By Hal Levy, Shore Line Newspapers
Special to MaxPreps.com
`Tis the Hall of Fame season around the state.
The New Haven Tip-Off Club will introduce seven new members to its Hall of Fame Nov. 13 at the Country House in East Haven. They include Sue Altieri (North Haven), Lisa DeGennaro-Bailey (Hamden), Dick Ezold (East Haven) Boyd Johnson (Lyman Hall, Quinnipiac), Paul Mengold (Amity Regional, athletic director and former girls' basketball coach), Queen Edwards-Smith (Hillhouse and Quinnipiac as a player, Wilbur Cross and Yale as a coach), and Meg Winfield (Foran-Milford). There is a social hour at 6:30 p.m. with dinner at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $40 and are available through George Piazza at (203) 281-5410.
The West Haven Hall of Fame will conduct its eighth induction Saturday, Nov. 24 at the Italian American Club and among those to be honored is former Coginchaug High basketball coach and athletic director Wally Camp, a West Haven native who played at Southern Connecticut State University and in the old Eastern League.
Others going into the West Haven hall include Frank Berretta, John Blasczyk, Rufus Cooper Jr., Laurei DelGrego, Bill Hurteau Jr., Joseph A. Rossomando, Cindi Shendell, Harold R. Smullen and Rob Thompson.
The next day, the Cheshire sports Hall of Fame has its dinner at the AquaTurf Club in Southington and will add eight members to its current list of 57. Among the inductees will be Joe Chandler of Branford, who will receive the Founder's Award. Chandler was a coach, teacher and administrator in Cheshire and is believed to be the first African-American varsity head coach in Connecticut (1961 was his first year). Also on the dais for this one will be Nick Carparelli, Jr. Son of the long-time Cheshire basketball coach, he is now an assistant commissioner for the Big East Conference and served a stint as Director of Football Operations for the New England Patriots.
Also being inducted are Rosemarie Cocchiaro Burton, Megan Gardner, Matthew S. Hall, Gerald J. O'Donnell, Vijay V. Vaitheeswaren and Gary M. Walberg.
Hockey, Girls Basketball Undergoing Changes
Two winter sports will have a new look this year.
In girls' basketball, the CIAC will go to a format similar to that of the boys, with enrollments doubled for schools of choice (magnets, parochials but not techs) and bonus numbers added for performances in recent state tournaments. The girls will go back three years rather than the four years the boys use. The object is basically to get the parochials out of Class S and Class M and up into the larger divisions.
Mercy-Middletown coach Tim Kohs, who heads the CHSCA coaches' committee, said his survey of state coaches revealed those at the larger schools (Class LL, Class L) didn't really care what the format was but that those at the smaller (Class M, Class S) schools were overwhelmingly in favor of the change.
In hockey, the jockeying for divisions will end. Now, schools will be placed in a division at the beginning of the year and that is where they will stay; no more moving up or down based on record or the quality of opposition beaten. This closes a loop-hole where-by it might be advantageous for a team to lose a late-season game to move down a division and thus enhance its chances for a long run in the tournament.
In another winter development, state gymnastics coaches have agreed to present an award to first-place finishers at state events. The award will be named after long-time Westhill-Stamford coach Rosemary Carlucci, a great activist for women's sports in the state.
State indoor track meets for boys and girls will again be at the Citywide Field House in New Haven and will run Feb. 7 (Class LL), Feb. 8 (Class S) and Feb. 9 (Class L at 10 a.m. and Class M at 4 p.m.).
Postseason Baseball Plans in Question at Yale Field
Several things might be different in the spring.
When the New Haven County Cutters folded last week, the use of Yale Field for postseason high school play might have become an ancillary victim. For a number of years, the New Haven Ravens and then the Cutters basically allowed the CIAC and the Southern Connecticut Conference, to use the field at no charge in exchange for concession rights. Now, with no pro baseball team and no pro baseball maintenance and support staff, things are up in the air.
SCC Commissioner Al Carbone and state baseball tournament director Fred Balsamo were quoted in a recent article as saying they were looking to other venues. Carbone listed The Ballpark at Harbor Yard (Bridgeport) and Middletown's Palmer Field as possibilities. Balsamo didn't list any, but last year he did switch two games out of Yale Field to Bristol's Muzzy Field due to weather-related problems.
Palmer used to be a state baseball finals host; the problem there is clearing back-up dates with the Ahearn-Whelan Intermediate League, which has a whole lot of pull in Middletown. New Britain Stadium is a possibility as are places like Dodd Stadium (Norwich), Harbor Yard and Muzzy. And of course, the Baseball Foundation of Connecticut, which runs Yale Field, could still make the facility available.
Also on the subject of spring sports, the CHSCA softball committee is toying with the idea of a junior showcase event which would bring in top players from not only Connecticut, but Massachusetts and New York as well. These showcases are basically a good idea, but you don't need 1000 of them, as baseball seems to have.
The players keep getting told over and over again they have to go to the showcases to be seen. After a while, that gets old. Prove yourself once or twice and the rest becomes a lose-lose situation. You can take yourself out of summer opportunities (ie Guilford American Legion players this past season) and once coaches see you, the rest is over-kill.
One other spring change involves golf. High school players will now be able to participate in up to three outside weekend tournaments during the season, as tennis players are allowed to do. Golf also will expand from 18 teams to 20 for each division and there is a plan to form a separate girls' golf committee since that sport is rising in popularity.
