A positive energy surrounded the late Jon Hutchinson

There are some people who just make a deep impression in your life.

I met Jon Hutchinson for the first time in the newsroom at The Register Citizen in Torrington when I was the sports editor of the paper from 1989-94. He was covering the University of Connecticut men’s soccer team for the newspaper.

Jon Hutchinson

We’re a small staff of three and our primary job was to cover high school sports in Torrington and throughout Litchfield County. Around our coverage of local sports, we squeezed in some UConn men’s basketball, Hartford Whalers and whatever big-time sporting event (golf, tennis, soccer) was rolling through Connecticut in those days.

Hutch, as he was known, wanted to cover the UConn soccer team. That was fine because we didn’t have the resources to do that. In those days, there were no websites or emails with information from the schools. We received faxes from UConn and we would have to type in whatever we wanted to include in the paper.

I don’t recall if we even paid him. If we did, it wasn’t a lot. But that mattered little to him. He was sharing the exploits of his Huskies with the readers. He would call in on Sunday evenings following a UConn game at Morrone Stadium in Storrs and dictate his story to me or one of my co-workers. Or he would walk into the newsroom around 8 p.m. or so with a handwritten story.

The more I got to know him, the more impressed I was.

He played soccer at UConn and was the team captain in 1942, graduating in 1943. He established the Friends of Soccer booster club and helped them build the press box at Morrone Stadium in Storrs. He even played in annual print vs. television soccer game between beat writers who covered the Huskies when Hutch was in his 70s.

He had an aura of positive energy around him.

This was before I learned he was a long-time social studies teacher at Torrington High and an outstanding cross country coach at Torrington, who led the Raiders to 110 straight dual meet victories from 1971-78 and seven straight Naugatuck Valley League championships. In 1974 and 1975, his Torrington teams finished fourth in the State Open. In 1975, the Raiders finished second in Class L and in 1974, they finished third. He was 143-11 in nine years as a coach. In 1982, he established the Torrington High girls soccer team and coached them for two seasons.

Hutch died at the age of 90 earlier this month at his home in Concord, N.H. And I learned more about the man as I read his obituary and searched Google.

He and his wife Betty donated over $100,000 over 60 years to the UConn soccer program, assisting the men’s and women’s programs. They endowed a scholarship for the women’s soccer team.

Hutch grew up in Bristol and enrolled at UConn in 1939, playing right wing on the soccer team for coach John Squires. He was also captain of the track team. He earned a B.S. in History and eventually earned a sixth-year diploma in educational technology.

He served as a first lieutenant in the 79th Infantry Division in Europe during World War II and was awarded a Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Silver Star and Distinguished Service Cross.

Hutch and Betty married in 1948 and had seven children. The Hutchinsons spent their careers in the Torrington school system, he as a social studies teacher and cross country coach and she as a school nurse. He also ran in many road races including the Boston Marathon and competed internationally in master’s track and field races until the age of 75.

Hutch served on the Torrington City Council, as president of the Association of Retired Teachers of Litchfield County, on the boards of the YMCA, the Mental Health Association of Northwest Connecticut and the Nutmeg Ballet in Torrington. He worked on affordable housing projects and as an interim manager for restoration of the Warner Theater. He founded the Torrington Track Club. At Center Congregational Church, he was a Sunday School teacher, deacon and moderator. In Rotary, he led a sustainable rain forest project in Costa Rica.

And he covered the Huskies for The Register Citizen, the Hartford Courant and Waterbury Republican American.

My goodness. What a life. My condolences to his friends and family.

A memorial service will be held at First Congregational Church of Litchfield, Conn., on Friday, Nov. 23, at 1 p.m. with a reception to follow.

Gerry deSimas, Jr., is the founder and editor of The Collinsville Press.com

Here are thoughts of a few others regarding Hutch.
Rick Wilson, Litchfield County Sports

Lee Lewis, Waterbury Republican American

Hutch’s obituary

Scott Gray, WTIC-AM

UConn Today

Some information in this story was obtained from Hutch’s obituary, a UConn Today story and personal research.