2021: Year in Connecticut Sports
Revisiting a busy state sports landscape
If 2020 was defined by what sports fans lost, the past 12 months can be framed by what returned.
There was, at least for most of the year, a sense of normalcy. We attended games and saw seasons start and end, we watched Olympians crowned and athletes of all levels — from high school kids to highly-paid pros — actually, well, compete.
COVID-19 was never too far from our consciousness, of course, and the pandemic’s surge is felt in sports as the year ends. But sports in Connecticut and around the world bounced back and dusted itself off this year.
Let’s review the biggest stories in our state, 2021:
RETURN OF THE SPECTATOR
A year after sports was canceled or staged in empty venues, fans returned in 2021.
They gathered around the 18th at River Highlands as Harris English won the Travelers Championship in an eight-hole playoff; they squeezed into the XL Center for UConn’s Big East opener against Providence, and over 49,000 were at the Yale Bowl for
The Game.
Lacrosse fans from Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland and Duke were at Rentschler Field in East Hartford for the Final Four. More than 20,000 were at the venue to see the U.S. women’s national team — including Connecticut’s Alyssa Naeher — play a friendly over the summer.
From packed high school bleachers to crowded small college gyms to, well, Yankee Stadium, fans were reminded of what they missed in 2020.
But as the year ends and COVID-19 numbers rise, those crowds may be dwindling in the coming year.
THE YEAR OF PAIGE
The latest generational player to arrive in Storrs lived up to every bit of hype. Paige Bueckers, the do-it-all guard from Minnesota, joined Geno Auriemma’s program with her own level of celebrity — Instagram followers, YouTube highlights, an established brand.
She didn’t disappoint, earning national player of the year as a freshman while leading UConn to its 13th consecutive Final Four.
As her sophomore year began, expectations were high. Joined with highly touted freshman Azzi Fudd, Bueckers was the leader of a team for the ages. Or so we thought. UConn lost to No. 1 South Carolina early in the season and Bueckers injured her knee in early December.
As the year ends, Bueckers is recovering from surgery. She won’t be back until sometime in February.
POWER OF COLLEGE ATHLETES
Bueckers was also among the faces of the name, image and likeness movement. The NCAA — nudged by state laws across the country, including Connecticut — altered rules to allow college athletes to profit off their name and image, and to hire agents. Bueckers, with a Gatorade deal, is at the forefront.
But the ability to earn money was just part of the movement that saw athletes empowered this year. The transfer portal became popular in all sports, as athletes followed the path that coaches have taken for decades — moving freely from school to school.
In the spring, the inequity between the men’s and women’s college basketball tournament became a significant story. But only after it was brought to light by Oregon’s Sedona Prince, who posted a video on social media comparing the amenities offered to men and women. The story gained traction when more athletes spoke out.
FRANKIE’S RISE
When the 2021 high school baseball season began, East Catholic’s Frank Mozzicato was starting his senior season with an eye on his future at UConn. When the 2021 high school baseball season was over, the left-hander from Ellington was on a prosperous path to a professional career.
Mozzicato’s story was stunning. He threw four consecutive no-hitters, struck out 135 in 55 2/3 innings, led his team to the Class M state title and … was picked seventh overall by the Kansas City Royals in the Major League Baseball Draft.
Bound for UConn before the season, Mozzicato’s draft stock steadily rose. Still, he was viewed as perhaps a late first-round pick. Instead, the Royals grabbed him early and Mozzicato signed for a $3.55 million bonus.
DONOVAN STAYS HOME
Donovan Clingan, the 7-foot-2 wunderkind, could have honed his basketball skills at a prep school. Instead, he stayed at Bristol Central.
When it came time for a college choice, Clingan could have taken his game to Michigan, Ohio State, Syracuse or Notre Dame. Instead, he stayed in Connecticut.
Clingan’s decision to attend UConn was significant. He’s the most prominent state player to pick UConn since Andre Drummond and he is drawing comparison to Corny Thompson. As a future Husky, Clingan will be under the spotlight throughout his senior season.
And a nice sidebar in the Connecticut story: Clingan’s close friend and teammate Victor Rosa is also heading to Storrs to play football for Jim Mora.
GOODBYE EDSALL, HELLO MORA
Mora’s arrival in November and subsequent visibility blitz — from national media spots to appearances throughout the state — has somehow added instant credibility to the beleaguered UConn football program. The program that’s been mocked throughout the country now has a new marketing campaign led by a former NFL coach with media friends from coast to coast.
It’s a stark contrast from where the program was just a few months ago. After not competing in 2020, UConn football returned with high hopes this season . Randy Edsall, the man who built the program in his first tenure in Storrs, promised a better conditioned, better prepared team in 2021.
