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Special Reports
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| Fire erupts from the remains of a single family home on George Street in Attleboro after it was leveled in an explosion Wednesday, March 4, 1998.(Staff file photo by Keith Nordstrom) |
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BY JIM HAND / SUN CHRONICLE STAFF
ATTLEBORO - At 10:04 a.m. on March 4, 1998, a boom echoed across Attleboro and beyond.
It was heard and felt miles away. Residents reported their windows rattled and their houses shook.
People who were as far away as Briggs Corner said the concussion was so strong they thought a truck had hit their house.
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| 'Our time to shine' |
 ATTLEBORO - In the early 1990s, rumors began to spread around youth sports circles that there was a kid dunking the ball in the city middle school basketball league.
The rumors would soon become a legend as Leland Anderson entered Attleboro High School and made the varsity basketball team as a freshman, averaging 19 points a game.
By his junior year, he was putting up 27 points a game and scouting services rated the 6-foot, 8-inch Anderson as one of the 50 best high school players in the country.
He would lead the Attleboro High team to the state championship, the first state basketball title for the school since 1943.
Mark Houle was a 26-year-old, third-year coach of that championship 1998 team.
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| A nightmare that never ends |
 ATTLEBORO - Ten years later, Joshua Collins still has nightmares.
He still dreams about that day in 1998 when a house on George Street exploded, killing two city highway workers and injuring several others, including himself.
Collins does not like talking much about the events of that day. He does not talk about the nightmares at all.
"I try not to think too much about it. Two of my co-workers died. It is something that stays with you the rest of your life," he said.
Albert Sullivan was another city worker on duty at 57-59 George St. on March 4, 1998.
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| Where they are now |
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Some of the key actors in the 1998 championship drama still live in the area, while others have moved away. Some stay in touch. Others are rarely heard from. Here is a look at where some of them are now.
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| Timeline of tragedy, hope |
March 4, 1998 - Natural gas explosion at 57-59 George St. kills city workers Larry Poncin and Bernie Hewit, injures five other city workers and two residents.
March 7, 1998 - Larry Poncin funeral.
March 9, 1998 - Bernie Hewitt funeral
March 10, 1998 - Attleboro High School boys' basketball team wins the Eastern Massachusetts championship in overtime at the Fleet Center in Boston.
March 14, 1998 - Team wins the state championship at the Worcester Centrum in Worcester.
May 3, 2003 - City dedicates a new recreation complex off Oakhill Avenue, naming the facility "Poncin-Hewitt Fields."
Aug. 11, 2003 - Bay State Gas and Central Locating Service agree to an out-of-court settlement of $20 million for the widows of Poncin and Hewitt.
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