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By Ron P. Coderre
This week’s RPC sporty shout out goes to Putnam resident Gloria Gilbert. An ardent follower of local sports all her life, Gilbert is a loyal follower of Ramblings, Points & Comments.
The Eastern Connecticut Conference through its website recognized its Athletes of the Month for December 2012. Plainfield’s Morgan Griffin and Ian Converse were named the initial recipients of the honor, which is sponsored by the Byrnes Agency. The winners were chosen by an anonymous panel of media and coaches.
In December Griffin helped the Lady Panthers get off to a 5-2 start and a division leading 3-0 log in the ECC Small Division. The stellar senior forward averaged 17.8 points, 13.4 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 1 blocked shot per contest. The team posted victories over Killingly, Woodstock, Wheeler, Lyman and St. Bernard.
Converse paced Woodstock in December as the Centaurs raced out to a perfect 5-0 start and a 2-0 record in the ECC Large Division. A significant win was a 60-48 victory in New London, breaking the Whalers 92 game ECC regular season winning streak. During December Converse averaged 22.3 points, 12 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1 block per game. In an 85-56 victory over the Fitch Falcons he recorded a career high 34 points.
Follow all the teams in the Eastern Connecticut Conference on the website, www.eccathletics.org.
We Get Letters…
In early January RPC received a nice letter (yes, it is still enjoyable to get correspondence by “snail mail”) from former Putnam resident and Clipper great Bob Weiss, who now lives in Waterford.
Weiss noted that the recent National Football Foundation’s Gold Medal recipient was Roscoe C. Brown Jr. a graduate of Springfield College. A football player at Springfield College, Brown was one of the famous Tuskegee Airmen. An African-American, he flew 68 missions with the Tuskegee Squadron, which broke the color barrier and became successful air fighters during WWII. Following the war, Brown went on to receive Master’s and Doctorate degrees and was a very successful educator.
According to Weiss, who was in attendance at the function, Brown had two connections to northeastern Connecticut. On the same team at Springfield College was a young man by the name of Jim Greenhalgh, who would later become a noted coach at Putnam High School.
The other connection, Brown and Greenhalgh played for a coach that some old-timers will remember, Wendell “Manny” Mansfield. In his later years, Mansfield was a highly visible figure in our area. He served for many years as a coach and athletic director at Pomfret School and developed a long standing tradition with Putnam of opening sports seasons against his former player’s teams the Putnam Clippers.
The 55th Annual Awards Dinner program featured a photo of the Springfield team that Brown played on “and low and behold there was Jim Greenhalgh in the front row” writes Weiss.
For those who may not know, Bob Weiss was also a very noted athlete and coach. As a Clipper he was a standout fullback, basketball player and a rugged catcher for Greenhalgh coached teams. He later went on to a four-year academic and athletic career at Tufts University, where he starred for the Jumbos as a fullback and catcher.
Weiss had assistant football coaching stints at Dartmouth College and UConn prior to becoming the highly successful head coach at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He was also one of Connecticut’s best-ever high school coaches, most notably at Fitch and New London.
Apres Ski…
Pomfret residents Garfield “Woody” Danenhower and his lovely wife Sylvia were recent visitors at the famous Whistler Ski Resort in British Columbia, Canada. The Danenhowers joined family members and grand children, who reside in the great Northwest, for an extended week in Whistler.
Although they didn’t participate in downhill, Woody took to the trails for some exercise and a little cross-country skiing, while Sylvia enjoyed the majestic scenery and a few libations by the warm glowing fireplace.
Notre Dame Falls to Alabama…
Despite losing decisively to Alabama in the BCS National Championship game on Jan. 7, Notre Dame fans far outnumbered the Bama loyalists in Miami. Among the Irish fans in the stands was 1988 grad Dave Coderre of Putnam. He was joined on the sojourn South by his brother, Chris Coderre and longtime friend Bob Mooney. The trio reports that the atmosphere for the game was electric.
Modicum of Satisfaction…
A few days prior to the Notre Dame loss in Miami, the Irish enjoyed a bit of satisfaction when the women’s basketball team visited the Gampel Pavilion for a nationally televised game against the UConn ladies. In one of the best women’s games ever, the Irish managed to stave off three last second shots by the Huskies to walk away with a two-point victory. The UConn loss knocked the Huskies from their #1 National ranking.
At Gampel for this exciting contest was Putnam resident Carol Auger along with her close friend Marge Johnston of Pomfret, whose husband Kevin Johnston generously gave Auger his ticket to the game as a Christmas present. Nice gesture, Kevin.
A Name From The Past…
Does the name Jeff Gore ring a bell with any local basketball fans? Gore was an outstanding basketball player who moved to Plainfield from the Carolinas in the late eighties. He played for coach Bob Arremony for one successful season. Gore then moved on to a great four-year hoop career at the College of St. Rose an NCAA Division II school in Albany, New York. He currently serves as an assistant coach at Southern New Hampshire University, a member of the rugged Northeast-X Conference.
Gore was reunited with RPC Jan. 9 at Assumption College, where he was scouting Assumption and Bentley, who have upcoming games with Southern New Hampshire. Gore sends along best wishes to the many friends that he still has in Northeastern Connecticut.
RPC’s Closing Thought For The Day: “Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.” General George Patton