City lost a jewel in Buzzy Levin

Whether on the diamond, or selling diamonds, he always cared for Middletown

No one called him Jerome. It was always Buzzy.

Anyone who lived in Middletown for any length of time over the past few decades and was paying even the slightest attention, knew that Buzzy Levin was a pillar of the Middletown community.

Sometimes that phrase — pillar of the community — gets overused. Not so in this case. His obituary tells his story more completely than I can, but allow me to share a bit of Buzzy the Baseball Man.

Through his business, Malloves Jewelers, Buzzy sponsored Little League teams, Ahern-Whalen Intermediate League teams and his Malloves Jewelers team in the Greater Hartford Twilight League was the best franchise in the league.

But Buzzy didn’t just sponsor from a distance. He was a hands-on sponsor. He was Middletown’s George Steinbrenner without the pomp and circumstance. When his son Marc played for the Middletown Legion, Buzzy was at Palmer Field. Long after Marc graduated from the program, Buzzy was at Palmer Field.

Indeed, the last time I saw Buzzy was last summer at — where else? — Palmer Field. It was Buzzy who spearheaded the effort to get lights at Palmer. That happened in 1966 and the rest, as they say, is history.

When he entered a team in the Hartford Twilight League, he was all in. His team drew big crowds to Palmer Field and in the GHTL playoffs crowds of 700 to 1,000 were common.

Buzzy was everywhere, making sure tickets were sold, making sure fans were comfortable, making sure his players got the best equipment and the best treatment. Buzzy Baseball was first-class. When I saw Buzzy last summer, after exchanging pleasantries, Buzzy wanted to talk about the local Legion team, which he proceeded to do. Sharp as the proverbial tack, as always.

But his love of baseball belied a deeper love. He had a love for this city, a love for its people and a love for the kids of this town. A Buzzy Levin doesn’t come along very often. The selflessness, the concern for others, the genuine humanity of the man made him a true Man for All Seasons.

Life will go on, memories will fade, but there are countless people who benefited from knowing Buzzy Levin, people whose lives were enriched in so many ways.

Condolences to his family. Rest in peace, my friend, rest in peace.

John Greco

John Greco has retired. Oh, not from his full time job. Greco left that long ago. This past week, John Greco officially retired as a member of the Middletown High School Booster Club. Greco has been volunteering for 33 years, much of it as the chef de cuisine at Greco’s Grill, the MHS concession stand named

for him.

Greco’s specialty was the Greco Dog, a special request item in which an ordinary hot dog would be elevated by sauteed onions and peppers from his garden and a nice, rich tomato sauce. A dog to savor. But Greco was more that a chef. He was — and is — a regular at MHS athletic events. He is an especially ardent fan of the softball team, so much so that the team honored him as its No. 1 fan.

In the winter, he and buddies Tom D’Aquila and John Geary will be found in the last row of the stands at MHS girls and boys basketball games. In the summer he can be found in the last row of the grandstand at Palmer Field watching American Legion baseball.

During the Middletown Invitational track meet, a two-day marathon in which the Booster Club makes a ton of money at Greco’s Grill, Greco took a break and found his way to the press box.

“We’re doing great, but I’m tired,” he said. “Getting old, I guess.”

No John, you’re not getting old. The John Grecos of the world never get old. They just get better.

See you at the games, John.

Lou Milardo

He doesn’t like much ado made of his troubles, mainly because Lou Milardo — the legendary softball coach at Nathan Hale-Ray High School and for a long time the winningest softball coach in state history — figures everyone has their own problems. Besides, he’s a stoic. He’s one of those guys who marches through life, dealing with what comes his way the best he can.

A few weeks ago, he had to deal with a big thing. He had a bad cold/ bronchitis bug in the late winter that was tough to shake. When he did, he had continuing pains so finally he went to the doctors and they nosed around.

They discovered arterial blockages. Bad stuff.

Milardo had major heart surgery. I am pleased to say he is home, making — in his words — slow but steady progress. But then, as one of his doctors said to him, “You’re too stubborn to die.”

So drop him a line, send a card, and yeah, say a little prayer that Sweet Lou continues to improve. The poker table at Mohegan Sun misses him.

