LOOKING BACK | BY GEORGE ALBANO
10 YEARS AGO
Local race car driver Ron Silk picked up right where he left off as the defending NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion won the season-opening ‘Icebreaker’ at Thompson International Speedway. The 29-year-old Norwalker won the 150-lap race by inches to earn his eighth career victory.
The Norwalk High baseball team not only broke into the win column this week, but did it twice as the Bears crushed Bassick 21-2 and two days later beat Fairfield Ludlowe 8-1. Mike Parlanti and Rich Henderson each homered while Nick Lampmon had three hits and two RBIs as NHS collected 22 hits in the Bassick rout ... Henderson then belted an RBI double, a run-scoring triple and drove in a third run with a sac fly against Ludlowe. Winning pitcher Lukas LaBry hurled a five-hitter and struck out eight as the Bears improved to 2-8.
The NHS girls lacrosse team also tasted victory for the first time, defeating Bethel 14-0 as Jen McCarthy, Efthimia Kutrubis and Parthenya Taiyanides all scored four goals for the 1-5 Bears ... Derick Edwards scored seven goals for the Norwalk boys lacrosse team, which beat Westhill 17-11. Freshman Steve Grimm added five goals and Danny Jakab recorded a hat trick.
Freshman Ali Brown pitched a no-hitter in her first varsity start to lead the Norwalk High softball team past Bassick 15-0. It was the second no-hitter of the season by an NHS pitcher. Sam Chieffalo had a two-run homer for the Bears, now 6-1.
The Brien McMahon girls track team opened its 2012 season with a 75-60 win over Stamford. Defending state champion Shellyann Lindo and freshman Kristin Burnham each won three events to lead the Senators.
25 YEARS AGO
Norwalk High swept crosstown rival Brien McMahon in two sports on the same day as the Bears defeated the Senators 9-0 in baseball and 7-4 in softball. In its baseball victory, NHS scored all nine runs in the last of the fourth and that was more than enough for pitcher Rich Trimboli as the senior southpaw fired a three-hit shutout with 13 strikeouts. He also had two hits, while Rocco Bellantoni went 3-for-3. Joe Miller accounted for two of McMahon’s three hits.
Kelley Walsh went 4-for-4 in the Lady Bears’ softball win while Tridina Williams added three hits and Caryn Wahlbrink and Matina Kadonas each had a pair of hits.
Mike Abate, who helped lead last year’s NHS baseball team to the FCIAC crown, sparked nationally ranked Norwalk Community Technical College to two more wins as the Panthers upped their record to 23-5. Abate had three hits as NCTC, ranked No. 2 in the National Junior College Division III poll, beat Manchester Community College 11-2. He collected three more hits and three RBIs in an 11-4 win over Mitchell College.
50 YEARS AGO
The Norwalk YMCA Calvin Murphy Biddy Basketball League season came to an exciting finish as the Rotary Club beat C.R. Gibson 53-49 in overtime in the deciding game of the best-of-three championship series. Gibson went 16-0 during the regular season and won game one 39-32, but Rotary tied the series with a thrilling 33-32 game-two victory as Ed Fontaine scored the winning basket with six seconds left. Rotary then led game three 47-44 with a minute to go, but a Scott O’Malley free throw and Mark Reed field goal sent the game into overtime, where Rotary outscored CRG 6-2 to claim the title. John Piro led the champs with 19 points while Fontaine scored 17 and John Ross had 12 points. O’Malley finished with 15 points and Gene Mosley had 14 for runner-up C.R. Gibson.
After its first three games were postponed because of weather and field conditions, the Norwalk High baseball season finally got underway with a 5-3 victory over Danbury in the Hat City. Tom Hosack pitched a complete-game six-hitter and also led the Bears with three hits. John Smith added two hits and an RBI while Paul Jacoby drove in two runs.
Norwalk’s favorite semipro hockey team, the Home Oilers, concluded another successful campaign by becoming the first champion of the new CanadianAmerican Hockey League. The
Oilers, who until this year had always competed as an independent team, captured the inaugural Mobil Cup by sweeping the St. Laurent (Quebec) Jets in two straight games in the finals. After winning an overtime thriller in game one last week, the Oilers wrapped up the title with a convincing 10-3 victory. Eno Kraft, John Sherban and Russ McClenaghan scored two goals apiece while Bobby Veilleux added a goal and three assists. Norwalk resident Mark Burns, a former standout goalie at St. Luke’s School and Brown University, made 43 saves. The Home Oilers finished 13-4-1 and since upgrading to semipro status, the team has gone 143-26-8 the last nine seasons, all under head coach and GM Pete Correnty, a lifelong Norwalker and former Norwalk High hockey player in the 1940s. After the title-clinching win, Correnty accepted the championship Mobil Cup at center ice. The Home Oilers played at Norwalk’s Crystal Rink before moving their home games to the bigger Wonderland of Ice in Bridgeport to accommodate their growing fan base.