After more than a century of coaching, Cookie and Bob Bromage retire

Bob Bromage, left, Jill Kolinsky, the wife of the late Bo Kolinsky, and Cookie Bromage at the 2015 Gold Key banquet when the Bromages were honored for 100 years of coaching.

Two exceptional coaches have retired after long and fruitful careers on the sideline. Enfield High’s legendary field hockey coach Cookie Bromage, 76, resigned after 52 years of coaching the program she began in 1967.

Her husband, Bob Bromage, was a long-time baseball coach at Enfield High. But for the past 15 years, he was the baseball coach at East Granby High. Bob Bromage, 75, also stepped down from the Crusaders’ post.

Cookie Bromage was best known as the field hockey coach at Enfield High where she started the program in 1967. Enfield has been playing against Avon in recent seasons since the Falcons moved to the Central Connecticut Conference.

Enfield field hockey coach Cookie Bromage, right, and a player at the 2015 Gold Key banquet.

One of the most famous games in the history of the Canton field hockey program came in 1983 when the Warriors, then ranked No. 1 in the state, rallied from a two-goal deficit to earn a 2-2 tie with Enfield. Canton was ranked No. 1 in the state, had won 47 straight matches and was the defending Class S champion while Enfield was ranked No. 2 in the state and the defending Class M champion.

Enfield led 2-0 but Canton scored two goals in the final four minutes including a goal with 41 seconds left in regulation to tie the game.

Both Bromages were honored in 2015 by the Connecticut Sports Writers’ Alliance with the Bo Kolinsky Special Recognition Award in honor of a combined 100 seasons of coaching, the first time in the state that a husband and wife team had achieved that.

Along with field hockey, Cookie guided the cheerleading team for 10 years, and in 1971, began an 18-year run as girls’ basketball coach at Enfield High.

But her greatest success came with the field hockey program she helped build. After a Class M runner-up finish in 1982, the Raiders won back-to-back championships the next two years. Enfield later won three straight championships from 1992 to 1994.

Bob was hired as assistant boys’ basketball coach at Enfield High in 1966, and was promoted to head coach in 1977, a position he held for 10 years. He also spent some time as an assistant football coach, and coached hockey for a time at the former Kosciuszko Junior High.

Bob never won a state title in baseball but directed some excellent Raider programs at different stages of his tenure. Enfield was the Class L runner-up in 2001, the best season in school history.

Read more about Cookie Bromage.

Read more about Bob Bromage.

Bromages honored for 100 years of coaching by Connecticut Sports Writers Alliance