The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Coppola leaving Fox61 after 30 years
When Rich Coppola walks off the set of the Fox61 newscast Thursday evening, he’ll do so with mixed emotions.
Coppola has been the station’s only Sports Director since it first went on the air on April 10, 1989.
A graduate of East Haven High and the University of New Haven, Coppola has decided not to sign a new contract with the station. He cherishes the relationships he’s made with coworkers, colleagues and the sporting community in Connecticut over his 30 years, but is eager to explore other opportunities.
“It really is a positive,” Coppola said. “It was just time. I don’t know what the future holds. There is nothing imminent. I just owe it to myself to see what possibilities are out there. I told my wife when we were discussing this, that sometimes you have to be willing to bet on yourself to do good things. I just feel like if I am out there, what is possible?
It does not have anything to do with being unhappy here. My 30 years been phenomenal. But I just ask myself, what other experiences, what other challenges are out there.”
Coppola won’t be on air Wednesday. He’s going to a Yankee game. Coppola’s 7yearold nephew will be attending his first game and chose “Uncle Rich” as his special guest. Coppola recalls he was 7 when he attended his first Yankee game: Old Timer’s Day, 1965.
The nostalgic Coppola, a member of the Connecticut High School Coaches Hall of Fame, appreciates sports history, especially that of his home state.
A ninetime Connecticut
Sportscaster of the Year, Coppola recently attended the 90th birthday celebration of former Wilbur Cross boys basketball coach Bob Saulsbury.
“It’s hard to put into words what stuff like that means to me,” Coppola said. “I read the Journal Courier and the Register every day growing up. It’s how you followed a lot of this stuff. You read about it in newspapers. It’s how I knew about Larry McHugh and Doc Hurley. Such an inspiration. Great men.”
Coppola has covered just about every major sporting event nationally. He has interviewed some of the giants of sports, including Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.
“When you get older, guys aren’t 10 feet tall anymore,” Coppola said. “They are just everyday people. But sometimes, some things take you back to being a kid again. The first time I interviewed coach Saulsbury, and he knew who I was, it was the coolest thing.”
Coppola is a hockey guy. He’ll continue to broadcast Quinnipiac games this season, something he has done both as a color analyst and most recently for playbyplay since 2000. He grew up watching the Blades at the New Haven Arena, then the Nighthawks at the New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum. He would call the box office for scores of Sunday night games. If no one was in the office, he would call Channel 8.
As an adult he noticed photos of one his boyhood heroes, Kevin Morrison, adorning the wall of a local restaurant. He would find out Morrison’s daughter worked at the restaurant. Coppola would eventually meet Morrison by chance on a day both were in the restaurant and was able to speak with him for about 10 minutes.
”I told him we still talk about you guys to this day,” Coppola said. “It was so cool. It took me back to being 10 years old and spending time in the Arena.”
Coppola began his career at KC101 in New Haven, before working as a field producer for ESPN and then as a sportscaster for an NBC affiliate in Springfield, Mass. He said he is looking forward to a 40th anniversary gathering for ESPN in September.
Coppola said he will take a little time to catch his breath, but that this is not retirement.