TOP ROW (L-R): Manager- Michelle Bulat, Manager-Tara Remington, and Manager- Mary Jennings, Greg Stewart, Dave Sullivan, Dan Sheridan, Greg Lyon, Phil Barrett, Head Coach Fran Aniello, Assistant Coach Peter Martin
BOTTOM ROW (L-R): Scott Morrison, Marcus Williams, Tom Naughton, Ted Lyon, Ray Young, Mike Daniel, Art Ouimet

They were the Class S Champions of Connecticut in 1985…that’s a fact. But in the eyes of many seasoned observers of the State basketball scene, they may have been the best Class S team ever! High praise for the boys of Suffield High and the 1984-85 Boys Basketball Team certainly made their mark. Coming off a glittering 22-5 record the prior year, they were poised for a great run and were among the early favorites to win the Class S crown. Led by their Mr. Outside, Ted Lyon, at 6’4” and Mr. Inside, Ray Young at 6’5”, the two were joined on the starting lineup by speedy David Sullivan, 6’4” Tom Naughton who possessed a dead-eye shot from the corner, and junior Mike Daniel who was 6’8” and growing! The front-line was backed up by Dan Sheridan, Greg Stewart, Marcus Williams, and Art Ouimet, all rugged rebounders and capable scorers. The back court trio of Scotty Morrison, Phil Barrett, and Greg Lyon were ready to come in at a moments notice to spark the team when needed with their fine shooting and ball-handling skills. At the coaching helm, was seven-year veteran Fran Aniello, who was a master at coordinating his talented troops.

The high expectations proved prophetic! Suffield won 27 games while losing only one. They won the NCCC League with a 16-0 record followed up by the Conference Playoff Title when they beat Canton by 20 points. Going into the State Tournament, they were on a 16 game winning streak (21 and 1 overall) with their only blemish being a loss to a very talented Class M Middletown team. After a blowout of Westbrook, they won a hard-fought battle against defending Class S Champion Terryville. During this period, the tournament format (which was by Region) allowed for a Regional Championship game where both winner and loser went on. The format set up one of the most anticipated match-ups in the tournament…23-1 Suffield against undefeated Litchfield. The Wildcats played a masterful game and came away with a 71-60 victory. Facing league foe Somers in the quarterfinals, Suffield extended their dominance over NCCC competition with their 44th consecutive victory. Feeling they had lost (versus Suffield had won) in their Regional Final match, Litchfield got a chance to play Suffield again in the State Semi-finals. Same teams…same result…with Suffield running away with a more convincing 24-point triumph.

As fate would have it, Suffield met Cromwell in the State Finals, the same Panther team that ended their title run in 1984. They relished the opportunity and ended their Cinderella year with a 57-46 victory over Cromwell, a program that had historically won seven state titles over the years. The victory marked Suffield’s second State Basketball Title and came on the 25th anniversary of the SHS win in 1960. Ted Lyon capped his career by being named Tournament MVP and finished as the SHS career scoring leader with 1464 points. Ray Young also finished his career, and he ended with a scoring total of 1067 points.

Supporting the SHS title run was assistant coach, Peter Martin and three dedicated managers, Michelle Bulat, Mary Jennings, and Tara Remington. Suffield townspeople also turned out in record numbers to support the team each game during its championship season.

RUSS MILLS
Russ Mills has been involved in athletics for virtually his entire life. Growing up in Bloomfield, Russ moved to Suffield shortly after his marriage to Marjorie Goodsell. He and his wife lived for many years on River Boulevard where they raised two sons and four daughters.

When he was in high school, his father needed him on the family farm, so Russ was told he could only play two sports…he chose basketball (as a high school sport) and golf on the side. Following up on a distinguished high school basketball career, Russ remained active in that sport as well as softball as an adult. He played both fast pitch and slow pitch softball for a variety of area teams in the spring and summer, and played basketball for the Bloomfield Townies for a number of years. When his son reached Little League age, Russ volunteered to coach the boy’s farm team and that began a 30-plus year career of involvement in youth baseball. A highly successful coach in terms of wins and losses, Russ prided himself on the fact that all his players were active participants and each was learning to maximize his own potential. He was instrumental in the passage of a minimum playing requirement in Little League for each boy and taught the fundamentals of the game by his “show and tell” method. By stressing teamwork and personal commitment, his Rotary Little League Team was able to capture three successive league titles in the mid-1960’s.

