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Next Meeting - Thursday, January 19

The next meeting for the Connecticut Sports Writers' Alliance will take place at on Thursday, January 19 at noon at the Pine Loft Pizzeria & Cafe at 1474 Berlin Turnpike, Berlin. For directions, click here.

Four To Receive Gold Key In 2012

POSTED: December 25 - 1:32 a.m. The Connecticut Sports Writers’ Alliance is pleased to announce that four individuals, whose legendary careers left an indelible mark on the state sports scene, will receive the prestigious Gold Key in 2012. Kristine Lilly, who began her storied soccer career in Wilton and was a member of the United States women’s national team for 24 years, Dave Shea, who has won over 300 games in three different sports at Bacon Academy in Colchester, John Dunham, who has collected over 400 wins in 37 years as coach of the Trinity College hockey team, and Mike Walsh, winner of over 500 games and six state championships at Trinity Catholic High School in Stamford, will be honored at the 71st annual Gold Key Dinner on April 29 at the Aqua Turf Club. The Gold Key is regarded as one of the highest sports awards in the state, and since 1940 the Connecticut Sports Writers’ Alliance has recognized individuals from the Nutmeg State who have achieved excellence on the youth, high school, college and professional levels. Past recipients of the Gold Key include Connie Mack (1940), Willie Pep (1961), Walt Dropo (1975), George H.W. Bush (1991), Gordie Howe (1992), Geno Auriemma (2001) and Jim Calhoun (2003). The Class of 2012 recipients will continue that proud and rich tradition. It seemed as though everywhere Lilly went, winning followed as Wilton High School won two state championships and the University of North Carolina went 4-for-4 in NCAA Championships while she played for the Tar Heels, who retired her No. 15 jersey. Lilly was only 16 and still in high school when she made her debut with the women’s national team, the first of more than 300 international games she would play in. She participated in five different World Cups, wearing the Red, White and Blue every four years from 1991 through 2007. She also competed in three Olympics, winning gold medals in 1996 and 2004 along with a silver medal in 2000. She more than likely would have played in the 2008 Games as well, but family came first as Lilly gave birth to the first of her two children. When the Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA) was formed in 2001, Lilly was a founding member and team captain of the Boston Breakers. She played every minute of all 21 games that inaugural season, leading the league with 11 assists. Lilly would return to the national team in 2008, playing for two more years until announcing her retirement in December of 2010 after her 352nd cap (international appearance) for Team USA. She retired as the most capped men’s or women’s soccer player in the history of the sport. She scored 130 goals for her country and 30 more for the professional teams she had played with both here and overseas. The 77-year-old Shea has been a fixture at Bacon Academy for over five decades. A 1952 graduate of the school, Shea coached boys basketball for 24 seasons (1961-85), is currently in his 18th season as girls basketball coach, and this spring will enter his 25th season as the Bobcats’ baseball coach. Shea is the only coach in Connecticut state history to have 300 wins as both a boys and girls basketball coach, compiling a sparkling 638-274 combined record entering this season. He is also one of only two coaches that have won both a boys and girls basketball state championship, guiding the boys to the Class S crown in 1981 and the girls to the Class M title in 2009. In addition, Bacon Academy has won 12 regular-season conference titles and four tournament titles under Shea’s watch while playing in the Charter Oak and Eastern Connecticut conferences. Shea joined his third “300 Club” in May when the Bacon Academy baseball team beat Stonington 15-5, and he is now 308-209 overall. He has guided the Bobcats to three divisional titles, four state quarterfinals, one semifinal and the 2006 Class M state final. Shea, who retired from teaching in December 1999, was inducted into the Connecticut High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2004, and the New England Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009. Dunham built Trinity College into one of the most successful Division III hockey programs in the country. In his 37 years with the school, Dunham’s record of 441-306-34 ranks fifth in Division III history for wins and 20th among coaches in all divisions. At the time of his retirement in 2007, Dunham had more wins at the same school than any other Division III coach. A former goalie at Brown University, Dunham took over as coach of Trinity’s club hockey team in 1970 and helped the Bantams gain varsity status four years later. He quickly built Trinity into a competitive New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) program with two appearances in the NCAA Division III Championships, including a berth in the 2005 NCAA Final Four. Overall, Dunham has led Trinity to 21 playoff appearances, four ECAC North/South Championships in 1986, ’87, ’88 and ’91, and a NESCAC title in 2003. Dunham was honored as the NESCAC Coach of the Year in 2001, ’03 and ’05, and was a finalist for the American Hockey Coaches Association Division III National Coach of the Year in 2003 and 2005. He also received the Parker-York Award in 2009 from the New England Hockey Writers for his lifelong contribution to New England Hockey, and the 2010 John MacInness Award by the American Hockey Coaches Association. Walsh has been the architect of one of the most successful high school boys basketball programs in the state at Trinity Catholic. Now in his 33rd season as head coach (and 39th overall) at the small parochial school in Stamford, Walsh entered the 2011-12 season with a career record of 523-242. The 64-year-old Walsh has led the Crusaders to 11 state finals and won his sixth state championship in March by capturing top honors in Class M. His first state final came in 1995 when, led by Rashamel Jones, Trinity Catholic finished Class M runner-up to New London. Walsh and the Crusaders returned to the finals the following year and defeated Northwest Catholic for their first state crown. They won their second state championship in 1999, garnering the Class L title, and that began a remarkable run of seven straight trips to state finals, winning four of them. Walsh has also led Trinity Catholic to 10 FCIAC finals with the Crusaders winning six of those as well. In fact, from 2001-2009, Trinity appeared in eight of the nine FCIAC championship games, won five of them, including a record-tying three straight from 2003-05, and collected nine straight East Division titles. In addition, Walsh coached Babe Ruth Baseball in both the 13-15 and 16-18 age groups, finally stepping down after his 40th season last summer. During that time, he’s won numerous state titles and has been to 10 World Series as manager of the Stamford all-star team. He also coached in the Springdale Little League for 25 years, winning a state championship in 1990. Tickets to the 2012 Gold Key Dinner, which begins at 4:30 p.m., can be purchased by contacting either CSWA President George Albano of The (Norwalk) Hour at Truckin114@aol.com, or Vice President and Dinner Chairman Bob Ehalt of The New Haven Register at ehalt.bob@sbcglobal.net. Tickets can also be obtained by mailing a check to Connecticut Sports Writers' Alliance, P.O. Box 70, Unionville, CT 06085. .

