Sunday’s Gold Key dinner was a wonderful addition to the event’s rich legacy

The Connecticut Sports Media Alliance held their 83rd annual Gold Key dinner on Sunday at the Aqua Turf in Manchester.

The dinner was delayed seven months due to the untimely passing of Alliance president, Tim Jensen, last September at the age of 59.

It’s not the first time the dinner has been delayed or postponed. The event wasn’t held in 1943 or 1944 due to World War II and the 2020 Gold Key dinner was held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tim would have loved this year’s event – loved it.

The dinner was about a group of exceptional Connecticut men and women who have succeeded in sports as an athlete, coach and fan. They have inspired others to be better and grow as athletes and human beings.

Every year, there are inspiring stories at the Gold Key banquet. Some are well known and some are not. There is always a chuckle or three from the crowd.

There was Kara Wolters, one of just 12 women on the planet with an Olympic gold medal in basketball, a NCAA championship (with UConn) and a WNBA championship (with the original Houston Comets), receiving a Gold Key.

She wondered why it took more than 20 years for her to be recognized after her UConn teammates Rebecca Lobo (2004) and Jennifer Rizzotti (2002) along with UConn head coach Geno Auriemma (2001) had received Gold Keys.

She laughed heartily. And she proceeded to share some lessons about life she has learned in the last 25 years playing basketball, broadcasting basketball and raising a family here in Connecticut.

Kara and her daughter shared a table with Colchester’s Dolores Sawchuk, 95, who has been a champion and fan of Bacon Academy athletics since she graduated from the school in 1948.

Dolores, who won the Bo Kolinsky Special Recognition Award, didn’t have the opportunity to play sports in her high school years because the school didn’t offer varsity sports for girls at that time, which was, unfortunately, common at that time.

But she earned a spot on the cheerleading squad, which enabled her to get a spot on the team bus carrying the basketball team and sit near her future husband.

And Dolores didn’t skip a beat when dinner host John Holt asked Dolores if she could share one of her team’s cheers from her high school days and she shared a cheer about beating nearby rival East Hampton, prompting a warm response from the crowd.

Dolores is still going to Bacon Academy games. In March 2025, she was at the Mohegan Sun Arena when the Bobcats girls basketball team won the Class M championship.

Wayne Norman, known around the state as the outstanding color commentor for UConn football and basketball since 1979, received the first Bob Barton Excellence in Media award.

Wayne has been at courtside or in the booth for numerous historic calls such as Braylon Mullin’s game-winning shot against Duke in this year’s NCAA Eastern Regional final, UConn football’s double OT win at Notre Dame in 2009, Kemba Walker helping the Huskies win five Big East games in 5 days to win the 2011 Big East tournament and Tate George’s buzzer-beating shot against Clemson in 1990.

His long-time partner on the UConn network, Joe D’Ambrosio, came to the stage and conducted a brief interview with his long-time friend. For UConn radio fans, it was a sweet reminder of a duo that was so smooth together – a duo we shared so many UConn victories and defeats with.

Another colleague interviewed Matt Buckler, a former Alliance president from 1988-89 and 1997-99, who received the Bob Casey Courage Award. Sherman Cain worked with Matt at the Journal Inquirer for more than 35 years and had a bright Q&A session with Matt.

Matt wasn’t just a sportswriter. He was a television and radio critic for the Journal Inquirer and he was the track announcer at regional racetracks – Riverside Park Speedway in Agawam, Stafford Speedway, Thompson Speedway and the Speed Bowl in Waterford. For many years, he was the announcer at CIAC track and field meets, the Journal Inquirer Invitational in Manchester and other high school track and cross country events.

Matt had a second leg amputated in October 2024 and a few weeks later, Sherman found Matt doing some announcing duties at the Wickham Invitational and then the CIAC cross country championship meet.

“I was fortunate they amputated my feet and not my mouth,” Matt said with a grin. “I went to the first Wickham Invitational and I wanted to go that one.”

We got to hear from Peter King, the award-winning writer from Enfield who wrote Monday Morning Quarterback, the column that shared with readers everything of consequence from the previous weekend of NFL action.

Peter is a three-time national sportswriter of the year who was a reporter and managing editor of Inside the NFL on HBO. He was part of NBC’s Football Night in America team for years. He was a writer at Sports Illustrated for 29 years when the print publication was at the height of its popularity with outstanding sports journalism, writing and photography.

Peter received the President’s Award, an honor chosen strictly by the Alliance president. He was the final President’s Award winner selected by Tim Jensen.

Peter was a player on the national stage but he didn’t forget his hometown and was honored for his assistance in raising money to save middle school sports in Enfield in 2024. One of the fundraising events by the committee Save Our Sports was “A Night with Peter King” in the Enfield High auditorium.

Tim’s son, Alex, took a few minutes to talk about his father’s legacy and about Tim’s love for sports, the community and the history of sports in Enfield and Connecticut.

Other Gold Keys went to Rachele Fico, the star softball pitcher at Masuk High in Monroe and later Louisiana State University; Nick Giaquinto, the Stratford native who was a record-setting running back at UConn, a Super Bowl champion with the Washington Redskins and a long-time baseball coach at Sacred Heart University; James Jones, the head basketball coach at Yale and Dave Wallace, a Waterbury native who played at Sacred Heart High, the University of New Haven and forged a career in baseball as a pitching coach with several teams including the Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston Red Sox, where he was the pitching coach on the 2004 World Series champions.

Coach of the Year awards for action in the 2024-25 season went to Anne Burrows of Bloomfield High girls track and field John Reiser, who led the Manchester High boys basketball team to their first state championship since 1938.

Athlete of the Year awards for the 2024-25 season went to Glastonbury’s Brooke Strauss, an indoor mile national champion, and Ridgefield’s Magnus Manley, who earned All-American honors. Both are now competing in college with Strauss at UConn and Manley at Yale.

The High School Achievement Award went to Northwestern Regional’s Fred Williams, the long-time head coach who has won more girls basketball games than any other coach in state history (745 wins in 47 seasons). Fred couldn’t make it because he was coaching in an AAU tournament on Sunday.

Good Sport awards went to Rick Evangelisti and Bill Neller for their work with the Litchfield Hills Road Race over the last four decades, Ray DaCosta and his work with CT Northstars youth basketball, Skip Falcone and his work with West Haven Twilight Baseball League, Alex Palluzzi (Branford Parks and Recreation, Hall of Fame) and Bruce Wilhelm (Enfield and regional youth soccer administrator.

Rockville’s Kyle Clark, the recent Bo Kolinsky Sports Media scholarship winner, was also recognized. Kyle is now a freshman at UConn.

Tim would have loved it. It was a great day in Connecticut sports.

More photos from the 83rd Gold Key banquet and dinner.

Gerry deSimas, Jr. has been a member of the Connecticut Sports Media Alliance for years and has served as the organization’s event photographer since 2014. With the passing of Tim in September, he was named interim secretary as the Alliance regrouped to host the dinner.

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