What’s the problem?

Apparently the city is balking at giving out awards to Middletown High state championship teams. Both the Ultimate Frisbee team and the boys outdoor track team won state titles. It has been past practice for the city to give out rings or some such to MHS state title teams.

Councilman and former mayor Sebastian Giuliano said that the issue has not formally come before the Common Council, but he also told me at the MHS spring awards dinner that he believed the awards should be given.

“If you want to end the practice, you do it before the high school sports season, not after a team has won a championship,” he said.

Amen. Give the kids their awards. Now.

Not to do that is disgraceful and likely will be long-remembered.

Kids going to college

I’m happy to share some good news about the college plans of high school student-athletes whom we’ve followed. FROM CROMWELL HIGH » Colin Kennedy (golf, Bentley University); Nikki Bitinatis (basketball, Regis College); Theresa Quinn (basketball, Plattsburgh State); Geanna Williams (basketball, UMass Boston); Ashley Della Ratta (basketball, Temple); Cheyenne Salafia (basketball, CCSU).

FROM PORTLAND HIGH » Roland Thivierge (baseball, Mitchell College); Austin White (baseball, URI); Makayla Stefanski (soccer, AIC); Maddison Leary (soccer , ECSU); Nick Piersall (soccer, CCSU).

VINAL TECH » Cullen Rezendes (lacrosse, Rochester Institute of Technology); Connor McDuell (lacrosse, Utica College): Kyle McCarthy (lacrosse, University of New Hampshire); Salvatore Garro (lacrosse, Goodwin College); Kayden Fujio (lacrosse, MxCC); Evan Amara (golf, CCSU); Scott Cardo (rifle, Wofford College).

MHS spring awards

Middletown High held its spring athletic awards banquet last Thursday. The recipients follow.

BOYS TRACK » Outstanding Sportsmanship, Justin Hong; Rookie of the Year, Tyshaun James; Anthony Freeman Team First Award, Jalen Coleman.

GIRLS TRACK » Most Versatile, Jennifer Barbour; Most Consistent, Veronica Meyer.

SOFTBALL » Consistent, Kayla Pieta; MVP, Kelsey White.

BASEBALL » John Geary Most Improved Award, Ryan Hurlburt; John DeNunzio Most Consistent, Mike Gaboury; Shawn LaRosa 10th man Award, Ryan Conklin.

BOYS LACROSSE » Most Improved, Richaldo Fortune; Consistent, Terry Gaylord.

GIRLS LACROSSE » Most Improved, Marshay Harvin; Consistent, Callan Lombardo;

GIRLS TENNIS » Sportsmanship, Talya Eriksen; Consistent, Jessica Hart/ Mariah Monroe.

BOYS TENNIS » Sportsmanship, Pasquale Giardina; Most Improved, Kuba Alicki;

BOYS GOLF » Sportsmanship, Vincent Gritzuk; Outstanding Commitment, Derek Frame.

BOYS CREW » Sportsmanship, Jonathan Rosenblum; Consistent, Bradley Doolgar;

GIRLS CREW » Sportsmanship, Jenna Dickes; Consistent, Katherine Marx;

ULTIMATE FRISBEE » Spirit of the Game Award, Jayson DeFrance; Consistent, Shane Rascati;

UNIFIED SPORTS » Sportsmanship, Samantha Perrotta; Consistent, Maurice Strong.

Some 93 students were named to the Central Connecticut Conference AllAcademic Team. Girls track led with 19, boys track had 15 and girls tennis had 10.

Director of Athletics Elisha De Jesus presented the Outstanding ScholarAthlete Awards to Kaylee Morosky, who had an average of 99.29 and Matthew Lecky, who turned in a GPA of 99.57, Both are sophomores and for Morosky, it was her sixth time in a row winning the highest GPA Award. Lecky won for the third time.

Legion doings

Middletown Post 75 won two of its first three nonzone games over the weekend. The Post 75ers beat Danielson 8-4 Saturday evening at Palmer Field, then split with the Connecticut Rivals, an AAU team, winning 3-2 and losing 7-6.

Middletown hosts Norwich — weather may have something to say about that — tonight in a 5:30 double header at Palmer.

Methinks the 75ers should be improved over last season, but how much will depend on how well they pitch. The Zone 3 season starts Saturday at Guilford.

RCP opened with a 1-0 non-zone win over Oakville this past weekend. The defending Zone 7 champs are at Branford today at 5:45 p.m. and open their zone slate Wednesday at Tri-County.

T.J. Grande’s team ought to be pretty good, but what else is new?

Baseball tourney

If the weather allows, the CIAC Class M semifinal doubleheader will be played at Palmer Field Tuesday. If not Tuesday, then Wednesday. The first game will see St. Joseph of Trumbull taking on Waterford at 3:30 p.m. The feature game is at 7 p.m. when Lewis Mills of Burlington takes on local favorite Haddam-Killingworth.

H-K knocked off Cromwell Saturday 9-2 (see story in these pages) to earn a Final Four berth. Veteran coach Mark Brookes has done everything except win a state title.

Maybe this will be the year.

In the first game, No. 34 ranked St. Joseph, 8-12 in the regular season, made it to the semifinals. But before we get all excited about that, remember that this is a school without borders that plays a Class L and LL schedule against the likes of Notre Dame of West Haven, Fairfield Warde and Ludlowe, New Canaan, Greenwich, Westhill and Darien Then come tourney time, drops down to Class M.

Fair? Hardly. But until the CIAC does something about it, the unfairness will continue.

Heck, I wonder how fair Hale-Ray thought it was for its softball team to play Holy Cross of Waterbury, a school that plays in the mostly Class L and LL Naugautck Valley League.

I have said it before, here it is again. There should be no schools without borders in Class S. Not one. Not in any sport. At the very least, each borderless school should be kicked up one class.

And in basketball, they should have their own tournament.

The championship games will be this weekend at Palmer Field. There will be single game Friday night and three games on Saturday. Which class will play when will be determined after this week’s semifinal games.

Here and there

The netting behind home plate that protects the fans in the grandstand at Palmer Field needs a bit of repair ... congrats to Deb Petruzzello on her retirement from coaching the girls track team at MHS ...she tried retiring last year, but the school couldn’t find an adequate replacement, so she came back and led the girls to the CCC South title and a No. 5 finish in Class L ... good people are hard to find and harder to replace.

• It was nice to see Board of Ed member Christopher Drake at the MHS sports dinner ... also great to see councilman Seb Giuliano there ... but he’s always there ... lemme do some math ... that means eight board of ed members had something better to do than honor kids and 11 council members had more important things to do ... let’s give Mayor Drew a pass ... he has been at every other one I’ve attended, so missing one is allowed.

• I miss the JoeD and Gresh afternoon sports talk show on WTIC radio ... except to tune in hoping the Red Sox will lose, I find no reason to listen to what used to be the classiest radio station around.

•Don’t forget the Brandon Reeve Memorial Golf Tournament on Saturday, June 24 ... it will be held at the Quarry Ridge Golf course in Portland and benefits a scholarship fund at Middletown High ... Jim and Pam Reeve sponsor it every year in memory of their son, Brandon, who died in a motor vehicle accident ... in this way, Brandon lives on in the lives of deserving students ... call the Reeves at 860-347-3573 for details on how you can help.

• I also am aware of another vital charity ... this is another memorial golf tourney to be held in August with monies going to CTE brain research ... I’ll fill you in on details if I get permission ... the details will break your heart.

• Yankees, Sox and Orioles are all playing win one, lose one baseball ... Yanks lost a toughie Sunday as Luis Severino had a 2-0 lead in the seventh then, with two outs, gave up a single and home run to tie ... the Blue Jays won with a homer off Tyler Clippard ... that’s the ripple effect of losing your closer.

People have to step up and boys and girls, repeat after me: we’d much rather have Dellin Betances setting up Aroldis Chapman than Tyler Clippard setting up Betances ... Clippard has blown two games in the past 10 days.

Yanks home for three with the Sox, then three with the O’s ... think I’ll find my way to da Bronx ... fun week.

Jim Bransfield Monday Musings