Kolinsky Scholarship Golf Tournament Returns

POSTED: December 9 - 5:31 p.m. The Connecticut Sports Writers’ Alliance will again host the Bo Kolinsky Scholarship Golf Tournament on June 28, 2012 at Lyman Orchards Golf Club in Middlefield. The tournament, which will have a noon shotgun start and a shamble format, is named for the longtime high school sports editor of the Hartford Courant and past president of the Alliance who died Dec. 14, 2003 at the age of 49. Entry fee of $170 includes a box lunch on the course, buffet dinner, prizes and silent and live auctions. Entry is on a first-come, first-serve basis as the first 132 entries will play the Robert Trent Jones Course and the other entries will play the Gary Player Course. Dinner only is $50. Entries should include names, handicaps and a contact phone number or email address and sent to: Bruce Berlet, 202 Carriage Drive, Glastonbury, CT 06033. Those wanting to attend only the dinner should send a check to Berlet. Checks should be made payable to the Bo Kolinsky Scholarship Fund, the tournament beneficiary. The Bo Kolinsky Scholarship is given to a Connecticut high school senior planning to attend a four-year college in pursuit of a career in sports journalism and is renewable. It has already provided $24,000 to eight students, three of whom are still receiving funds. The new title sponsor of the tournament is Integrated Benefit Partners. Corporate sponsors are Ahead, the Connecticut Section PGA, Connecticut State Golf Association, Connecticut Whale, Elkinson and Sloves, Hartford Courant, May, Bonee and Walsh, SignPro, Travelers and the Travelers Championship. Anyone wishing to become a sponsor, purchase a tee sign or donate an auction item should click here for appropriate contact information.A title sponsorship of $5,000 includes three foursomes in the tournament, a tee sign, a company spokesperson addressing the players at the pretournament instructions and awards dinner and inclusion in our press releases, the tournament and Gold Key Dinner programs and on the tournament sponsors banner. A corporate sponsorship of $1,300 includes one foursome in the tournament and inclusion in press releases, the tournament and Gold Key Awards programs and tournament sponsors banner. Tee signs are $150. For an entry form, click here. .

