Hall of Fame Finds New Home at Enfield High School

ENFIELD, CT — More than 150 plaques honoring the best athletic figures in Enfield history have found a permanent home, in the new Hall of Champions adjacent to the gymnasium at Enfield High School.

The Enfield Athletic Hall of Fame, which inducted its first class in 1996 and will celebrate its 24th group of honorees in early September, has been housed for the past dozen years in the billiard room at the Enfield Senior Center. Its new location will provide much more visibility for the organization.

Prior to the unveiling of the plaques at the new site, a number of residents and sports fans, including 15 prior Hall of Fame honorees, gathered in the gymnasium for a talk and question-and-answer session with ESPN founder Bill Rasmussen.

Rasmussen, 86, lived in Enfield in the mid- to late 1970s while working as communication director for the New England Whalers. His son Glen was a standout performer on the ice hockey and golf teams at Fermi High School, graduating in 1977.

Upon the team's loss in the Avco Cup finals in May 1978, Whalers owner Howard Baldwin cleaned house, letting most of his front office personnel go. Only 45 at the time, Rasmussen needed to continue working, and brainstormed with his son Scott, who had also been fired, about some ideas. From those discussions, ESPN was born.

Rasmussen, who now lives in suburban Seattle, Wash., was in Connecticut for five days to accept the Gold Key Award, one of the state's most prestigious sports honors. He regaled the Enfield audience with stories of his days growing up on the south side of Chicago, of breaking into the radio business with zero on-air experience, and of the trials and tribulations of starting up a 24-hour network in the burgeoning cable television industry.

"It was easy starting a 24-hour sports network," he laughed. "All it took was a $9,000 credit card advance and $145 million from Getty Oil, and boom - instant network."

Following Rasmussen's presentation, he was joined on the gym floor by Hall of Fame honorees Tom Owens, Charlie Ragno, Phil Clarkin, Joe Andrychowski, John Blomstrann, Ben Aleks, Bill Cantin, Bob Linn, Chris Corkum, Lisa Carrara, Judy Joslin, Marian Dippel and Lenny Shortz.

(Tim Jensen/Patch Media Corp.)
Enfield High School field hockey and track coach Amy Bartholomew with ESPN founder Bill Rasmussen.