Full Slate of Award Recipients Announced for 80th Gold Key Dinner
They will be honored by the Connecticut Sports Media Alliance at the 80th Gold Key Dinner in October
The Connecticut Sports Media Alliance (CSMA) is pleased to announce the full slate of award recipients who will be honored at the 80th Gold Key dinner.
As previously announced, Gold Key recipients for 2022 are Stonington High School tennis coach George Crouse, UConn women’s basketball associate head coach Chris Dailey, 1990 World Series champion Rob Dibble of Southington, College Basketball Hall of Fame coach Tom Penders and past PGA of America president Suzy Whaley. Larry Lichstein of Windsor Locks, a member of the Professional Bowlers Association Hall of Fame, will receive the President’s Award.
Award winners in seven other categories will be honored at the dinner. They are:
Bill Lee Male Athlete of the Year – Gary Moore Jr., Hillhouse High School. He became the first athlete in Connecticut history to win State Open titles in the shot put, javelin and discus, also winning the New England championship in the latter event. He won the state hammer throw competition, and earned All-American honors in the discus and hammer. He will be competing at Baylor University.
Hank O’Donnell Female Athlete of the Year – Alexis Michon, Montville/Eastern Connecticut State University. Softball pitcher posted a 24-1 record and 1.07 ERA, and was voted Most Outstanding Pitcher of the NCAA Super Regionals. She struck out 204 batters and walked just 37 in just under 158 innings, and limited opponents to a .154 batting average.
Doc McInerney High School Coaches of the Year – Charles Farley, Sheehan girls track and field, and Larry Vieira, Notre Dame-West Haven boys ice hockey. In his 50th year at Sheehan, Farley led his squad to its first-ever Class M outdoor track championship, then won the State Open. A mere 34 years after guiding Branford to the 1988 Div. II hockey title, Vieira led Notre Dame to a 4-2 win over Darien to capture the Div. I crown.
Bob Casey Courage Award – Cole Snider, Branford High School wrestling. Blind in his left eye, he won the 170-lb. championship, leading the Hornets to their first Class M team title. He went on to place fifth in the State Open.
Bo Kolinsky Special Recognition Award – Ed Goldstone, Hamden. A 12-letter winner at Amity Regional High School, he captained the basketball and baseball teams at Yale University before being drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1968. He played four years of professional baseball, compiling a .284 lifetime batting average. During his career as a teacher and school administrator, he was the CIAC boys basketball tournament chairman for many years.
Hal Levy High School Achievement Award – Colleen Lineburgh, Waterford High School Unified sports. She recently retired after 29 years as a special education teacher and a quarter-century as coach of Unified sports. She was the Connecticut High School Coaches’ Association Coach of the Year in 2019 and 2021, highlighting a career coaching Unified soccer, volleyball, bowling, cheerleading and basketball.
John Wentworth Good Sport Awards – Rich Altieri, Hamden, administrator and official in the Hamden Fathers Baseball League and the Hamden Westwoods Youth Basketball organization for over 30 years; Richard Bourn, Old Saybrook, volunteer sports photographer at Old Saybrook High School for over 40 years; Bob Cressotti, Enfield, longtime volunteer with Special Olympics, Challenger baseball and youth soccer; Chris and Denise Nikolis, Suffield, co-founders of the Suffield Pan-Mass Challenge Kids Ride which has raised over $400,000 for the Jimmy Fund/Dana Farber Cancer Institute; Dawn O’Neil, Willington, member of the CIAC field hockey tournament committee for nearly 30 years and tournament director for more than 20 years.
Bo Kolinsky Memorial Sports Media Scholarship – Peter McLean, Darien High School. Recent graduate who will be attending Clemson University in the fall, majoring in sport communication.
The 80th Gold Key dinner is slated for Sunday, Oct. 16 at 2 p.m. at the Aqua Turf Club in the Plantsville section of Southington.
Tickets are $75, and are available by contacting CSMA president Tim Jensen of Patch Media Corp. at 860-394-5091 or tim.jensen@patch.com.
Proceeds support the Bo Kolinsky Memorial Sports Media Scholarship, a $3,000 award named in memory of the noted high school sports editor of the Hartford Courant and past CSMA president, who passed away in 2003 at age 49.
