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FAIRFIELD COUNTY, Conn. Six new members of the Fairfield County Sports Hall of Fame and sports persons of the year from 15 county towns were honored Monday at the seventh annual SportsNight at the Hyatt Regency Greenwich.
The family of Stamford native Brian Bill, a U.S. Navy SEAL who was killed in action on Aug. 6 in Aghanistan, accepted the Chelsea Cohen Courage Award.
The Hall of Fame classes included Stamfords Bennett Salvatore, an NBA referee, and former NBA star John Bagley, of Bridgeport, in the Jackie Robinson Professional Wing. Joe DeSantis, a former college basketball standout at Fairfield, and distance runner Ceci Hopp St. Geme were inducted into the James ORourke Amateur Wing. Former Staples soccer coach Albie Loeffler and Bridgeports Charlie Bentley, a longtime basketball coach at Harding High School, joined the J. Walter Kennedy Community Service Wing.
The highlight of the evening was a tribute to Bill by Greenwich native Steve Young. The NFL Hall of Famer delivered his message via video. Bill graduated from Trinity Catholic, where he played soccer and hockey. The Forever Young Foundation, the former quarterback's charity, sponsors the Cohen Award. It is named after a former Norwalk High girls soccer star who died in 2006 after battling a rare form of cancer of the nervous system.
Salvatore has been an NBA referee since 1981. He is recognized as one of the top officials in the professional game, and has worked more than 1,650 professional games, two All-Star games and 25 games in the NBA Finals. He was also a former high school standout in baseball and football at Trinity Catholic.
Hockey player Ryan Haggerty was honored as the Stamford Sports Person of the Year. Haggerty helped Team USA win the gold medal at the 2011 International Ice Hockey Federal World Mens Under-18 championship in April. He played hockey for two years at Trinity Catholic before being recruited to play for Team USA. He is now a freshman at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
The Fairfield County Sports Commission presented the dinner. The commission is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting fitness and active, healthy lifesstyle as well as personal development through sports. The group introduced the Chelsea Cohen Fitness Academy this year. The academy supplements and complements existing sports and fitness programs.
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