Loved Ones Honor Star Waltham Athlete who Died Young
Waltham native Scott Pomerleau was a nationally recognized diver for the University of Alabama before he was tragically killed in a trolley crash in 1990.
Recently family and friends gathered at Lowell Field to dedicate a bench in his memory—but his legacy is much greater.
“Always an Athlete”
Scott grew up in Rangeley Acres and attended the former Bright Elementary School, according to his sister Roni Sue Bower.
He and his friends spent hours every day playing sports at Lowell Field.
In the 1980s Waltham didn’t have a platform for diving and not much of a competitive swimming culture. But Scott made the most of springboards at the YMCA and Boys & Girls Club.
With support from his parents Rena and Ronald, both avid skiers, he ended up at a summer program at Harvard with respected diving head coach John Walker.
“That’s where he developed into a springboard diver,” Roni Sue said.
Scott earned four varsity letters at WHS and won three state championships in diving while also playing varsity baseball.
He also set a single meet points record that stood until 2010.
By the time he graduated in 1986, Scott had evolved into an elite diver, but Roni Sue said he remained humble, shooting hoops with his friends after diving practice at Harvard.
Roll Tide
Scott’s success earned him a scholarship to the University of Alabama, a highly regarded school for diving.
In 1987, during his freshman year, he was part of a men’s diving team that won the Southeast Conference title.
By the end of his senior year, the team co-captain had been a two-time Division I All-American.
In his fifth year, while working on a degree in public relations, he became a student assistant coach under head coach Pat Greenwell.
Then, on December 16, 1990, Scott’s life was cut short.
While back in Waltham for winter break, he was struck and killed by a MBTA trolley on Comm. Ave in Boston. Scott Pomerleau was only 22.
Legacy
Though shattered by his passing, the Pomerleaus were determined to make Scott’s life count.
His father Ronnie, a respected Waltham Police detective sergeant who started the Greater Waltham Area Diving Association, had established a Waltham diving scholarship when Scott was at Waltham High.
Following his death, he created the Scott H. Pomerleau Scholarship Memorial Foundation in his honor.
More than $200,000 in foundation scholarships have been awarded to high school divers from Waltham and Framingham.
The Scott H. Pomerleau High Point Diving Award recognizes the best single dive at the annual state championship.
Perhaps most notably, Roni Sue and Brian Bower’s daughter, Halia, followed in Scott’s footsteps.
A two-time Massachusetts state champion and All-American at Framingham High School, Halia went on to dive for the University of Alabama—just like the uncle she never met.
She was inspired by a plaque on the 10 meter tower that the university dedicated to Scott. A Waltham memorial was next.
Ties That Bind
The Bowers live in Framingham, but have strong Waltham ties.
Roni Sue’s husband Brian Bower [in photo above, far right] is the City of Waltham’s building inspector and she is an educator in Waltham elementary schools who once served as a ski coach for WHS.
The completion of improvements at Lowell Field a few years ago inspired Roni Sue and Scott's childhood friend Steve Duffy (a fellow WHS Athletics Hall of Fame inductee) to seek a way to remember Scott in the place they all cherished as kids.
Working with elected officials and city recreation officials, they had a bench dedicated in his honor on June 1, with former friends and neighbors heading to Shoppers afterward.
“So many of us are lifelong friends with the people we grew up with,” said Roni Sue. She was also contacted by non-Waltham people with a Scott connection.
The event was a testament to how many people he touched during his life—and the ties that remain among his loved ones, regardless of where they are now.
Dad Ronnie Pomerleau, such a key part of Scott’s success, passed away in 2023, having made his own mark on the Waltham community that he loved.
Roni Sue knows how he would have reacted.
“My father would have been really proud,” she said.
