The Bristol Sports Hall of Fame will be honoring eight inductees at the Hall’s induction dinner on Nov. 22. This year’s honorees represent the best of Bristol in their varied accomplishments.
The inductees this year are Jeff Bashaw, Russ Carter, Bob Fallon, Taylor Losey, Bunty Ray, Beth Rotko, Rick Schmaltz and Cliff Snow III.
TBE is covering two honorees in each of a series of articles. This is the second of four in the series.
The two inductees introduced today are Beth Rotko and Bunty Ray.
Beth Rotko
Beth Rotko taught swimming and coached synchronized swimming to over 250 girls and women a week while serving as the PE Director at the Bristol Girls Club from 1965 to 1973.
Rotko led her swimmers to both in-state and out-of-state swimming competitions. Her swimmers won numerous medals and titles in solo, duet and team competitions in the Connecticut AAU Championships and Junior Age group events.
Two of the synchronized swimmers were Karen and Sarah Josephson, whom Rotko coached when they were ages 4-9. They went on to win Silver (1988) then Gold (1992) in the Olympics.
Rotko also was a founder of the Bristol Women’s Slo-Pitch Softball League and played and coached in the league for nearly 20 years, winning numerous championships.
She later joined the Pequabuck Golf Club and won the Club championship one year. She won the Club and Senior Championships at Simsbury Farms, and a Senior Championship at Chippanee.
She also was runner-up at the Ladies Club Championships at Farmington Woods, and a Senior, Super Senior and Legends champion with the Southern New England Women’s Golf Assocation. She has had three holes-in-one and made the cut at the Connecticut Women’s Golf Association event.
Rotko has been a swimming referee and was softball coach at Tunxis Community College.
Bunty Ray
A lifelong Bristol player and coach, Bunty Ray played both soccer and baseball at Bristol Eastern between 1990-1994.
He was All-Conference in his senior year on the undefeated ‘93 soccer team.
Ray led the baseball team in batting with a .417 average as a junior and .357 as a senior. He played 4 years of American Legion baseball and helped the team win a State Championship in 1994. He received the Fran Mullins batting award with a .424 average and was a two-time Zone 1 All-star.
Ray played 4 years of baseball at Eastern Connecticut State University and was a member of ‘98 National Championship Team. He had a career average over .300 at ECSU. He was the 1997 Most Improved Player and was named to the first team all regional tournament team.
Ray played in the Greater Hartford Twilight League from 1996-2011. As a Player/Manager of the Bristol Merchants from 2002-2011 he had a record of 214-84 with 5 regular season championships and 4 playoff titles. He was named an GHTL All Star eight times and was Manager of the Year three times. He was given a special recognition as Manager of the Decade after retirement. He hit .495 in 2003 and finished in the top ten in hitting 4 times over his career.
Ray was inducted into GHTBL Hall of Fame in 2023.
He has coached soccer and basketball at Eastern and baseball at Central since 1999. His coaching highlights include 238 wins in 16 seasons as head baseball coach.
Ray has been a part of 15 CCC South championships and 1 Baseball State Final in ‘06 as Head or Assistant Coach in three sports.
He is the Co-Owner of the Bristol Sports Armory and has volunteered at numerous organizations for 30 years, while teaching Social Studies at Bristol Central since 2001.
Before you go!
Help us bring back local news with a donation today. Local is where we connect. Believe that local news is important? Support our work.