MARBLEHEAD — Charlie Grenier capped off a three-sport career at Marblehead High earlier this week by scoring two goals in the Agganis All-Star Boys Lacrosse Game – his official “farewell” to the sport.
Grenier, who also played golf and hockey for Marblehead, will focus on golf when he matriculates to Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania in the fall. But he’ll alway carry Sunday’s lacrosse game with him, he said.
“I’ve heard from past teammates and friends who have been selected to play (in the Agganis Games) to know what it means to be a part of them,” Grenier said. “I was told the story of Harry Agganis by my grandfather (Ron Grenier) and it was very inspiring. I was very excited to be picked. It’s probably a memory I’ll keep forever.”
Those other sports (golf and hockey) aren’t represented in the Agganis games, so lacrosse was his only shot.
“It was fun meeting kids from different cities and towns, playing with guys I hadn’t met, and meeting other families,” said Grenier, who also played alongside teammates Wilson Bullard, JJ Pollender and Cam Waldman. He’s also close friends with St. John’s Prep’s Jack Doherty, who didn’t play Sunday, but grew up playing on town teams with Grenier. Both he and Doherty played hockey for their respective schools, and both won state championships this past winter.
“I said to Jack that it would be crazy if we both won state championships,” said Grenier, when it started looking like both schools were traveling their own paths to title games at the TD Garden in March. “He said that would be a dream. But look. We were on different teams. We both won. We were both captains. And both from Marblehead.
“One of my best memories was the first time I saw him after we both won,” he said. “I couldn’t watch his game, because we’d played right before them and I had to leave with the bus. But I tried to.”
It was actually a tough season for Grenier. He hurt his shoulder earlier in the winter and missed two weeks. The team, beset with injuries, started the season 0-6 and then caught fire, winning the rest of its games and qualifying for the state tournament.
“And then winning,” he said. “That was one of the best moments in my life.”
Right there with him, on the same line, was Waldman, his lacrosse teammate.
“We’d been playing together since we were 8 or 9,” he said. “Same line, same hockey teams throughout our youth hockey career.”
Grenier, who calls himself a defensive-oriented center (like the way Patrice Bergeron played) gives full credit to goalie Leo Burdge for the 1-0 win over Nauset.
“Are you kidding?” he asked. “He took us on our backs. And him playing the way he did made us more comfortable, too.”
But with all that, it’s golf that grabbed Grenier the tightest – as well as his relationship with coach Bob Green, who was the club pro at Tedesco for nearly a half century before turning to coaching.
“He’s good friends with my grandparents, and my dad grew up in Marblehead,” Grenier said. “I’d known Bob before I ever even got to high school and got on the golf team. Once he became coach, he was great.”
He began playing golf when he was about 9, and gradually developed a passion for the game.
“I started to get competitive with it my freshman year,” Grenier said. “And I fell in love with it.”
Last fall, Grenier played at No. 1 as the Magicians had a season to remember, making it into the state tournament, where he shot a 77 on the North course at Stow Acres.
“That was impressive,” he said. “It was one of my bigger accomplishments.”
Grenier will major in business organization and management at Gettysburg. But he’s also a bonafide history buff, which obviously makes Gettysburg the perfect spot for him.
“It just seemed like the right fit for me,” he said. “I seem to do better in a smaller environment. When I went to visit, we saw a lot of the history, too.”