Harambee Park Football Field Named in Honor of Wilson Brothers
Boston Parks Commissioner Ryan Woods joined members of the Wilson family and local youth sports advocates and players on August 6 for the dedication of the football field at Harambee Park in honor of Harry G. Wilson III and Dennis G. Wilson.
Located at 930 Blue Hill Avenue in Mattapan, the park features 45 acres of sport and play features for all ages. The football facility was part of phase 3 of a series of Harambee Park improvements, a $3.4 million project that began in 2015 with a community-based action plan. The third and final phase included the construction of the new game field and practice field, extension of the pedestrian pathway network started in phases 1 and 2, a new scoreboard, exercise area, lighting, and park entrance improvements.
The City of Boston honored the legacy created by brothers Harry G. Wilson, III, and Dennis G. Wilson, by naming the field in their honor. In the early 1970s Harry Wilson’s goal was to start a viable football program for his sons, as well as the neighborhood kids. He presented the idea to his brother Dennis and from there a program that began as the Roxbury Raiders and the Silver Stars became the Boston Raiders and the Lady Raider Cheerleaders.
This wildly successful program has now expanded to five football and cheerleading programs mentoring boys and girls for close to five decades and has been a dominant force in team sports winning numerous Eastern Mass and Central Mass Championships. Harry and Dennis also designed the program to mentor and develop successful coaches on the high school and college level. The Wilson Brothers also co-founded the Roxbury Basketball Association, one of the most successful men's summer leagues in the country.
“Harry and Dennis Wilson set examples for Boston’s youth not only on and off the field but by creating a safe space where young men and women could learn and grow,” Commissioner Woods said. “And now this space will proudly bear their name for present and future generations. The Boston Raiders motto is ‘Raiders for Life.’ We now honor the lives of Harry and Dennis Wilson by naming this field after these two leaders in youth sports.”
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