Date: Fri 08-Sep-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: TOMW

Illustration: I

Quick Words:

Boys-Basketball-History

Full Text:

Boys' Basketball History

In the year 1948, the Newtown High School boys' basketball team played to a

perfect 13-0 record during the regular season, but was disqualified from the

league championship because one of its players participated in a

recreation-league game during the high school season.

It was a pretty stiff slap on the wrist, to be sure, and ironically the NHS

basketball progam seemed to never recover.

The Indians failed to play to a winning record for the next 13 years following

that incident until the Housatonic Valley Schoolman's League stopped and the

team joined the new Western Connecticut Conference in the winter of 1960.

The WCC Begins

The NHS basketball team was the first sport at the school to join the WCC, in

the winter of 1960.

And while the Indians would win only three WCC Championships over the course

of the next 35 years - only two schools would win more.

Abbott Tech and Masuk dominated the sport for three-and-a-half decades with

Tech copping 12 conference crowns and Masuk taking eleven, but despite having

trouble reaching the pinnacle, the NHS teams were more than just competitive.

l  The 1960-61 NHS hoop team, led by Roger Fazzino, Richard Sperling, Ronald

Beardsley, Tom Kretsch, John Norwall, Lee Benedict, Jim Tenney, Dan Lawler,

Richard Farrell, Bruce Herring, Bob Wilkes, and Dave Stickles, and coached by

Loius DePaul, finished the first WCC season with a 12-6 record (8-4 in the

conference) and placed third overall.

The report card for Newtown's first year in the WCC read A-minus, but the next

several would turn out to be a struggle.

They couldn't have known it at the time, but Newtown High basketball teams

were destined for 16 consecutive losing seasons.

l  Coach Loius DePaul saw his Indians play to a record of 39-68 over the next

six years though players like Vaughn Clark, Bob McLaughlin, Jim Steiwing, Fred

VanAlmelo, Rich Carlson, Bruce Jenner, and Jim Goodrich all turned in fine

individual seasons during that stretch.

In 1967, DePaul resigned his position and was replaced by John Russo.

Russo's star players over the next three years were Jenner, Goodrich, Ron

Skelton, Steve McLaughlin, Scott Wallace, Steve Wasko, and Greg Frawley, but

bad luck and untimely injuries led to three losing seasons for the team.

Russo was replaced by coach Gerry Doyon for the 1970-71 season and though

Doyon's squads suffered through another five losing campaigns, stars like

Jerry Shpunt, Charlie Jacobi, Paul Charles, Kevin McNally, Tom Siczewicz, Rich

Scanlon, and Burt Hogeman provided many shining moments for the Blue & Gold.

O'Sullivan's Era

The 1975-76 basketball season saw jayvee skipper Kevin O'Sullivan step in and

take over the varsity coaching position. O'Sullivan's first year would produce

an 8-11 season, but over the course of the next 20 years his teams would play

to a record of 230-183 and win three conference crowns, including the last one

ever. l  Newtown High's first winning basketball team in 16 years - the 1977

crew - was led by seniors John Hart, Keith Johnson, and Paul Waters, but it

was underclassmen Steve Kordish (315 points), Tom Paoletti, and Kerry Sullivan

who layed the ground work for winning seasons to come, and who generated the

enthusiasm which helped NHS to become a school to be reckoned with in the WCC.

The Indians followed up their 15-8 season in 77 with a 13-9 year in 78.

Kordish and Sullivan, both juniors, were that team's leading point scorers and

returned again in 1979 with high hopes.

In his senior year, Steve Kordish came out scoring at a record-clip. Averaging

better than 20 points per game, Kordish helped guide Newtown to another

winning season and a berth in the WCC semifinals.

In the semis at Masuk High, Newtown knocked off WCC power Abbott Tech, 81-64

behind Kordish's 28 points and 21 from Steve Paoletti. But in its first-ever

WCC championship, leading 48-47 through three quarters, Newtown watched Masuk

and its stars Steve Massar and Mike Butkovsky go on a 27-8 fourth-quarter

spurt to win the title, 74-56.

