North Reading welcomes home Infantry Marine Ponte

Published June 25, 2020

By DAN PAWLOWSKI

NORTH READING — A full story about Nicholas Ponte? It’s almost impossible. He’s too humble at his core.

It’s precisely why he was equal parts uncomfortable and grateful during a long June 6 car parade that went past his house in North Reading to welcome him home from a year-long deployment to the Pacific with the United States Marine Corps.

“When I was deployed, my friends and I would joke about how mad we would be if anyone tried to give us a parade,” said Ponte. “So, of course that’s exactly what happens but it was a very funny and humbling surprise to see that many come in support.”

Ponte was surprised that parade happened. Many who know well the 2016 graduate of North Reading High School were more amazed it ever ended.

Ponte, who spent three years at Merrimack College, will resume classes this fall and get back on the lacrosse field in the spring. The last time the Warrior goalie was wearing gold was on May 26, 2019 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. Ponte had 12 saves to help Merrimack earn their second consecutive Div. 2 National Championship. Four days later, he was deployed to the Pacific with the 1st battalion 25th Marines Scout Sniper Platoon.

“The majority of our missions are reconnaissance, precision fires and controlling armed attacks,” said Ponte, who also served as a marksmanship coach and mentored Marines on the fundamentals of shooting.

For his dedication, hard work and leadership, Ponte earned a meritorious mast for graduating as the class high shooter at the marksmanship coaches course, received a letter of appreciation from the Japanese military for serving as an ambassador to their sniper platoon while providing them with tactical training and earned a meritorious promotion to Corporal.

“We are very proud of Nick for his dedication to serving our country,” said Merrimack men’s lacrosse head coach Mike Morgan. “He is a very good goalie and a leader, who we are excited to welcome back.”

Ponte is quick to shout out his family, friends, teammates and coaches as well as fellow Marines he served with, especially Staff Sergeant Jacob Butkus, the Chief Scout of Ponte’s Scout Sniper Platoon.

“He taught me everything I need to know about leadership and what it takes to be a humble, well-rounded sniper. He has shown me how to thrive in chaos and in situations where the pressure is on, he remains calm and completes the task at hand. He is the epitome of what a Marine should be.”

College athletics and military service should never be compared. One is a game after all.

But Ponte noticed a similar environment on Sergeant Butkus’s range and coach Morgan’s field at least in terms of competing that helped him transition from a goalie stick to a sniper rifle. The same traits of work ethic and leadership that allowed him to excel on and off the field at NRHS and Merrimack provided him an opportunity to succeed as a Marine.

Now back with the Warriors, Ponte will keep building on those traits to work on accomplishing more team goals for a squad now competing at the Div. 1 level.

“Coach Morgan creates an extremely competitive environment for the players and winning there is the standard,” said Ponte. “My goals for Merrimack lacrosse don’t change too much now that we’re Division 1. Winning is still the standard and I look forward to being the best leader I can be for this team.”

Among those beeping their car horn past the Ponte house was NRHS teacher and coach Chuck Campobasso. “Campo” had Ponte as a student and an athlete on Park Street.

“I’m fortunate to coach some amazing young men, but few have been anything like Nick,” said Campobasso. “He’s an amazing player, a true leader, and an amazing person. I was also lucky to have Nick in my American Legal class, and that same effort and tenacity was evident there as well.”

“Coach ‘Campo’ was certainly someone who helped shape my moral compass,” said Ponte. “As a teacher and a coach he really helped shape me into becoming a student athlete on the field and in the classroom.”

Ponte’s is a story “Campo” shares with many of his student athletes, especially those who want to focus on one sport.

“When I think of Nick, I obviously think of his ability at lacrosse and his tremendous success in high school and winning National Championships in college but my favorite thing about Nick was his decision to play football,” said Campobasso who is also an assistant for the football team.

Ponte had already committed to play lacrosse at Merrimack but still decided to play football senior year and continue to play hockey, earning the title of three-sport athlete to go along with the rest of his future accolades.

Campobasso said if Ponte was like most high school students today, he would have quit hockey and never considered joining the football team after he committed to play lacrosse at Merrimack.

“Nick could have ‘focused on lacrosse’ or ‘protected himself from injury,’” said Campobasso. I’ve heard every reason in the book as to why kids who are far less talented than Nick who weren’t going to a premier college program want to ‘focus’ on one sport, and here is Nick looking to not only keep playing his second sport (hockey) but add in football.

“We spoke over the course of the summer and I told him football is a physical toll: every day, contact, a longer season, it could conflict with fall lacrosse. Nick took the advice, and decided to play football. When most high school players ‘save’ themselves and ‘focus’ on one sport, here’s the best athlete in the town working harder, doing more.

“I’ve had so few players like Nick.”

So, whenever students want to quit a sport to focus on less, “Campo” tells them about Ponte and how the benefits of being versatile and challenging yourself will help you accomplish future goals especially outside of the world of sports.

“Nick is someone all student athletes in North Reading can use as a role model in and out of school,” said NRHS athletic director David Johnson. “He led his peers with a quiet confidence that seemed to make everyone around him better. He’s a quality young man who is a tribute to his family, school and town.”

All of this praise might make the modest Ponte cringe but hopefully he can shift that toward experiencing the one feeling all of his friends, family, teammates, teachers and coaches felt when they waved to him from a distance on June 6: pride.

It’s not the full story, but it’s enough to share in that pride.