The transition between two of my greatest pleasures was delightful.
On Saturday, we attended a live sporting event for the
first time since well before the first wave of COVID, courtesy of the
Connecticut High School Coaches Association and its well-managed relationship
with the UConn Athletic Department.
The CHSCA, dealt a crippling blow in September with the
sudden passing of director Joe Canzanella, moved forward with its annual
induction ceremony slated for pregame and halftime of the football game between
the Huskies and Utah State. The rain abated just in time and despite cloudy
skies, the event went off like clockwork.
On Sunday, with the sun shining brilliantly, we shifted
back to our music scene by attending an outdoor concert at a quaint family farm
in East Haddam. While Shakedown Street provided its consistently seamless
tribute to the Grateful Dead, children and adults danced, wandered the garden
and visited the domestic animals on hand.
PLAYING “THE RENT”
The last time I attended a UConn football game at
Rentschler Field in East Hartford was September 12, 2009. I remember it well
because on that day, I was inducted into the CHSCA Hall of Fame, which has its
home on the Rentschler concourse.
Later that year, I was honored along with my induction
class at the CHSCA’s annual banquet at the Aqua Turf in Southington. My dearest
friends came from around the country to be with me for what truly was my finest
hour. To have my likeness on a plaque at Rentschler and to have a gorgeous ring
commemorating the moment mean more to me than anything else I’ve accomplished
professionally.
Memories of that day 14 years earlier came back to me as
we entered tent for pregame festivities. Since I retired from the Meriden
Record-Journal in early 2018, I hadn’t seen many of the people who made my 28
years on the state sports beat so enjoyable.
That grand New Britain gang from those days immediately
pierced through the meteorological gloom.
Michelle Abraham remains the volleyball coach at New
Britain High after all these years.
When I started at the New Britain Herald in 1992, her
teams were suffering. The Golden Hurricanes lost nearly every match they played
that year, saved only by winning matches against tiny Class S school Housatonic
Regional.
Seven years later at East Haven High School, Michelle
guided an incredibly skilled, deep and focused young women to a Class L state
championship, despite being down 2 games to 0 against the likes of powerhouse
Cheshire. I wept as I watched one of the
more remarkable comebacks I’ve ever witnessed.
Michelle is the epitome of what makes the CHSCA as
essential as it is festive. The records of those teams were not of the utmost
importance to her. Of course, she wanted to win as much as any coach who ever
commanded a sideline huddle, but she was driven by her commitment to her
student-athletes, on and off the court.
Her mission has not diminished. Neither has her passion
for fulfilling it. She also has so much love for many of those she met along
the way, and I’m delighted to be counted in that number, all these years later.
She graciously referred me to Executive Director Canzanella to do some writing
for CHSCA. I was delighted. My computer keyboard has been rather silent since
leaving Meriden, yet I knew I could step right in and hit the ground running
for any organization that needs my services.
Four days after we discussed the possibilities, Joe
Canzonella, 71, was dead of a fatal heart attack. Canzonella and retired New
Britain High athletic director and football coach Len Corto were truly like
twin sons of different mothers. The burden was on Len, Michelle and others to
pick up the pieces of an organization nurtured for 31 years by the late
Southington High baseball coach John Fontana until his death in October 2019.
Lenny addressed 25 or so on hand for the informal pregame
brunch. He introduced David Benedict, UConn athletic director, who made a short
but poignant impromptu speech that had most heads nodding affirmatively. The
relationship between UConn athletics and the CHSCA is surely strong. A visit
from venerable UConn legacy and New Britain native Andy Baylock, the Huskies’
former baseball coach who still throws batting practice in his mid-80s,
represented a powerful link in the chain between the organizations.
When Lenny’s thoughts turned to Joe, he wore his emotions
on his sleeve, as both he and Joe were prone to do. His voice cracked. He
fought back the tears. The two had forged a powerful bond, enabling CHSCA to
maintain its integrity across the scoop of high school athletics in
Connecticut. He reinforced that CHSCA was going to continue its mission the way
Joe and John would have wanted.
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