice “Mudgie” Tavares Track and Field at Old Rochester Regional High School were named in his honor. In 2011, he entered the Old Rochester Regional Athletic Hall of Fame as a Significant Contributor.

Tavares died in 2018, but his work remains visible wherever a child enters a program he helped build, competes on a facility carrying his name, or benefits from the expectation he established: no young person should be excluded because a family lacks money, transportation, equipment, or support. Mudgie’s legacy is not a single season or record. It is a community habit of making room for every child.