Picture Enfield - Then And Now

ENFIELD, CT — In the first installment of this weekly pictorial history series for 2021, we feature a business which ran in this column several years ago, but with this month marking the 11th anniversary of the passing of its beloved owner, we wish to pay tribute to him.

This photo appeared in a 1981 Fermi High School yearbook ad for Eddie's Sporting Goods in the old Enfield Mall at 25 Hazard Ave. At the time, the mall was an enclosed shopping center with interior business entrances, totally unlike the strip mall which currently exists there.

Eddie Lapponese opened Eddie's Sporting Goods in 1978, and for 16 years, he helped outfit Enfield's youth with their sporting needs.

His name is almost synonymous with Enfield sports. He was involved for many years with the Enfield Parents Sports Association, coaching girls softball, basketball and the Enfield Americans youth football team. He was a founding member of the Enfield Flag Football League, and served as its commissioner for six years. He also organized and ran the Brian Fisher Memorial Softball Tournaments for many years, which raised scholarship money for high school students.

Lapponese served on the Enfield Athletic Hall of Fame board of directors for many years. In 1999, the Hall of Fame honored him for his years of dedication to Enfield athletics by presenting him the George Daly Special Recognition Award, given in memory of another original committee member.

He passed away unexpectedly in Jan. 2010, and the Hall of Fame paid tribute to him for his years of volunteering at the organization's annual golf tournament by naming the closest to the pin award after him.

In 2012, the large softball field on the east end of Brainerd Park was dedicated as the Eddie Lapponese Softball Field.

Normally at this point of the column, we show a current picture of the featured business. However, since there is no longer an interior to the plaza, we're going to do things completely different, and show a photo of the beloved businessman who operated there. RIP Eddie.

Last week's trivia answer:
Last week's trivia question was, "Of the 51 Picture Enfield stories from 2020 [featured in our year-end review], which one garnered the most readers?" The answer: Gateway Foods, which ran on Aug. 28, garnered nearly 3,000 readers.

This week's trivia question:
The three "houses" at John F. Kennedy Middle School are Red, White and Blue. What were the names of the three houses at Kosciuszko Junior High School? Post the answer in the comments section below, or on the Enfield Patch Facebook page, or on the You're Probably From Enfield If Facebook page, or by emailing me directly at tim.jensen@patch.com, or by smoke signal or carrier pigeon. The first person with the correct answer - that is, the first one who answers without blatantly Googling, copying and pasting the answer - will be acknowledged the following week.

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