Gene Casey New Haven County (Conn.) Chapter Prepares for 49th Banquet

The Gene Casey Chapter holds a pre-dinner meeting each year with its honorees and their parents and coaches to go over details and take publicity photos.

The 49th Gene Casey New Haven County Chapter of The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame Scholar Athlete Dinner will be held on Sunday, March 29, 2009 at Fantasia Banquet Facility, 404 Washington Ave., North Haven.

Thirty high school and prep school scholar athletes will be honored for scholarship excellence and citizenship. In addition, Dr. Leroy C. Williams, chairman of the CIAC Football Committee since 1998, will receive the Distinguished American Award.

Popular WELI sports announcer George “The Coach” DeMaio will receive the Chapter Award of Merit for dedicated service to the chapter, and Kevin Moffett of Orange, entering his 25th year of high school and college officiating, will receive the Official Recognition Award from the New Haven Football Officials Association.

In addition Cheshire coach Mark Ecke will receive the Coach of the Year Award. Cheshire with a 10-3 record, won the Southern Connecticut Conference DI East Title, qualified for the CIAC state playoffs where they defeated Hamden 28-21 in the semi-finals before falling 28-14 to undefeated Glastonbury in the Class LL Championship game. The Rams finished ranked ninth in the final poll.

The Gene Casey Chapter holds a pre-dinner meeting each year with its honorees and their parents and coaches to go over details such as ticket information, obtaining their tuxedoes, applying for scholarships, purchasing ads in the dinner program, and other sundry event information. At the event, the chapter also takes photographs of each of the honorees with their parents and coaches, sending the photo to the local papers to announce their selection. The event has helped the chapter generate tremendous publicity over the years while proving to be highly successful in ensuring everybody is on the same page. The event is held in the New Haven Athletic Center.

The 2009 Gene Casey (New Haven) Chapter Scholar-Athletes

ROBERT ANASTASIO-SEYMOUR
THOMAS ANDREOLI-AMITY
AARON BASER-HAMDEN
RONALD BILODEAU-ANSONIA
ASH SHAWN BOSTON-HYDE
JOSEPH BROWN-HOLY CROSS
PETER CHRISTIANI-FAIRFIELD PREP
ROY LESTER COLLINS-CHOATE
STEPHEN CORONA-NAUGATUCK
CONNER EARLY-NORTH HAVEN
TIMOTHY FLOOD-CHESHIRE
KEVIN FODOR-HAND
MICHAEL FOWLER-BRANFORD
NICHOLAS GEORGALAS-SHELTON
RYAN GRAEB-LYMAN HALL
STEVEN KAPINOS-EAST HAVEN
ANGEL KING-WILBUR CROSS
JOSEPH LASKO-NO BRANFORD
KYLE LUNDBERG-GUILFORD
DAN McGRATH-XAVIER
KYLE PEPIN-WATERTOWN
JOHN POWERS-HOPKINS
MATTHEW RAHMAN-PLATT
BERNARD RISCO-HILLHOUSE
JACK SHANNON-ST. JOSEPH
GRANT SMITH-HAMDEN HALL
MATTHEW SPONHEIMER-N.D.
CASEY TAYLOR-WOODLAND
FRANK VIRGULTO-LAW
DINO ZAWADSKI-SHEEHAN

The 2009 Gene Casey (New Haven) Chapter Major Award Honorees

DISTINGUISHED AMERICAN AWARD-LEROY WILLIAMS, PhD
CHAPTER AWARD OF MERIT-GEORGE “THE COACH” DEMAIO
CHAPTER COACH OF THE YEAR-MARK ECKE-CHESHIRE HS
OFFICIAL RECOGNITION AWARD-KEVIN MOFFETT-NHFOA

A reception will begin at noon with dinner at 1:00PM. Tickets are $40 each and can be ordered by calling Donna Limone at 203-481-8375. Information regarding the chapter, including previous award winners, Hall of Fame Classic results and other chapter activities can be found at www.newhavenfootballfoundation.com.

NFF