Inaugural Avon High Athletic Hall of Fame banquet set for May

Ten individuals and one team will be inducted into the Avon High Athletic Hall of Fame in May. Tickets are now on sale.

AVON, April 15, 2022 — To help celebrate the athletic success at Avon High School through the years, ten men and women and one team will be inducted into the inaugural class of the Avon High Athletic Hall of Fame on May 18, at the Golf Club of Avon.

Seven athletes, two former coaches, one athletic director and the 1968 Avon High baseball team that won the Class C state title in baseball will be honored.

Tickets are now on sale. Go to the Hall of Fame website for more information on how to get your tickets.

The men and women that will be honored include:

Martin DeLivron: DeLivron was the boys soccer and baseball coach for many years at Avon. He was the varsity coach for 22 years, winning 330 matches and leading Avon to six state championships and 11 appearances in the finals. He was the varsity baseball coach for 36 years, winning 483 games and leading the Falcons to eight league championships in the Northwest Conference (3) and the North Central Connecticut Conference (5).

Jason Fox (Class of 1991): Jason was an All-American soccer player, who helped lead the Falcons to four state championship games, winning three. A two-time All-New England player, he scored 57 goals at AHS and went on to play at Notre Dame.

Lindsay Horbatuck (2009): An All-State player in basketball and lacrosse, Horbatuck helped lead the Avon High girls basketball team to their first state championship in 2009 where she was named MVP of the Class M state tournament. A two-time All-State player in basketball, she played collegiately at Bucknell and played professionally in Bulgaria and Australia.

Madison Kennedy (2005): She earned All-American honors five times swimming in high school before going on to swim in college at Rutgers and California-Berkley, qualifying to swim in four U.S. Olympic Trials events and swimming on three U.S. world championship teams, winning seven medals, including four gold medals.

Victor Krasij (2001): He played soccer for four years at Avon, scoring 37 goals and dishing out 57 assists. Krasji helped the Falcons win the 2000 Class M championship with Krasij earning All-New England and Gatorade Connecticut Player of the Year honors.

Kia McNeill (2004): She played four years of soccer at Avon, helping the Falcons to win three straight Class M championships (2001-04). A two-time All-American selection, McNeill was named the national Gatorade Player of the Year in 2004. She played collegiately at Boston College, earning third team All-American honors as a senior. She played professionally for six years, winning a Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) title with Philadelphia in 2011. McNeill has been the head coach at Brown for the last six seasons, leading the Bruins to Ivy League titles and NCAA Div. I tournament berths in 2019 and 2022.

Richard (Dick) Migli (1970): Migli earned 12 varsity letters playing football, basketball and baseball for the Falcons. He was on the 1967 Falcon football team that was undefeated and the 1968 baseball team that won a Northwest Conference and state championship.

Kelly McCollum Sheetz (1991): She played field hockey, basketball and softball at Avon, earning 12 varsity letters. Sheetz was an All-State field hockey player in 1990, leading Avon to the Class S championship game. She went onto play field hockey at Northwestern in Chicago, helping her team each the NCAA Final Four in 1994 and later coached the Wildcats for five seasons (2004-08).

Robert Summers: One of Avon High’s first employees in 1957, Summers was an assistant football, basketball and baseball coach during his career with Avon (1957-95) but he is best remembered as the school’s long-time athletic director for 37 years. He began the Athletic Department at Avon High.

Bonnie Tyler: She started the field hockey program in 1968 and coached the Falcons for 17 years, leading Avon to a pair of state championships in in 1983 and 1984 along with three league championships. She also coached the girls basketball team for several seasons.

1968 varsity baseball team: Second-year coach Dick Kelliher led the Falcons to their first Northwest Conference title and a Class C state championship – the second baseball state title in school history. The Falcons went 16-3 and beat two-time defending state champion Cromwell, 3-1, in the state title game at Muzzy Field in Bristol.

The Class of 2022 was selected by a nine-person nominating committee. The banquet begins at 6:30 p.m.

“This has been on our to-do list for a while,” said Tim Filon, Athletic Director at Avon High. “And this year, the (Avon High) Booster Club helped move it up to the top of the list with their generous offer to fund our inaugural event.”

Filon assembled a nine-person nomination committee that reviewed more than 60 applications of former Avon High athletes, coaches and contributors.

The nominating committee includes Filon, current head coaches Al Dadario (cross country, track and field), John McLaughlin (wrestling) and Terri Ziemnicki (field hockey) along with former girls basketball coach Frank Waters and Susan Rietano Davey, Gerry deSimas, Jr., Maria Mascoli (chair) and Stephen Nyberg.

There are still openings for local businesses and fans to support the event through advertisements in the event program. Information on how to take out an ad is at the Hall of Fame website.

Editor’s note: Collinsville Press editor and publisher Gerry deSimas, Jr., who has been covering scholastic sports in the area for more than 40 years, is one of the nine people on the nominating committee.