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Grace, Startup to be inducted in CHSCA Hall of Fame on Thursday

Nancy Grace in her final season as Canton’s field hockey coach in 2004.

SOUTHINGTON, Nov. 12, 2012 — Former Canton High coach and athletic director Nancy Grace and former Avon High coach and administrator Barbara Startup will be inducted Thursday into the Connecticut High School Coaches Association (CHSCA) Hall of Fame at the organization’s 36th annual ceremony at the Aqua Turf in Southington at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $46 each. Call the CHSCA office at 860-628-4122 or more information on how to get your ticket or email John Fontana at [email protected].

Nancy Grace (Photo courtesy John Fitts, Canton Patch)

Grace coached field hockey and softball at Canton and had tremendous success with the field hockey program, winning 295 games, 11 league titles and eight Class S championships from 1985 to 2004. Her Warrior teams finished second three times and she was named the Class S coach of the year four times by the Connecticut Field Hockey Coaches Association. She was a finalist for the National High School Coaches Association’s Coach of the Year award in 2000.

In softball, she coached at Canton from 1990-99, leading the Warriors to seven NCCC championships and a Class S state title in 1991.

Grace began her teaching career at Canton in 1985 teaching science and she has served as coach, athletic director (2005-10) and taught physical education. Today, she is once again a full-time science teacher. In August, she was named Canton’s teacher of the year.

Barbara Startup, former Avon High coach and administrator

Startup coached at Avon High for many years, leading the volleyball, girls basketball and softball teams. She also coached soccer and tennis.

Her teams at Avon combined to win 368 games including eight Northwest Conference titles in softball. Her volleyball teams at Avon qualified for the CIAC tournament 12 times in 15 years and posted undefeated regular seasons in 1984 and 1985. Her basketball teams won two Northwest Conference Division II titles in 1979 and 1980 and qualified for the state tournament 12 times in 14 years.

In 1988, she was hired as an assistant principal at Vernon Center Middle School. After a short stay in Vernon, she spent six years as the coordinator of physical education, intramurals and athletics in Enfield. In 1995, she returned to Avon as director of Student Activities. In 1998, she was hired as the director of Athletics in Glastonbury, a position she held until her retirement in 2007. In addition to her outstanding career as a teacher, administrator, athletic director and coach, Startup was also recognized as an exceptional volleyball official at the high school and collegiate level and was a member of the NFHS National Volleyball Rules Committee.

Grace and Startup will be recognized along with:

  • Robert Neubauer, a cross country and basketball coach at Lyman Hall and Sheehan High in Wallingford;
  • Peter Kokinis, a baseball, wrestling and football coach at Bulkeley High in Hartford;
  • Joseph P. Madaffari, a baseball, indoor track and outdoor track coach at Brien McMahon in Norwalk;
  • Patsy Kamercia, the long-time field hockey coach at Haddam-Killingworth;
  • Rob Cersosimo, a football, wrestling and boys tennis coach at Conard High in West Hartford;
  • Charles Larson, a basketball, baseball and softball coach at Northwest Catholic in West Hartford;
  • Daniel H. Borgman, a boys tennis, girls basketball and boys swimming coach at New Canaan
  • and Mark Jaffee, a writer from the Republican American in Waterbury.

 

Gerry deSimas, Jr., is the editor and founder of The Collinsville Press. He is an award-winning writer and has been covering sports in Connecticut and New England for more than 40 years. He was inducted into the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2018.

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