Gold Key Recipients || Coaches of the Year || Good Sports
Male Athlete of the Year || Female Athlete of the Year

The Connecticut Sports Writers' Alliance honored state golf legend Ted May, Putnam High boys basketball coach Tony Falzarano and Ralph King of Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk with coveted Gold Key Awards at the 67th Annual Gold Key Dinner on April 27 at the Aqua Turf Club in Southington.

The Gold Key Award is the highest sports honor in Connecticut with the Alliance recognizing those who have made significant contributions to athletics in our state. Past award recipients include baseball great Connie Mack, boxing legend Willie Pep and former President George H. W. Bush.

• Ralph King (Brien McMahon, Norwalk/boys basketball, boys soccer)
  
  Ralph King won more than 700 games coaching two sports at Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk during parts of four decades, a feat which earned him a spot in the Connecticut High School Coaches Hall of Fame in 1989.
  
  Although King played football and baseball at the University of Bridgeport, he made a name for himself on the high school level coaching boys soccer and basketball. He started the soccer program at McMahon in 1961 and by the time he retired following the 1994 season, King had racked up nine FCIAC titles, two state championships and three state runner-up finishes.
  
  In 33 seasons, King compiled a record of 317-151-45 for a .677 winning percentage and was third on the all-time list for victories among state soccer coaches. He was named the Connecticut High School Coach of the Year in 1975, and in 1983 received the sport's highest honor when he was selected as the National High School Soccer Coach of the Year. In 2006, he was inducted into the Connecticut Soccer Hall of Fame.
  
  King also made an impact on the hardwood as the McMahon basketball coach from 1964-87. In 23 consecutive winning seasons, he compiled a 396-130 ledger for a .753 winning percentage, won five FCIAC championships, a pair of state crowns and finished runner-up in the state on two other occasions. In 1977 he became the first coach from Fairfield County to win a Class LL state title.
  
  In addition to coaching, King worked as athletic director at McMahon for 27 years before retiring in 1996. He has been actively involved as an administrator in the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference and has worked with numerous other state and national organizations including the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference and the Connecticut High School Coaches Association.
  
• Tony Falzarano (Putnam High boys basketball)
  
  When Tony Falzarano arrived in small-town Putnam in 1968 after graduating from St. Leo College in Florida, all he wanted to do was teach and coach.
  
  For almost four decades, that's exactly what he did. But the Bridgeport native never could have guessed where it would lead him. He was inducted into the Connecticut High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2005. A year later he was inducted as a coach into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame.
  
  The only boys basketball coach a generation of Putnam High students knew is adding to his honors as Falzarano will receive a Gold Key from the Connecticut Sportswriters Alliance.
  
  Falzarano, who retired from teaching and coaching in October, took over as Putnam High's coach in December 1973 from Jack Hession and compiled a 535-255 record. In his 34 seasons, the Clippers won the 1986 Class S state tournament title, reached two more state tourney finals, won a record seven Quinebaug Valley Conference tournament crowns, 13 QVC divisional championships, and two Eastern Connecticut Conference divisional titles.
  
  He faced off against 67 different schools in his career. The only team he faced more than three times and could not beat was perennial power New London (0-8). Falzarano's final game on the Clippers' bench was a 71-66 win over East Lyme last Feb. 20. He was animated on the sidelines and always honest with the media, even if his statements weren't always politically correct.
  
  Falzarano and his wife Carolyn have two daughters -- Caren and Crista -- and two grandsons, Peyton and Dominic.
  
• Ted May
  
  The PGA Tour's annual stop in Connecticut has had dozens of leadership and management types through some tumultuous times the past three decades.
  
  One of the few constants for the state's largest sporting event has been Ted May, who has followed in the footsteps of his father, Ed, a co-founder of the Insurance City Open at Wethersfield Country Club in 1952.
  
  May began volunteering in the mid-1970s with what was the Sammy Davis Jr.-Greater Hartford, was chairman of The Last Blast at Wethersfield in 1983 and helped oversee a move to the TPC River Highlands in Cromwell and then a bridge plan and solicitation of Buick and Travelers as title sponsors to keep the tournament alive since Canon pulled out in 2003.
  
