On Saturday, July 22nd, 2023, the family of Amesbury Maples hockey legend Leo Dupere will be holding a celebration of life at the Polish Club on 14 Mill St. in downtown Amesbury, Massachusetts. Hours will be from 2 pm to 5 pm EDT, and the host facility is open to the public.
Dupere was a longtime Amesbury resident and former baseball and ice hockey standout athlete. Leo was so athletically driven that there was never an offseason with the ability to go out and give 110% all year round. While not privy to his skills on the baseball diamond, his hockey career, on the other hand, might’ve garnished the most attention for decades since stepping on the local ice for the very first time growing up in the 1940s.
Leo Dupere was a product of a robust developmental system in our community when it came to the game of hockey. Former Amesbury Maples players Ablie Roy, Alphonse Picard, Archie Cloutier, and Fred Fournier were instrumental in developing a young child like Dupere, who aspired to become not only Amesbury’s best but nationally known.
Dupere was so good at the game growing up that at the age of 13, he would get regular opportunities to play for the higher adult Amesbury Maples who then operated in the Merrimack Valley Hockey League’s Junior Division. As a teenager, his drive and endurance to succeed at this age were amazing to research. He played with his High School hockey program throughout his academic career but also skated later in the day with the higher adult Maples club.
After graduating in 1958, Dupere would work for the defense contractor Raytheon in Andover, Mass., per Newburyport News columnist Mac Cerullo in an article about his passing in July of 2020. Leo was recruited to Northeastern University by Raytheon coworker and Huskies Head Coach Jim Bell. Leo would thrive at Northeastern, posting 132 points in 65 games, a three-time MVP, and the 1962-63 single-season scoring record.
After his collegiate hockey career, Dupere would continue to play for the Maples again regularly. He also became the high school head coach taking over for the legendary Albie Roy, who started the high school program back in the early 1920s. Leo led the Amesbury Indians to a 222-100-38 record in his coaching tenure, including two Twin State League and two Cape Ann League championships.
Again, per the Newburyport News article in July of 2020, Author Mac Cerullo Duperes’ accolades throughout his playing and teaching years include the following: Northeastern University Athletics Hall of Fame inductee, Massachusetts State Hockey Coaches Association Hall of Fame, Amesbury Education Foundation Hall of Honor, Amesbury High School Athletics Hall of Fame class of 2013. Also mentioned in Cerullo’s article is his number 13 was retired by the school.
As a student of Duperes in middle school, he made physical education classes something students looked forward to every week. Since hockey was my favorite sport growing up, and still is today, how he engaged an individual with his teaching and stat recording was terrific. It meant something to a young aspiring athlete walking in the corridor by the gym at the old Amesbury Middle School and seeing your name ranked alongside some of the greatest athletes in school history.
The last time I had the privilege of talking to Mr. Dupere was at the Maples Crossing ribbon cutting at the South Hunt Road location in Amesbury in September of 2020. We discussed making time for an interview about his Amesbury high school and Maples career, but unfortunately, that never happened. Continued thoughts go out to the Dupere family, and rest in peace, Coach! You will never be forgotten by your family, myself, and the thousands of individuals you’ve inspired to be their best.
As a hockey enthusiast and historian, when it comes to the Maples hockey organization, it’s always fun to gather stats and information about a particular player or hockey season. In countless hours of research, I also find it gratifying to learn more about a player’s career and how they impacted the Amesbury, Massachusetts community throughout their lives.
While honorable mentions can be given to Amesbury hockey legends Albie Roy, Eddie Nicols, Fred Fournier, Leo Dupere, and George Dodier for their uncanny ability to develop the next generation, nobody did it better than Alphonse Picard. The former Thompson Street resident was born and bred into the game of hockey with close family relations pretty much owning the upper Thompson Street location.
Picard’s brothers Aurel and Everett learned the game of hockey on the nearby lakes, ponds, and rivers safe enough to play before joining the Amesbury Maples organization in the mid-1920s. Alphonse was in good hands when learning the game at a young age because of the knowledge passed down from his elder brothers and other family members who participated every winter.
Back in those days, Amesbury didn’t have a youth program, so having artificial rinks in the backyard or taking advantage of the sheets of ice in our local areas such as Clarks Pond, Lake Gardner, and Patten’s Pond was imperative. If young men wanted to get into the competitive side of the game, they’d have to wait until their High School years to play organized hockey with a limited travel schedule.
( Photo Credit: Amesbury Public Library / Amesbury High School Yearbook 1932 )
As seen above, the legend once known as “Peco” started his Amesbury High School hockey career in his sophomore year in 1929. The High School athletic program started in the 1924-25 winter season under the forward-thinking of the leading organizer and former Maples player Albie Roy. Later, In the 1939-40 season, Albie Roy was given an NEAAU award for his dedication to promoting the sport of hockey among boys of high school age.
During Picard’s three seasons with the Amesbury High School team, he had enough talent to join the adult Amesbury Maples club when an extra body was needed on the ice. It must’ve been an unbelievable honor to join his brothers Aurel and Everett and their brother Wilbrod who coached the Maples for several seasons.
In his first “rookie” games as a member of the Maples organization, Alphonse would play alongside a stacked team with names such as Charley Broderick, Eddie Nicols, Harlon “Chewie” Williams, Tom “Ike” Wall, Gerard Proulx, and goaltender Raoul “Chiefie” Lemoine.
