If you lived in either Warren or Bristol during the 1960s and 1970s and softball was your game, there’s a good chance you remember the name of Roger Araujo. A man of immense athletic ability, Roger, to all who knew him, was regarded as the undisputed “King of Softball” around these parts.

Just 27 years of age and in the prime of his career, Roger’s life ended on Memorial Day, 1975, when he was killed in a horrific motorcycle crash on Metacom Avenue in Bristol. The mere thought of a young man meeting such a tragic death has a tendency to make you stop for a minute and realize that life shouldn’t be taken for granted.

Roger loved playing in his two favorite towns, Warren and Bristol, and he had many friends in both communities. No matter who you talked to, the response was always the same: “He was one terrific athlete.”
Roger also left behind a five-year-old daughter, Jennifer (who would later become a star softball player in her own right), and his older brother, Ronald, another gifted Warren athlete, who passed away three years ago at the age of 84.

The old Warren versus Bristol rivalry was always a hot topic of conversation, going all the way back to the turn of the 20th century. And Roger Araujo loved every minute of being a part of it.

A member of the Warren Athletic Hall of Fame (Athlete, Class of 2013, posthumously), Roger was one of Warren’s greatest slow-pitch softball players. He starred on the Golden Lounge, Moe’s Ramble Inn, Hellew’s, and Old Ironsides championship teams of the 1960s and 1970s. He was named to the Warren Men’s Softball League All Stars on more than one occasion.

Warren Athletic Hall of Fame past committee member and sports historian Jack Flynn said Roger was a superb athlete.
“But, he was also a very nice person,” said Mr. Flynn. “When I was coaching Little League, Roger was already a great player back then. I think he batted .500 in Little League. He was certainly one of the best players.”

One of Roger’s best friends was Lester “Butch” Lombardi, Jr., who quite frankly, formed a wonderful player-friend relationship.
“I met Roger when I was 9 years old, Roger was 8,” said Butch. “The year was 1956 and we were both in our first year of Little League Baseball, playing for the Braves in the farm system. We became friends that year, a friendship that would last until that tragic Memorial Day weekend in 1975. The following year we moved up to the majors as members of the Braves-a team that would win its third consecutive Little League title in 1957. Here we met Jim McMahon and Mert Caton. Little did the four of us know that some 30 years in the future, the four of us would be individually inducted into the Warren Athletic Hall of Fame. We played baseball in the Fireman’s League (Babe Ruth). In 1967, Pat Abbruzzi started the Warren Men’s Softball League. Initially I played for Ferrazano’s. Jim McMahon kept recruiting me to join Hellew’s Café (which would change sponsors and become Old Ironsides in 1973). I finally gave in and joined the team. Part of the catalyst for that decision was I would be playing with Roger again.”

Butch continued, “Roger’s power at the plate was legendary and he hit some shots that would make opponents shake their heads. He hit a shot at Burr’s Hill Park, into the wind, that reached the backstop on the hard ball diamond. If you reversed it, it would have gone from home plate on the hardball diamond deep into the tennis courts- a hit that would have been considered a blast with a hard ball. One of Roger’s most endearing qualities was his ability to keep things on the light side. Even if you were on the opposing team and tried to get the best of him or get under his skin, you simply couldn’t do it. He’d just laugh it off. If you were on the opposing team and he singled you out, instead of getting upset it was more like, ‘Hey, Roger’s talking about me.’ Roger was the ultimate teammate; the kind of guy you built a team around. He was extremely talented, and any team he played on was a winner. He made you a better player just by his presence. It’s been 50 years now since that horrible weekend. We are all old men now. I think of Roger often and his name comes up in conversations as we remember his remarkable talent. He’ll be forever be 27, big and strong and full of life. If you believe in the hereafter, I’m sure that one day I’ll arrive there and Roger will greet me by handing me a bat with ‘You hit, I hit, Butchie.’”

As much success as Roger had in his hometown, Roger also flexed his athletic muscle when he performed in Bristol…beginning as a member of the Bristol County Touch Football League, but his real love was always softball. In 1973, he joined the Bristol Softball League, and immediately became one of the circuit’s true superstars.

As a member of Form’s Tap, he was one of the premier home run and RBI producers and also batted a hefty 435 over the course of the 1974 season. And, he was a top vote-getter in the “Super Series” playoffs.
During that fateful 1975 campaign, Roger, now playing for the newly renamed Mister T’s team, got off to a sensational star, but that all changed on that fateful Memorial Day when his world suddenly stopped.

Then Bristol Recreation Softball League Commissioner Anthony Agatiello Jr. said, “Out of respect to Roger, league games for the week have been cancelled. Roger was an excellent ballplayer and good friend to many persons in the league. His absence will be felt for a long, long time.”

Also that season, the MVP award, donated by Almeida’s Construction, was named the “Roger Araujo Memorial Trophy.”

Bristol’s John “Kool Kat” Amaral knew Roger Araujo about as good as anyone and that included as a CEDAR program carpenter.
“He was just a great all-around guy,” he said. “No matter what he did, he was always a gentleman. He looked like a movie star and a biker, but was very humble. Boy, could he drive the ball.”

Mert Caton, one of the greatest baseball players in Warren High School history and one of Roger’s dearest friends, said Roger was good at everything he did.

“He was a little older than me, but he was such a great athlete,” he noted. “He is dearly missed.”

Jim McMahon said Roger had an arm like a gun, “and he was such a great person.”
“We played on the same team together for many years,” said Mr. McMahon. “Roger was in a class by himself.”

Now, 50 years later, if you ever get into a discussion in Warren or Bristol about who was the greatest softball player to ever come out of either town, you better believe Roger Araujo’s name will be right at the top of the list.