Fazzina takes spot among city’s football greats

“The high point for me was my sophomore year when we went 9-1. The experience made me want to do my best from then on.”

— Daniel Fazzina, Torrington lineman

— For those who play in high school and beyond, football is a tradition lasting a lifetime … and beyond.

Nobody does a better job of keeping the tradition alive than Torrington’s ’29 Club, named in honor of an undefeated 1929 Red Raider team, becoming official 10 years after the fact.

Since 1939, the club has kept the traditions alive for many generations of Torrington players through 88 years of annual ban- quets and the selection of an outstanding Red Raider player for the ’29 Club Award.

“We have the last four recipients here tonight,” said Torrington head coach Gaian Rodriguez at this year’s banquet Wednesday night. “They’ve all passed it on to one another.”

This year’s ’29 Club recipient, Daniel Fazzina, took the tradition much further back in a roundtable discussion with Ralph Sabia, the club’s fourth honoree in 1942 and Lou Zanderigo, the 11th.

“I played for Coach Pete DranTORRINGTON ginis,” Sabia recalls. Dranginis was a member of that founding 1929 team. “We had a tough time with Naugatuck, but the West Hartford teams were easy.”

Sabia graduated in 1943, joined the Marines and helped win World War II in the Pacific.

Zanderigo points out that Torrington has had two undefeated teams, the second — 8-0 — when he was a senior.

“We beat Ansonia when they had Alan Webb, who went on to play for the Giants,” said Zanderigo, a an All-State running back and safety. “I scored three touchdowns.”

A basketball and track star as well, Zanderigo came in second in the 100-yard dash to Lindy Remegino, who went on to the Olympics.

“I got out ahead and then he came flying by as if I was standing still,” Zanderigo chuckles.

Fazzina, an All-Iron Division offensive and defensive lineman, stands up just fine in the face of such tradition.

“The high point for me was my

sophomore year when we went 9-1,” Fazzina said. “The experience made me want to do my best from then on.”

“He’s where he is because of hard work,” Rodriguez said. “He’s become a vocal leader with the positives.”

Graduations from the 2015 team dropped the Red Raiders to 4-6 and 2-8 for the past two years, but the spirit never died.

“2-8 was tough, but you didn’t pay attention to it,” Fazzina said. “You’re playing with your family and your team and you just went out there and had fun.”

Fazzina joins an extended family that’s been saying much the same things about football for 88 years, through good times and bad in Torrington football.