Sports
Fairfield County Sports Hall of Fame welcomes six new members
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Jun 29, 2010 - 2:58 PM

Garry Cobb

STAMFORD, CT – The Fairfield County Sports Hall of Fame today announced its new class of inductees, naming six prominent sports figures into its three wings. The Hall of Fame, which is overseen by the Fairfield County Sports Commission, Inc., will honor the newly elected Hall of Famers with an induction ceremony at the Commission’s 6th Annual Sports Night awards dinner, Monday, Oct. 18 at the Hyatt Regency Greenwich. With the six new inductees, the Hall of Fame has now recognized 39 county sports legends.

Two Hall of Famers were selected in each of the three HOF Wings: Jackie Robinson Professional, James O’Rourke Amateur and J. Walter Kennedy Community Service. In the professional category, the new inductees are GARRY COBB (Stamford) and JOHN HIRSCHBECK (Stratford). The amateur wing selections are ALVIN CLINKSCALES (Bridgeport) and AMANDA PAPE (Stamford). Community service winners are MICKEY LIONE (Stamford) and VITO MONTELLI (Trumbull).

Cobb played linebacker in the NFL for 11 seasons for three different teams. Drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the 9th round of the 1979 draft, Cobb was released by the Cowboys and signed with the Detroit Lions. He spent six seasons with the Lions, three of those as a team captain. In 1985 he was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles for running back Wilbert Montgomery. As an outside linebacker for Buddy Ryan’s “46” defense, the 1975 Stamford High graduate played three seasons for the Birds, before ending his career back with the Cowboys. He led Dallas in 1988 with a career-high 7.5 sacks in his final full season in the NFL, before retiring after playing three games the following year. Cobb, who was an All-Pac 10 selection at USC in 1978 and played on a national championship team and two Rose Bowl winning squads, ended his career with 23.5 sacks and 10 interceptions.

John Hirschbeck

Hirschbeck is in his 26th season as a Major League Baseball umpire. He started his big league career in 1984, and when his brother Mark joined him in 1988 they became the first pair of brothers to become Major League umpires. Currently a crew chief, Hirschbeck has worked in 13 post-season baseball playoffs: two World Series (1995 & 2006), four League Championship Series and seven Division Series. A 1972 graduate of Bunnell High in Stratford, he also umpired in a pair of All-Star Games in 1989 and 2004. Starting as a Little League ump as a part-time job during high school, Hirschbeck reached the pinnacle of his umpiring career when he served as the first president of the World Umpires Association for nine years from 2000-2008. He was behind the plate on Aug. 7, 2007 when Barry Bonds hit his record 756th career homer.

Clinkscales was one of the greatest basketball players the city of Bridgeport has ever produced. While not starting to play competitively until his junior year at Central High under legendary coach Ed Reilly, he quickly made a name for himself. As a senior he was named all-state and led the Hilltoppers to the New England high school basketball championship. He then played three seasons at Arnold College in Bridgeport, before that school was taken over by the University of Bridgeport. In his senior campaign in 1954, Clinkscales earned Little All American honors as the Purple Knights won the NAIA New England title. He was drafted by the New York Knicks of the NBA, but chose to play for the legendary Harlem Globetrotters for two years, and concluded his playing days in semi-pro ball with the Milford Chiefs, regularly playing against NBA players. Clinkscales went on to make history off the court when he became the first Afro-American coach in the state when he took the boys basketball job at Notre Dame of Bridgeport, where he coached from 1958-68.

Amanda Pape

In an eight-year span, Pape set the standard for women’s basketball players in the county. In her scholastic career at Trinity Catholic she was a four-year starter and a four-time All-FCIAC and All-State selection. She led Trinity to a pair of state championships and was named the state’s top female player as a senior in 2003. She ended her high school career with 2,429 points, still the highest total for any basketball player-male or female-in Stamford history. In her four seasons at Sacred Heart University she set school records in a myriad of categories, including points (2,045) and steals (362). She was a two-time Northeast Conference scoring leader and won the Player of the Year award in 2006, when she led the Lady Pioneers to a school record 26 wins and their first NEC title and NCAA tournament berth. Pape was inducted into the Connecticut Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010.

