Date: Fri 07-Jun-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: TOMW

Illustration: I

Quick Words:

Jon-Danko-Feature

Full Text:

Jon Danko Feature

B Y T.W YATT

The day of his first baseball practice, at age nine, a nervous Jon Danko went

into his backyard to hone his swing, but he just couldn't hit the ball.

Yet when he put on the uniform opening day, it was a different story. In his

first game Jon hit three home runs.

Nine years later, Danko looks back on a baseball career that boasts success at

every level. And last month, the Newtown High School senior tied his

scholastic career in a big red bow when he put on the crown - the " triple "

crown. Danko joined a short list of NHS Triple Crown winners as he led the

team in batting (.362), home runs (3), and RBI (18).

When Jon graduates NHS later this month the All-SWC utility player will do so

as one of the best all-around baseball players to have donned the spikes

there. In his three years with the varsity team, Jon pitched, played

shortstop, played first base, batted leadoff, and batted third.

" Jon could have played anywhere, " said NHS co-baseball coach, Al Borchetta.

" We could have even put him behind the plate if we had to. Jon has a lot of

natural ability. And what he wasn't born with he developed himself, by working

hard at it. "

Danko and his family moved to Newtown, from Stratford, while Jon was in the

second grade. A gifted athlete from the very beginning, Jon starred in soccer,

scoring goals at will, before easily picking up basketball and baseball as

soon as he was old enough.

He quickly got bored with soccer and though he continued to play basketball

just for something to do, Jon Danko fell in love with the game of baseball.

" I've always loved baseball, " Jon remembers. " I used to have tarps all

around in my yard and I'd play every single day all day long. When it got dark

I'd go inside and watch baseball on TV. I just couldn't get enough. "

Playing in the Newtown Little League, Danko made the All-Star teams at every

level. During his final year of Majors, he was the league's dominant player,

batting better than .700 and hitting double figure home runs.

Over the years he made the West Region team for the Nutmeg Games four times

and won two gold medals there.

He continued to shine through Babe Ruth, but at the start of his freshman

baseball season at Newtown High School Jon fell and broke his wrist while

playing basketball in the gym.

" He missed all the tryouts that year because of his broken wrist so he

automatically came to me on the freshman team, " remembers Borchetta, who

coached the NHS freshman team that season.

When the cast came off and he was cleared to play, though, Danko still felt

sharp pains while swinging the bat from his natural right-handed side . . . so

he turned around and hit lefty.

" Jon pounded the ball from the left side, " Borchetta remembers. " I tried to

convince him to work at becoming a switch hitter, mostly because of his great

speed. But that never came to be. "

Danko batted over .600 from the left side, but when he made the varsity team

as a sophomore, then-coach Tony Urban put the nix on the project.

" I wanted to switch hit, " Danko said. " I wasn't hitting well from the right

side and I asked coach Urban if I could turn around and hit lefty. He wouldn't

let me, though, and I wasn't going to argue. I was just a sophomore. "

In his first varsity game, a 7-6 loss to Seymour, Danko, hitting in the ninth

spot in the order and playing designated hitter, went 2-for-3 with a double.

Jon quickly moved up in the team's order as he split time that year at DH,

third base, and shortstop. And on May 9, 1994, Danko finally took the mound.

On a May 9, bus ride to Bethel, coach Urban surprised everybody - including

Jon - when he announced that the sophomore would start the game. Danko

responded with a complete-game victory in which he struck out eight and

allowed six hits in a 15-2 Newtown win.

He finished the year batting .250, was second on the team in stolen bases, and

earned a 2-2 record on the mound.

The Football Experiment

Being big, strong, athletic, and exceptionally fleet afoot, Danko had always

wanted to go out for the football team. He had only ever played around the

house - where he boomed long field goals between two trees in his yard that

resembled uprights - but his parents were afraid he'd get injured.

While reading the NHS football preview at the start of his junior year, Danko

saw that the team was light at the kicking position. He wanted to play other

positions, but he worked out a compromise at home. How could a guy get hurt

just kicking?

Danko walked on and became the team's kickoff man before becoming the full

time kicker in his senior year.

Jon, who booted 60-yard field goals in practice with relative ease, pounded a

35-yarder in the final minute as Newtown defeated Crosby of Waterbury 16-14 in

the season opener.

But as he attempted an extra point in the team's second game against Bethel,

Danko was run into by a lineman who rolled over his ankle tearing ligaments

and ending his football season very prematurely.

" Jon is a heckuva of good kicker, " NHS coach Bob Zito said. " He has a lot

of potential in that area. If he really wanted to he could kick at the next

level. He has such a strong leg. "

Ironically, with a career total of four points to his credit (a field goal and

an extra point) Danko has gotten letters from three colleges for football -

but none for baseball.

When baseball season rolled back around in his junior year, Danko was slated

as the opening day pitcher - tabbed as the ace of the staff - and when he

wasn't pitching he'd play shortstop and hit in the leadoff slot.

He went on to bat .300 with five doubles, 13 RBI, eight stolen bases, and 23

runs scored. On the hill, Danko registered a 5-2 pitching record fanning 47

hitters in 50 innings pitched. His ERA was a team-best 2.94.

A year younger than the majority of his class, Danko seemed to grow up in the

shadow of a pair of local baseball stars, Matt Zavatsky and Chris Hayward,

both a year older than he. Though all three had made the team as sophomores,

Danko's name was always mentioned third when talking about the team and in his

senior year he was disappointed when he was passed over for team captain.

" Jon is every bit as good as those two guys and, in some areas, is better, "

said coach Borchetta. " He hasn't gotten a lot of fanfare over the past few

years because he's never been able to commit to a position. It's hard to be a

jack-of-all-trades. You have to be a master of something. But our

circumstances have forced us to move Jon around to different places. It's a

testament to his talent. "

Danko remained the team's leadoff hitter this season, but moved over to the

right side of the infield to play first base.

" Dank " started the season off slowly, slumping at the plate, but when the

weather heated up so did Jon.

" I wasn't comfortable at the beginning of the year, " he said. " I had a real

heavy bat (31 ounces) and I wasn't getting it around. I just closed my stance

a little bit, standing at the front of the box with my front foot touching the

line, kind of like Julio Franco. I worked on hitting the ball to right and

then it all just came. I hit two triples at Joel Barlow and then stayed hot

all year. "

Hot isn't the word for it. Danko's first home run of the season was a monster

shot at Newtown High School that landed on the upper soccer field better than

350-feet away. His next two, both to center, would have measured close to 400

feet, and he was robbed of two that were nearly as deep.

" He's a talented kid, " said NHS co-baseball coach Dan Winsett. " And boy

does he have some pop in his bat. He hit a ball at Bunnell that's still going

now. The home runs he hit this year were some of the longest I've seen in high

school. The ball just jumps of his bat. "

Once his power surge began Danko was moved to the third spot in the batting

order where he rang up his RBI totals. He finished the year with five doubles,

four triples, and three homers. His slugging percentage of .681 was the best

at Newtown High School in this decade, easily topping Newtown's last two

triple crown winners - Jamie Quinlan and Mike Waterbury.

He also finished the season with seven stolen bases, giving him 24 for his

career which ranks with the best in modern school history.

Surprisingly, though, Danko wasn't recruited by any colleges, but he'll attend

Sacred Heart this fall where he'll go out for the Division II baseball team.

" Newtown doesn't do a lot to get its players exposure, " Borchetta explained.

" Jon's definitely got what it takes to play at the next level. "

And if he doesn't, he'll go into his backyard baseball complex and find it.