By Bob Montgomery
Clingan/UConn eclip(se) Purdue’s hopes
It was the day of the eclipse, April 7, 2024, where hoards of folks gathered at different points across the country to see the sun and moon pass one another. Some being point blank on this path. This was also the case that evening when the Huskies beat the Purdue Boilermakers, 75-60, in Phoenix for the Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, its second such title in a row.
Enough has been said on this. Clingan has collected a lot of hardware since taking up the sport nearly a decade ago and will continue to do so. Now, fast forward to Feb. 23, 2039, when he will be 35 years old, then qualifying to be a candidate for the Bristol Sports Hall of Fame that November. I’m buying my ticket now!
Duckpin bowling
A half century or more ago, Bristol was among the elite producers of duckpin bowlers in this country. Harry Peters was ranked No. 1 average-wise for the 1951 season, and Tony Zagryn had once held the single game world mark of 211. There were other talented rollers back then and into the 70’s, basically at the former DiPietro Lanes.
Miscellaneous
Bart Beardsley of Bristol is estimated to have won 300 baseball games as a pitcher, starting with Little League here, and later playing for local school and adult teams.
If you are bored on a nice day, go up to the Dog Park on Chippens Hill, park your car and watch the canines smile as they sit by a back side open window when their owners pull into the parking lot.
Jim Nocera of Bristol Central ran for and also through the first passing touchdown at the annual Thanksgiving Day Game between Central and Bristol Eastern in 1959.
Bristol Central boys basketball coach Tim Barrette was interviewed on TV Tuesday. Dave Greenleaf was also seen in a clip shown in that segment when Donovan Clingan played for Barrette in high school./
I parked in a lot on Louisiana Avenue this week and counted how many blue vehicles would pass by out of the first 100. There were five.
Remembering Edward “E.J.” Flynn, a baseball co-captain for Bristol Eastern in the early 1960’s, who was shot and killed out West at a hotel while working for college spending money.
Shout out to Jan Capodi who bleeds Bristol; Happy birthday on April 17 to Marty Hurwitz; Marty called here Wednesday evening to wish my friend Lorette Caouete, a former employee and a friend of his, a belated birthday; My condolences to Mike Saman, who lost his wife, Janet, on April 3. Nice couple.
Amy Vanderoef
If you Google “People From Bristol, CT” you will see an alphabetical listing of names from here and their backgrounds. No.1 is Mike Reiss of “The Simpsons,” and from time-to-time I review the list to see if any new name should appear there. Yes, I came up with Amy Vanderoef.
Amy has been a Miss Bristol, and in 2001 became Miss Connecticut and appeared in the Miss USA Pageant that year. She later found success with radio and TV, topped by an Emmy nomination for WFAA’s “Good Morning Texas.” She’s also been a personality on a program entitled, “Rodney Anderson Show.”
Amy has been in print and television ads, while also a guest reporter for ABC’s “Good Morning America.” As if not enough, how about her being a guest star on two daytime dramas for the network, “All My Children” and “One Life to Live.” Interesting, I knew her before these triumphs: I knew her when!
Contact Bob Montgomery at BobMontgomeryNews@bristolEdition.og, or by calling 860-583-5132.
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