Simsbury Hall of Fame family adds more outstanding athletes, coaches

They won state championships on consecutive days in 1992 and the Simsbury High boys and girls soccer teams are together again being inducted into the Simsbury High Hall of Fame. (More photos)

SIMSBURY – The sense of family was overwhelming at the most recent Simsbury High Hall of Fame induction banquet at the Riverview restaurant.

Perhaps, it was the large contingent of players from the Simsbury girls soccer team that won a Class L state championship in 1992 and the Simsbury High boys soccer team that won a Class LL state title that same year.

Both teams were inducted into the Hall of Fame in late December along with four athletes, one coach and one community contributor.

Inductee Pam Hammersmith was the field hockey coach in Simsbury in 1992 along with the late Joe Grace, the football coach at the high school, who was honored with a moment of silence.

You got the feeling that everyone was cheering on all of their classmates.

Grace Hagan Tucker (Class of 1981), Michael Koening (1982), Josh Gilbert (2003) and Emily Buda Briggs (2009) were the individual athletes inducted into the Hall of Fame along with Hammersmith, the long-time field hockey and girls lacrosse coach at Simsbury and the late Richard Cialfi (1948), who was inducted for his athletic feats and his contributions to the community.

It was a magical few months in the fall of 1992 at Simsbury High.

Not only did the girls soccer team and boys soccer team capture state championships but the field hockey team advanced to the Class L semifinals. The boys cross country team beat Rockville by two points to win the Class L championship.

And the football team went 9-1, their best record since 1971, and narrowly missed out on a berth in the state championship game. After losing to New Britain on opening day, the Trojans won nine straight games. Only two schools from each class qualified for the playoffs in 1992.

The boys and girls soccer teams each won their respective semifinal contests at Avon’s Fisher Meadows, virtually playing next to each other.

When the girls soccer team beat rival Glastonbury 2-1 to advance to the championship game, the boys team, still in uniform after beating Xavier, were part of the celebration on the field with the girls squad.

“The whole town of Simsbury came out to watch those two games,” former Simsbury High girls soccer coach Marty Lisevick said.

A few days later, the Simsbury boys were playing No. 7 Staples in the championship game on a frigid Friday night at Tunxis Mead Park in Farmington. At halftime, Trojan head coach Ed Lynch looks up and sees 35-to-40 players from the Simsbury football team and head coach Joe Grace coming into the park to cheer on their classmates.

“We all blended and stayed together,” Lynch said. “I would cut practices short to (allow the players to) go see the girls play soccer or go see field hockey. Why? We’re all together. And that was our them. We still believe in that today.”

When it was time for photos at the conclusion of the banquet, the two teams were together again – a little older but still smiling, proud and happy.

The boys soccer team was 4-3-1 after eight games but after losing a Homecoming contest to Wethersfield, they didn’t drop another game. They won nine straight games including a 5-0 run through the state tournament that saw Simsbury (16-4-1) beat No. 16 Glastonbury, 3-1, No. 1 Shelton, 2-1, No. 8 Newington, 1-0, No. 5 Xavier and Staples, 3-0, in the final.

The win over Glastonbury, their first in four years over their arch-rival, fueled Simsbury’s confidence. After their championship victory, Simsbury was ranked No. 1 in the Hartford Courant’s top 10 poll.

Celebratory hugs all around from the 1992 Simsbury High girls soccer team with head coach Marty Lisevick. (More photos)

It was a bit of unfinished business for the girls soccer team that had lost in the semifinals in 1990 to Wilton in a shootout and in 1991 to Glastonbury in overtime.

In the semifinal at Fisher Meadow in Avon, Simsbury outlasted Glastonbury, 2-1 to earn their first berth in the final since 1987. The girls played their championship game at Willow Brook Park in New Britain, outlasting Ridgefield, 1-0. Simsbury outshot Ridgefield, 21-4.

The girls team finished the year 17-4-1 and was ranked No. 2 in the Courant’s state coaches poll.

With the sweep, Simsbury became just the second school to win boys and girls soccer titles in the same year. Granby had done it first in 1986 and 1987.

Hagan Tucker was a three-sport athlete at Simsbury, earning nine letters in field hockey, basketball and softball. She helped the field hockey team win a state title in her junior year (1979) with an overtime win over Greenwich. She also played on a Simsbury team that traveled to Denmark and played against the Danish national team in 1979.

