Westporter Jeff White will be speaking at the Westport Center for Senior Activities on Friday at 1:15 p.m. on the subject “Finance in Professional Sports.” 

White is the second presenter in the popular series sponsored by the Friends of the Westport Senior Center featuring local sports personalities. As with all Friends activities, this series is offered free of charge.

White has had a long and distinguished career as a leading financial advisor to sports franchises as well as lenders and investors in sports and media.

He spent 11 years as chief financial officer of Major League Baseball before founding his own advisory firm in 2002, Fare Play Inc. His present and past clients include the Boston Red Sox; Madison Square Garden, Fenway Sports Group, Liberty Media, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and private investors and equity groups.

It took 30 years, but Debbie Pallotta of Monroe finally got to meet her hero today in Westport—Bucky Dent, 56, the former New York Yankee shortstop in the 1977 and 1978 seasons. As a schoolgirl, Pallotta covered the walls of her bedroom with Dent photographs after his dramatic home run in a tie-breaker game against the Boston Red Sox near the end of the 1978 season. They met at the Legends of the Game sports memorabilia store on Post Road East where Dent was signing autographs.  (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

Debbie Pallotta of Monroe shows off her New York Yankees Bucky Dent jersey which the former shortstop autographed for her today at the Legends of the Game sports memorabilia store on Westport’s Post Road East. Dent, who has been her hero since 1978 when she was a schoolgirl, wrote on the jersey: “To Debbie, 30 years later, Bucky Dent.”  (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

The Staples High School boys rugby team finished in third place today in the first annual Connecticut State Rugby Championship held at Staples.  (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Allen Bomes for WestportNow.com

The Pirates celebrate after winning the Westport Little League World Series today in the majors division. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

The Staples boys volleyball team rallied in two games today to win its third consecutive Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) Class L championship and its seventh in the eight-year history of the championship.
Wreckers celebrate tonight’s state victory. Pictured (l-r) are seniors Tim Ramistella, Justin Grodman, Jackson Lesser, Peter Hlawitschka, Ari Sinay, and Charlie Wiese. A picture posted earlier with this story showed the celebration after the FCIAC victory. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Galen Blumenthal for WestportNow.com

With the match at Shelton High tied at one game apiece, top-seed Southington had No. 2 Staples down in Games 3 and 4 but couldn’t finish off the defending champion.

Staples rallied from six points in both games to win 3-1 (25-14, 18-25, 25-20, 26-24).

“I’m grateful to have eight really good athletes as seniors,” said Staples Coach Bruce Betts.

Senior Ben Rosa led the Staples boys track team to a Class L championship Monday in New Britain with twin wins in the high jump and triple jump. Rosa cleared 6 feet 6 inches in the high jump, four inches better than his closest rival, and his leap of 46 feet 3.5 inches won him the triple jump by 1.5 inches over teammate Joshua Henry. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Casey August for WestportNow.com

The Westport-based Major Indoor Soccer League has shut down after seven seasons, and is considering restructuring.

The league, which has its headquarters at 1175 Post Road East, ceased operations effective Saturday, an announcement said.

“The MISL Management Committee has begun formal transition planning and restructuring as they consider moves, which they believe will help lower costs and attract additional owner/operators,” it said. “A decision on the future structure of the league will be forthcoming in the next couple of weeks.”

“We are considering structural changes that will bring us greater efficiencies, while also allowing long term growth and expansion of the league,” said John Hantz, former chairman of the MISL, and owner/operator of the Detroit Ignition.