Canton man’s 30-year quest for enshrinement ends with ‘epic’ night

It took 30 years of active campaigning, including a long-running, self-financed website and an untold number of phone calls, emails, and social media posts, but on one magical night at Fenway Park last week, Gary Titus’s wish finally came true as he witnessed the enshrinement of his longtime friend, the late Sherm Feller, into the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame.

Gary Titus holds the Red Sox Hall of Fame plaque for Sherm Feller.

“I’m still choked up about the whole thing,” said the lifelong Canton resident. “Everybody that knows me in Canton knows that I’ve been working on this for so long, and to get to be a part of the ceremony and to celebrate with Sherm’s family members was just unbelievable. It’s like a dream come true.”

A native of Brockton, Feller had a prolific career as a radio personality and music composer but was best known by locals as the longtime public address announcer at Fenway Park. He served in that role for 26 seasons, from the “Impossible Dream” campaign of 1967, when the Red Sox shocked the baseball world to win the AL pennant, until shortly before his death in early 1994 at the age of 75. His distinct voice and his signature introduction — “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to Fenway Park” — were instantly recognizable and became synonymous with baseball in Boston for generations of Red Sox fans.

Among those fans who came of age during that era was Titus, who had the good fortune of meeting Feller at his family’s pub, Big D’s Neponset Café, in the early 1980s, and despite an age gap of several decades, the two became fast friends.

“He’d stop in after the games for last call, and I remember my sister Donna telling me, ‘You’ve got to get to know this guy,’ because he worked in radio and I was working in radio at the time,” said Titus. “And then when I met him I was like, ‘Wow, what a character.’”

Despite Feller’s status as a Boston radio and sports legend, Titus was struck by how down to earth he was, recalling one time when Feller showed up at the radio station he was working at and hopped on the air for an impromptu half-hour interview.

It was during that appearance when Feller shared his legendary story about the nuns at Fenway Park — a tale that was later memorialized in a 2001 Boston Herald column by Beverly Beckham:

“The day got warm so the nuns took off their overcoats. Management got concerned that the coats hanging over the wall might interfere with the game, so Sherm was asked to make an announcement … He turned on the mike and started off with his famous ‘Attention please (pause and echo), ladies and gentlemen (pause and echo), boys and girls, would the nuns in the front row kindly remove your clothing (pause, echo, and then lots of laughter — so much laughter that the crowd never heard the last part of the announcement), which was ‘from the rail.”

Titus and Feller would remain close right up until his untimely passing, and when his son Louis was born a year later, he and his wife, Sara, chose the middle name “Sherman” as a tribute to Feller’s memory.

That same year, the Red Sox established its own Hall of Fame to recognize the contributions of select former players, managers, and non-uniformed personnel, and while attending the inaugural induction ceremony in 1995, it struck Titus that Feller deserved to be included.

“I emailed everybody I could think of — the historian of the Red Sox, others within the organization, various Boston sports media members — urging them to push for Sherm’s induction,” recalled Titus. “I also built a website, and I was able to get over 500 people to sign [onto the cause]. I kept that up for several years and then I made the Facebook page, and every year on Sherm’s birthday I’d put something in, and when the nominations would come out and he didn’t get in, I’d put something in.”

Gary Titus poses with members of Sherm Feller’s family at last week’s HOF induction.

Despite his persistence, Titus said he had just about given up on the campaign when he got the call from a friend informing him that Feller was indeed headed to the hall, joining a 2026 class of inductees that also included three former players from the 2000s: centerfielder Johnny Damon, starting pitcher Jon Lester, and reliever Mike Timlin. (Bill Mueller’s walk-off homerun against the Yankees in July of 2004 was also selected for enshrinement in the “Memorable Moment” category).

Titus said it was Richard Johnson, the longtime curator of the Sports Museum of New England and a member of the Hall of Fame selection committee, who took Feller’s candidacy over the finish line, arguing passionately on the PA legend’s behalf to secure the required unanimous vote of the panel.

While the news of Feller’s selection would have been satisfying enough, Titus said he was also deeply touched to be invited to the induction festivities, which included a luncheon and ceremony at the Hotel Commonwealth, followed by a pre-game program at Fenway Park.

During the event, he got to meet the other inductees and take photos with Feller’s plaque and a Red Sox World Series trophy, and then for the “icing on the cake,” he met with and got a hug from Feller’s nieces, great-nieces and their families.

He summed up the whole experience in a Facebook post after the event:

“It’s been a long time coming, but the day finally arrived yesterday — Sherm Feller is in the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame. Thank you to Richard Johnson for his voice at the annual RSHOF meetings. Thank you to Boston Red Sox Alumni Relations Manager & Team Curator Sarah Ottinger for an outstanding event, which couldn’t have been better in any way. Thank you to all of the members of this page whose words of support inspired all of us to never give up.

“Because of you, the words, ‘Attention please, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to Fenway Park’ and the voice of Sherm Feller will live on forever.”

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Posted by Jay Turner on May 15 2026. Filed under Features. Both comments and pings are currently closed.