Sports Writers Alliance presents 5 Gold Keys

2014 Gold Key recipients, from left: UConn men’s soccer coach Ray Reid, West Haven High football coach Ed McCarthy, Branford field hockey, coach Cathy McGuirk, former Rock Cats CEO and GM Bill Dowling and running legend Amby Burfoot.

SOUTHINGTON, April 27, 2014 – The Connecticut Sports Writers Alliance honored five men and women who have given so much to the state through athletics at the 73rd annual Gold Key banquet on Sunday night before more than 320 at the Aqua Turf.

UConn men’s soccer coach Ray Reid, Branford High field hockey coach Cathy McGuirk, West Haven High football coach Ed McCarthy received Gold Keys along with running legend Amby Burfoot and Bill Dowling, former CEO and general manager of the New Britain Rock Cats.

Several other awards were presented by the Alliance at the event, including the Art McGinley Award to Collinsville Press founder and editor Gerry deSimas, Jr., of Avon.

There were several emotional moments at the banquet. The presentation of the Bob O’Brien Courage awards to Glastonbury’s Morgan Bjarno and Enfield’s Andrew Haraghey brought the crowd to their feet. 

Bjarno, a soccer player and track athlete, has been battling leukemia. Her battle not only inspired her own team but opponents as well. Last July, Bjarno was told she had technically beaten the disease, although she still continues to visit the hospital for treatments.

Haraghey has been battling spastic diplegic cerebal palsy since he was a baby. Skiing has helped him build strength in his legs. He fell just short of earning a spot on the U.S. Paralympic Games earlier this year.

Matthew Jacques gets some pregame instructions from his father. Photo courtesy of John H. Vanacore.

The North Haven High football team received the first Bo Kolinsky Special Recognition Award for their work with the Spring Brawl game, their annual spring intra-squad contest. Each year, the team raises money for a local charity. A year ago, the seniors wanted to help six-year-old Matthew Jacques, who was battling a congenital heart defect.

Not only did the team raise more than $13,000 to help Matthew’s family with medical bills but Matthew suited up and scored the first touchdown of the game. He was carried off the field afterward. Unfortunately, Matthew died a few months later on Sept. 25.

“It was amazing how one little boy could inspire so many,” said Ethan Suraci, speaking on behalf of the North Haven High team’s captain. The impact he made on us will live with us forever.”

Matthew’s parents, Melissa and Al Jacques, attended the banquet.

Photos from the 2013 Spring Brawl in North Haven

Reid has won four national championships at UConn and Southern Connecticut State University. His teams have won nearly 400 matches in his 25-year career (397-97-61). He led the Huskies to the NCAA Division I title in 2000 and led the Owls to three Division II crowns (1990, 1992 and 1995).

Reid has coached for 25 seasons, first at Southern Connecticut from 1989-1996 and at UConn since 1997. Reid has a combined career record of 394-97-61, has won four national titles and is the NCAA’s winningest active Division I coach with a winning percentage of .769. After leading Southern Connecticut to three Division II titles (1990, 92 and 95), Reid led UConn to the 2000 Division I championship. He is 248-80-46 in his 17 seasons at UConn and was 146-17-15 at Southern Connecticut.

“I’m so honored and humbled to be recognized,” Reid said. “I’m very proud to join the recipients of the Gold Key.

Reid praised the work of two sportswriters — Jerry Trecker and the late Dave Solomon. Trecker, a world-class journalist, covered the sport for decades for the Hartford Courant and was the first journalist to be inducted in the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame. Solomon covered Reid when he was at Southern Connecticut and later at UConn.

McGuirk has coached for 37 seasons at Branford and is one win shy of 500 wins (499-111-62). Her Hornets have won 10 state championships and 16 conference titles. They’ve been in the finals 14 times and have reached the semifinal round 27 times. Her husband, John, has been her assistant for the past 34 years.

“This is a tribute to all of our past players and our program,” she said. McGuirk encouraged young girls to try different sports and not specialize too early. “It will help them compete in this world,” she said.

McCarthy has won more football games than any coach in state history (326-114-9) and that includes four Class LL titles at West Haven High (1986, 1987, 1989 and 2002). He previously coached at St. Joseph’s in Trumbull.

“I’ve been blessed since day one with a great group of assistant coaches. They have the love of the game and they have a love for the kids,” McCarthy said. “This is an incredible award. This is one of the biggest thrills of my life. In Connecticut athletics, this is an incredible award. I know there are a lot of people more deserving than I am but no one is more proud.”

Burfoot talked about his basketball career at Fitch High in Groton and admitted that he wasn’t particularly good at it. One day, the coach was frustrated with the team after practice and sent them out on a long run. Burfoot was the first to return and soon realized he was a better runner than a basketball player.

He won the 1968 Boston Marathon as a senior at Wesleyan University. He has run in the Manchester Road Race 51 times and won it nine times. As he got older, he became an editor at Runner’s World magazine to share his knowledge of the sport.

He completed his 19th running of the Boston Marathon last week. “We all know there were horrible events that took place last year,” Burfoot said. “36,000 of us took back the streets of Boston. It was a great day in the history of running and it brought closure to those horrible events of a year ago.”

Dowling helped transform the New Britain Rock Cats into a solid franchise that continues to provide family entertainment to the people of Connecticut. The team had been last in the Eastern League in attendance for five straight seasons when his group took control of the club. Within 10 years, the Rock Cats drew more than 368,000 fans to the ballpark, an average of 5,500 fans a game.

He also praised the sportswriters. “I can’t imagine starting my day without a newspaper, especially one with a lively sports section,” he said.

DeSimas has been writing sports in Connecticut for more than 30 years and was honored with the McGinley Award, named in honor of the late Hartford Times sports editor, who led the Times sports team for 47 years.

“We are the story tellers of our generation,” he said. “All of us in the sportswriting industry – print and electronic – have the unique opportunity to share the exciting tales of the competitors, coaches and team officials.”

He is the editor of the Collinsville Press and several other sports information websites, including Connecticut Wrestling Online.