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February 2012 |
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Committee
President:
Frank Beneski
Vice-Chairman:
John Bertolini
Secretary:
Sheila Beneski
Treasurer:
David Padegimas
Members:
Kathy Bielonko
Mike Bosworth
Cookie Bromage
Hillary Cahn
Lou Casinghino
Bob Cecchini
Art Christian
Tim Geary
Kevin Goff
Dennis Kinne
Larry Krogh
John Kulas
Barbara Novak
Bruce Remington
Joe Sinicrope
Danny SullivanLinks Section
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Class of 2006
Frank Beneski
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Frank Beneski was an outstanding three-sport athlete at
Suffield High School from 1958 to 1960. He was a member of two
state championship teams—1958 soccer and 1960 basketball. Frank
and his teammates compiled exceptional winning records
highlighted by his senior year when in the sports of soccer,
basketball and baseball, they won a total of 47 games, lost but
7, and tied 2. The team’s leading scorer in basketball, Frank
was selected to the State All-Tournament First Team in 1960 and
was Honorable Mention All-State in both his junior and senior
years. In addition to athletics, Frank was a student leader who
was elected to several student government positions and was a
consistent honor roll student and member of the National Honor
Society. He earned a full academic scholarship to the University
of Hartford where he continued to shine in academics and played
two years on the basketball team.
Following high school and college, he umpired Little League
games and ultimately coached several teams in a 13-year career.
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| For the past 30-plus years, Frank and his wife,
Sheila, have been attending high school basketball games. They
now routinely attend about 125 games per year and have
established themselves as the #1 fans in Connecticut. They have
been honored by individual teams, referee associations, and in
2002 were honored by the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic
Conference in appreciation of their support. Numerous newspaper
articles and television appearances have heralded their devotion
to the game.
In 2001, Frank in concert with the Suffield Sports Council,
became the driving force behind the establishment of the
Suffield Athletic Hall of Fame. An ardent follower of sports and
possessing an historian’s sense of Suffield athletics in
particular, he was a natural for the task. Frank has been the
chairman of the Hall of Fame Committee since its inception and
he, along with Sheila, remain two of the biggest proponents of
the celebration and preservation of Suffield athletic history.
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Some student athletes have the good fortune to play for a
state championship once in their high school career…John
Bertolini did it every year! Four years of high school and four
state championship games. In his freshman year, he was a
starting defenseman on the ice hockey team that went on to win
the Division II State Title. In the fall of his sophomore year,
Suffield played its way to the Class M soccer finals but lost to
Farmington by a 2-1 score. They went to the championship game
again the following year but lost the Class M title game to St.
Paul. In John’s senior year of soccer, his team finished the
regular season with a 13-0-3 record and bested Valley Regional
1-0 in the finals to win the Class M crown and complete an
undefeated season.
Playing his career primarily in defense-oriented positions, John
nonetheless amassed a multitude of individual honors for his
outstanding play. He is one of only a few athletes in SHS
history to be named to All-State teams in two different sports,
ice hockey and soccer. In ice hockey, he was voted the team’s
best defenseman for three straight years, was named to the
Journal Inquirer All-Area 1st Team for the same three years, and
earned Division I All-State accolades (two third team and one
second team selections). The senior team captain and MVP was
also selected to play in the prestigious Connecticut-Rhode
Island All Star Game. |
| In soccer, the fullback was voted the most
improved player as a sophomore and, as a senior, was voted team
MVP and selected to the NCCC All-Conference and JI All-Area 1st
Teams and Class M All-State Team. John also lettered in baseball
for three years, batting .416 as senior MVP, and had a career
total of 42 stolen bases. The three sport MVP earned 10 varsity
letters and was named the SHS Meade Alcorn Outstanding Athlete
in 1982.
Routinely making the honor roll in high school, John went on
to Merrimack College where he was a two-year soccer starter and
co-captain of the team for one year. Following college, John
returned to Suffield High to coach hockey and was the varsity
coach from 1986 to 1988. In both years, his teams made it to the
Division II State semi-finals.