( Photo Credit: Alphone Picard and Family Collection )
Alphonse would continue to bounce in and out of the Amesbury Maples lineup while continuing his high school career. Picard would join the Maples full-time during the 1932-33 season and would be a massive asset for a Maples team that saw the organization’s best decade in recorded history. Picard and the Maples organization’s best season was during the 1939-40 campaign that saw the Amesbury club become New England Hockey Champions at the original Boston Garden and make their way to Lake Placid, New York, to take on the heavily stacked University of Minnesota in the National AAU elimination series.
During the 1939-40 season, the Maples combined a regular-season record of 19-3-2, and in those games, at the time, Alphonse was playing center and was almost a point-per-game player posting 7-13-20 numbers in 24 games. This was also a big year for Amesbury’s Picard as he and Maples goaltender Wilfred Stuart were invited to try out for the Boston Olympics, a team owned and operated by Boston Garden General Manager Walter Brown.
( Photo Credit: Alphonse Picard & Family Collection )
The Boston Olympics started operations in the 1940-41 season and played in the Eastern Amateur Hockey League, ultimately ceasing those operations 12 years later after the 1951-52 season. The following Maples season Picard earned his first point-per-game season where he posted 14-6-20 in 20 games played in the 1941-42 campaign.
Picard’s hockey career with the Maples would start off and on in 1928-29 and would end with legendary status 30 years later after the 1957-58 season. Alphonse wouldn’t stray far from the game after his retirement from playing. Picard would immediately stay close to his beloved Maples club and become the team’s Head Coach in the 1958-59 season.
As a first-year Head Coach, Alphonse guided the Maples organization to a 19-8-2 record and a roster that saw players such as Leo Dupere, Hercule “Archie” Cloutier, Armand Roy, Joe Lariviere, Dickie Michaud, and Dale Cressy. Picard would go on to be the head coach for the next few seasons before giving up his bench boss duties to fellow Amesbury Maples Legend Freddie Fournier in the 1960-61 season as Fournier took over as player/coach and manager of the organization.
( Photo Credit: Alphonse Picard and Family Collection )
After stepping away from the Maples organization and coaching duties, Picard again went back to hockey, but this time his community effort pointed in a different direction. Amesbury Youth Hockey programs started ramping up in the early 1960s, and Alphonses’ son Randi was one of the original players in said youth systems. Picard was instrumental in the early success of youth development in the Amesbury area and had quite a story when talking about its growth.
As son Randi was coming up through youth hockey to the Amesbury High School level, Alphonse was always close by as an assistant coach to lean on for advice on and off the ice. One of my favorite stories heard in a recent interview Frank Gurzack, and I did with Picard’s son Randi on our Remember the Maples Hockey Podcast seen below is his passion in later years to give back.
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The stories Randi told us and we heard a few times from Picard’s daughter Tammi and even Frank Gurzack’s personal experience living close by at the lower location of Thompson Street was how dedicated to the everyone can play initiative. For years Alphonse would collect older hockey equipment and store the stuff that people no longer wanted.
Hockey’s an expensive sport no matter what generation people around here grew up in. Outdoor ice was accessible and manageable back in the day, but the equipment was expensive. This is where Alphonse showed his class and determination to keep kids’ dreams alive and play the game that so many in this area learned and loved. Even skate sharpening was a little too much for some families to afford regularly; that didn’t stop a founding member of the Amesbury Youth Program. Picard bought a skate sharpening machine and resurfaced edges for years in the family’s basement.
In the above YouTube video, son Randi told Frank and me about the thousands of pieces of hockey equipment his father kept over the years, and daughter Tammi who currently lives in the original Picard household said it was like a sporting goods store down there when it was finally time to clean out the area.
They certainly don’t make them like Mr. Picard anymore. Alphonse was the epitome of hard work and perseverance and will forever be known as one of the leading pioneers of developing some of the best hockey talent back in the day. He left a lasting impression on today’s youth hockey movement, which looks to gain traction with the new Maples Crossing facility at the South Hunt Road location. It’s been over 40 years since our area of Amesbury had a home rink. This future multi-rink training facility will be one of the best in North America and continue the tradition so many like Picard set in place.
( Photo Credit: Alphonse Picard and Family Collection )
I want to thank all the folks who took the time to read this inaugural article on our new rememberthemaples.com website. I look forward to doing more writeups like these about some of the Maples founding members and ones that made a lasting impression in our community.
To keep these informative articles coming, we encourage Amesbury residents who either played for the Maples or a family member that wants to share images or related information to reach out. Even if someone what’s to do their own write-up of a family member and talk about a moment in a former player’s career, please send us an email to blackngoldproductionsllc@gmail.com
If you’d like to join Frank Gurzack and me for a future episode of the Remember the Maples Hockey Podcast, please email us, and we’ll work on an appearance schedule. We provide audio content via worldwide podcast platforms, and video content on the official Remember the Amesbury Maples YouTube Channel.
Traditionally we’d like to do remote recordings at a time of your convenience but are also available for in-person interviews with the utmost safety during these pandemic times. If you have a laptop with webcam access, a high-quality audio external/internal microphone, and a strong internet connection (Ethernet Hardwire to Router is Highly Recommended), let’s talk some Maples hockey!
