May 20, 2015
St. Teresa ‘helps’ Rev. William D. Folsey, O.P. ’55 ‘live a dream’
By Joe Carr ’83
Hockey Night in Canada, the Canadian Broadcasting Company’s signature sports program, has captivated and galvanized Canadians since 1931, when it began as a weekly, Toronto-based radio broadcast.
It has also helped draw countless new fans to Canada’s national sport, including retired Providence College theology professor Rev. William D. Folsey, O.P. ’55. Father Folsey remembers becoming hooked on hockey while pursuing a graduate degree at St. Paul’s University in Ottawa in the early 1970s.
“We had a common room with a television, and limited entertainment options,” Father Folsey said during a recent conversation at St. Thomas Aquinas Priory, where he lives in the company of his Dominican brothers. “Hockey Night in Canada was on twice a week, and my interest developed quickly.”
Upon return to PC in the fall of 1975, Father Folsey brought that enthusiasm and energy to the brand-new Schneider Arena, home of the Friars. Over these past 40 years, he has become a PC hockey institution, watching virtually every home game from his familiar perch above the Friar bench. For many years, both at home and occasionally on the road, his companion was his great friend, the late Rev. Gino E. Bondi, O.P. ’50
“There’s nothing like hockey,” Father Folsey said. “And there’s nothing like hockey fans.”
He was right in the middle of 18,000 of those fans on April 11 in Boston, sitting with Rev. John C. Vidmar, O.P., associate professor of history, in TD Garden’s Loge Section 23 as the Friars played Boston University for the NCAA Championship.
With the Friars trailing, 3-2, in the third period, Father Folsey thought of the cloistered nuns at the Carmelite Monastery in Barrington, R.I., where the PC Dominicans provide ministry.
“The sisters have been praying to St. Teresa of Avila, on the occasion of her 500th birthday, for our team’s success,” Father Folsey said. “So I said, ‘Teresa, this is not that significant, but they have worked so hard. It would be a great feat if they could win.’”
The Friars tied the game on a fluke goal, and Father Folsey smiled.
“Oh, Teresa,” he remembers thinking, “that was sneaky.”
The Friars went on to win, 4-3, bringing home the championship that had so long been the goal. No fan could have been happier.
“It’s living a dream,” he said. “How else can you describe it?”
