The Connecticut Sports Writers' Alliance is pleased to announce the recipients of the Gold Key for 2009. Since 1940, the Alliance has awarded those from Connecticut who have made their stamp on the sporting world on the youth, high school, college and professional levels. Past recipients of the Gold Key Award include New York Giants football great Ken Strong (1945), Eastern Connecticut State baseball coach Bill Holowaty (1989) and St. Joseph boys basketball coach Vito Montelli (1998).

This year's recipients are: Dr. Ray Cieplik, Coast Guard Academy athletic director and a former men's soccer coach; Thomas Nevers, former Hale Ray High School and Eastern Connecticut State soccer coach; Brian Leetch, former NHL defensemen for the New York Rangers; and Stan Ogrodnik, former Trinity College men's basketball coach.

The Gold Key Dinner will begin at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 26, 2009 at the Aqua Turf Club in Southington. Tickets are $75 and can be reserved by contacting Alliance president Bob Ehalt at (203) 929-6584 or by email at ehalt.b@sbcglobal.net, or Alliance vice president Tiffany Ventura at Tlv80@aol.com. Tickets can also be purchased by mailing a check to Connecticut Sports Writers' Alliance, P.O. Box 70, Unionville, CT 06085. More information on the dinner, as well as other honorees, will follow in the coming weeks.

About the Gold Key recipients:

• Dr. Raymond Cieplik: Since Aug. 24, 1970, Cieplik has been involved with the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, one of the most prestigious institutions in the country. He began as an instructor in physical education and coach of the men's soccer team - the latter of which he held for 31 seasons. From 1976 through 2000, he enjoyed 25 consecutive winning seasons, and his career record at the Academy is 248-165-37. His teams won two ECAC titles, in 1995 and '98, and three Constitution Athletic Conference titles. He was named Coach of the Year three times. He was inducted into the U.S. Coast Guard Academy's Hall of Fame in 1997, the Springfield College Hall of Fame in 2000, and received the National Soccer Coaches Association of America's Honor Award. He is still involved with Coast Guard today as the athletic director.
  
  
• Brian Leetch: One of the best defensemen in National Hockey League history, Leetch, a Cheshire native and Avon Old Farms standout, was a mainstay during the New York Rangers' successful run of the 1990s. He collected four trophies during his 18-year career - Calder (top rookie), Norris (top defensemen), Conn Smyth (playoff MVP) and Stanley Cup (1994, with New York). He played for Boston College in 1986-87 before joining the Rangers the following season. He also captained the 1988 U.S. National Team. His career came to a close in 2006 with the Boston Bruins; he also played the 2003-04 season with the Toronto Maple Leafs. For his career, Leetch scored 247 goals and tallied 781 assists for 1,028 career points. His No. 2 was raised to the Madison Square Garden rafters last January, and this past October he was inducted into the U.S. Ice Hockey Hall of Fame in Denver.
  
  
• Tom Nevers:Nevers, of Mansfield, always found success on the soccer pitch. As a student, he led the UConn men's soccer team to the 1948 National Championship. Becoming the boys soccer coach at Hale-Ray High School in Moodus soon after, Nevers' clubs won seven state titles in 10 seasons. The Little Noises also established state records for consecutive unbeaten games (57) and least goals allowed in one season (0). In 1961, Nevers took over Eastern Connecticut State College's club soccer team and wasted little time developing it into a winner on the intercollegiate level. The 1965 campaign marked the first of 14 straight winning seasons under Nevers, and the club qualified for 10 straight postseason tournaments between 1966 and 1975. The 1968-69 clubs finished unbeaten (28-0-1) through regular season, conference and regional postseason play, placing third and fourth, respectively, in NAIA national tournament competition. In fact, the '69 club outscored its 11 regular-season opponents, 88-4, and finished with 101 goals. He was inducted into the ECSU Hall of Fame in 1986, and had the soccer field dedicated in his honor in 2001. In addition to soccer, Nevers also coached golf and basketball at ECSU.
  