  May, 59, was born in Hartford and grew up in Wethersfield alongside the second hole at Wethersfield CC, where he played and caddied. He also played at Goodwin Golf Course in Hartford and attended Williams College, where he was co-captain his senior year and helped the team win the New England Championship to qualify for the NCAA Championship. After graduating from Williams, May entered a sales management training program with Phoenix Mutual Insurance Co. In 1985, he formed May, Bonee & Walsh, an independent insurance and financial services company in Berlin.
  
  May has been chairman of several tournament committees and been a member of the management committee since 1982. After being tournament chairman, he has been the liaison between the tour and tournament, with major duties being player recruitment and serving on the long-range planning committee.
  
  May also has been active in the American Golf Sponsors, the group of sponsors that works with the tour. He was president in the early 1980s and is finishing an unprecedented third three-year term on the 10-person board of directors that creates policy and positioning for tournaments with the tour and players.
  
  May's latest major project is the First Tee of Connecticut, an offshoot of the Mayor Mike's Golf Club of Kids project that he started with Kent Scully in Hartford in 1996. Tour commissioner Tim Finchem thought so much of what May, Scully and others were doing that they suggested Hartford become part of the First Tee, a creation of the World Golf Foundation that included every major golf organization in the world. The First Tee not only teaches golf, it teaches life skills, including nine core values: honesty, integrity, sportsmanship, respect, confidence, responsibility, perseverance, courtesy and judgment.
  
  The First Tee of Hartford merged with the Connecticut Golf Foundation to become the First Tee of Connecticut and expanded into New Haven, Waterbury, Bridgeport and Fairfield County, in conjunction with the Metropolitan New York group. Five years ago, Northeast Utilities leased 104 acres north of the TPC River Highlands to the Jaycees that are being used for parking and the new practice and First Tee projects.
  
  Last year, more than 50,000 youngsters participated in the state program, and First Tee CEO Bruce Wilson and director of programs Ian Baxter are trying to raise $500,000 to complete the first 16-acre phase of the TPC project. To contribute, call 860-882-1660 or visit www.thefirstteeconnecticut.org.

CSWA names Coaches of the Year
Danbury's Shook, Darien's LaRusso to be honored April 27th at 67th Gold Key Dinner

The Connecticut Sports Writers' Alliance will honor two of Connecticut's most distinguished coaches with the Doc McInerney Male and Female Coach of the Year Award in Danbury High wrestling coach Ricky Shook and Darien High girls volleyball coach Laurie LaRusso.

Shook and LaRusso will be honored on April 27th at the Aqua Turf Club in Southington at the 67th Gold Key Dinner.

Few coaches have attained the level of success that Shook has accomplished at Danbury High. Since taking over the Hatters' program in 2000, Shook has continued the wrestling dominance from the Class LL school. Danbury went 22-0 this season, won the FCIAC championship for the 22nd straight year and has won 11 straight state title going into Saturday's state championship wrestling meet.

In his eighth year, Shook has compiled a 187-7 record, an .964 winning percentage, which is tops among Connecticut wrestling coaches. John Nimock, whom Shook replaced after the 1999 season, is second at .954 (167-8-1) from 1992-99. Shook's teams have been ranked No. 1 in the Norwich Bulletin wrestling poll for 93 consecutive weeks dating back to the middle of the 1999 season.

LaRusso has led the Darien girls volleyball team to seven straight state titles and a total of 13 since becoming coach in 1982. The Blue Wave is 360-10 over the last 14 years, with six of those losses coming in 2000.

Darien captured the Class L state championship with a perfect 25-0 record this past season, and for the first time in program history did not lose a set in any of its games. This season was also LaRusso's 10th unbeaten season. LaRusso, 487-78 in her career at Darien, was named the 2007 Coach of the Year by PrepVolleyball.com, marking the first time an East Coast coach has received the award.

John Wentworth Good Sports Announced

The Connecticut Sports Writers' Alliance has selected eight recipients for the John Wentworth Good Sports Award for 2008.

The Good Sports Award goes to those who unselfishly give back to their communities. This year's recipients are: Charles Derbabian (New Haven), Joe Arnone ( New Britain), Jim Boice (Glastonbury). Peter Higgins (Bloomfield), Francis X. Sweeney (Waterford), Frank and Sheila Beneski (Suffield), and Robert Louie Burns (Hamden).

