Town mourns loss of former Bulldog legend
By Jay TurnerThe Canton community lost a beloved friend and loyal supporter on Monday with the sudden passing of Billy Cravens at the age of 56.
A nearly lifelong resident of the town, Cravens made a name for himself first as a standout athlete — starring on the CHS football and baseball teams in the mid 1970s — and later as a popular town employee and all-around good guy who had friends in every corner of Canton.
As longtime friend Tommy Pineo recently put it, “To know Billy was to love Billy. He made me a better person to be his friend.”
A fixture at community events and an ardent supporter of local athletics just like his father, Cravens was perhaps best known for his role as a Recreation Department maintenance worker — a position he held for nearly 25 years.
Dennis Aldrich, a maintenance supervisor who worked alongside Cravens for more than two decades, described him as a “great friend” and someone who was “all about the kids.”
“If a kid said he needed a ball, Billy would drop by with just a milk crate of balls,” said Aldrich. “He was always so full of enthusiasm, just a very thoughtful guy, always giving.”
Last spring, Cravens was forced to take a leave from his job after being blindsided with a diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s disease — an incurable, degenerative illness that causes muscle weakness and a host of other debilitating symptoms. The disease progresses rapidly and the prognosis in most cases is poor; still, Cravens remained outwardly strong while managing to hold onto his trademark sense of humor, even joking at one point that if he was going to go out, at least he’d get to go out like Gehrig, a hall of famer.
“He was upbeat,” said close friend Dennis Eary. “For someone that knew that there was no good outcome, it just amazed me the kind of attitude that he had.”
Eary said that Cravens put on a brave face in part because he wanted to be strong for his wife, Rose, who was the love of his life.
“The love between those two was just incredible,” he said. “We knew that the only thing that Billy cared about was Rose and that people would take care of her and she wouldn’t be alone.”
To help put his mind at ease, a group of friends and family members organized a big fundraising party at the Canton Town Club in January, and hundreds turned out to show their support for Billy and Rose.
“We wanted to do something to let him know how much he was appreciated, and I think we were very successful,” said Eary. “I also think it made everybody feel better because they got to see Billy happy.”
A similar outpouring was witnessed just last month when hundreds gathered at the Luce Elementary School to dedicate a field in Cravens’ honor — a fitting tribute for a man who both attended the school and spent many years maintaining the fields.
Aldrich noted that Cravens had a “great, great time” at the dedication. “If nothing else,” he said, “Billy leaves here knowing just how much this town loved him.”
Aldrich said the dedication was also an ideal gesture for Cravens because he was such a big sports fan, not to mention a former Bulldog legend.
“He was a punishing running back — one of the best to ever come out of Canton High School,” recalled friend and former teammate John Connolly.
Now a Canton selectman, Connolly said he used to look up in awe at Cravens, partly because he was such a great football player, but also because he “was a good guy and treated everyone with respect.”
Connolly said the two stayed friends over the years and that Cravens “would always be there to help you out no matter what.”
“You can’t replace him,” he said. “Whether it was at a football game or in life, Billy was a guy that you wanted on your side.”
“He always had a smile or a hug for you,” added Kim White, another friend of Billy’s. “He would give the shirt off his back to help anyone. He is going to be missed by so many people, young and old.”
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