Thomaston, a small town built on family, wins title for ‘The Mayor’
UNCASVILLE — Bob McMahon, whose family is about as Thomaston as Thomaston can get, watched as his girls basketball team celebrated its CIAC Class S championship Saturday at Mohegan Sun.
He had taken a few steps into the joyous pack at midcourt and then withdrew to stand there, arms folded, and soak in a special moment. The coach allowed himself a thin smile.
“Almost everyone on our roster once sat there with their pink Thomaston (Trotters) uniforms on,” said McMahon, pointing to the stands behind the team’s bench. “They had a little performance at halftime here. They’ll tell you they dreamt of this from those moments, and we have all kinds of pictures.
“Now look at what they did.”
Behind the 17 points of Emma Sanson, whose has family ties stringing through multiple state championships, Thomaston outlasted Coventry, 42-38, for its first title since 2015 and fourth overall. It did not arrive before Coventry, trailing by 10 points with 30 seconds left, pulled within three with seven seconds left on a 3pointer by Amy Prior. Sophomore Ava Harkness hit a free throw and Thomaston was safe.
“That was a crazy minute,” McMahon said. “I need a drink of water … or something.”
With every uniform there seems to be another Thomaston family story, and all those uniforms bore a small black patch with the letters “EM.”
“We put them on the day after Coach’s father’s funeral,” Sanson said. “We knew obviously he was upset. He had to miss a few practices. It was up to us as a team to keep pushing. And we did.”
Thomaston went out that January night and beat Nonnewaug, 49-20.
Eugene McMahon — a lifelong resident of Thomaston, a graduate of Thomaston High, a Korean War veteran, a six-time first selectman, a fixture in town sports — died at age 93 on Jan. 14.
His nickname will tell you what folks in Thomaston thought about him. They called him The Mayor. He used to sit in the front row of games.
“Thomaston is a big family, and my dad was a big part of it,” McMahon said. “I didn’t know the kids were going to wear the patch. And after the Nonnewaug game, our senior Aurelia Barker said some amazing things. What she said I’ll never forget. I’ll always love her for it.”
This is what Barker told the Waterbury Republican-American:
“We stayed together. It was definitely hard. We knew that coach was just torn apart. But we won for him.”
On Saturday, Barker, who is headed to play field hockey at Wingate University, said, “We did it for Coach, and we knew his dad was looking over us.”
These have not been easy months for Bob McMahon.
His oldest brother, Paul, died on Oct. 26 with complications of Alzheimer’s. He was 63. Another Thomaston fixture, another youth sports guy. Paul’s sons were in the stands Saturday.
“I wanted to win this for my dad and my brother,” McMahon said. “Look, it ain’t about me. Ever. Not for a second. But it was a big part of my motivation. The kids knew it. They know my dad and my brother. We’re a small town.”
This was Thomaston’s and McMahon’s sixth trip to the state finals since 2013. Won three. Lost three. McMahon knows both sides. Two years ago, Thomaston was headed to the quarterfinals when COVID ended everything. He liked his chances in 2020. He loved them in 2021. COVID killed the postseason again.
“Those kids are in the stands today,” McMahon said. “They missed out on their chances. We brought it up plenty this season. We were playing for our town, our family and most of all the kids who wore the brown and gold before.”
Winners of 18 its past 19 games, the only loss coming to Gilbert in the Berkshire League semifinals, this Thomaston team was battlehardened by losses to Notre Dame-Fairfield and Daniel Hand in Notre Dame’s Christmas tournament.
Connecticut is a small state, but big enough for Thomaston to travel 70 miles and continue staying over Friday night in Norwich before an early Saturday title game.
“My sisters and cousins did it. It’s kind of a tradition,” Sanson said. “We had a huge sendoff last night and a pep rally at the end of school. The town all came out to support us. We wanted to make them proud.”
Sanson’s sister Morgan and cousin Gabrielle Hurlbert made it to Mohegan Sun four times. Her sister Alexa made it three times. Her cousin Abby Hurlbert sank three huge free throws in Thomaston’s double-overtime triumph over St. Paul in 2014.
And the little ones who looked up to them were Trotters, a group of Thomaston recreation players, who performed at halftime dressed in pink during five successive final appearances from 201317.
“There were 10 of us who were Trotters,” Barker said. “That brought energy to this team. We were the ones sitting there watching them, thinking they were our idols in 2014-15. We wanted to prove we could do it ourselves.
“It’s crazy. It’s extremely exciting for Emma and me. We used to have seven in our class, but there’s only the two seniors left. Yeah, we proved ourselves.”
Every town has stories, and Thomaston seems to have one for every one of its 7,442 residents. Here was the 10th-grader Harkness, the other Thomaston player in double figures, knocking down the decisive free throw. McMahon said three on the staff, including him, taught her at Center School in Thomaston.
“Ava doesn’t get rattled,” McMahon said. “She doesn’t let outside noise bother here. Literally. She wears cochlear implants. She is just a tough, tough kid. She always has been. She comes from a Thomaston family.
“She was here as a little kid performing and now she really performed out here. It’s not a hurdle for her. She makes no excuses about anything. Not bad for a softball kid.”
Turns out the “EM” patch on the uniform is not all the team brings to each game.
Nonnewaug showed its sensitivity when it allowed its game with Thomaston to be moved a day so its team could attend Gene McMahon’s funeral. Coach Adam Brutting, a Thomaston grad long appreciative of Gene’s support, showed how much respect he had when he presented the team with a ball with an inscription saying “The Mayor.”
Thomaston assistant coach Bill Ryan, former athletic director, also has a jacket he puts across where The Mayor used to sit. Only it bears Gene’s other nickname.
“Mr. Ryan brings the jacket with ‘Sleeper’ on it.”
One story is the nickname came from a former coach not happy with a lack of hustle.
“I think it’s because he’d always fall asleep,” Barker said.
Hey, as they said in “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”
“When my niece played for St. Paul, we played them here in the 2014 championship,” McMahon said. “My dad was torn. He sat in the middle to be neutral. But the smile he had after the game (which Thomaston won) told me otherwise.
“I’m still not convinced how good we were or weren’t this year. But I’ll tell you. It seemed a lot of times we were playing with six out there.”
Maybe it is true. Maybe we print the legend.