The Good Sports Award will be presented at the 67th Gold Key Dinner to be held April 27th, 2008 at the Aqua Turf Club at 4:30 p.m. Tickets for the event are $75. For more information on the dinner visit www.ctsportswriters.org.

New Britain's Joe Arnone is a member of the Central Connecticut State University Hall of Fame and is the voice of the Blue Devils having served as the school's PA announcer at athletic events for 45 years and is the longest tenured collegiate PA announcer in the country. He has been honored by the CIAC with a Merit Award for his annual contributions to the high school basketball tournament.

Glastonbury's Jim Boice has been an active participant in the Glastonbury Little League since 1988, coaching, administering, and nurturing children at virtually every division. He founded the Glastonbury Amateur Baseball organization in 1995 and has been an important booster to the Glastonbury High varsity programs. He has founded several town travel programs and has worked to establish several teams in the Jaycee-Courant Summer League. He took over an American Legion team in 2000 and started a Twilight League team last summer.

Suffield's Frank and Sheila Beneski are two of high school sports biggest supporters. The Beneski's are in attendance at local high school basketball games around the state for much of the last 30 years and fans and players, coaches and referees recognize the couple throughout the state. Frank is also president of the Suffield Hall of Fame and has been instrumental in the selection and execution of the award recipients.

Bloomfield's Peter Higgins, originally from Windsor, is the president of the Hartford Summer Basketball and Pro-Am league. He has kept alive the popular summer league with city grants, players' fees and other sponsorships. It is not uncommon to see college and professional players from the area return home to participate in the competitive summer league, which has become a staple in the summer in Hartford.

Hamden's Robert "Louie" Burns is a key cog in the Hamden Fathers Basketball Association. Burns has been a coach, league director, vice-president, and ethics chairman as well as a father figure for the young players in the Newhall Section of Hamden for about 40 years. He volunteers at an Adult Daycare in Hamden and also runs a snack bar at Hamden Middle School.

Waterford's Francis X. Sweeney has been involved in Waterford athletics for over 50 years and is still a lifeguard at the high school for the senior citizens' swimming. He was a teacher and a basketball coach and also served as WHS athletic director. He was the first boys hoop coach and also founded the soccer and track programs. He is a member of the Waterford Parks and Recreation Commission and is the official scorer at basketball games.

New Haven's Charles Derbabian was a custodian at Wilbur Cross High School from 1959-2002 and has kept statistics for Governors' football and basketball teams. He has also worked the sidelines as a member of the chain gang on the football sidelines and has helped out in nearly all aspects of game preparation and management.

Chad Dawson CSWA Male Athlete of Year

The Connecticut Sports Writers' Alliance has selected New Haven professional boxer Chad Dawson as the Doc McInerney Male Athlete of the Year.

Dawson will be honored at the Alliance's 67th Gold Key Dinner on April 27, 2008 at the Aqua Turf Club in Southington.

Dawson, at the age of 24, won the World Boxing Council (WBC) light heavyweight championship on Feb. 3, 2007, with a unanimous decision over previously undefeated Tomaz Aadamek. Dawson then returned to Connecticut for his first title defense knocking out Jesus Ruiz at the Hartford Convention Center in August.

Dawson capped the year with a knockout victory over Epifanio Mendoza in December in Sacramento. He has a title defense scheduled for April 12 against former world title holder Glenn Johnson in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Dawson made his professional debut in 2001 and is regarded as one of the rising starts in professional boxing with a perfect 25-0 record and 17 knockouts. He was one of two Connecticut-based boxers to win a world title this past year along with Norwalk's Travis Simms.

Dawson lives in New Haven and has two sons.

Kristen Frost CSWA Female Athlete of Year

The Connecticut Sports Writers' Alliance has selected Southern Connecticut State University swimmer Kristen Frost of Madison as the Doc McInerney Female Athlete of the Year.

After transferring from the University of Georgia, Frost became one of the top swimmers in the country this past season.

At the Division II national championships in Missouri earlier this month, Frost won four national titles and set an NCAA record in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 16:17.66, shattering an 11-year record by nearly 11 seconds.

Frost also captured the 500-yard freestyle, the 200-yard freestyle setting a new NCAA Division II record, and also the 1,000 freestyle. She was named the meet's most outstanding swimmer.

Frost was a four-time National Swimmer of the Year in high school during an undefeated career at Daniel Hand and was a 15-time All-American.