In college, she played field hockey at UConn where she helped the Huskies win an NCAA Division I national title in 1981 and secure another three Final Four appearances.

After graduation, she excelled running in road races, winning the Bay State marathon (1999) and being named U.S. Track and Field’s New England women’s runner of the year in 2001. She settled in Florida and co-founded the Parkland Redhawks lacrosse club.

Michael Koenig, Class of 1982, was a three-time All-State hockey player at Simsbury.(More photos)

Koenig earned letters in four sports at Simsbury – soccer, hockey, baseball and lacrosse, earning All-State honors in hockey and soccer. He helped the 1981 Simsbury boys soccer team win a Class LL state championship and left Simsbury as the all-time leader in total points in boys hockey. He was the first player in state history to be named All-State for three consecutive years by the New Haven Register.

He played collegiate hockey at Providence College, helping the Friars advance to the NCAA Division I Final Four in 1985.

For the last 30 years, he has been at Proctor Academy in Andover, N.H., where he is the director of College Counseling. He has coached hockey, lacrosse and golf at the school.

Gilbert was a three-sport athlete at Simsbury, earning nine letters playing ice hockey, soccer and lacrosse. He earned All-State honors in hockey (2003), helping the Trojans win the state Division I championship. Simsbury was the first public school to win the Division I title since 1994.

A four-year lacrosse player, Gilbert left the program with school records for most goals in a season (81) and a career (214).

He attended Endicott College where he played varsity lacrosse (four years) and a season of club hockey. He was an honorable mention All-American selection in his senior year with the lacrosse team.

Emily Buda Briggs was a field hockey standout at Simsbury. (More photos)

Briggs Buda played field hockey and lacrosse at Simsbury. In field hockey, she was the Hartford Courant’s player of the year and the Coca Cola Player of the Year in 2008 and helped the Trojans earn two berths in the state championship. Simsbury shared the Class L title with Stamford in 2008. She was a regional All-American selection in 2008, finishing her high school career with 63 goals and 41 assists.

She continued her field hockey career at the University of New Hampshire in 2009.

Cialfi was a three-sport athlete at Simsbury High, playing four years of varsity baseball, three years of varsity football and a year of varsity basketball. He earned All-State honors as a catcher in 1948, helping Simsbury win the Central Valley Conference title that spring.

He also played on the Simsbury American Legion baseball team and at Hillyer College, which eventually became the University of Hartford.

But he remained a figure in sports, too. He coached Simsbury Babe Ruth baseball for 15 years and coached the basketball team at St. Mary’s, leading the squad to a pair of Hartford CYO (Catholic Youth Organization) titles in 1967 and 1968.

A small business owner in Simsbury, he operated Richie’ Cialfi Television and Radio Repair for more than 30 years.

Hammersmith grew up in Granby playing field hockey for the legendary Hall of Fame coach Dot Johnson and was part of the Granby team that won the first state championship in field hockey in 1973. After playing a year at Springfield College, she began refereeing to learn as much as she could about the game.

Hammersmith brought that love of field hockey to Simsbury, where she worked as physical education teacher for 32 years. She coached field hockey for 21 years, earning a CIAC tournament bid each year, winning 18 league championships (CCIL and CCC), four CIAC state championships. She led Simsbury to the state finals eight times and compiled a record of 304-45-56 behind the Trojan bench.

Her 1996 and 1997 Simsbury field hockey teams were previously inducted into the Simsbury Hall of Fame.

Hammersmith started the girls lacrosse program in Simsbury in 1982 and her teams won 14 league championships and a state title in 1995 with a 10-4 victory over Greenwich in the Connecticut High School Girls Lacrosse Association title game. Her teams went 229-71-2.

She was inducted into the Connecticut Field Hockey Hall of Fame in 2015 and the Connecticut Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2013. She was the Connecticut High School Coaches Association’s coach of the year in field Hockey (1989, 2003) and girls lacrosse (1997).

“It is a wonderful gathering of former teammates, coaches, classmates, family and friends,” said Hall of Fame committee President and Chair Roger Coombes. “The ceremony is always filled with incredible camaraderie and Trojan Pride. Many thanks go to our sponsors, attendees and community supporters.”

Photos from the Simsbury Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony