Tap-Off Club Hall of Fame to induct nine on Nov. 14

The New Haven Tap Off Club will induct nine people into its Hall of Fame Class of 2018. The dinner will take place Nov. 14 at Amarante’s Sea Cliff in New Haven beginning with a 6:30 p.m. reception.

Inductees are: Jim Eagan, Mark Federico, Joe Gaetano, Joe Grippo, Kate Donohue Gunning, Barbara Hall, Lea Dickson, DJ King, and Kerri Ostrosky.

Jim Eagan, the New Haven Tap Off Club Coach of the Year and New Haven Coach of the Year in 19981999 who coached girls at West Haven High and Sacred Heart Academy, over 33 seasons; Mark Federico, a Board 10 Official, representing the International Association of Approved Basketball Officials; Joe Gaetano, who has coached at Sheehan for 24 years, including the 2010 the Class M state championship; Joe Grippo, who coached girls basketball and volleyball over a 34-year career at Morgan, where he was a Register All-Area and TapOff Club Coach of Year recipient; Kate Donohue Gunning is Hamden’s alltime leading scorer with 1,380 points.

Also, Barbara Hall and Lea Dixon impacted women’s athletics in the state in the mid-1970s by challenging inequalities that women’s athletics faced at the time. Hall also was the former coach at Stratford; DJ King was a former coaches all-state selection who was a part of Branford’s 20-0 Housatonic championship team in 1978; and Kerri Ostrosky captained both her Shelton High and her Central Connecticut State University team.

For reservations, contact Mike Raccio at 203-4696603 between 5:30-8 p.m. Tickets are $50. Deadline is Nov. 1.

CONNECTICUT HOOPS CLINIC

A free Connecticut Area Coaches Hoop Clinic will be held Nov. 4 at Hamden Hall Country Day from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Coaches conducting clinics that day include former UConn men’s basketball coach and current St. Joseph-Hartford coach Jim Calhoun, Quinnipiac University men’s basketball coach Baker Dunleavy and UConn assistant men’s basketball coach Tom Moore. The clinic will be held at the Taylor Gymnasium.

Donations will be accepted at the door for the In a Heartbeat Foundation. For further information, email Hamden Hall coach Sean Doherty at sdoherty@hamdenhall.org.

EAST HAVEN HOF

Seven people will be inducted into the 32nd Annual East Haven Hall of Fame Awards on Nov. 18 at the Seasons.

Slated for induction are Tim Whelan (1972), exfootball standout; William Parker (1977), a quarterback who was recognized by the New Haven Gridiron Club as the most outstanding high school player in the Greater New Haven Area; Vincent DeNuzzo (1996), a former basketball standout and the current principal at East Haven High; David Bachinski (1997), who holds the school record for assists in hockey; Jennifer Lucatino McCabe (2004), a former soccer and track and field standout; William Paulson (2004), a former football standout; and Natalie Crosby (2007), a former Register All-Area performer in volleyball who also starred in softball.

Tickets are $50 and may be purchased by sending a check payable to the EHHS Alumni Association, 247 Bayard Ave. North Haaven 06473 Tickets will not be sold at the door.

DIAMOND CLUB HOF

The Southern Connecticut Diamond Club Inc. will hold its annual Hall of Fame Induction dinner on Thursday at Monticello’s Restaurant in Meriden.

Hors d’oeuvres will be at 5:30 p.m. Dinner follows promptly at 6:30 p.m.

Those being inducted include Chuck Coyle, scheduler of the East Shore Travel League of East Haven; John DeFrancisco of Derby, former varsity baseball coach at Derby High ;Ed DiPersio, founder of the Connecticut high school All Star program and baseball book author; George Dummar (posthumously), former varsity coach at Branford; Bill Mrowka, varsity baseball coach at Cheshire; and Lou Verdi of North Haven, former assistant coach at Quinnipiac University and North Haven American Legion.

