While Belmont’s new $30 million-plus municipal ice rink remains on target to open in the fall, the facility’s name remains on ice.
Swirling rumors presented a possible controversy between the camps of two notable Belmont residents with legacies to memorialize, but further investigation revealed no such controversy. In fact, the newcomer to the conversation prioritizes the old guard.
The crux of the issue, though, is the town’s current policies. Or, perhaps, the lack thereof.
Select Board Chair Elizabeth Dionne said the town’s existing town asset naming policy, dated November 2018, is well-intentioned but insufficient. She is working on an updated draft and tentatively plans to share a first draft with colleagues Matt Taylor and Taylor Yates for consideration at the April 28 meeting.
“My personal view, and this is absent of policy, but might be incorporated into policy, is that major assets ought to be named for the town of Belmont, its residents and taxpayers,” Dionne said. “It’s our common name that unites us rather than divides us.”
The naming process and implications go even deeper than recognizing two former Marauder mainstays, Skip Viglirolo, whose name graced the former rink building, and Dante Muzzioli, for whom ardent supporters want to see the ice sheet named.
“The first and most important thing to me is to preserve the Skip Viglirolo [name], someone who I admire and the whole town looks up to,” said Muzzioli, a former Belmont High School hockey coach. “The building itself, in my humble opinion, would be named after Skip.”
Belmont High School boys hockey coach Tim Foley said he has “no opinion” on the situation.
Municipal Rink Building Committee Chair Mark Haley checked with the Belmont Select Board whether the naming process remains a Select Board duty, which it does. Haley said he is neutral on the future name.
“I want to stay out of the politics of it,” Haley said. “My charge as the chair of the building committee is to build the building, and I don’t want to go down that [name] road.”
In 1998, Belmont’s Select Board changed the original Belmont Municipal Ice Rink’s name to honor James P. “Skip” Viglirolo, a lifelong Belmont resident who played and coached hockey in town alongside a 50-year career as a foreman in Belmont’s Department of Public Works. In emails to The Voice, Viglirolo’s daughters, Paula J. Carter and Jan Viglirolo, remain hopeful that the new rink retains their now 94-year-old father’s name. All four of his children signed and submitted a naming proposal to Belmont’s Select Board last year.
“It’s disappointing to hear that the rink may ultimately not be renamed in honor of our father, especially considering his long-standing dedication to Belmont, Belmont Youth Hockey, Belmont High Hockey, and skating throughout the community,” Carter said. “It’s also worth noting that, to our knowledge, no other building in Belmont that has been rebuilt due to fire or demolition has lost its original name.”
Dionne thanked the family for their efforts, but did not commit to any future name. In her mind, “it’s a new rink and new building.”
There’s a separate push for the ice surface itself to be named after Muzzioli, a player and coach in Belmont for more than 50 years and a member of the Massachusetts State Hockey Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Earlier this month, state Sen. Will Brownsberger and state Rep. Dave Rogers penned a letter to the Select Board in support of Muzzioli.
Muzzioli told The Voice he wants the building’s name to remain dedicated to Viglirolo. Muzzioli admitted the situation has been a “bit awkward” and wanted to clarify that he’d like to see the rink itself continue to be named in the same way as it’s been for years.
“There’s a history here of the rink being put into Skip’s name and I’d like to see that preserved,” said the 69-year-old Muzzioli. “I feel strongly about that.”
From what Muzzioli understands, and is “humbled by,” the arrangement might look like the situation with the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs. The longtime Arrowhead Stadium name remains in place with the field named for a sponsor, GEHA.
Dionne sees a few issues with naming an asset for a person, like the subjectivity of choosing one person over another of the “many, many people” worthy of recognition in Belmont, or if issues with someone arise after the naming. Dionne has heard of many towns moving away from naming assets after people in general and referenced the School Committee’s decision not to name the new middle or high schools after a person. The School Committee’s most recent policy is from 2022. The Belmont Public Library recently created naming and tangible gift policies, which Dionne is reviewing.
There are several opportunities for naming rights at the new rink. First is the building itself. Next, the actual ice surface. Then, there are four locker rooms.
According to Dionne, just one capital asset in town is named for a woman, the library’s Jane Gray Dustan Children’s Room. She’d like to see two of the four locker rooms named for women.
Part of the policy Dionne plans to present will likely include a stipulation about how long a building might carry a name.
“All of these should be time-constrained, none in perpetuity,” Dionne said. “Belmont is going to change, and subsequent generations ought to have the right to determine if they want to maintain a historic name or add a new name to become part of the town’s history.”
The cost of running a state-of-the-art rink will stack up. One way to manage costs, Dionne said, is to generate revenue with sponsorships for the ice sheet, scoreboard, and board sponsorships.
“If somebody would like to purchase a year’s sponsorship in honor of somebody, great, that’s totally fine,” Dionne said. “I think sponsorships are feasible because this is going to be the newest, prettiest, shiniest ice rink in Massachusetts. Groups will want their name associated with this.”