Nicholas E. Calvetti, Sr., suffered a heart attack and died unexpectedly in 1981 at the age of 61. Although he could not have imagined what the lives of young people would be like in 2016, Calvetti, Sr., and his adoring wife Pauline (Polly) had a lifelong devotion to area youth activities including sports and the arts.
Their son Nick Calvetti of Amherst is fulfilling his mother’s wishes and is making public this gift to area youth in gratitude to his parents.
When Polly passed away in 2012, it was her wish that her husband’s legacy live on. That dream has been realized with this sponsorship of Calvetti Family Field at Souhegan Stadium, a “Field of Dreams” for athletes and their families for many years to come.
Nick Calvetti (junior) grew up in Milford where he played youth sports and went on to play soccer, basketball and baseball at Milford High School. His father was well-known in Milford baseball circles and coached him and many others in the 1950s and 60s. Both parents encouraged Calvetti in sports and in school. He graduated from then Bentley College, the first Calvetti family member to earn a college degree, and went on to earn a Masters degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Calvetti credits his parents for providing him with opportunities early in life, as well as for founding the company he owns and manages, Amherst Label on Westchester Drive in Milford.
Calvetti’s grown children Angela, her husband Nye Hornor, and her brother Nicholas Kepka Calvetti were all cheered on by faithful fan Polly Calvetti (and all work at Amherst Label). Daughter Angela (Calvetti) Hornor, attended nearby Derryfield High School in Manchester, where she played tennis and soccer and could expect to see her grandmother at her games and matches. Angela has three children with her husband Nye, including Thomas, a freshman member of Souhegan’s current soccer and lacrosse teams. Angela is also a board member of the Amherst Community Foundation.
Nicholas Kepka Calvetti was a 2011 graduate of Souhegan High School and a member of its three-time state champion football team. His grandmother Pauline Calvetti attended his games regularly, usually occupying a seat high in the grandstand near the press box, regardless of weather conditions.
At the time of his death Nick Calvetti Senior lived just two miles down the road from Souhegan High School, in a home on Woodbine Lane where he and Pauline moved after raising their son in Milford. Polly (LaMarche) grew up in Wilton while her future husband grew up in Milford. They met during the time Nick was a talented area baseball player, recruited by baseball legend Connie Mack. After a brief time as a shortstop in the Philadelphia Athletics farm system, Calvetti abandoned professional baseball to return to his large Italian family and his beloved Pauline and settle down in Milford. He made a living running an egg delivery business with his brother-in-law and was active in baseball as a coach of youth teams, including his son Nick’s little league and Babe Ruth teams. Calvetti was well-known in the area as the timer at Milford High School basketball games. He and Polly frequented tennis courts in Milford where they liked to play doubles.
With only an eighth grade education, Calvetti was never-the-less an excellent business person. When egg delivery slowed in the early 1980s, he took a job in label sales where according to his son he was “unbelievably successful.” So much so that at the age of 59 Calvetti started his own label company, Amherst Label, with help from his wife and later his son Nick, then a CPA in Portland, ME. Thirty-eight years later, managed by the younger Nick Calvetti, Amherst Label continues to be a respected employer in the region, named 2014 Business of the Year by the Souhegan Valley Chamber of Commerce. Angela and Nye Hornor as well as Nicholas Kepka Calvetti are all members of the Amherst Label team, something Nick and Polly Calvetti would have loved. Their three great grand children frequent the plant, helping with mailings and special projects.
Between Calvetti Family Field and Amherst Label company, the legacy of Nicholas Edward Calvetti and his wife Pauline lives on.
June 13, 2016
Nicholas E. Calvetti and family announced their role in the proposed turf field for Souhegan High School Stadium. Originally extending an anonymous offer to school officials in the spring of 2015, Nick Calvetti made his commitment public as work began on the turf installation on June 13.
Calvetti says, “I’m following through on my mother’s wishes to honor my father, supporting this project in memory of my parents, acknowledging everything they did not only for me and my children and grandchildren but for other young people in the region too. They founded Amherst Label and I’m very grateful to them for that too.”
Pictured: Calvetti family, school and community officials mark the ground-breaking.
