The Town of Warren’s Recreation Director since 1976, Al Sweet began his coaching career at Warren High School two years earlier.  After leading the school’s junior varsity boys basketball five for two seasons, he then coached the varsity team for the next two years. 

And during that same time period, he also served as the high school’s boys tennis coach in its inaugural season of 1975.

Moving on to the Portsmouth public school system, Al has coached boys and/or girls basketball, at one grade level or another, since 1979.  After his Portsmouth High School boys varsity team captured the 1985 Class C Co-Championship, he received the Rhode Island Interscholastic League Sportsmanship Award as voted by the league’s officials and was named the Fall River Herald-News Coach of the Year.

His Portsmouth middle school boys teams won the Middle School State titles in both 1992 and 1993 and the Middle School East Bay Championship in 2008.

Al founded the Warren Summer Soccer League in 1990 and coached in it for two seasons.  During the winters he coached Warren School Indoor Soccer League squads from 1989 to 1997, with two of his teams capturing divisional titles.

During his career he has been a game official in Little League Baseball, basketball youth leagues, and CYO basketball and has served as a member of the East Bay Umpires Association since 2000.

Al did carve out time to compete as well as coach. 

Among his accomplishments were: a member of the Little League Baseball All Stars; a member of six title-winning Warren Softball League squads; the Warren Softball League batting champion (.615) in 1977; a member of four championship Warren Basketball League fives;

and a member of the 1991 DaPonte’s team that captured both the regular season and playoff titles of the Bristol Recreation League.

Pictures from Hall of Fame archives