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CIAC kicks off championship weekend with Merit Award ceremony, dedication

At the CIAC’s Dedication Ceremonies Friday night, ten people received Merit Awards for their work with high school basketball including Avon’s Joe Zone and Farmington High coach Duane Witter.

Before the players hit the hardwood on Saturday at the Mohegan Sun Arena, the CIAC held their annual Dedication Ceremony at the Cabaret Theatre at the Mohegan Sun on Friday night, recognizing 10 exceptional individuals who have helped basketball thrive in Connecticut.

The boys and girls tournament will be dedicated to Gregg Simon, the CIAC’s Associate Executive Director, who spent 11 years as the girls basketball coach at Newtown High and 17 leads as the athletic director at Newtown.

Avon’s Joe Zone, the sports director at CBS affiliate WFSB Channel 3 in Hartford, was honored with a CIAC Merit Award along with Farmington High boys basketball coach Duane Witter.

A master storyteller who this writer had the privilege of working along side for several years at The Register Citizen in Torrington, sportswriter Rick Wilson, was honored with a Merit Award along with V.J. Sarullo, the athletic director at Notre Dame-Fairfield, Kelly Maher, the athletic director and former girls basketball coach at Cromwell, Shaun Russell, the athletic director and current girls basketball coach at East Hampton, Tim Kohs, the girls basketball coach at Mercy High in Middletown and a member of the CIAC’s girls basketball committee and long-time basketball officials Andy Savo and David Duguay.

Joe Zone is celebrating his 50th year in sportscasting in 2024. He has worked all three of the top markets in the country (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago) along with stops in smaller markets (Scanton/Wilkes, PA, Providence, Syracuse) before coming to Hartford in 2006.

Joe is often seen on the sidelines on a chilly evening to gather a few video highlights for a high school football game, the gym for a basketball game or the chilly sidelines in the spring for a baseball or softball contest.

Witter has taught physical education in Farmington for 31 years at the elementary, middle school and high school level. He retired from teaching in 2023.

Witter began as a junior varsity coach with the Farmington boys program in 1995 and became the head coach in 1998. His teams have won nearly 350 games, compiled several 20-win seasons and won the first state championship in program history in 2019.

Wilson has shared his writing talents with readers of the Register Citizen in Torrington, the Republican American in Waterbury, Litchfield County Times, his hometown Thomaston Express and is currently a senior writer for Litchfield County Sports.com.

For more than 40 years, Wilson has provided readers with perspective, humor and memorable moments from the local events in Litchfield County, state championship contests or words of wisdom about UConn basketball – men and women.

He also taught history and social studies in his hometown of Thomaston for 33 years and has spent the last six years at Northwestern.

Wilson covered sports throughout the years – football, field hockey, baseball, softball, track and field. He’s been a fixture at the Litchfield Hills Road Race each June for years, as much a part of the fabric of the race as public address announcer Brent Hawkins is with his very colorful clothing.

On Friday night, Wilson talked about his love of basketball and the joy he has gotten from covering the game and his hometown Bears, whose girls basketball team has made a habit of playing in the state championship game over the past decade.

Those Bears had a very competitive series with Canton, meeting the Warriors for three consecutive years in the championship game from 2015-17 with Canton winning two of three.

He was there to chronicle Dennis Fowler’s last-second shot that gave the Lewis Mills boys basketball team their first – and only to date – state championship in 1995. He saw Gilbert, led by the Rea brothers, bring home a state title a few years later.

I’m sure there are more memories that would come to mind. It has been 43 years.

He’ll be at the Mohegan Sun on Sunday to provide coverage of the Thomaston High girls and their quest for a Class S championship against Somers.

Friends of Gregg Simon holds up giant photos of his head during Friday night’s ceremony at the Mohegan Sun.

WFSB’s Joe Zone is celebrating his 50th year in broadcasting this month.

Long-time official Andy Savo, who officiated basketball for 43 years in Connecticut. He was a high school and college official, working at the Division I, II and III levels.

Farmington High basketball coach Duane Witter.

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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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