County Baseball Association Hands Out Annual Awards at Hall of Fame Ceremonies

The Union County Baseball Association celebrated its 75th Annual Hot Stove League Dinner Sunday afternoon by honoring its long-time president, inducting three county sports legends into its Hall of Fame, and recognizing scholastic athletes.

The special honoree at this year’s awards dinner was Jim Iozzi of Scotch Plains, the long-time president of the association which runs and promotes youth baseball programs in the county.

“We give the kids an opportunity to have fun … to get outdoors, to get away from Facebook, to get away from texting, to get away from other electronic devices and play some baseball,” Iozzi said in his keynote speech on Sunday.

The association inducted into its Hall of Fame Coach Robert “Bobby” Brewster of Westfield High School, Coach Jack Byrnes of Union Catholic High School and American Legion Baseball, and Brian Sheekey of Roselle Catholic High School. The three men join the ranks of Phil Rizzuto of Hillside, Jeff Torborg of Mountainside, Willie Wilson of Summit, Elliott Maddox of Union and a long list of legends of the national pastime.

More than 200 past and present coaches and players, and family and friends, attended the annual event at L’Affaire Banquet Center in Mountainside where master of ceremonies John Langan entertained the audience with baseball stories and good-natured jokes about umpires and members of the organization. Since 1937, the annual event has gone on despite wars and other national upheaval. Langan praised the associations and the event’s longevity.

“All the years, all the momentous occasions, all the history, yet we still come together every year to celebrate baseball,” Langan said.

In addition to the new Hall of Fame inductees, the UCBA honored scholastic athletes from Union County for their achievements.

Mountainside resident and former Governor Livingston High School softball player Katie Pires was recognized with the Banyasz Brothers Memorial Award for Most Valuable Scholastic Softball Player. Pires is  now a first-year student at Syracuse University where she’s on the  softball team. She was unable to attend Sunday’s event, but she spoke Patch by phone from Upstate New York.

“The good thing about playing in New Jersey, it’s competitive,” said Pires, who spoke to Patch by cell phone from Syracuse, N.Y., on Sunday afternoon. “There are a lot of good girls at the high school level, and also you can see the same team a bunch of times, so there are rivalries.”

Pires played center at GLHS and batted in the leadoff spot in 2010, when she hit .474  with 45 hits, six doubles, four triples, 47 runs scored and 31 stolen bases.

Kean University men’s basketball senior forward and NCAA-leading rebounder for all divisions at one point this season Jonathan Jones, who never started a game while on the Linden High School team, received the Chris Zusi Memorial Award for Outstanding Union County Athlete.

“It’s a great honor for me the receive these accolades,” Jones told Patch. “When I first heard about this, I thought they had the wrong guy. I didn’t think I was good enough.”

Jones, who made the Dean’s List at Kean in the fall, became the 30th member of the 1,000-point club at Kean and appeared in Sports Illustrated’s Jan. 24 edition.

Johns Hopkins University senior Allie Zazzali, who played soccer and basketball for Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School, received the Joseph R. Lombardi Memorial Award for Outstanding Union County Athlete.

“I never thought I would receive anything like this,” Zazzali told Patch. “I’m not used to getting so much recognition.”

Zazzali, a Dean’s List student at Hopkins, is the university’s sixth all-time leading scorer and its all-time leader in NCAA tournament goals.

Joe D’Annunzio, also a Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School graduate, received the Edward Cooper Memorial Award for Most Valuable Scholastic Baseball Player.

“Many thanks to all my coaches,” D’Annunzio told Patch. “I’ve been blessed to have great teammates and my family behind me.”

D’Annunzio is a freshman outfielder for Rutgers University. In high school,  he had 154 hits, 120 RBI, and 162 runs scored.

Also recognized were the Union County American Legion Senior Division Champions, Roselle Post #229, coached by Rich Biddulph. The senior league MVP was Mike Cowan of Roselle Post  #229.

The George Cron Memorial Youth Leagues Awards went to Ivan Rosa, minor league MVP; Evan Morales, major league MVP; and Bobby Dillon, teen league MVP.

The John “Butch” Henry Memorial Youth Leagues Awards went to George Vega, minor league; James Fostinis; and Netalix Torres, teen league.

The Star-Spangled Banner was sung by Scotch Plains resident Ryan Kiel, a junior at the Union County Academy for Performing Arts.

The event  was sponsored by the UCBA, in cooperation with the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders and the Union County Department of Parks and Community Renewal.

Event proceeds go to help fund the Union County Summer Youth Baseball League for players age 8 to 15 years, and the Fall Teen League.

 The Hot Stove Dinner is the primary fund-raising effort for the UCBA summer and fall programs.