Former Yankee great Joe Pepitone was in Westport today signing autographs at Legends of the Game on Post Road East. Pepitone, 66, played on three Yankee World Series teams from 1962 to 1964 and was a three-time Golden Glove award winner. He shakes hands with Alexander Adzima, 6, of Stratford as Dave Laconti of Legends of the Game shop looks on. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

USA Field Hockey today named Jack Kelly, assistant field hockey coach at Westport’s Staples High School, “Volunteer Coach of the Year.”
Jack Kelly: honored by USA Field Hockey. Contributed photo

Kelly, 81, was informed of the award at a luncheon in his honor.

The USA Field Hockey honorees will now join selections from other Olympic sport governing bodies as nominees for the U. S. Olympic Committee’s Coaches of the Year to be announced later this spring.

As a volunteer assistant coach at Staples, Kelly provides head coach Ralph Unker and the Lady Wreckers everything from stick skills and defensive insight to stick repair and Band-Aids. And it is all done with his signature patience, kindness and vitality, the award announcement said. 

By Dave Matlow

Veteran sportswriter Jack Cavanaugh described for Westport Sunrise Rotary Club members today the colorful days of the 1920s when boxers Gene Tunney and Jack Dempsey transfixed the nation.
Veteran sportswriter Jack Cavanaugh addressed the Westport Sunrise Rotary Club today about his biography of fighter Gene Tunney. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

“He was the greatest Irish athlete who ever lived,” the former New York Times journalist and longtime Wilton resident said of Tunney.

“Tunney,” Cavanaugh’s Pulitzer Prize-nominated biography of the legendary athlete, was published by Random House in November and has won widespread positive reviews.

The author reviewed Tunney’s stunning boxing career in which he notched a 77-1 record as a prizefighter, including 48 knockouts. His only loss was a 15-round decision in 1922 to a fearless and unorthodox fighter named Harry Greb.

Westport’s Staples High School held its annual football team banquet Sunday night with former Staples star quarterback Mac DeVito as the guest speaker. DeVito, a 1998 Staples grad, went on to become a star player at Temple University. The event, at Norwalk’s Continental Manor, honored departing senior players, cheerleaders and their families. DeVito’s father, Dan, is to his son’s left with Coach Marce Petroccio. Stephen Rubin for WestportNow.com

The Staples boys’ soccer team has earned the National Soccer Coaches Association of America/Adidas Team Academic Award, “for exceptional academic performance.”

To qualify, the team’s average GPA must be 3.25 or higher.

The honor—though just announced—is for the 2005 squad.

This marks the third time in four years the Wreckers have won the award.

The Westport-Weston co-op ice hockey team won the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference (FCIAC) Division 3 Holiday Tournament Saturday, defeating Norwalk/Brien McMahon 4-1 at the Darien Ice Rink. The team is coached by Head Coach Ralph Unker and Assistant Coach Dale Wehmhoff. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Jim Hallock for WestportNow.com

The sixth annual Staples High School Alumni Basketball Game will take place on Saturday, Jan. 6 at Westport’s high school.

The game tips off at 7 p.m., and alumni are invited to participate.

Pizza will be served following the game.

For more information or to sign up, call Charlie Haberstroh at (203) 682-7200.