Bacon posts up for another Central Mass. hoop tourney.

• Author: Gearan, Jay
• Position: Weeklies

Byline: Jay Gearan

WORCESTER -- Another Central Massachusetts high school basketball tournament has come and gone under the capable direction of Roger Bacon.

Working with the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association, Bacon has been the Central Mass. tournament director for 36 years. From the bracket seedings after the regular season to the final games that crown a championship team at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in four divisions of boys and girls basketball, Bacon, with his welcoming, friendly and well-organized style, makes it all run smoothly for players, coaches, parents and fans.

A former teacher and coach, Bacon was also the Oxford High School principal for 13 years before his retirement in 1994. At Oxford High, players compete in the Roger D. Bacon Gymnasium. He will celebrate his 80th birthday on March 23.

An Oxford High graduate and U.S. Navy veteran, Bacon has been married for 61 years to his wife, Myrtle. They have four daughters, eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

During the recent tournament finals at WPI, Bacon agreed to a sporting conversation:

How do you prepare for the tournament?

We put the tournament together during the winter. But it always comes down to a seeding meeting on a Friday and then we start games on a Monday, which begins a two-week period of games. We make all our semifinal and final games at the college level, most of them here at WPI and also at Clark University.

What's so special about WPI's Harrington Gymnasium?

Teams come in and they are just in awe of the place. It has a certain class to it, with unique seating. All the kids throughout the season talk about getting to WPI. The people here having always treated us wonderfully over the years. We've had a real nice relationship with WPI.

How do you put together such an excellent staff, making the tournament run so well in terms of crowd control and logistics?

We hire a lot of good people and that's the key, teachers and administrators, people who have worked in schools. Most of them have been with me for a number of years, and they...