Before he bought the Celtics, Bill Chisholm was a soccer star at Brooks, Dartmouth
Post by frankdellapa@gmail.com
By Frank Dell’Apa May 13, 2025 /NEW ENGLAND SOCCER JOURNAL
Bill Chisholm taking over Boston Celtics from Wyc Grousbeck (left). (Barry Chin/Getty Images)
When new Boston Celtics owner Bill Chisholm was leading the Brooks School soccer team as a captain in the 1980s, coach Dusty Richard noted his talents transcended the playing field.
“I figured he would do great things,” Richard said in a recent interview. “Nothing he achieved surprised me. But I must admit, I did not know he was in a position to pay $6.1-billion (the Celtics’ franchise purchase price).”
Chisholm, 56, was named ISL player of the year as Brooks won the 1986 New England Prep School title. Chisholm went on to compete for Dartmouth, winning the 1990 Ivy League championship and reaching the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament under the coaching of Bobby Clark.
Brooks went unbeaten in ’86, earning top seed after recording 12 shutouts and surrendering three goals in 15 games. In the tournament, Brooks eliminated Loomis Chaffee (2-1) in the quarterfinals and Roxbury Latin (0-0, penalty kicks) in the semifinals, then edged Suffield (2-1) as Chisholm scored and had an assist in the final.
Chisholm totaled 16 goals as Brooks finished with a 14W-0L-4T record.
“It snowed the night before and they had cleared the field, but it was icy,” Richard recalled of the final, contested at Wilbraham & Monson. “But he just never missed a beat. Every ball that came to him was off his foot within a second or two, one-touch passes, always going to the outside. Created lots of chances, constantly put them under pressure. I thought they would really give us a game, and it was a hard 90 minutes. But it was one of those games where your good kids were great.”
Richard believed the No. 1 seed designation would mean home-field advantage for Brooks. But the Bishops ended up contesting the semifinal against Roxbury Latin at Noble & Greenough on a Saturday and the final in Wilbraham the next day.
“That New England tournament is Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday — to win it is not easy,” said Richard, who retired after Brooks captured the 2017 NEPSAC Class B championship and is now residing in South Carolina.
Richard said Chisholm entered Brooks as a small ninth grader, growing several inches to a “thin” 6-foot-1. In 1984, Chisholm’s sophomore season, Brooks reached the title match, a 4-2 defeat to Northfield Mount Hermon in Amherst. Robert Bonnie, who went on to captain Harvard’s varsity and serve as an Undersecretary of Agriculture in the Obama and Biden administrations, captained the team.
“When he was younger, he played up front,” Richard said of Chisholm. “Junior year, he was controlling everything. He was perfect size for a soccer player — not a big, stocky kid. He had long strides, he’d get by people by shoving the ball ahead and taking those long strides. Wonderful field presence, found space. It was like he had eyes all around his head. It was just in him. I always thought he really understood the game — not just understanding, but he sees things other kids aren’t seeing. I’m sure he has that as a businessman, so the Celtics are in good hands.”
Brooks’ success during Chisholm’s time took prep schools by surprise, Richard said.
“We were the first ISL team to win the Stewart Trophy, and everyone was upset in Western Mass,” Richard said. “They were quite provincial. They sort of let us into the tournament in 1982, never thinking we would win it.”
Chisholm also participated in basketball and lacrosse at Brooks, but Richard said he “was a clear D1 prospect in soccer from late-sophomore season and junior year on. He would have been fine in the ACC but the Ivy League was perfect for him. He loved playing soccer but his life never revolved around soccer.”
Chisholm grew up in nearby Georgetown, son of William F., employed by the MDC in Boston, and Judy Chisholm, who happened to be an administrative assistant at Brooks. Younger brother Tim later played on the Brooks soccer team and competed for Trinity.
“I knew all about him, talking to his mom,” Richard said of Bill Chisholm. “I’d seen him at a youth soccer game, and I remember telling Judy this kid looks really good, he was everything she said he was. The thing about Billy that was interesting is he was so quiet, but he got elected to wear the armband. We had three great juniors (Chisholm, Rob Kaulback, Fred Kratz) and at the end of their junior year, it was almost unanimous — all the seniors voted for him. He didn’t say much but when he talked every kid snapped to attention. Even when he was a ninth-grader, he didn’t just jabber, it was always something of substance, and you’d better listen. I’d say my piece, he’d say his piece — like, ‘Joey, you have to do better’ — and the kids admired him. Kids took to him.
“He didn’t jabber or sugar-coat it. He was different. You could see his mind was always working, analyzing stuff. Very cerebral player. At a time when the game wasn’t as advanced as it is now, he could make decisions quickly. It’s why Billy was such a good captain — he could see what was going on, he didn’t need the coach to tell him what to do. I vaguely remember teaching him math — but he was always thoughtful. When a kid comes from where he came from, they didn’t have a lot of money, to amass that kind fortune and build that kind of company — him taking on the world, being in financial analysis, doesn’t surprise me. Brooks and Georgetown were not big enough for him.”
Then, it was on to Dartmouth for Chisholm.
“Just a really good, hard-working player,” Clark said of Chisholm. “These guys help make good teams. They find a role and play it to the full. Came to practice, came to play every day — that was Billy Chisholm.”
Chisholm began on the Dartmouth junior varsity, and made the varsity as a junior.
“He was a striker but we played him even as a center back,” Clark recalled. “He could fill in if needed in central defense. He was a tough guy up front, the hard bits of the game. John Davi and Billy would start the game, they took the knocks for the team. And when it opened up, we’d bring on Richie Graham and Danny Sankar. He played that role to the full.”
Clark noted Chisholm sustained a knee ligament injury early in the contest as Dartmouth lost, 1-0, to Rutgers in the NCAAs in Piscataway, N.J. Sankar and Graham, now a Philadelphia Union investor, produced threats, but Dartmouth could not break through, and surrendered the Rutgers goal as keeper Gregg Lemkau collided with a defender. Lemkau is now Chief Executive Officer of BDT & MSD Partners, which acted as advisers on the Celtics’ yet-to-be-finalized deal with Chisholm’s Symphony Technology Group.
“Billy did all the speed work and Davi the hard work to start the game,” said Clark, 79, a former Scotland national team goalkeeper, now residing in Lossiemouth, Moray Firth. “Billy was one of the hardest-working (players). I went down to watch him at Brooks School, and I really enjoyed having him, as well as all these boys I coached. I keep in touch with so many former players, I’m following all the teams they are coaching.”
Those players include Clark’s son, Jamie, who had a brief MLS career and is coaching the University of Washington. While at Dartmouth, Chisholm also worked with the Grassroot Soccer organization, joining brothers Jamie and Tommy Clark, along with actor Andrew Shue (who played for the Los Angeles Galaxy).
“Dartmouth alumni were buzzing when he bought the Celtics,” said Clark, Dartmouth coach from 1985-93, before going on to New Zealand, Stanford and Notre Dame. “That was a special time for the Celtics, when they had Chief (Robert Parish), Larry Bird, Danny Ainge. I wasn’t aware Billy was so involved in the Celtics, but he is obviously a smart lad. I knew he would be a success somewhere.”
Chisholm returned to Brooks for a Hall of Fame induction of the 1986 team in 2012, and an alumni game in 2015, along with his son, Will.
“I’m playing, and watching this kid who looks just like Billy when he was a freshman, or so,” Richard recalled of the alumni contest. “I told Billy, you’ve got to give him to us, but he said, ‘his mother ain’t letting him leave (Southern California).’ But it turned out, his son did go on to Dartmouth, as well.”