Gene Mack Gymnasium

The Gene Mack Gymnasium is located on the lower level of the Chevalier Theatre complex. It is the home of the bustling Medford Recreation Department, which offers a wide variety of programs for all ages, as well as the Medford Youth Center, an afterschool and daylong summer program for children ages 8 to 13 operated for the city by the Mystic Valley YMCA. Eugene McGillicuddy, best known as Gene Mack, was a lifelong resident of Medford who gained national prominence as a sports cartoonist during a 35-year career at the Boston Globe. His series of 14 National League baseball parks hangs in the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., and is considered a baseball treasure. Although
Mack worked in the sports world of legendary athletes such as Babe Ruth and Ted Williams, the young athletes in Medford and the achievements of Medford High School teams were closest to his heart. In 1953, five months after his death, the gym at the old nhigh school at 30 Forest St. was named in his memory.