  
• Stanley Ogrodnik: Ogrodnik, of Tolland, recently retired as the most successful men's basketball coach at Trinity College. In 27 seasons, he compiled a 478-186 record and reached the NCAA Tournament seven times, including last season. His winning percentage (.720) is among the top 30 in Division III, and he guided the Bantams to four ECAC Division III New England titles and eight consecutive appearances in the NESCAC Championship Tournament. Twice, his teams won a school-record 24 games, and his 478 career victories are the most of any coach in Trinity athletics.
  
  

New Canaan High School football coach Lou Marinelli and Coventry High School girls' volleyball coach Matt Hurlock have been selected as recipients of the Connecticut Sports Writers' Alliance's Doc McInerney High School Coach of the Year award for male and female sports.

Marinelli is coming off one of the most successful seasons in a brilliant 28-year career at New Canaan, leading the Rams to a perfect 13-0 record, their third straight Class MM state championship, and the No. 1 ranking in the final New Haven Register state media poll. The state title was the seventh overall for Marinelli, who also guided New Canaan to its fourth Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference crown under his direction. He has led the Rams to nine appearances in the state finals and nine more trips to the FCIAC championship game. He was also named the 2008 NFL High School Coach of the Year by the New York Giants, while in 2007 Marinelli was a finalist for the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Coach of the Year award. He is a six-time FCIAC Coach of the Year. In his 28 years at New Canaan, Marinelli has compiled a record of 222-81-6, a .733 winning percentage, and counting three seasons as a head coach in New York, his overall coaching record is 241-88-7.

Hurlock just completed his eighth season as head girls' volleyball coach at Coventry High by winning the school's fifth state championship in six seasons. Hurlock has a career record as girls' volleyball coach of 161-18. In the last six years, the Patriots' record under Hurlock is 139-2 with five state titles. The Patriots are riding a 70-match winning streak since losing in the state finals in 2005. Hurlock is also coach of the boys' basketball team where he has compiled a 200-67 record in 12 seasons. Hurlock, 36, is an E.O. Smith-Storrs graduate and went to college at Springfield College, graduating with a degree in Physical Education.

University of Connecticut All-America running back Donald Brown and Olympic silver medalist Michelle Guerette have been selected as the Connecticut Sports Writers' Alliance's outstanding male and female athletes for 2008. Brown will receive the Bill Lee Male Athlete of the Year award and Guerette will be presented with the Hank O'Donnell Female Athlete of the Year award.

Brown, in his final season at UConn, led the nation in rushing with 2,083 yards in 2008. A second-team All-America choice by the Associated Press, Brown is one of only 14 major college players to ever rush for 2,000 yards in a season. Brown declared himself eligible for this year’s National Football League Draft after rushing for 261 yards in the Huskies' 38-20 win over Buffalo in the season-ending International Bowl in Toronto. Appropriately enough, Brown will be honored at the Gold Key dinner on the same day as the NFL draft is held in New York.

Guerette, a resident of Bristol and a graduate of Bristol Central High School, earned a silver medal in the women's single sculls competition at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. She became the first American to receive an Olympic medal in that sport in 20 years. An eight-time member of the United States national team, Guerette took home a bronze medal at the 2005 and 2007 world championships. A Harvard graduate, Guerette was named one of two 2008 Athletes of the Year by USRowing.

Previous Year's Events

Click here to view the program from the 67th Gold Key dinner, held on April 27, 2008.

Click here to view the program from the 66th Gold Key dinner, held on April 22, 2007.

Click here to view the program from the 65th Gold Key dinner, held on April 16, 2006.

Click here for information on the honorees from the 64th Gold Key dinner, held on April 17, 2005.

Click here for information on the honorees from the 63rd Gold Key dinner, held on April 25, 2004.

Click here for information on the honorees from the 62nd Gold Key dinner, held on April 27, 2003.