Born Vitold Frank Wallace in 1914, the youngest of four brothers, to immigrant Polish parents, yet everyone knew him as “Bikes.” Imagine, if you can, being born prior to the Spanish flu epidemic of 1919, which he survived, his sister did not, and then go to high school in the deepest part of the Great Depression. Bikes did. He graduated Amesbury High School as a member of the class of ’31. Being a quiet and reserved young man, it was written by his yearbook editors, “Bikes does not tell his thoughts except to his closest friends. We’ll bet they’re worth more than a penny.” Ironically the quote he chose for his yearbook entry was, “A little nonsense now and then is relished by the most serious men.” Regardless of his subdued demeanor, Bikes was an active participant in AHS athletics. He played football, basketball and baseball all four years.
Bikes earned his varsity letter as a sophomore on a very successful 1928 football team. Earning that most prestigious capital block A was an extremely unusual feat for a sophomore in those days. Bikes was a starter at the tight end position in his freshman and sophomore years and as a lineman in his junior and senior years. He was the captain of the ’30 squad. The ’28 to ’30 squads had great success on the gridiron and Bikes played no small part in that success. Bikes went on to play collegiate football at several schools; Boston University and the University of Wyoming among them.
Baseball was Bikes’ favorite sport to participate in from year to year. At AHS he was on the ’29 to ’32 teams as a pitcher and first baseman. At the plate his highest batting average was a respectable .303 in 1931. Bikes played in many summer leagues and at every prep school and college he attended. He continued to play well into his adult years in local summer leagues.
Basketball records at AHS are very limited in those early years. Bikes did play basketball all four years at AHS and was captain his junior and senior years and high scorer in the junior year. Bikes also played collegiate basketball for two seasons. During his high school years, and beyond, he helped coach the local church team. It was through this basketball experience that Bikes caught the coaching bug, which he brought to AHS after his college playing days were over.
Hired at Amesbury High School in the summer of 1942, Bikes started his teaching career that fall, but left to join our armed forces in World War II. Bikes had joined the Navy and served as a combat photographer aboard the USS Belleau Wood in the Pacific. He was honorably discharged September 29, 1945. He returned to AHS where he taught social studies courses until his retirement in 1977. During those 32 years of service Bikes became “Coach Wallace” to hundreds of young Amesbury boys. Bikes’ coaching career covered football, basketball, and baseball. He coached at all levels in each sport over those years. Bikes has had an impact on more Amesbury children than most other coaches in town given his longevity in the classroom and in athletics. Doug Wood, his last AD, said of Bikes, “Vito was the consummate educator/coach at AHS. He bled red, white, and gray.” Doug went on to say, “Few coaches have been as dedicated to their alma mater as was Bikes.” Bikes served as the basketball head coach in the 1950 to 1956 seasons, head baseball coach in 1956, as varsity assistant in all three sports at different times and as the freshman coach in all three sports as well. Bikes was a mentor to many future coaches to come out of AHS. Dave Bailey, former football and track coach at AHS said, “I was very fortunate to have had Bikes as a coach during my sophomore and junior years in varsity football. When I became a volunteer football coach, I could not ask for a more rewarding experience for my first-year coaching. He got me to deal with all aspects of the game. Bikes was a great mentor to me that first year and helped me to realize how much I loved the game and coaching.” In addition to his teaching and coaching duties, Bikes was a class advisor for AHS classes ’51, ’56, and ’61; advisor to the Canteen club in ’54 and ’55; he ran the parks program in town for several years; and lastly, he would invite some boys from town to join him during summer vacation and travel throughout our country.
Vitold (Bikes) Wallace, Class of 1931, was dedicated to AHS and the children of Amesbury and rightly deserves a place in the AHS Athletic Hall of Fame.
