Bettencourt: For the Love of the Game

One afternoon back in 1999, Ted Bettencourt hit the driveway to take on his little brother Kevin in a heated game of one-on-one. Basketball was, and still is, very big in the Bettencourt home.

At 26, 10 years his senior and not long off an impressive college record, the advantage was all in Ted's favor...but he only beat his brother by one point that day.

It was the last time he and Kevin went at each other in the family driveway; Ted knew his brother was improving and he wanted to end their basketball series with a “W.”

“We’re an athletic family -- very competitive; I’m very proud of Ted and my sisters,” Kevin Bettencourt said in a recent interview.

These days, after standout high school and college hoops careers of his own and some teaching and coaching, the younger Bettencourt, 29, sits on the bench at Bentley College where he is the assistant men's basketball coach. Brother Ted, 39, sits in the corner office at , elected the city's 14th mayor last November.

“Athletics have been a big part of my life and I’m very lucky to still be able to be around a game I love and teach it to players on the college level,” Kevin said.

When he was shooting hoops from his guard position at , Kevin scored 1,810 points for the Tanners, passing Ted who scored 1,428.

Kevin played basketball at Bucknell University after high school, and had a great college hoops career. He taught physical education and was an assistant basketball coach at Peabody High for a year, before a brief stop at Salem State University, then went to Bentley where he joined head coach Jay Lawson on the Falcons bench five years ago.

Kevin graduated from PVMHS in 2002 and will soon be eligible to be voted into the school’s athletic Hall of Fame. If Kevin gets the call, he’ll join Ted and sister Julie in the Hall.

Bettencourt has another sister, Karin, who attended Bishop Fenwick.

“I don’t know what was up with that,” he quipped.

is also Kevin's brother-in-law (married to sister Julie). Kevin added that the family's affinity for sports doesn't end with basketball -- "baseball is big too."

And in fact, Kevin’s cousin Mark Bettencourt is the baseball coach at PVMHS. He's also a former Peabody police officer (he transferred over to Lynnfield in recent years), and there's a whole other side to the family connections there, but back to baseball.

“Baseball was very big growing up. I love baseball, I played freshman and sophomore years, but gave it up to concentrate on basketball,” Kevin said.

“One of the big highlights of my basketball career at Peabody was winning the GBL (Greater Boston League) title my senior year,” he said. “We hadn’t won it in over ten years and it was a great way to finish up at Peabody.”

“Teddy was the captain the last time they won. We went 20-3 my senior year, but we lost in the North Final; we just missed going to the Fleet Center,” Kevin said.

“I loved growing up in Peabody and I loved playing basketball for Peabody,” he said. “I liked to work hard and I try to share that with the kids I coach, stressing the importance of working hard.”

Kevin was the Tanners captain for three seasons and was the team MVP as well as the MVP of the Greater Boston League after his senior season.

“It’s nice that Peabody’s joined the Northeastern Conference in sports now, but I loved those rivalries we had in the GBL when I was in school -- Cambridge, Everett, great games, great memories,” he said. “I was very blessed to get to play basketball for Peabody, and I get such joy from being able to be around basketball still.”

While at Bucknell, Kevin was the 2003 Rookie of the Year in the Patriot League, served as team captain and was named to the All-Star team in the league. He was also one of the top three-point shooters ever to play for the Bison, and won the Malcolm Musser Leadership Award in the 2004-2005 season.

He also left the Bison as the fourth all-time scorer with 1,577 points and was chosen as the NCAA Chevrolet Player of the Year in tournament wins over both Kansas in 2005 and Arkansas in 2006.

As for his siblings, before conquering , Ted played ball at Holy Cross and had an NCAA tournament appearance of his own, Karin ran track at Holy Cross and Julie played basketball for Regis College.