Alliance Offers Kolinsky Journalism Scholarship

POSTED: November 3 - 7:51 p.m. The Connecticut Sports Writers' Alliance is accepting applications for the 2012 Bohdan "Bo" Kolinsky Memorial Journalism Scholarship, which offers financial aid to a Connecticut high school senior entering college to prepare for a career in sports journalism. The deadline for receipt of applications and all supporting documents is Monday, Feb. 6, 2012. The scholarship is named for a longtime scholastic sports editor of the Hartford Courant who died in December 2003. This is the ninth year of Kolinsky Scholarship competition. The 2011 winner was Daniel Sixsmith of Staples High School, Westport, who has entered Fordham University with the objective of a career in sports broadcasting. A Kolinsky Scholarship winner receives $1,000 for his or her first year of college study. The student's aid can be renewed at higher amounts in subsequent years if he/she meets specified standards of progress. Current aid levels are $1,500 for sophomore year and $2,000 each for junior and senior years. Besides Sixsmith, students at Syracuse University and Boston University are receiving aid this school year. For application forms and details, please click here. .

Nineteen Individuals, Three Teams Honored At 70th Gold Key Dinner

POSTED: April 18 - 10:53 a.m. → To view photos from the event, click here to visit our Facebook page. Four state coaches were honored with Gold Keys at the 70th Gold Key Dinner on Sunday at the Aqua Turf Club in Southington. Roger Bidwell, the UConn-Avery Point baseball coach, was honored alongside Simsbury boys golf and boys soccer coach Ed Lynch, Notre Dame-Fairfield boys hockey coach Marty Roos and former Guilford boys soccer coach Bill Wallach. Several others were honored with awards. Farmington boys soccer coach Steve Waters and Waterford softball coach Elizabeth Walker Sutman were named Doc McInerney coaches of the year, while PGA Tour golfer Ken Green and Bristol Eastern girls soccer goalkeeper Jamie Botteon were honored with the Bob Casey Courage Award and Ken Lipshez of The Valley Press was recognized with the Art McGinley Award. NASCAR short-track national champion Keith Rocco was the Bill Lee Male Athlete of the Year, UConn women's basketball player Maya Moore was the Hank O'Donnell Female Athlete of the Year, and Tom Bohara, Mark and Nancy Cammisa, Vin DiLauro, Don Nielsen, Richard Rothstein and Mike Torres were recognized as John Wentworth Good Sport Award winners. Plus, the Trinity men's squash, Yale women's squash and UConn men's basketball teams were honored as national champions. Also introduced was Daniel "DJ" Sixsmith, a senior at Staples-Westport who was this year's recipient of the Bo Kolinsky Scholarship. Read reports from the dinner in The Hartford Courant, The New Haven Register, The Norwich Bulletin and The Simsbury News .

Boyer Promotes Gold Key Dinner on FoxCT

POSTED: April 12 - 2:25 p.m. Connecticut Sports Writers' Alliance president Zac Boyer appeared on FoxCT's weekly sports highlight show, Comcast SportsDesk, to promote the 70th Gold Key Dinner on April 17. To view the clip, click on the play button below.

Golfer Green Participates In Conference Call

POSTED: April 7 - 3:53 p.m. Ken Green, formerly of the PGA Tour and a Danbury native, spoke to state reporters in advance of the 70th Gold Key Dinner, where Green will be honored with the Bob Casey Courage Award. To lern more about what Green had to say, read the stories by Tom Yantz of The Hartford Courant, Tom Renner of The Daily Weston and Bruce Berlet on CTGolfer.com. For more information on the history of the dinner, click here.

Seven To Receive John Wentworth Good Sports Award

POSTED: Feb. 14, 2011 - 1:53 p.m. The Connecticut Sports Writers’ Alliance is pleased to announce seven honorees will receive the John Wentworth Good Sport Award at the 70th Gold Key dinner in April. Tom Bohara of Norwich, Mark and Nancy Cammisa of Danbury, Vin DiLauro of West Haven, Don Nielsen of New Haven, Mike Torres of New Britain and Richard Rothstein of Norwich will receive the award, which has been given since 1988 and honors individuals who unselfishly devote their time to the promotion of athletics in their communities. A brief look at the honorees: By his estimation, Tom Bohara has officiated around 10,000 baseball and softball games throughout Eastern Connecticut. Bohara, 85, has been an umpire in the Norwich area since 1947. In 2010, Bohara’s 63rd year behind the plate, he umpired more games (127) than anyone else on the 80-plus member Eastern Connecticut Board of Approved Baseball Umpires. In 1946, after leaving the armed services, Bohara attended the George Barr Umpiring School in Florida. That school was the first of its kind, taught by the Umpire in Chief of the National League. Bohara has been married to his wife, Lorraine, for 63 years. They have two sons, Tom and Ted. Mark and Nancy Cammisa, from Danbury, have filled numerous leadership roles in amateur wrestling for nearly two decades. Together they developed and have been tournament directors for the Nutmegs series in Connecticut for the past five years. They are also tournament directors for the Nutmeg State Games and for the Connecticut Kids State Championships. Mark is currently the Officials Director for USAWCT, instructing more than 100 officials who range in age from 14 to 18, and was that group’s State Chairperson for more than five years. Nancy has been treasurer for the Danbury Youth Wrestling Association for the past seven years and has been chairperson for the group’s annual golf outing for the past 16 years. Vin DiLauro’s involvement in the West Haven Twilight League goes back over 50 years to when he was a player (1958-60). He currently serves as the League’s president and is involved in the National Amateur Baseball Federation as a second vice-president. The 68-year old New Haven native is the third-generation owner of Columbus Auto Body, a business known throughout the area for its sponsorship of the Columbus Bears softball team which competed nationally during the 1950s and 60s. DiLauro, a West Haven Rotarian, is also a member of both the Gene Casey (New Haven) chapter of the National Football Foundation and the Walter Camp Football Foundation. Donald Nielsen, 82, has served the New Haven Gridiron Club since 1979, first as president for four years and then as executive director. The club each year honors current high school stars who are chosen to its Levi Jackson Team and honors stars of the past through its Hall of Fame. It also honors the top college college players in the New Haven area and an outstanding official. In addition, the club awards the Floyd Little Scholarship to a high school player who has shown notable academic improvement and strength of character. Nielsen retired in 1987 as manager of the Meriden data test center of Southern New England Telephone Co., for which he worked almost 40 years. A former hockey, football and baseball player at West Haven High School, he served on active duty in the Korean War era with the Air National Guard. He and his wife of 58 years, Nancy, live in Orange. They have a son and two grandchildren. When the beleaguered New Britain American Legion baseball program perished amidst in-fighting and dubious leadership in 2005, Mike Torres stepped up the next year and pumped in new life with considerable investments of time and his own money. Two years later, he was granted a Greater Hartford Twilight League franchise so the young men of his city could go on playing organized ball. Both teams are known as the Stingers. Torres, the sound engineer for the New Britain Rock Cats, has also opened his home to the team’s Spanish-speaking players to help them adjust to life in New Britain as they pass through. Richard Rothstein, 67, of Norwich, organized and ran the Lefty Grand Finale Softball Tournament, which benefited the Baltic and Norwich Little Leagues, for 28 years. He also served as a coach for 23 years in the Norwich Little League, has been the sound engineer at Central Connecticut State University for over 12 years, and was the sound engineer for the Norwich Navigators and the Hartford Fox Force. Rothstein, who is also a magician, lives in Norwich with his wife, Emily. They have two daughters, Esther and Heidi. For more information on the history of the dinner, click here.

