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08/17/2020 12:00 AMThe Valley Regional athletic community lost one of its pillars when Richard “Dick” Tonks passed away at age 78 on June 22. Tonks was a coach for the Essex Braves Little League baseball team and also attended nearly every Valley Regional sporting event—so many that Athletic Director Jeff Swan gifted him a lifetime pass that gave Tonks free entry to any contest. Tonks made an impact in the lives of many young athletes, including his son Jay Tonks and grandson Brian Tonks, who are both Valley graduates.
Dick Tonks grew up in Melrose, Massachusetts and played several sports in high school before enlisting in the Navy. Tonks and his son Jay lived in New Hampshire until 1976, when they moved to Essex. Jay remembers that baseball was always part of his life as he accompanied his father to countless games. Tonks coached for several baseball teams, including the Essex Braves when they won the Chester-Deep River-Essex Little League championship in 1980.
“My earliest memories go back to New Hampshire when I was four to six years old and being a batboy for him while he coaches a Babe Ruth team. I was always at the games as the batboy,” Jay Tonks said. “We moved to Connecticut in 1976, and he coached my first baseball team, the Essex Eagles, at Hubbard Field. He coached the Braves there around 1980 with Joe Sparaco. We won the Chester-Deep River-Essex Little League championship.”
Dick Tonks was a huge sports fan who rooted for all Boston-area teams, including the Braves, Bruins, Celtics, and Patriots. Jay recalls that some of his greatest memories as a sports fan were when he attended games with his father.
“Baseball was really his game. He was big into the Boston Braves, who eventually moved to Atlanta. I took him down to Citi Field to see them play the Mets, and that was a lot of fun. He used to take me into the old Boston Garden to watch Bobby Orr play. Those were great memories,” said Jay. “We went to see the Patriots play the Bears in the Super Bowl down in New Orleans in ’85. That was the highlight of our sports travels, but he was a fan of all sports. Any competition, he was up for watching.”
Those competitions included a lot of high school games, even when Tonks was supporting players that he didn’t know. Of course, Tonks eventually became acquainted with many of Valley’s athletes as the Warriors’ ultimate superfan. Swan knows that when Valley sports do get underway again, there will be something missing without Tonks in the stands.
“Dick was a huge supporter of Valley athletics. He was one of our No. 1 fans. When I heard about his passing, I knew it was a sad day for the Valley community. He was so supportive and just a nice gentleman. You could always just sit down and talk with him,” Swan said. “He was at all the boys’ basketball games, football games, field hockey games, baseball games, and boys’ and girls’ soccer games. Any playoff game, he would be there. He followed Valley athletics very closely. He will be dearly missed. I made him a lifetime member, so that he got into all the games for free. He was so proud of that, too.”
Tonks’s fandom for Valley sports began in the early 1980s, even before his son Jay started attending Valley Regional. Tonks was a sports nut and loved to watch all levels of competition.
“His history at Valley started right around 1980. I was in high school there from ‘82 to ‘85. He was watching all the athletes up there, and it just evolved over the 40 years up at that school,” said Jay Tonks. “He’s watched generations of families. He watched me and my sons play. Later on, he was at any sporting event up there. I think he would have done it wherever. I didn’t play that many sports in high school, but he was always drawn to those sports families. He had a lot of nice friendships with kids and their parents. He would travel all over the place.”
Jay Tonks’s son Brian also received a great deal of support from his grandfather. Brian Tonks played baseball and basketball while growing up, but when he became a student at Valley Regional, he decided that he would focus on basketball. Tonks was there to support his grandson every step of the way.
“It definitely meant the world to me that he would be at every game. It didn’t matter if we were in the middle of nowhere. He would be the first fan there and would always say that we should win by 100. He would give us the scouting report on the other team,” Brian Tonks said. “It’s funny. I played baseball and basketball all my life, but when I got to high school, I quit baseball. I didn’t know if basketball was for me anymore, but I couldn’t do that to my grandfather twice. I couldn’t break his heart like that.”
Tonks wasn’t just a fan of sports—he was constantly focused on finding the most effective strategies for teams to succeed. This is one of the reasons why Tonks made such a great baseball coach.
“He was always interested in the strategy of the game. When we won in 1980, our team was not the best team—he was the best coach,” Jay Tonks said. “Ronnie Sparaco and I ended up coaching our sons at Hubbard Field, too. Ronnie lost his dad before I did, and his dad didn’t even get to see his grandkids play. I feel lucky that my dad did. Ronnie and I coached on the same field our fathers coached us on. That’s pretty special.”
Dick Tonks had a special connection with the Sparaco family that lasted even 40 years after he had coached the Braves. Ron Sparaco has several children who played sports for Valley, but Tonks had a unique relationship with former Warriors’ pitcher Colin Sparaco, whom Tonks nicknamed Jimmy.
“He supported me since I was in Little League and came to just about every single game. You could hear him in the crowd, because he was calling me Jimmy. He just called me Jimmy, and it stuck. People would hear him, and nobody had any idea what he was talking about,” Sparaco said. “He went to every game—baseball, basketball, even rowing. If it was Valley, he was there. We would go to a lot of events together. Brian Tonks has been my best friend growing up. We became very close through that, and he’s been a huge supporter of everything I do.”
Dick Tonks was a true strategist on the baseball diamond and was the same way when it came to basketball. Brian Tonks always took his grandfather’s advice to heart and wound up becoming a solid point guard who knew how to handle the ball for the Warriors on the court.
“My grandfather was always about making the right play. To him, the best players were the smartest players. I always tried to make the right play,” Tonks said. “I wanted to set the tempo, run the offense for the team, and do as much as I can in that sense.”
Valley boys’ basketball Head Coach Kevin Woods got to know Dick Tonks during his playing days and later as a coach. A Valley alum, Woods saw some ups and downs while competing for the Warriors, but took comfort in knowing that Tonks was always in his corner.
“I remember walking in the winning run against Immaculate my senior year in the state quarterfinals. It was crushing. The first person to come up to me after the game was Dick. He said I did a great job, and that I pitched a great game. Fast forward years later and, win or lose, he would say, ‘Great job, Coach.’ He was very positive,” said Woods. “He was a special person. His loss was a devastating blow to the community. I hope we’re able to do something special for him, so that he can be remembered at Valley.”
Even beyond the sporting sphere, Tonks was well-known around the shoreline area through his job as a hardware wholesaler, ultimately finishing his career working for Landon Lumber in Madison. Jay Tonks eventually followed in his father’s footsteps and opened up Essex Hardware, where Tonks became a fixture following his retirement.
“He was a road salesman covering New England, and that’s how I got into the business. I own Essex Hardware. He spent a lot of time at the hardware store. He was sort of the mayor. There was a group of older gentlemen that just liked to spend an afternoon there. He loved to be around people, telling stories jokes and talking about sports,” Jay Tonks said. “He served all the people in this area as a salesman. After he passed, I got calls from people that I didn’t even know. They would come into my store to tell me stories. He touched a lot of people.”
Dick Tonks will always be remembered fondly by everyone in the Valley Regional sports family. His son feels grateful to the many well-wishers who have been positively impacted by the presence that his dad had in their lives.
“I knew that he was well-known around all these schools, but I guess I didn’t know the extent of how many people he knew and touched. I just feel fortunate that we were able to spend the time that we did. He was able to see my kids play, and he was such a big part of our lives,” Jay Tonks said. “That’s the way we got to spend a lot of our time. My kids spent a lot of time with my father, and I spent a lot of time with my father. I don’t have any regrets. He lived life the way he wanted to live it, and he wouldn’t have any regrets, either.”