There are not many things in sports that are definite. The ball does not always bounce the right way, the calls are not always in your favor, and the best team does not always win. However, at Germantown Academy, there has been a constant, reliable figure in an important game-day role for many years. Bill Shaughnessy has been at the scorer’s table, manning the scoreboard since the 1980’s. He also helps run the clock for boys lacrosse and has even dipped his toe into coaching.

Shaughnessy, whose wife is Dr. Susanne Johnston 1760, got his start at the table thanks to Jim Fenerty 1760. At the time, GA did not have enough coaches for all the middle school teams, so Shaughnessy led the sixth-grade baseball, basketball, and football teams. He also got involved with the eighth-grade baseball team one season. When the previous scorekeeper retired from their post, Fenerty needed some help on gamedays. 

“Through coaching those teams, I got to know Jim Fenerty and he asked my wife if I’d be interested in doing it,” Shaughnessy said. “I played basketball until I was like, 63, it was a no-brainer, and I’ve been doing it ever since.”

Shaughnessy said he keeps coming back, not only because he is retired and likes having things to do, but because he loves being around basketball. He said that since he cannot play anymore, this is the least he could do to stay around the game. However, that does not mean that the job is easy.

“I remember one time, there were five-tenths of a second left in the game and GA had the ball,” Shaughnessy said. “The clock doesn’t start until someone touches the ball, so GA inbounds the ball, a player touches it, I start the clock, and the buzzer goes off. Well, the visiting coach said I turned it on too fast, and Jim said I took too long to turn it on. I figured it must’ve been right if they both were upset.”

While tension and pressure can be high in the game that is unfolding, Shaughnessy remains level-headed. He said he does not hear any of the outside noise when he is running the scoreboard because he is too focused on the game at hand. It is that precise, calm, and dependable work that led former long-time girls basketball head coach Sherri Retif to call Shaughnessy her favorite scorekeeper and a dedicated fixture in the GA community. Head boys basketball coach Matt Dolan shared that Shaughnessy would meet with equipment manager Lance Stewart ’09 and himself prior to the season to ensure that things are running smoothly, while Stewart said he is a pleasure to work with.