Kordish was held to 19 points in the finals, and finished his career by

scoring 22 in Newtown's loss to Stamford Catholic in the first round of the

CIAC Tournament.

The Indians' 18-5 overall record was the best since it joined the conference

in 1960.

Conference Champs!

With Kordish graduated, the Randy Gunther era began at NHS and the 1979-80

season resulted in the school's first conference crown.

Gunther, a sophomore, scored 362 points during the season and alongside of

6-foot-6 frontcourt-mate Billy Wilkison propelled NHS back to the WCC

playoffs. There, in a rematch with defending champion Masuk, Wilkison scored

27 points and Gunther added 22 as Newtown won convincingly, 91-74 to advance

back to the finals.

Newtown's opponent for the 1980 WCC Championship was Pomperaug, who had

defeated Newtown 80-54 during the regular season. Scoring 26 and 15 points

respectively, though, Gunther and Wilkison made sure it wouldn't happen again

in the big show. Newtown trailed 31-30 at the half, but gained the lead early

on in the third quarter and held it all the way until the buzzer sounded.

Newtown won 70-64, and Gunther was named tournament MVP.

The team finished 17-5 overall that season after losing 60-54 to Abbott Tech

in the first round of states.

Repeat

With its big guns back for the 1980-81 campaign, Newtown's goals for the

season were simple, defend the crown.

And defend it, Newtown did.

Now in his junior season, Gunther wound go on to average 18.4 points and 13.5

rebound per game in an All-State effort which helped the Indians back into the

playoffs. In the WCC semis against Abbott Tech, Wilkison blocked a shot with

six seconds on the clock forcing the game into overtime. In the three-minute

OT, Wilkison hit a pair of clutch jumpers and Tim Leahy added two free throws

as Newtown beat Tech 58-52 and advanced back to the finals for another

title-game tilt with Pomperaug. Tech star Jeff Bush was held to nine pionts in

the game by NHS backcourt stars Rick Gepfer and Randy Below.

This year's WCC final proved to be as close and exciting as the preceeding

one. Tied 54-54 in the finals seconds, Gunther capped off an 11-point fourth

quarter effort by hitting a layup with four seconds on the game clock giving

Newtown a 56-54 win and a second-straight league crown.

Gunther was named Tournament MVP for the second year in-a-row and was later

named All-WCC and All-State.

l  The Indians would not make it back to the WCC playoffs again for several

years. Though the teams saw stars the likes of Pat Sullivan, Bob Bussell, Mike

Maurer, Steve Bussell, Bob Bixby, Steve Bigham, and Scott Forshay, the next

great NHS basketball season didn't come until 1989.

That year, behind the scoring of sharp-shooter Scott Terrill and power forward

Todd Suhar, the Indians stormed back into the WCC's elite.

Terrill scored 432 points that season (more than any NHS player in history

except Kordish) including 25 in the WCC semifinals as Newtown beat Immaculate

67-62 setting up a title-bout with Masuk which the Panthers won 96-62.

l  The Indians went back into a tailspin at the start of the 1990's and,

behind such stars as Rob Rivera, Mike Sullivan, Mike Waterbury, Matt Daly,

Judd Wildman, and Sean Reilly, the next five years saw the best and the worst

in school history. The worst was a 1-19 season in 1992 and the best, a 19-4

mark in 1995.

It was the final year of the WCC, and standout point guard Greg Gallagher

helped his Indians march to the conference semis and a 75-73 win over Bethel

and its All-Stater Greg Sutton.

The WCC finals ended the basketball conference in grand fashion.

In the most exciting basketball final in WCC history, Gallagher dribbled the

length of the court in 3.9 seconds and burried a three-pointer from the top of

the circle to send the championship game with Brookfield into overtime.

Gallagher finished the night with 32 points and MVP honors as Newtown went on

to win the WCC's last title, 73-68.

Though he didn't reach the 1,000-point plateau, Gallagher finished his career

third on the school's all-time scoring chart behind Kordish and Gunther. His

895 points were the most in history for an NHS guard.

Gallagher's list of athletic achievements ended with being named All-WCC and

Second-Team All-State.