Lipshez To Be Honored With McGinley Award

POSTED: Jan. 31, 2011 - 11:25 a.m. The Connecticut Sports Writers’ Alliance is pleased to announce that Ken Lipshez of the West Hartford Press has been named the recipient of the 2011 Art McGinley award. Lipshez will be honored at the 70th Gold Key Dinner, which will be held April 17 at the Aqua Turf Club in Southington. The award honors a current or former member of the organization for his meritorious service. A member of the Alliance since 1995, Lipshez served as the organization’s president from 2000 through 2003 and has been the treasurer since 2004. He began his writing career at the Burlington Post and Bristol Press in 1991 before moving to the New Britain Herald in 1995, where he covered New Britain’s Double A minor league baseball team for the next 16 seasons. Lipshez also covered high school sports and was honored by the Connecticut High School Coaches Association with induction into its Hall of Fame in 2009. A 1982 graduate of Southern Connecticut State University, Lipshez worked in minor league baseball for his first six years after graduation, including serving as the general manger of the Glens Falls Tigers of the Eastern League from 1986-88. For more information on the history of the dinner, click here.

Green, Botteon To Receive Courage Award

POSTED: Jan. 24, 2011 - 12:44 p.m. The Connecticut Sports Writers’ Alliance is pleased to announce that Ken Green, who has won five PGA Tour events, and Jamie Botteon, a goalie on the Bristol Eastern girls soccer team, have been selected to receive the Bob Casey Courage Award. Both athletes will be honored at the 70th annual Gold Key Dinner, which will be held April 17 at the Aqua Turf Club in Southington. Green, 52, from Danbury, is a former player on the PGA Tour who made his Champions Tour debut in 2008. He won five PGA Tour events (the 1985 Buick Open, The International in 1986, the 1988 Canadian Open, the 1988 Greater Milwaukee Open and the 1989 KMart Greater Greensboro Open) and tied for seventh in the 1997 U.S. Open. He twice won the Connecticut Open - in 1985 and 1992. While traveling to a Champions Tour event in Meridian, Miss. in June 2009, a tire blew in the recreational vehicle Green was traveling in, causing the vehicle to hit a tree. His brother, William, girlfriend, Jeanne Hodgin and dog, Nip, died in the accident, and Green had his lower right leg amputated as a result of the injuries sustained in the accident. Seven months later, in January 2010, his son, Hunter, was found dead in his dormitory at Southern Methodist University, the result of an accidental drug overdose. Green, who now lives in West Palm Beach, Fla., returned to competition last year, participating in three Champions Tour events: the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf tournament in April, where he tied for 26th; the Regions Charity Classic in May, where he tied for 73rd, and the Dick's Sporting Goods Open in June, which he withdrew from due to pain in the leg. He also played in the Connecticut Open at the Country Club of Fairfield in July, where he again withdrew due to pain in his right leg. Botteon, 17, was diagnosed in Dec. 2009 with acute myeloid leukemia - the same disease that her brother, Wade, died from five years earlier at 13. She overcame the disease the following spring and regained her spot as the starting goalie at Bristol Eastern, eventually finishing with a school-record 31 shutouts before the Lancers (14-4) lost in the second round of the Class L tournament. The Bob Casey Award, named after the former sports editor of the New Haven Register, is given annually to two individuals who have overcome adversity in an exemplary manner. For more information on the history of the dinner, click here.

