At Boston College High School, Nick Lavery was a strong safety on the football team, and at University of Massachusetts Lowell, he was an outside linebacker. When he enters a cafe in Braintree on a recent morning, he fills the doorway. When he orders breakfast, it’s eight eggs, hash browns, and toast.
At 6 feet 5 inches tall, Lavery weighs 220 pounds. “My leg was about 50 pounds, so I’m about 50 pounds lighter than I would be,” he notes.
That would be his right leg, which was amputated below the knee last year after an Afghan police officer opened fire on Lavery’s Green Beret team.
Lavery, a 32-year-old staff sergeant stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., was here to visit family in Franklin and to accept the James E. Cotter Courage Award from BC High, named for its former football coach and athletic director.
It’s a great honor for a BC High kid, but Lavery has a few other medals to his name: three Purple Hearts, a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, and a Bronze Star with Valor, for heroism in combat. His story is one of courage and selflessness, and offers a humbling lesson during a holiday season that is often more about getting than about giving.
