LOOKING BACK | BY GEORGE ALBANO
10 YEARS AGO
The Norwalk-Brien McMahon co-op hockey team, winners of just one game last season, quickly equaled that output by winning their season opener 4-2 over the New Fairfield-Immaculate co-op at the Danbury Ice Arena. Patrick Odierna had two goals and an assist while Nick Hulbert and Dylan Byrne each registered a goal and an assist. Senior goalie Danny Diaz made 29 saves in the victory.
Less than a month after stepping down as the Norwalk High head football coach, Pete Tucci was named the Bears’ head baseball coach for a second time. Tucci previously coached NHS for 10 seasons, stepping down in 2000 after leading the Bears to a pair of FCIAC championships in 1993 and ’96 and two trips to the Class LL state final. For the past six seasons, Tucci served as an assistant coach with the Bears under his successor, Angelo Bruno.
The McMahon girls softball team also has a new coach as Dani Brown, an assistant with the Lady Senators the past two seasons, takes over the program. Brown, an English teacher at the high school, played college softball at Fairfield University.
The McMahon wrestling team also opened its season in impressive fashion, beating Bridgeport Central 70-12. The Senators won 11 of the 14 weight classes, including 10 pins with Robert Perschino posting the fastest fall in 23 seconds at 103 pounds.
The opening week in the Norwalk Recreation Industrial Basketball League saw Norwalk Hospital defeat the Norwalk Police Department 60-37. Jeff Guance scored 24 points and Will Ferguson tallied 19 to lead the winners.
25 YEARS AGO
The Norwalk High wrestling team, coming off an 18-3 season, picked up where it left off as the Bears swept a season-opening tri-meet by overpowering New Canaan 68-12 and Ridgefield 74-6. Warren Pena (112 pounds), Eric Gaucher (130), George Apazadis (135), JP Destruge (152), Peter Slay (160), Jim Ezzo (171) and Gary Koenig (215) each posted pins in both matches. NHS then travelled upstate and won the Berlin Tournament behind five individual champs as Pena, Apazadis, Robert Samuel (140), Chris Albert (189) and Koenig all took first place in their weight class.
Meanwhile, the Brien McMahon wrestling team dropped its season opener to Greenwich 48-30. The Senators’ points came via five pins including Tyron Bullock (130) in 21 seconds and Min Tham (103) in 29 seconds. Dan Blake (135), Dan Walsh (188) and Ryan Cremona (215) also won by fall.
The Norwalk Community Technical College men’s basketball team evened its record at 3-3 with a 118-63 win over visiting Three Rivers CC of Norwich. Dan Hickman led the Panthers with a career-high 32 points and 10 rebounds while Steve Worthy scored 23 points.
50 YEARS AGO
After back-to-back losses, the Norwalk High basketball team broke into the win column by beating Trumbull 76-65. For the third straight game Sammy Miller was the Bears’ top scorer as the junior standout netted 24 points on 11-of-14 shooting before fouling out with 2:39 to go. Jesse Adams added 18 points, Levan Dawson scored 14 and Cedric Gay had 10 points and 13 rebounds.
Meanwhile, Brien McMahon, coming off a nine-point win against Norwalk, improved to 3-1 with two more victories. The Senators pulled away in the final minutes to beat New Canaan 80-73. Robert Little led the way with 25 points while Brad Smith scored 16 and Gary Lawrence, in foul trouble most of the game, added 14 points, including two key baskets down the stretch ... Lawrence recorded 25 points and 16 rebounds while Little scored 21 points in a 65-56 win over Wilton, the newest member of the FCIAC.
Central Catholic was handed its first loss of the season after two opening wins as the Cavaliers dropped a 52-51 heartbreaker at Weston in triple overtime. Central led 29-17 at halftime and 39-31 after three before the Trojans rallied to tie it and pull out the victory in OT. Don Gustafson led the Norwalkers with 18 points while John Paladino scored 11 and Jamie Flynn had 10 points ... Gustafson then scored 20 points as CCHS bounced back to beat Abbott Tech 59-55. John Fullam added 15 points and Paladino 12 in the win.
The local high school hockey season got off to an exciting start as McMahon rallied for two goals in the closing seconds to nip Brunswick 2-1 at Crystal Rink. Trailing 1-0,
Steve Dunne tied it with 35 seconds remaining and then assisted Jay Walker on the game winner with 15 seconds left. Sophomore goalie Tom Connolly recorded 14 saves in his varsity debut. It was also a successful start for new head coach Lou Constantinople.
Several Norwalk bowling leagues were in full swing, including the Rip Van Winkle ‘A’ League where Joe Greco Jr. rolled a 650 series (234-224-192) to lead Veteran’s Shoe Repair over Lawrence’s Tigers ... Lon Casey bowled three 200 games with a 215-203-201-619 as Solheim Builders swept all three games and the pin fall against the Laurels ... In the Women’s Major League,
Flo Keeney recorded a season-high 225 while Fausta Marino had the high triple of the night with a 592.