When he perceived that too many boys were missing out on baseball because the town had only one age 13-15 Babe Ruth League Team, he became the lightening rod for the development of the Suffield Senior League to accommodate these older players. In the first year over 45 boys signed up to play and it has been a fixture in the town ever since.

Russ also served a 2-year stint as president of the Little League and helped organize the adult Men’s Softball League. An attempt to organize an adult women’s softball team lasted only one year but many women continued to play in Windsor Locks.

What started out as a modest attempt to coach his son’s Little League Team turned into a 30-something year commitment to Suffield and its baseball youth!

MIKE POHORYLO
Mike Pohorylo was a swimmer par excellence for Suffield Academy in the late 1990’s and had a sparkling career at Amherst College where he graduated in 2004. Like most swimming prodigies, he began his career early (at age 8) swimming for the Windsor Locks Water Jets and, later, the Charter Oak team. He entered Suffield Academy in 1996 and joined both the Swim Team and the Water Polo Team. He was captain of both teams (Water Polo in 1998-99) and the Varsity Swim Team from 1998 to 2000. While at Suffield, he was a U.S. Swimming Junior National qualifier in 1999, and that same year was a member of the Academy team that won the New England Prep School Championship in the 200-yard Freestyle Relay. In his senior year, he set Suffield Academy records in the 200-yard Individual Medley and 100-yard Breaststroke. In these same events, he won the New England Prep School Championships. For his efforts, he was named a two-time All American and the Boston Globe Male New England Swimmer of the Year. While his achievements in the pool were legendary, he also excelled in the classroom where he was named an Academic All American and was awarded the H. Meade Alcorn prize for excellence in academics and athletics.

Entering Amherst College in 2000, he quickly established himself as a premier swimmer and enjoyed tremendous success over his four years there. He was a two-time National Division III Champion in the 100 and 200-yard Breaststroke events, won ten New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) championships (5 individual, 5 relay), set four NESCAC championship records, set three NESCAC conference records, and five Amherst pool and varsity records. Mike was an 11-time All American swimmer, six-time All American Honorable mention and a 16-time All-NESCAC honoree. He was named to both the Collegiate Sports Information Directors All American team and NESCAC All Academic Team for his prowess in the classroom as well as the pool. He served as captain of both the Swim Team and the Water Polo Team, a sport in which he earned All New England First Team honors.

After graduating from Amherst in 2004, Mike moved to Boston where he is enrolled at Boston College and pursuing a masters degree in Higher Education Administration. He was also recently named as an Assistant Mens and Womens Swim Coach at the same BC school.

ED TRYON
Eddie Tryon was born in Medford, Massachusetts, but relocated to Suffield when he entered Suffield Academy in 1919. No stranger to town, Eddie had spent most of his summers living at the family cottage on Lake Congamond.

He made All-Connecticut Valley teams in football for three straight years while attending Suffield Academy and later went on to star as a running back for Colgate from 1922-25. As a senior, he led the East in scoring with 111 points and was captain of an unbeaten Colgate team. His greatest scoring day came in 1923 when he scored five touchdowns against Columbia University, a Colgate record unequaled until the early 1980’s. In four seasons, Eddie led Colgate to a 24-9-3 record. His coach, Dick Harlow, once called him “the answer to a coach’s fondest dreams.” He played professional football with Red Grange’s New York Yankees in 1926-27 before pursuing a career in coaching.

In 1963, the 1926 Colgate graduate was inducted into the National Collegiate Football Hall of Fame in Mason, Ohio, and the Helms Foundation Hall of Fame in Los Angeles. In 1979, Colgate inducted Eddie into its athletic hall of fame.

He worked as athletic director and coach at Rutherford High School, Rutherford. N.J., from 1928 to 1946. During this time he played with and coached a New Jersey Semi-professional team for six years. He later coached football at Hobart College, Geneva, N.Y., from 1946 until he retired in 1964. A member of the Hobart Hall of Fame, he coached the team to two undefeated seasons in 1954 and 1957. He also served on the NCAA Football Rules Committee for four years beginning in 1958. In addition, he umpired collegiate baseball and officiated for eight years in the American Football Association and three years in the NFL. After retirement, he returned to Suffield where he continued coaching as a part-time assistant at Suffield Academy.

He married Suffield native Luana Phelps in 1926 but she tragically died two years later, leaving Eddie to bring up his infant daughter, Barbara. Ed died in 1982 at the age of 81.