WATERTOWN — On Monday, May 6, St. James Armenian Church Men’s Club dinner meeting will take place at the St. James Charles Mosesian Cultural and Youth Center. The speaker will be Dick Flavin, an American poet known as the poet laureate of the Boston Red Sox. He is also the team’s public address announcer and a former journalist, TV commentator, and playwright.
Flavin was born in Boston and grew up in Quincy, MA. He became the press spokesman for the Massachusetts State Democratic Committee in 1963 and a speechwriter for several politicians, including Ted Kennedy. He went on to become press secretary for the president of the Massachusetts Senate and, in 1967, for the successful campaign of Kevin White for Mayor of Boston. In 1970, Flavin left politics for reporting. He became political editor and reporter for WNAC-TV in Boston before moving to WBZ-TV in 1973 where he spent 14 years as a commentator. It was while at WBZ that he was nominated for 14 New England Regional Emmy Awards, winning 7 times. His work as a broadcaster was honored in 2011 with his induction into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
On the creative side, Flavin’s one-man play, “According to Tip,” was produced at Boston’s Repertory Theatre in 2008. The play captured both the public and private life of Tip O’Neill, the Democratic Speaker of the US House of Representatives. It was awarded “Best New Play of the Year” by the critics and writers that make up the Independent Reviewers of New England.
Most notably, Flavin is the New York Times bestselling author of Red Sox Rhymes: Verses and Curses, a collection of 64 humorous and nostalgic poems celebrating the Boston Red Sox.
This St. James Men’s Club dinner meeting will begin with a social hour and mezza at 6:15 p.m. and dinner at 7 p.m. Mezza and Losh Kebab & Kheyma Dinner $17/person. Ladies are invited.
