'He was Mr. Lancer': Worcester State athletics' golf fundraiser honors George Albro

When Worcester State University decided last year to resume holding a golf tournament to benefit the athletic programs after taking a couple of years off during the pandemic, it was renamed the George Albro Memorial Golf Tournament.

Albro had played and coached basketball at Worcester State, was inducted into the college’s athletic hall of fame, served on several committees and was once chairman of the board of trustees.

“He was Mr. Lancer,” said Tom McNamara, Worcester State's vice president for university advancement.

“To me, having the Lancer Tournament named for George was an absolute no-brainer,” McNamara said. “Everybody in athletics agreed.”

“No one bled blue and gold more than George Albro,” Worcester State athletic director Mike Mudd said. “It just made sense to put his name on the tournament because he was so beloved by so many people in our athletic community.”

Albro was also an avid golfer. He played a round at his beloved Bedrock Golf Club in Rutland the day before he died on Nov. 4, 2021, at age 78 of a subdural hematoma (brain bleed).

The July before he died, he recorded his only hole-in-one, using a 7-wood on the par-3 seventh hole at Bedrock.

Enjoyed playing in tournaments for cause

Albro played in several benefit golf tournaments, including the last one to benefit the Worcester State athletic department prior to the pandemic in 2019 when it was called the Lancer Golf Tournament. So rest assured he would have teed off in his own tournament if he could have.

“He would have loved it,” said his daughter, BethAnn Albro-Fisher. “Everyone should play feeling like George would be right there with them. He loved these kinds of tournaments.”

“Oh my God, he would be so excited,” said his wife of 55 years, Lillian. “He was so dedicated to the athletics there.”

For the last 15 years or so years of his life, Albro also played in Worcester State’s foursome in the Lori Lajoie Charity Golf Tournament at Worcester Country Club to benefit the Seven Hills Foundation. He teed off with McNamara, who is a Worcester CC member, Worcester State president Barry Maloney and esteemed alumnus Craig Bovaird.

When McNamara graduated from Worcester State in 1994, Albro was president of the alumni association and he handed McNamara his alumni key. They grew close.

“The interesting part with George is he’s probably the best reader of putts there is around,” McNamara said, “even though he had only the one eye.”

Albro had sight only in his left eye, and his right eye lid was closed. He decided against wearing a glass eye. Nevertheless, he was a star point guard at Leicester High and Worcester State and became a capable golfer.

“He just never even thought about it,” Lillian said. “It was just the way it was.”

Enjoyed the competition

Always a coach, Albro would determine the tee-off order of his Lajoie foursome. He played with rubber tees attached to a string so they would be easier to find. Lillian gave McNamara one of them after he died.

“He was probably a 16 or 17 handicap, but he always came through in the clutch,” McNamara said.

“He was always a competitive athlete,” Albro-Fisher said, “and loved playing sports, and golf was the one that lasted the longest. There was a joy in the competition for him and being active in athletics. It was a place to be with friends and build relationships, which was another thing he loved.”

Albro also played golf in Naples, Florida, where he and Lillian wintered for 11 years, but Lillian finds it too emotional to go back there now without him.

“It was an ‘us’ place,” she said.

Instead, she visits their son, Timothy, in Jacksonville, Florida.

Coincidentally, both the Albro and Lajoie tournaments will be held on Monday, Aug. 7. McNamara is co-chair of the Lajoie committee, so he will play in the Albro tournament at Cyprian Keyes Golf Club in Boylston and attend the Lajoie banquet that night.

The two tournaments weren’t even held in the same month last year. More than 100 golfers played in the initial Albro tournament last September at Blackstone National Golf Club, and the Lajoie was held on Aug. 22 in 2022.

George and Lillian sat next to each other in typing class their junior year at Leicester High and went on to graduate from Worcester State together.

Lillian bought George his first set of golf clubs for his 21st birthday.

When they dined at the Sole Proprietor to celebrate their 55th and final wedding anniversary on July 16, 2021, someone picked up the tab. They never found out who did it. Lillian said their three children, Michael, BethAnn and Timothy, insisted it wasn’t them. The Albros also have six grandchildren.

Albro earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Worcester State, and he set an assist record for the Lancers. He went on to coach basketball at Leicester High and Worcester State and received the Distinguished Alumni Award for Outstanding Service to Worcester State.

He taught English at Leicester High for 37 years and became vice principal, but he never forgot what he learned at Worcester State.

“It gave him his foundation to be a teacher and a coach,” Lillian said, “and he was so dedicated to helping students.”

Three scholarships in his name are awarded to Worcester State students.

As a former English teacher, he admired Robert Frost and enjoyed nature and the beauty of different golf courses.

“He was a contemplative person,” his daughter said, “and being out there on the golf course, of all the sports, it’s beautiful and can be quiet and reflective and individual more than other sports.”

Albro used to attend many Worcester State games, including every men’s and women’s home basketball game, and he texted or emailed coaches words of encouragement.

“He was just so dedicated,” Lillian said, “to understanding coaching and understanding what coaches went through, but he had a philosophy that the sun will come up tomorrow. He didn’t carry it over for days.”

“He was on campus constantly,” Mudd said. “He was at all of our sporting events, he was a guy who would visit me in my office every couple of weeks with a coffee. We’d sit down and talk about things. He was a guy I would lean on sometimes. I’d call and get some feedback and guidance from him.”

Lillian hasn’t forgotten Worcester State after her husband’s death. She still bakes muffins, scones and cookies for the offices of Maloney, McNamara, Mudd and the campus police department.

Family was everything to him

Albro enjoys the Worcester State family, but his own family came first.

“I tell everyone I hit the father jackpot with my Dad,” Albro-Fisher said. “He was a pretty spectacular person.”

“He was very loving,” Lillian said. “He was very, very involved with the grandkids. He always had the best advice.”

Several Worcester State athletic teams held their own golf tournaments, but they were combined into one larger tournament in 2019. How would Albro have felt about a tournament being named after him?

“He would be very humbled,” Lillian said.

“It’s huge honor that the university wants to remember Dad,” Albro-Fisher said, “and remember his commitment to athletics at Worcester State, which was everything to him. His time there both as a student and a coach was really important to him. He was proud of it, he knew it helped him become a better person and he loved giving back to the university. So I’m really glad that they’re honoring him by calling the tournament the George Albro Memorial. It’s wonderful.”

Registration closes on July 24 for the 9 a.m. shotgun start at Cyprian Keyes. To play, visit alumni.worcester.edu/lancergolf2023 or contact Ursula Arello at uarello@worcester.edu or at (508) 929-8786. Cost is $150 per player for greens fee, cart, box lunch, snack bag, and post-round barbecue and awards ceremony.

—Contact Bill Doyle at bcdoyle15@charter.net. Follow him on Twitter@BillDoyle15.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Worcester State athletics' golf fundraiser honors George Albro, 'Mr. Lancer'