John currently resides in Suffield with his wife Melanie and
their two children, Michael and Kellie.
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From the time he was a young boy going to Hartford Whalers
games, Marty Demers was fascinated by hockey generally and
officiating specifically. At Suffield High School, Marty began
his playing career as a sophomore in the fledgling varsity ice
hockey program. Despite the relative newness of hockey to the
school, the talent pool was deep and in his junior year, Marty’s
team went all the way to the state semi-finals. In his senior
year, they won it all and were the State Division II Champions.
Marty had an outstanding career and in his senior year was named
to both the Journal Inquirer All-Area Team and the First Team
Division II All State.
Wanting to continue his association with the game, Marty
enrolled in the Western New England Officials School. Impressed
by what they saw in young Marty, his instructors encouraged him
to tryout for a linesman position in the American Hockey League.
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| In 1979, he began his long and illustrious
career in the AHL but his talents as a linesman led him to
numerous assignments beyond his League responsibilities. In
December 1979, he was asked to work the Lake Placid Invitational
Tournament and, as a consequence of his flawless calls, was
selected to be a linesman in the XIII Winter Olympics held in
February. The following year he was picked to handle 10 games at
the World Championships in Sweden, including calling the Gold
Medal Game. In 1986, he did the first of many NCAA Men’s
Division I Hockey Championships and later that year worked the
US Olympic Festival. Working as a linesman in an NHL game in
1990, he was even called upon to fill in for an injured referee!
At other points in his career, Marty worked in the International
Hockey League, the ECAC Hockey Finals, and the prestigious
Boston Beanpot Tournament.
In the AHL, he worked the Calder Cup Championship 15 times,
called the AHL All-Star Game in Philadelphia, and in 2003, was
the recipient of the Michael Condon Memorial Award for
Outstanding contribution and service to the American Hockey
League.
Marty continues to be an outstanding linesman in the AHL and
is closing in on calling his 1000th game, an unprecedented feat
in the League.
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Lisa Lumbruno and her two younger sisters formed the nucleus
of the East Granby Angels, a traveling soccer team coached by
their father, Dick. When she entered East Granby High School,
however, they did not have a girls soccer team. Lisa transferred
into the Vo-Ag Program at Suffield High where, in 1978, her
varsity soccer career began on Suffield’s newly formed team. A
pioneer in the sport, she was an outstanding player and lettered
in her three years at SHS while earning All Conference and All
State honors as well. A prolific goal scorer, she led the team
to the NCCC Title as a senior and to two appearances in the
state open soccer tournament. That conference title was the
first ever league championship for a SHS girls team. Lisa also
played varsity basketball for three years, one year of varsity
softball, and two years of track and field. |
| After high school, she attended the University
of Connecticut from 1981 to 1984 and played on the women’s
soccer team. The Lady Huskies went to the Nationals in all three
of her seasons there. In 1981, the last year of the Association
of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, the team finished third.
In 1982 and 1983, UConn moved to the NCAA Tournament where they
placed third and fourth respectively. During her tenure at
Connecticut, the team had an overall record of 52 wins, 6
losses, and 3 ties…an outstanding run! In 1982, she played on
the first women’s national team.
Lisa coached the State of Connecticut Integrated Soccer Team
in 1987 when they played in the 7th International Special
Olympics Summer Games in South Bend, Indiana. More than 70
countries participated, the largest amateur sports event in the
world! From 1999 to 2004, Lisa played soccer with a women’s team
in the Nutmeg State Games that routinely won the gold medal,
even qualifying for the National State Games in 2003. She
competed in a rigorous Ironman Triathlon in Lake Placid in 2002,
consisting of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and a
26.2-mile run.
Lisa is currently a Program Supervisor for the Connecticut
Department of Children and Families and resides in Mansfield.
