Bob and Cookie Bromage to receive Bo Kolinsky Special Recognition Award from Connecticut Sports Writ

Cookie and Bob Bromage

The Connecticut Sports Writers’ Alliance is pleased to announce that Bob and Cookie Bromage have been selected as the recipients of the Bo Kolinsky Special Recognition Award.

The Bromages will be honored at the 74th Gold Key Dinner on Sunday, April 26, at the Aqua Turf Club in Southington.

The husband and wife pair will have combined to coach high school athletics for 100 years this August. Bob Bromage coached baseball at Enfield for 39 years and has coached at East Granby since 2005. Cookie Bromage started coaching cheerleading at Enfield in 1966 and a year later help form the field hockey team. In August, she will start her 49th season as the field hockey coach at the school.

This is the second year of the award, which is named in memory of the longtime high school sports editor of The Hartford Courant and former CSWA member, who passed away in 2003.

Former professional hockey player Craig Janney, former Killingly High and Providence basketball standout Tracy Lis, former Derby High and Yale running back John Pagliaro and longtime FCIAC official John Kuczo will receive Gold Keys at the dinner.

Tickets to the 2015 Gold Key Dinner, which begins at 4 p.m., are $75 and can be purchased by contacting either CSWA President Matthew Conyers of The Hartford Courant at 860-874-4166 or mconyers@courant.com or Vice President Tim Jensen of The Enfield Source at tim@enfieldsource.com.

Tickets can also be obtained by mailing a check to Connecticut Sports Writers’ Alliance, P.O. Box 70, Unionville, CT, 06085.

When Bob Bromage and Kathleen Blodgett first crossed paths at Enfield High School in 1966, they had no idea that they would make history nearly five decades later.

The high school teachers and coaches, who married in July 1969, are set to achieve an impressive high school coaching milestone. In August, they will have combined to coach high school athletics for 100 years.

Bromage began coaching varsity baseball for the Raiders in 1965, as an assistant to longtime coach Carl Angelica. Two years later, he assumed the head coaching job, and remained in that position until the end of the 2004 season, when he retired following Enfield’s loss in the Class L semifinals.

Retirement did not last long, as Bromage was asked to help revive the struggling East Granby High baseball program. He took over the Crusaders in 2005, and is currently in his 11th season at the helm.

Meanwhile, Blodgett, better known as Cookie Bromage, began coaching cheerleading at Enfield in 1966, and a year later, formed the first field hockey team at the school. In August, she will enter her 49th season coaching the field hockey team.

“Cookie and I are overwhelmed by this tremendous award,” Bob Bromage said. “What is appreciated the most is receiving the award in memory of our personal friend, Bo Kolinsky. The Kolinskys, Bo and Jill, were the consummate supporters of high school athletes and athletics.”

While Bob and Cookie are noted for coaching baseball and field hockey, respectively, they have also coached other sports.

Bob was hired as assistant boys’ basketball coach in 1966, and was promoted to head coach in 1977, a position he held for 10 years. He also spent some time as an assistant football coach, and coached hockey for a time at the former Kosciuszko Junior High.

Cookie guided the cheerleading team for 10 years, and in 1971, began an 18-year run as girls’ basketball coach. But her greatest success came with the field hockey program she helped build.

After a Class M runner-up finish in 1982, the Raiders won back-to-back championships the next two years.

Enfield later won three straight championships from 1992 to 1994.

Bob never won a state title, but directed some excellent Raider programs at different stages of his tenure. Enfield was the Class L runner-up in 2001, the best season in school history. Both have been inducted into the Enfield Athletic Hall of Fame. Cookie was a charter member in 1996 and Bob was elected in 2001.

Cookie has also been inducted into the New Agenda Northeast Women’s Hall of Fame (1998), the Connecticut High School Coaches Association HOF (1999), the Suffield Athletic Hall of Fame (2003), the Connecticut Field Hockey Hall of Fame (2007) and the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame (2013).