LOOKING BACK
10 YEARS AGO
Pat Spinola, the former Norwalk High School athletic director and the Bears’ longtime swim coach, was inducted into the Connecticut High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame. A state champion diver for the local YMCA swim team in the early 1950s, Spinola was captain of the first NHS swim team as a senior in 1957. He later coached the boys swim team at his alma mater from 1965-87, posting 143 victories and a .606 winning percentage. He also doubled as coach of the NHS girls swim team from 198185, compiling a 32-8 record. In addition, he coached the Bears in boys soccer and outdoor track.
Four local soccer players, including three from Central Division champion Norwalk High, were named to the 2010 AllFCIAC team. The Bears, who compiled the best regular-season record in the conference, were represented by tri-captains Jake Zuniga, Andres Torres and Danny Quintero, while Alex Petridis of Brien McMahon was also voted to the first team. Four more NHS players, Chris Jeffrey, Nic Zuniga, Chris Puente and Fabian Carvajal, were named all-division along with McMahon’s Braulio Vargas.
Charlie Mitchell, who reported on auto racing and local drivers for 40 years in his popular “Around the Speedway” column in the Norwalk Hour, waved the checkered flag as he wrote his final weekly column. The veteran newspaperman was regarded as the “Dean” of New England auto racing writers and continued writing his column after retiring as sports editor in 2001.
25 YEARS AGO
Norwalk boxer Travis Simms scored the biggest win in his outstanding amateur career when he captured the National PAL Championship in Dallas. The 23-year-old Simms posted four straight wins in the 156-pound weight class, including a unanimous decision in the tournament final against another high-ranked opponent from Milwaukee. The national championship qualifies Simms for the 1996 Olympic Team Trials to be held in Oakland, Calif., in April. He will be one of eight boxers in his class vying for a spot on the U.S. Olympic boxing team in Atlanta next summer.
A pair of former Brien McMahon athletes, both juniors in college, received all-conference honors in their respective sport. John Benitez of the Western Connecticut State University men’s soccer team was named to the Little East Conference first team. Meanwhile, Ellie Karvoski of the Northwestern University women’s field hockey team was selected to the All-Midwest Region second team.
Former Norwalker and Shorehaven golfer Larry George recorded a hole-in-one at the age of 93 at the Dennis Pine Country Club in Dennis Port, Mass.
50 YEARS AGO
The newly named Norwalk YMCA Calvin Murphy Basketball League ushered in the 1970-71 season with five games Saturday afternoon at the ‘Y’ gym. Formerly known as the YMCA Biddy League, local officials announced the name change back in May during “Calvin Murphy Day” two months after the end of his AllAmerican career at Niagara University. The former Norwalk High great, who began playing basketball in the Biddy League now named after him, is in his rookie season in the NBA, but his mother, Ina Miller of Norwalk, attended the opening-day festivities and took part in the ceremonial first tipoff at midcourt.
In one of the most exciting games of the season in the InterCity Touch Football League, Silvermine rallied from a 13-0 hole to upset Rowayton 20-19. With two plays remaining, Rit Brown scored his second touchdown of the day on a diving catch of a 50-yard pass from QB Bob Morell to make it 19-19. Morell then hit Charlie Brown with the conversion pass for the winning point ... In other action, Cranbury beat Westport 24-9 as coach Dan Letizia stepped up as an emergency fill-in at quarterback and ran for one touchdown while passing for two more to Lou Cimminello. Larry Day ran back an interception 80 yards for the other TD ... The Darien Sportsmen remained unbeaten with a 33-0 rout of Stamford as Don Quinn, one of several Norwalkers on the roster, fired five touchdown passes.
The local hockey season got underway as the Crystal Comets began their third season with a 4-4 tie against the New York Green Leafs at Crystal Rink. Fred Sappier had a goal and an assist for the Comets, who outshot the visitors 44-27 and took a 4-1 lead into the final period.
Meanwhile, Pete Correnty began his 11th season as coach of the Home Oilers semipro hockey club, which used to call Crystal Rink home until two seasons ago when a growing fan base necessitated a bigger arena and a move to Bridgeport’s Wonderland of Ice. But the team continues to have a large Norwalk following and they were treated to a 5-4 season-opening victory over the Toronto Duffield Grads. Canadian native Eno Kraft snapped a 3-3 tie 34 seconds into the final period with his second goal while
Don Atamanchuk made it 5-3 later in the period to offset a late Toronto goal. Prior to the game,
Murray Murdoch, who played for the New York Rangers in the 1920s and ’30s before coaching Yale’s hockey team for 27 seasons, dropped the ceremonial first puck.