REMEMBERING: Hounds Linebacker Danny Veo '96

June 17, 2006

By Rick Smith

MetroWest Daily News Staff

Hudson High graduate Dan Veo realizes he would be hard-pressed to improve upon what happened during his senior year of football with the Hawks.

In the fall of 1991, Veo and his Hudson teammates closed out their high school careers on a definite upswing. They won a traditional game they'll probably remember the rest of their lives, and then went on to put the icing on their cake with a Super Bowl victory in the Central Massachusetts Division 2 game.

"Beating Bartlett in the Super Bowl (35-14) was special, not to mention beating Marlborough (47-19) on Thanksgiving that year," said Veo, a pile-moving fullback and hard-hitting linebacker for the Hawks.

Veo, 32, was a three-sport athlete at Hudson High. He was also a defenseman on the hockey team and an outfielder/shortstop on the baseball team.

"We went to the state semifinals my junior year in hockey," said Veo. "We lost to St. Joseph's of Pittsfield."

Veo vividly -- and fondly -- remembers Coach Brian Davis taking over the baseball program his senior year.

"Coach Davis came in my senior year," Veo said. "It was just unbelievable having that experienced a coach. It was definitely a wake-up call for me, for all of us."

Bentley College was where Veo started his college days. He cast his fate with one sport at the collegiate level: football.

After two years of college life and football at Bentley, Veo transferred to Assumption College, just up the road in Worcester and within the same conference as the Falcons.

"The thing I remember the most about playing at Assumption was the group of guys I played with," said Veo, who played linebacker for the last Greyhound team to have a winning record (6-4 in 1995). "I remember the dedication it took to go to college and play football at that level. You had to work hard in football and still do all the things that are expected of a college student. But the camaraderie was huge. You'll always remember the guys you played with."

Veo was graduated from Assumption with an Accounting degree in 1996.

"Shortly after graduation from college, I moved to California," he said. "I worked as an accountant out there for two years."

Veo moved back to the area and eventually began working for EMC in 2000 at the company's Franklin facility as a purchaser. He has since transferred to an EMC plant in Southborough where he is a program manager.

Dan and Karen Veo have been married for five years. They are the parents of a son, Jack, born this past February.

Veo's athletic pursuits now are pretty much limited to playing in a men's softball league in Ashland. He previously played in a similar league in his former hometown of Hudson.

But the memories he compiled while competing in high school and college will undoubtedly last a lifetime.

"I'm really happy for all the years I got to play sports at Hudson High School and in college," said Veo. "It really was the best of times. You worked really hard, but you also get a lot out of it. It has a lot to do with the person you become."