Ponaganset High School Athletic Hall of Fame
Induction Class of 2017
Jacob T. Keeling
Athlete
Class of 2007
Football, Indoor & Outdoor Track & Field, Basketball
A 2007 graduate of Ponaganset, Jacob Keeling participated in 15 sports during all 12 seasons of his high school career, competing in football, indoor and outdoor track & field, and basketball. Jake is recognized as the only five-time Providence Journal First Team All-State athlete in the history of Ponaganset Athletics as well as the only athlete to earn First Team honors in all three seasons of a single year. Throughout his fifteen athletic seasons, he also earned 4 track & field school records, 4 Second Team All-Division selections, 9 First Team All-Division selections, 4 Second Team All-State awards, 2 New England Championship Runner-Up awards, as well as receiving the 2007 Brian Fell Award, Ideal Chieftain, and the Gatorade Outdoor Track & Field Player of the Year.
Jake was part of a small but determined group of football players in the class of 2007 that lead the program to its first winning season in five years and the first Division III playoff berth in school history. As the best punter in the state during his senior year, a force to be reckoned with at defensive end, and the team’s leading scorer with 17 rushing touchdowns, Jake earned First Team All-Division and First Team All-State honors. As one opposing coach was quoted as saying: blocking Jake was like “sending gnats to take down a Mack Truck.” While Jake starred on the gridiron, he was a bona-fide superstar on the field in the winter and spring seasons. Jake worked tirelessly with Coach Jim Caron to perfect his technique and endured countless “just one more throw” training sessions. Jake was a pivotal part of the 2004 and 2007 Outdoor Track & Field Northern Division Championship Teams, winning the latter as a team captain and undisputed leader on and off the field. Jake scored more career points in the state meet than any athlete in school history, he had four in-state undefeated seasons in the shot and javelin, owns the second-longest javelin throw in RI history, twice earned the Al Morrow Award for Outstanding Field Performance at the outdoor state meet, twice earned second place at the New England Championships, competed at the National Championships, and earned the prestigious Gatorade Player of the Year Award for Track & Field.
After graduation Jake attended the University of Rhode Island, graduating in 2012 as a captain of the Indoor & Outdoor Track & Field Team, four-time A-10 Individual Champion, three-time New England Individual Champion, second-farthest shot put in school history and the school record holder in the javelin.