The dominant high school pitcher on Cape Cod in the mid-1950s and the top student in his class at Barnstable High School, class president for four years and the recipient of a full academic scholarship to Wesleyan University upon matricluation to that school, Syriala was the pride of the Red Raiders in the mid-1950s.

     A two-sport captain who quarterbacked the football team for three seasons in the Post-Shields era, Syriala paced the Red & White boys basketball juggernaut to three straight conference championships and was the backbone of the baseball team for four seasons.

     For the first time in 30 seasons, Syriala tossed a complete-game no-hitter for Barnstable in his junior campaign, just weeks after suffering what many thought to be a debilitating arm injury.

     A Cape Cod Baseball League all-star for the Cotuit Kettleers, the first student in Barnstable High School history to be elected to the National Honor Society and two-time baseball Most Valuable Player, Syriala was rarely a stranger to accolades both in and out of the classroom.

     A rare, two-sport Boston Herald All-Scholastic in football and baseball, Syriala was to Barnstable athletics in the mid-1950s what Ted Williams was to the Boston Red Sox during the same period: The Star.