Sports Rivalry Concludes Between Fermi and Enfield High Schools

ENFIELD, CT - A 45-year-long sporting era ended Wednesday afternoon with no fanfare; in fact, it ended with no fans and no hoopla.

With Fermi and Enfield high schools combining into one campus beginning in September, the 2015-16 school year has been filled with "final Fermi vs. Enfield matchups" in various sports. Last week, the schools met for the final time in baseball, softball, boys volleyball and track and field.

Wednesday marked the finale, the last time the two schools would line up on opposite sides. It took place at neither campus, but at Grassmere Country Club, as the golf teams teed off as rivals one last time.

The match itself was anticlimactic, as Fermi, beset with numbers problems the past two seasons, had just two golfers available to play. Enfield won to finish the regular season with a fine 11-5 record, including 10-2 in the NCCC.

Senior Sam Roy was medalist with a 38, while teammate Alec Burkholder shot 42. AJ Ouimet of East Windsor, who plays along with the Enfield team as an individual, shot 40.

Following the match, coaches Carmen Nuccio of Fermi and Bill Walpole of Enfield, both of whom are Raider alumni, reflected on their memories of the Enfield-Fermi rivalry.

"There were so many epic battles between Enfield and Fermi in every sport," said Walpole, a 1996 graduate who played ice hockey and golf for the Raiders. "I think back to all the golf matches I had in high school, and I think back to when the Enfield Twin Rinks was rockin' for Enfield-Fermi games. It was packed to capacity in the '90s. Even when we were one of the best (hockey) teams in the state, we knew we would have tough games with Fermi."

Nuccio, who graduated in 1990, concurred, "The hockey matches were incredible, football competition, every sport...here it's kind of the opposite. Golf is a gentlemen's game, it's not an epic battle or a hard rivalry, but this is the bridge to next year: one town, one school."

Some outstanding players came out of the high school golf programs in Enfield. A partial list includes:

• Bob Linn, a graduate of the first Fermi class in 1972. He placed second in the Connecticut Open as an 18-year-old, played in the 1984 U.S. Amateur and 1985 U.S. Public Links Championship, won the 2009 New England Senior Amateur, and played in the U.S. Senior Amateur in 2009 and the British Senior Amateur in 2010.
• Tim White, a 1986 Fermi graduate who became an assistant club professional and spent some time competing on the Florida mini-tour in the 1990s.
• Branden Chicorka, a 2009 Fermi graduate who was a three-time All-State performer and won the Division II state championship as a sophomore. He went on to play at the University of Rhode Island.
• Ryan Zetterholm, a 2013 Enfield alumnus who was co-medalist in the 2012 Division III championships and won the title outright in his senior year. He plays for the Methodist University golf team in North Carolina, majoring in accounting with a concentration in PGA Golf Management.

Roy, who has been a standout all four years with the Raiders, is also headed to Methodist in the fall to study golf management.

Grassmere owner Margo Kamerer, whose son and co-owner Bill played on the Fermi golf team in the late 1970s, emotionally gave her thoughts on the final official round at the club for the Falcons.

"Grassmere has proudly hosted Fermi golf matches for 30 years," she said. "Many fond memories have been made throughout the years. We will miss seeing the "blue" on the course. We send along hopes for a smooth and successful consolidation of the high schools."

"Grassmere has always gone above and beyond to accommodate us through the years, and we appreciate everything they have always done for the program," Nuccio said.

Photo credits: Tim Jensen