Take Westport's Dick Siderowf for instance. The man made his best success in the world of business, but was inducted into the Fairfield County Sports Hall of Fame for his expertise on the golf course. He was an amateur golfer, but one of the top amateurs in golf history. I don't want to speculate, but in researching Mr. Siderowf's exploits it seems he could have been a great PGA golfer. But he chose to go to work and golf on the side. Congratulations Mr. Siderowf.
Other ew members of the Hall of Fame are: Jennifer Rizzotti in the Jackie Robinson Professional Wing, the late Pete Demmerle who joined Siderowf in the James O'Rourke Amateur Wing and Joe Benanto and Terry Lowe in the J. Walter Kennedy Community Service Wing. Also to be recognized are James Hilaire, the Chelsea Cohen Courage Award winner, and Mark Kurimai, the Special Olympics award recipient.
Also included among the incoming inductees was Bridgeport's Charles Smith who disgraced himself by failing to even acknowledge the honor. Smith his best known for his wrecking the chances of the New York Knicks to win their only championship since the early seventies by blowing a layup. However, the scandal ridden Harding High School alumnus showed his complete lack of class by failing to return to his roots. Good luck to you, Mr. Smith. You will obviously need it.
There is obviously a clear difference between Mr. Siderowf and Mr. Smith.
I mentioned as much to the great Connecticut Psot sports columnuist at Monday night's fete. Chris concurred and noted that Charles Smith would soon get his comeuppance. He was right. Elsberry unleashed a great column in Tuesday's post that highlighted what a clown this guy is and hoe misplaced his priorities are.
Instead let's celebrate the Staples High volleyball team, Charlie Morton of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Easton, the Fairfield Pop Warner Cheerleaders and softball guru Kevin Funk of Westport.
They are all Community Sports Persons of the Year, which the Commission recognizes to drive home the importance of local sports in building a strong community.
As part of its 5th anniversary Sports Night awards dinner, the Fairfield County Sports Commission has announced its Sports Persons of the Year in each of the 15 communities the Commission serves. .In each of the 15 communities, a committee headed by a local town representative of the Commission, selected a Sports Person of the Year. Each winner was deemed to have had the most positive impact in their sports community from Aug. 2008-Aug. 2009.
The Sports Persons of the Year are:
BRIDGEPORT-DON WILSON, youth lacrosse program founder
DARIEN-DARIEN GIRLS' HOCKEY TEAM, state & FCIAC champions
EASTON-CHARLIE MORTON, Major League Baseball pitcher
FAIRFIELD-POP WARNER JR. MIDGET CHEERLEADERS, national champs
GREENWICH-CONNIE JONES, Greenwich High boys' tennis coach
MONROE-MONROE LIONS YOUTH FOOTBALL TEAM, national runners-up
NEW CANAAN-LOU MARINELLI, New Canaan High football coach
NORWALK-MARY ROMAN, Senior Olympics athlete
SHELTON-SHELTON TRAILS COMMITTEE
STAMFORD-ALLI OAKES, champion high school/state amateur golfer
STRATFORD-JOHN STRATTON-manager of the Brakettes
TRUMBULL-ST JOSEPH & TRUMBULL HIGH GIRLS' SOCCER TEAMS, state champs
WESTON-KEVIN FUNK-Weston girls' softball
WESTPORT-STAPLES HIGH BOYS' VOLLEYBALL TEAM, state champions
WILTON-WAHOOS YMCA SWIM TEAM
The Fairfield County Sports Commission is a 501c3 non-profit organization that is the one-stop resource for the sports community in the area, with a mission of promoting fitness and personal development through sports. The Commission, with the exception of the executive director, is an all-volunteer group that gives financial support and its resources back to its communities, primarily focused on the 110,000 school age youngsters it can reach with its fitness awareness education programs
See you at the games.
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