By Marvin Pave - Boston Globe Correspondent - October 22, 2015
The first time he watched his daughter, Rebecca, play for the women's soccer team at Curry College, George Gardner felt nostalgic — and very proud.
A former football and lacrosse captain at Newton North High, George still holds the college's season (138) and career (550) records for tackles, dating to the 1970s.
Rebecca, who scored crucial goals in Newton North's march to the Division 1 girls' state soccer title in 1999, is the fourth all-time goal scorer (46) in the history of Curry women's soccer. She was also a multiyear team captain and MVP on the Colonels' women's lacrosse squad.
She was honored as Curry's Senior Female Athlete of the Year in 2004.
Rebecca and George (pictured) are the only father/daughter tandem enshrined in the Curry Athletic Hall of Fame — George in 1987 and Rebecca in 2009. Both are active in alumni events at the Milton school.
"My dad has Curry paraphernalia all over the house, and following in his footsteps there in athletics and into the Hall of Fame is a great feeling,'' said Rebecca.
Now 33, she is married to Alex Johnson, a 2003 Curry grad and an underwriter for the Hartford Insurance Group. The couple have a 2½-year-old son, Lucas.
The elder Gardner, who also wrestled at Newton North, said he was more excited about Rebecca's induction than his own.
He was honored as a 1970 Globe football All-Scholastic. The late Jim Ronayne called him "the best center I've coached in 22 years,'' while noting that Gardner made 74 perfect punt snaps for the Tigers, who shut out six opponents that year when George was a senior.
George, 62, taught alternative junior high social studies courses in Waltham and was an assistant football coach at Waltham High from 1977-83. He operated a landscaping business and currently works as a courier for FedEx.
A freshman on Curry's first women's lacrosse team in 2001, Rebecca was a three-time first-team all-Commonwealth Conference selection. She led Division 3 in ground balls her sophomore year.
"Rebecca had a huge hand in building the lacrosse program, and she was a natural-born leader,'' said Curry coach Caitlin Roberts.
Rebecca, a communications major, taught pre-school in Wellesley and worked for United Health Care until 2013. She helps out at her mother's home day care center.
Rebecca's brothers, Patrick and Dan, were athletes at Newton North. Patrick organized and coached the club lacrosse team at Bryant. Dan, a Little East Conference lacrosse all-star at UMass-Boston, is an assistant lacrosse coach at Brookline High.
Their mother, Ginny, was spokesperson and chief fund-raiser for Newton's 9/11 Memorial. She hosts "Virginia's Views and Vibes'' on Newton cable television.
"My brothers were always playing sports, and I'd join them, so right off the bat they made me a competitive person,'' said Rebecca. "I hated to lose, but like my dad, it wasn't the individual accomplishments that mattered most to me, it's the bond you establish with your teammates.''
George, who played center and linebacker, called football "the ultimate team sport, and that has made me a team-oriented person. Comparing Rebecca and myself as athletes, we both had that competitive spirit, but she was a lot more patient than I was.''
Marvin Pave can be reached at marvin.pave@globe.com