Waters, Sutman Named Coaches of the Year

POSTED: Jan. 17, 2011 - 1:37 p.m. The Connecticut Sports Writers’ Alliance is pleased to announce that Farmington boys soccer coach Steve Waters and Waterford softball coach Liz Sutman have been named the recipients of the Doc McInerney Coach of the Year award. Both coaches will be honored at the 70th annual Gold Key Dinner, which will be held April 17 at the Aqua Turf Club in Southington. Waters has coached boys soccer at Farmington for 28 seasons and led the Indians to six state championships. With a career record of 430-68-33, Waters has also led Farmington to the championship game in four other seasons, winning in 1986, 1992, 1996, 2003 and 2008, and 25 conference titles. A three-time National High School Athletic Coaches' Association regional coach of the year, Waters, from Wethersfield, won a championship playing for the Eagles in 1975 and was an all-New England player at the University of Hartford in 1978 and 1979. Sutman, the softball coach at Waterford for nine seasons, recently led her team to a 27-0 record and Class L championship in June. The team, the first at Waterford to finish undefeated, scored 199 runs while only allowing seven and defended its 2009 Class L title. Sutman, 179-50 at Waterford, was a pitcher and first baseman at Harvard and played field hockey, basketball and softball at East Lyme. Both Waters and Sutman are the first coaches to be honored from their high schools since the award was first distributed in 1975. It recognizes coaches who have recently succeeded in their profession with a nod to overall career achievement. Only one recipient was named until 1993, when a coach of the year in a male sport and and a coach of the year in a female sport were first honored. For more information on the history of the dinner, click here.

Rocco, Moore Named Athletes of the Year

POSTED: Jan. 9, 2011 - 11:14 a.m. The Connecticut Sports Writers’ Alliance is pleased to announce that Keith Rocco, the 2010 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national champion, has been named the Bill Lee Male Athlete of the Year, and Maya Moore, a guard/forward on the national champion University of Connecticut women’s basketball team, has been named the Hank O’Donnell Female Athlete of the Year. Both athletes will be honored at the 70th annual Gold Key Dinner, which will be held Sunday, April 17 at 4:30 p.m. at the Aqua Turf Club in Southington. Rocco, who competes in the SK Modified divisions at Stafford Motor Speedway, Thompson International Speedway and the Waterford Speedbowl, earned the national championship based on a formula that ranks performances at short tracks across the country. The best 18 finishes for each driver count toward the championship, and Rocco secured the title with his 18th victory in a full field of cars Aug. 14 at the Waterford Speedbowl. He finished with 22 victories in 2010 and also finished in the top five on in 45 races and in the top 10 in 56 races. Moore had a team-high 18.9 points per game and 150 assists in 2009-10 for the Huskies, who won their seventh NCAA championship following a 39-0 season. She ranked in the top 12 in the Big East in 10 statistical categories and had 14 double-doubles, and was named the 2010 Final Four Most Outstanding Player and the 2010 State Farm Wade Trophy Player of the Year.

Bidwell, Lynch, Roos, Wallach Chosen As 2011 Gold Key Recipients

POSTED: Dec. 25, 2011 - 10:37 a.m. The Connecticut Sports Writers’ Alliance is pleased to announce that four state athletic figures will receive the Gold Key in 2011. UConn-Avery Point baseball coach Roger Bidwell, Simsbury boys golf and boys soccer coach Ed Lynch, Notre Dame-Fairfield boys hockey coach Marty Roos and retired boys soccer coach Bill Wallach will be honored at the 70th annual Gold Key Dinner in April. For more information on the recipients' qualifications, as well as the Gold Key dinner, click here.