"This is the No. 1 honor because it’s given by your peers," said Milardo, who has a lifetime record of 532-145 as coach of the Little Noises. "To be included among those who have been honored is to be included among the best coaches in the history of the state. To have a plaque at Rentschler Field and get the ring is the highest honor I could have received."

This will be Milardo’s 30th year as softball coach at the little East Haddam school, the place where he spent his entire teaching career. He taught mathematics at Hale-Ray from 1968 until he retired in 2001, but stayed on as softball coach.

"Some people are too stupid to know when to quit," he said with a laugh. "But for three months a year I’m able to turn back the clock. Instead of being 61, during the season I feel like I’m 30 again. There’s not a whole lot of things I want to do again and again in life, but coaching these kids is one of them. I enjoyed playing team sports when I was younger (he played baseball and basketball at Middletown High), but I can’t do that anymore. But I’m competitive, so this is the next best thing."

His record is legendary. His teams qualified for the state tournament 29 times, won nine league championships (four in the Quinebaug Valley Conference, four in the Shoreline Conference) and his teams have been to eight Class S championship games and have won four of them.

Milardo said he has many memories, but among the best was his first state title in 1993. "No one expected us to win," he said. "That it was the first and was unanticipated makes it a wonderful memory."

He said his first-ever league championship win, a 4-3 win over Putnam for the QVC title in 1988, and his 26-0 team in 2004 rank high on his all-time memories list. But perhaps the most vivid and poignant was his team’s last regular season win over Coginchaug Regional of Durham in 1994.

"I was recovering from cancer surgery," said Milardo. "But I made it back for the final game of the season. The kids upset Coginchaug, which was a better team than us. For the kids to win that day was very emotional."

Milardo, now an 11-year survivor of the double-whammy of renal cancer and lymphoma, knows there are no guarantees. But he also knows how to deal.

"The great thing about participating in sports is when you get on the field, everything else takes a back seat," he said. "I don’t think about the cancer when I’m coaching; I’m too busy. I regard coaching as a stress release. Coaching is a great tranquilizer for me.

"I liken it to rooting for the Yankees [Milardo is a big-time Yankee fan]," said Milardo. "Things come and go in life, there are good times and bad times, but the Yankees are always there and I can get lost in rooting for them. It’s the same with coaching. Bad things happen away from the field, but coaching is the great constant. The games keep coming and when I coach, that’s all that matters. It’s like being in Fantasyland."

Milardo, an alumnus of Bates College in Maine and holder of a Masters Degree from Boston University, lives with his wife Joane in Cromwell. They have two daughters, Lisa and Michelle, and have four grandchildren.

The CHSCA Hall of Fame Induction dinner is Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Aqua Turf in Southington. A plaque bearing Milardo’s likeness and detailing his accomplishments, will be placed on the CHSCA’s Wall of Fame on the main concourse of Rentschler Field in East Hartford, on the press box side of the stadium.