Mickey Leone

Lione had a 30-year coaching career, including 27 at Stamford Catholic/Trinity Catholic High. He was the head coach for the highly successful baseball (1971-98) and hockey programs (’79-’98), winning a combined 731 games in those two sports. Under his tutelage, the Crusaders won four state baseball championships and two state hockey titles and a combined five FCIAC crowns. He was also an assistant football coach for the Crusaders and later at New Canaan High, where he was a part of three state football championships. Lione also was one of Stamford’s legendary youth baseball coaches and was part of the staff that won two Senior Babe Ruth World championships (1968 and 1971). He also played on three World Series-winning youth baseball teams for Stamford (1951, 53 & 54). After passing away at age 59 in 1999, he was posthumously awarded the prestigious New York Metropolitan Area Frank McGuire Foundation Coaching Award.

Montelli is the state’s dean of high school basketball coaches and also its most successful one with a record 830 victories. He is heading into his 49th year as the only head basketball coach ever at St. Joseph’s High in Trumbull, where his teams have won nine state championships and finished second six more times. His coaching prowess has been recognized nationally and regionally as he was inducted into the National High School Coaches Hall of Fame in 2005 and the New England Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003. Montelli has also been a coach at the prestigious McDonald’s All American high school all-star game (1990) and coached the USA All-Stars in the Capital Classic in 1993. In 1988 his Cadets were voted #14 nationally by USA Today. Other honors of distinction in the state include induction into the Connecticut High School Coaches Hall of Fame (1995) and being awarded a Gold Key by the CT Sports Writers Alliance (1998). Montelli was also the athletic director at St. Joseph’s for 39 years. He started his high school coaching career in 1958 as the baseball coach at Notre Dame of Bridgeport until 1963, when he left to coach basketball at St Joseph’s.

Vito Montelli

With the addition of Clinkscales, Bridgeport now has the most inductees with seven. Stamford upped its honorees to six as for the first time in the Hall’s 6-year history there are three selections in one year from one community. A total of 15 different towns are represented in the Hall of Fame.

With the addition of Clinkscales, Bridgeport now has the most inductees with seven. Stamford upped its honorees to six as for the first time in the Hall’s 6-year history there are three selections in one year from one community. A total of 15 different towns are represented in the Hall of Fame.

The list of previously enshrined FCSHOF inductees follows:
JACKIE ROBINSON PROFESSIONAL WING
2005-Julius Boros (Fairfield), Kristine Lilly (Wilton), Calvin Murphy (Norwalk), Steve Young (Greenwich)
2006-Bobby Valentine (Stamford), Mo Vaughn (Norwalk)
2007-Mike Gminski (Monroe), Charles Nagy (Fairfield)
2008-Chris Drury (Trumbull), Tim Teufel (Greenwich)
2009-Jennifer Rizzotti (New Fairfield), Charles Smith (Bridgeport)

JAMES O’ROURKE AMATEUR WING
2005-Dorothy Hamill (Riverside), Bruce Jenner (Newtown), Bill Toomey (New Canaan)
2006-Joan Joyce (Stratford), Walter Luckett (Bridgeport)
2007-Jerry Courville, Sr. (Norwalk), Donna Lopiano (Stamford)
2008-Gary Liberatore (New Canaan), Lou Saccone (Bridgeport)
2009-Pete Demmerle (New Canaan), Dick Siderowf (Westport)

J. WALTER KENNEDY COMMUNITY SERVICE
2005-Dave Bike (Bridgeport), Jerry McDougall (Trumbull)
2006- Ray Barry (Norwalk), Frank Vieira (Bridgeport)
2007-Nick Koules (Stamford), Bruce Webster (Bridgeport)
2008-Ralph King (Norwalk), Tom Penders (Stratford)
2009-Joe Benanto (Shelton), Terry Lowe (Greenwich)

The Fairfield County Sports Hall of Fame is housed at the University of Connecticut Stamford Campus in downtown Stamford. The Hall of Fame is open 6 days a week from 9 am-5 pm.

The Fairfield County Sports Commission, Inc. is a 501c (3) non-profit organization that promotes fitness, an active healthy lifestyle and personal development through sports. The Commission, other than the executive director position, is an all-volunteer group dedicated to creating and supporting programs for fitness awareness education, primarily centered on the 110,000 school age children in the 15 communities it serves. For more information, go to www.fairfieldcountysports.com.

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