By Kim J. Harmon

No man is an island – that’s what Gregg Simon will tell you when he discusses (unwillingy, of course) the nine years he has spent leading one of the most consistently strong girls’ basketball programs in the South-West Conference and the two years he has spent reconstructing the athletic department at Newtown High School.

So, when it comes to leading that girls’ basketball program to its first SWC championship during the 1999-2000 season and when it comes to giving that athletic department a much-needed facelift in the form of new equipment, new uniforms, and refurbished facilities Mr Simon will be the first one to say he couldn’t have done it all by himself.

But whether he wants to or not, he is going to have to take some credit for all of that and that is why The Newtown Bee has named him the 2000 Sportsman of the Year.

“I have always had great people to work with,” said Mr Simon, “but I would have never been able to do any of these things if I did not have the support of my wife. I have been very, very lucky in that regard.”

Mr Simon and his wife, Colleen, live in Stratford with their three daughters - Caitlyn (9), Meagan (7) and Rebecca (4).

Mr Simon’s story actually begins about 20 years ago, when he graduated from Central Connecticut State University (he would later graduate from Sacred Heart University with a masters in education) and started teaching at St. Ambrose School in Bridgeport. That’s where he first started coaching.

“I have always enjoyed competing,” said Mr Simon, “and I compete at everything – much to the chagrin of my wife, I think. Being the youngest of three brothers, that has been the biggest part of it.”

Mr Simon spent five years at St. Ambrose before arriving at the Newtown Middle School in 1986 and in 1987 he took the first steps on the path that would lead him to where he sits today – at the head of the Newtown High School girls’ basketball team and at the head of the Newtown High School athletic department.

It started with the Newtown Middle School girls’ and boys’ basketball teams. Mr Simon and Tom Kuroski not only coached both programs but for four years were able to rally the entire school around the sport of basketball.

Mr Simon also became the first coach of the Newtown Middle School baseball team after a parents’ group – led by Dick Eigen – was able to raise enough funds to foster both a baseball and softball program. For one year, Mr Simon coached the baseball team alone and then spent three years in the dugout co-coaching the team with Bill Girard.

In 1991, Mr Simon and Mr Kuroski moved on to the high school girls’ basketball program and began a decade-long adventure that would see Newtown always in a run for the playoffs, always in a run for a conference title, and always with players who were setting standards unlike any other players who had come before.

Mr Kuroski retired from coaching in 1995.

“Tom and I did everything together,” said Mr Simon, “and I never would have been able to do it without him.”

Cynthia Klebon joined the team then as jayvee coach and two years ago Ken Good joined as an assistant and Mr Simon is still counting his blessings about all of that because last year the three of them, together, were able to guide Newtown’s most talented girls’ basketball team ever to its first SWC championship.

Oh, the winters have been busy.

But Mr Simon doesn’t put his clipboard down in the summer. Oh, no. For years he has either been a camp director at Treadwell Park (and this is going way back to the time before the pool was built) or running either a basketball or baseball camp at Newtown Middle School.

It’s always something.

And two years ago he took perhaps the biggest step when he became the new athletic director at Newtown High School – filling the position originally left vacant by Bob Zito (Jim Casagrande and Joanne Johnson served as interim athletic directors for one year).

“I think I would have been satisfied teaching at the middle school and coaching (the girls’ basketball team),” said Mr Simon, “but I’ve been a firm believer that when a door is open, you go through it. I didn’t want to look back and regret not taking the opportunity.”

He soon discovered how massive a job it really was – and how difficult it must have been for the former athletic directors, who not only had to perform the duties of the AD but also teach four or five classes as well.

But he had a plan, and that helped.

“When I was being interviewed, I was asked what things I thought needed to be done,” Mr Simon said, “and that gave me a chance to prioritize things. My goal has been to standardize the way things are done here at the high school.”

In his short time as AD (in which he has implemented his philosophy that all the teams, from freshman to varsity, deserve the same equal attentions), a lot of things have already been accomplishing – like, most of the teams are sporting new uniforms and new warmups and going to work with better equipment; the trophy cases are more organized; the All-State and All-SWC banners are new and updated; and the gym has gotten a fresh coat of white paint.

“One of the pieces of this puzzle has been to make the athletic facilities here better,” said Mr Simon. “We’ve made good strides – with the support and generosity of the Board of Education – but we still need to do more. I would certainly like to continue that.”

Of course, Mr Simon values the help he has gotten from the administration.

“We are very, very lucky to have a principal who strongly supports athletics in this town,” said Mr Simon. “It is so important to have someone who cares so much and sees the value of athletics. Bill Manfredonia wants to be involved and that has made my job easier.”

So, maybe it was all a team effort but at least the right man was leading the charge.