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1998 SUFFIELD HIGH SCHOOL CONNECTICUT STATE CLASS “S” GIRLS SOCCER
CHAMPIONS
Top Row (L-R): Coach David Sullivan, Kristin Bridgman, Amy Claughsey,
Angela Stafford, Britney Hinckley, Elizabeth Peake, Jane Christian, Lisa
DePaolo, Tracy Naida, Jill Bizeau
Middle Row (L-R): Kelly Kannen, Kelly McEleney, Jamie Bielonko, Erin
Horanzy, Tracie Zavisa, Bonny Davidson, Michaela Seccareccia, Nicole
Augusto, Garyth Evans
Sitting (L-R): Heather Beaudoin, Kristal Crowe, Kara Goodman, Courtney
Merrell, Andrea DeMaria, Lauren Naida
| The 1998 Girls Soccer Team was the first girls team ever to
capture a State Championship at Suffield High School. It was not
an easy task. Girls soccer was definitely a sport on the way up
at SHS where, since 1995, the team had either won, tied, or were
runners-up for the NCCC league title. With teams like E.O.
Smith, Tolland, Avon, and Granby in the mix, the NCCC was one of
the premier leagues in the State for girls soccer. But even
before the 1998 campaign began, Suffield’s leading scorer,
Lauren Naida, was out for the season with a knee injury. Add to
this the fact that Suffield had a new coach, David Sullivan, and
a very young team (7 sophomores starting) and the team’s once
bright prospects were markedly dampened.
The team got off to a rousing start, however, as they won
their first five games in convincing fashion. Next up was arch
rival and undefeated E.O. Smith, a team they had consistently
battled for league supremacy. Suffield beat them 4-0 to take
over the NCCC league lead. They ran their streak to 9-0 before
meeting up with always tough Tolland. Despite giving up only one
goal and outshooting the Lady Eagles, Suffield lost its first
game of the season. After two more wins, the team suffered its
second defeat of the year in another 1-0 loss, this time to
Granby. The Lady Wildcats finished the regular season on a three
game winning streak and won the conference title outright. They
entered the state tournament with a 14-2 record and the #3 seed.
With a first round bye, they met Tourtellotte in the second
round and were forced to go to penalty kicks before prevailing
in overtime. Wins over Rocky Hill and Avon set up their finals
match up with unbeaten Lewis Mills. In a back-and-forth, closely
contested game, Suffield outscored Mills by a 3-2 count to win
the State Class S Crown.
Throughout the season, Suffield was led in scoring by Jill
Bizeau and Tracy Nadia with key contributions from Erin Horanzy.
The defense, starting with midfield, was substantially anchored
by several more of the “sophomore seven” that earned starting
positions at the beginning of the year. Krystal Crowe, Kelly
McEleny, Michaela Seccareccia, and Tracie Zavisa matured and
prospered during the 1998 season and were instrumental in
shutting down the offenses of NCCC opponents. Their
effectiveness can be seen in the fact that only 4 goals were
scored against Suffield in the last 13 games of the regular
season. The last line of defense in front of the goalkeeper was
sweeper Kristin Bridgman. It was her job to erase any defensive
breakdowns that may have occurred before the opposition could
get to Kelly Kannen. As a sophomore starter in goal, Kelly
Kannen had several sensational games. Notably, it was her key
saves in the tournament semi-finals against Avon that kept
Suffield’s championship dreams alive. Senior leadership in the
person of tri-captains Andrea DeMaria, Courtney Merrell, and
Lauren Nadia along with Lisa DePaolo and Libby Peake
unquestionably played a prominent role in countering the several
pitfalls that inevitably faced the inexperienced Lady Wildcats.
In finishing with a gaudy 18-2 mark, Suffield outscored its
opponents by a 68 to 11 margin and racked up 9 shutout victories
along the way. Coach Sullivan and the entire Town of Suffield
couldn’t have been prouder of this young team that stared
adversity in the face and would not be denied.
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