Boston University

Dick Fecteau ('51) was not only a former teammate of BU Hall of Famer Harry Agganis ('54) but also a fellow native of Lynn, Massachusetts. He contributed to the varsity football team for three years as an offensive lineman until his graduation in 1951. His accomplishments and contributions though go beyond the gridiron, as he positively impacted hundreds of Terrier student-athletes as an assistant director of athletics from 1976-1989. He has also been an inspiration to many Americans after he was a prisoner of war in China for 19 years from Nov. 29, 1952 – Dec. 13, 1971 while working for the CIA.
 
Trying to rescue an informant during the Korean War, Fecteau's plane was shot down in China. He was later given the Distinguished Intelligence Cross, the CIA's highest honor for value, in 2013 for confessing his Chinese captors plenty of names and physical descriptions that belonged not to fellow colleagues but to his onetime football teammates at BU.

Following 25 years of government service, he joined the athletic department and served as a mentor for BU students while helping raise funds from 1976-1989. He was later honored in 1990 with the Roger Moose Washburn Award, which goes to an alumnus for continuous unselfish support of the athletic program and the Hall of Fame. During the 1980s before his retirement, he volunteered his time and administrative ability to help keep the Hall of Fame program afloat.