Instead, UConn stumbled out of the gate with a 45-point loss at Fresno State. After losing to FCS Holly Cross, Edsall was gone. He was 6-32 in threeplus seasons in his second run, 80-102 overall.
OLYMPIC MEDAL IN CT
Ridgefield’s Kieran Smith was competing in his first Olympics this summer in Tokyo. The University of Florida swimmer was expected to do well, but medaling in an Olympic debut is no easy task.
Yet Smith, 21, won the bronze medal in the 400meter freestyle. He returned to Connecticut as a local celebrity, with family and friends waiting in his parents’ driveway when he arrived at home in August.
He was later honored by his town at the Ridgefield Playhouse, where he signed autographs, took questions and posed for pictures with his medal.
SAGA OF HARTFORD HAWKS
In March, the Hartford men’s basketball team won its first America East title to secure its first NCAA Tournament berth. It was euphoric for the program and, seemingly, the school.
But by early May, the school announced it would drop its athletic programs from Division I to Division III. Citing a report from a national firm, the school said it would save $9 million a year with the move. That report, though, has been questioned.
Still, the plan is in place for the move to D-III. Coaches have been leaving, including head women’s basketball coach Morgan Valley to an assistant job at UConn. As the year ends, men’s coach John Gallagher is guiding his team through the chaos.
Meanwhile, the University of New Haven is moving in the other direction. New Haven announced this year it will move from Division II to Division I as the school upgrades facilities and raises money.
MASCOT DEBATE RAGES
As 2021 ends, an image from Connecticut reverberated throughout the country. Amid the debate over Glastonbury High’s mascot name, one adult punched another adult with cell phone cameras watching.
Glastonbury’s Board of Education ultimately stood by an earlier decision to replace Tomahawks with Guardians, but the vitriol surrounding the debate lingers. The Glastonbury debate came almost two years after Killingly changed its nickname back to Redmen from Red Hawks after a new slate of Board of Education members revived the offensive mascot.
North Haven retired its Indian name this year, following the lead of other schools throughout the state in recent years.
Towns and cities that don’t risk losing state money. In June, state senators included in the budget a provision that cuts money from the Mashantucket Pequot/Mohegan Fund from municipalities with schools that use “any name, symbol or image that depicts, refers to or is associated with a state or federally recognized Native American tribe or a Native American individual, custom or tradition, as a mascot, nickname, logo or team name.”
STATE BETS ON GAMBLING
It took some delicate negotiations between the state and the Connecticut’s casinos, but a deal was struck in the spring to make sports betting and online gambling legal.
Legal wagering went live in October, with this provision: no betting on Connecticut’s college teams unless they’re competing in an intercollegiate tournament. So UConn fans can’t put money on the Huskies
until the NCAA Tournament.
The state’s casinos partnered with existing betting apps — Foxwoods with DraftKings, Mohegan Sun with FanDuel — and the state lottery is working with PlaySugarHouse. Bettors can also make wagers in person at the casinos.
With the state taxing sports betting a 13.75% rate, wagering is framed as a source of revenue. The tally from the first month of legal betting: Connecticut generated $1.7 million in tax revenue off $366 million in wagers.
NOTABLE 2021 NAMES
Floyd Little: New Haven’s Hall of Fame football legend died on the first day of 2021
Dee Rowe: Former basketball coach, face of UConn athletics passed away in January
Jim Calhoun: UConn’s Hall of Famer finally retired from coaching, leaving his D-III gig at St Joe’s
Bobby Valentine: CT sports icon made an unsuccessful bid for mayor of his hometown of Stamford
Jennifer Rizzotti: Pride of New Fairfield, UConn returned to state as CT Sun president
Steve Cohen: Greenwich resident had bumpy ride in first year as Mets’ owner
Glover Teixeira: Danbury product won UFC light heavyweight title at age 42
Harris English: Won the Travelers Championship in a dramatic eight-hole playoff
Colleen Young and Matt Torres: Fairfield swimmers past and present won medals at Paralympics
Gavin Sherry: Conard star and Stanford-bound runner shattered state 1,600 meter record
Annika Sorenstam: LPGA legend won U.S. Senior Women’s Open in Fairfield
Will Levis, Tyler Van Dyke: CT natives shined as Power Five quarterbacks
Spencer Knight: Darien native won gold world championships, made NHL debut
Charlie Morton: CT product pitched with fibula fracture in World Series game
Judy Ann Riccio: Longtime administrator became Sacred Heart’s first female AD
James Bouknight: Led UConn back to NCAA Tournament, became NBA lottery pick
Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi: UConn legends won their fifth Olympic gold medals
Rich Bisaccia: New Fairfield High graduate, veteran assistant took over as Las Vegas Raiders coach