WORCESTER, Mass. - Fr. Tom Henehan was a standout offensive lineman and linebacker for the Holy Cross Football team from 1956 to 1959. He was also captain of the track team and a school and New England record holder in the shot put. 

In 1960, the spring of his senior year at Holy Cross, Fr. Henehan received a telegram from legendary NFL head coach Vince Lombardi asking him if he wanted to play for the Green Bay Packers, but Fr. Henehan, of course, heard a different calling and became a priest. 

Fr. Henehan was a Maryknoll missionary. He spent 45 years working in Chile, Guatemala and Bolivia with the poor and oppressed.  Fr. Henehan lived in the barrios and believed it was his mission and duty to give the people hope. It was not easy and came with a price.  While Chile was under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, government forces raided Fr. Henehan's house in the barrio four times and arrested him once. 

But as he had done for years as on offensive lineman at Holy Cross, playing alongside his good friend and Crusader Hall of Famer Vince Promuto, Fr. Henehan didn't back down or waiver in his support for the people of Chile. 

Fr. Henehan had a tremendous athletic career at Holy Cross, but had an even greater impact on people of Chile, Guatemala, and Bolivia. The world was his parish.

Kevin Shea pays tribute to a great Crusader who truly embodied "men and women for others."