Our Town: Honoring the Greats of Enfield's Athletic History

ENFIELD, CT — The roster of individual inductees into the Enfield Athletic Hall of Fame swelled to 139 members recently, as six more sports greats were inducted at the 23rd annual dinner.

Baseball standouts Ryan Aiken, Raphael Cerrato and Freddie Medina were joined by Rob Burns (football), Kristin Karat (basketball) and Mike Linehan (soccer) in comprising the Class of 2018. Also inducted was the 1987 Enfield High School boys soccer team, which advanced to the Class L championship match, while the Enfield Eagles girls ice hockey program of the mid-1970s to early 1980s was honored for its pioneering contribution to local sports with the George Daly Special Recognition Award.

As vice chairman and master of ceremonies for the 16th consecutive year, it was truly a pleasure for me to present such a deserving group of inductees into the Hall of Fame. Nearly two dozen previous honorees were on hand to welcome the new members into their very select fraternity.

Hall of Fame nominations are accepted year-round at www.enfieldathletichof.org.

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Our recent query regarding odd-sounding street names in Enfield yielded several responses, with Hazard Avenue being most frequently mentioned. Hazard Avenue, and the village of Hazardville, is named after Col. Augustus Hazard, whose Hazard Powder Company supplied 40 percent of all the gunpowder used by the Union army during the Civil War. Gunpowder production was indeed a hazardous business, and the company ceased to exist after a tremendous explosion destroyed the mill in 1913.

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Fire Truck Day, Rhyme Time, reptiles and the Great American Songbook are just a few of the wonderful upcoming programs offered at the Enfield Public Libraries. For details on these and many other fun activities, visit www.enfieldpubliclibrary.org.

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Open gym volleyball for adults 18 and up is held on Wednesdays from Oct. 17, 2018 through April 3, 2019, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Eli Whitney School gym. There is no volleyball when schools are closed. Participants must show proof of age and residency to participate, in addition to having a program waiver on file at the gym. Daily fee is $2 for residents and $2.50 for non-residents.

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This week's Enfield trivia question: What 1966 graduate of Enfield High School starred alongside Eddie Murphy and Judge Reinhold in the first two installments of the Beverly Hills Cop trilogy? The answer will be posted Friday afternoon in the comments section of the Enfield Patch Facebook page.

Photo credit: Julie Cotnoir

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