1994 HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE | CHARLES D'AGATA
Charles D'Agata of Wytheville, Virginia, has been named to the Milligan College Athletics Hall of Fame. The Athletics Hall of Fame exists to honor outstanding athletes, coaches and other significant participants in the athletics program of Milligan College.
A native of Maynard, Massachusetts, D' Agata was a member of the Maynard High School varsity football and track teams. In his senior year, D'Agata won All-Scholastic fame as an end on the undefeated 1938 Maynard team. He was hailed by many as "one of the best all-around athletes ever to graduate from Maynard High School." In track, he won top honors in the 100-yard and 220-yard dashes, high and broad jumps, and javelin.
D'Agata continued his athletic prowess at Milligan College in the fall of 1939. As a member of the Milligan football team, he was named end on the Southern Little College Eleven and won top honors in the southern track conference. In 1940, under the leadership of Coach Steve Lacy, Milligan's football team was one of the few undefeated and untied teams in the nation and were seriously considered for the Sun Bowl bid played in El Paso, Texas, on New Year's Day. As a member of the 1940 team, D'Agata was named All Smoky Mountain Conference end for the season. Coach Steve Lacy considered him one of the best ends in the history of Milligan College and the greatest athlete he ever coached.
In track, D'Agata made 155 points in six meets during the 1939 season and was known as the "Milligan one-man track team." He holds two records at Milligan, the 100-yard dash at 9.8 seconds and the javelin at 170 feet.
An amateur boxer, D'Agata won several tourneys in Bristol and Knoxville while at Milligan and passed up an opportunity to compete in the state Golden Gloves tourney because of a heavy academic load.
In 1941, D'Agata interrupted his studies at Milligan to volunteer his services in the army air corps during World War II. As an aerial engineer in the combat crew of an army bomber, Sergeant D'Agata was decorated and awarded the air medal in recognition of courageous service to his combat organization. After his military service, D' Agata returned to Milligan and graduated in 1949, a decade after beginning.
Following graduation from Milligan, D'Agata served as the director of athletics at Nokes High School in Virginia. During the summers, he attended the University of Virginia and earned a Master of Education degree.
After serving with the Alexandria Health Department in Virginia for over 20 years, in 1971 D'Agata was appointed head of the Property Standards Division, a regulatory and investigative bureau of the health department. As director of the Alexandria Health Department, D' Agata was primarily responsible for the success of Alexandria's campaign against slum housing and was cited as the "Sanitarian of the Year" in 1972 by the Virginia Environmental Health Association. He worked hard to establish laws to protect tenants ignored by their landlords.
While at the health department, D'Agata studied law at night for three years under the supervision of the commonwealth attorney of Alexandria. In 1963, he passed the Virginia state bar exam and became a specialist in health related laws.
Now retired, D'Agata still participates in athletic events. In June of 1993, he took home two gold (50-meter dash and running broad jump) and one silver (100-meter dash) medals in the Virginia Golden Olympics at the College of William and Mary.
D'Agata and his wife, Katherine, a 1941 alumna of Milligan, reside in Wytheville, Virginia. They have one daughter, Kathy.