John Adamovitch of Woodbridge will receive the Andrew Gassira Umpire Award. Michael “Tex” Volpe of East Haven will receive the Tony Mentone Memorial Distinguished Service Award. The 1992 and 1993 Cheshire High School championship teams will be honored as “Teams of the Past.”

Anyone needing tickets can contact Rose Mentone at 541 Hill St., Hamden on or before Oct. 19 at rmentone@comcast.net or go to southern ct diamond club.org. Tickets are $55 per person and include a fullcourse surf and turf dinner or vegetarian, if preferred.

CHSCA HOF

Eight coaches and one media member will be honored as 2018 inductees to the Connecticut High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame at its 42nd annual ceremony on Nov. 15 at the Aqua Turf in Southington at 7 p.m.

Coaches Michele D. Cordeau, Gilbert Paul LaPointe, Richard Bertram Medve, George S. Taterosian, Harold M. Freedman, Howard K. Gura, Ralph J. DeSantis Jr. (posthumously), Jim Day (posthumously) and media member Marc Allard will be inducted.

Tickets for the dinner are $46 and available in advance by contacting the CHSCA office at P.O. Box 632, Southington, CT 06487 or by calling 860-628-4122 or e-mailing John Fontana at jfontana01@snet.net. Doors open at 6 p.m.

Cordeau has coached cheerleading at Wolcott High School since 1986. Her teams have won 15 state championships, including eight in a row. Wolcott was named Cheerleading Program of the Year in 1996 and Cordeau earned National Coach of the Year in 1998-99. She was selected CHSCA Coach of the Year in 2003.

LaPointe coached girls tennis and cross country for 35 and 27 years, respectively, at Norwich Free Academy. Overall his teams won six state championships, including two Open titles and had six total runner-up finishes. His overall career record was 311-13. He has multiple league titles and one New England championship in 1985.

Medve coached Ridgefield track and cross country and track at Newtown for a total of 36 seasons. His overall record was 800-200. He won three boys indoor state championships, including an Open title in 1977. His girls team at Ridgefield won the 1984 Class L cross country state championship.

Taterosian coached boys swimming for 30 years and girls swimming for 23 years at Trumbull. He has 249 career boys victories and 218 girls’ wins. He has earned two National Merit awards (1996 and 2002) and served as an FCIAC and CHSCA chairperson and National Region I chairperson on those organization's swim committees.

Freedman has coached girls tennis for 38 years (1976-2018) at Amity High School with a career record of 456-133. His teams had one state championship runner-up finish and reached the semifinals six times, the last in 2013. Amity also won 19 league or division titles, the first in 1977, and he twice won five consecutive league titles (1995-99 and 2001-04). He inducted into the Amity Athletic Hall of Fame in 2015.

Gura coached girls basketball at Shelton from 1979-1997 with a record of 328-103. His teams won one Class LL state title in 1985 and were finalists in 1984 and 1994. He was named New Haven Tap Off Club Coach of the Year in 1985 and 1990 and was inducted into its Hall of Fame in 2002.

DeSantis Jr. coached football and taught physical education at Bethel. His overall coaching record was 149-55-6 and his team was the Class MM runner-up in 1988. He was named CHSCA Coach of the Year in 1990. The football field at Bethel was named in his honor in 1993.

Jim Day started coaching wrestling at Berlin in 1981 and went on to win nine state championships, 20 conference titles and coached four New England champions.

He had a career coaching record of 445-132-3. He coached four All-American wrestlers and 10 State Open titlists. He developed the criteria for seeding wrestlers in the state tournaments and started the Academic All-State wrestling team. He has also been inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, Connecticut Chapter.

Allard started his media career as a radio broadcaster at Marietta College and continued it at WINY in Putnam. He began covering local sports for the Norwich Bulletin in 2000 and eventually became assistant sports editor and then sports editor in 2006. He is currently sports information director at Woodstock Academy.