Minicus Honored at Fairfield County Hall of Fame Event

The point guard generally regarded as Fairfield University’s greatest player and a woman who became one of the nation's outstanding distance runners at Greenwich High School were inducted into the Fairfield County Sports Commission Hall of Fame Monday night at the group’s seventh annual dinner held at the Hyatt Regency in Old Greenwich.

An estimated 500 attended the event, where Darien field hockey coach was also among those recognized as the county's Sports Persons of the Year. Minicus, who has guided the Blue Wave to four consecutive FCIAC and Class M state championships, was named the National Field Hockey Coach of the Year in January.

, a 6-foot-2 guard who sparked the Stags to a 22-5 season in 1977-78, one National Invitation Tournament bid and back-to-back appearances in the Eastern College Athletic Conference New England Tournament, was inducted into the James O’Rourke Amateur Wing. He was joined by , formerly of Greenwich, who went on to win the NCAA 3,000 meters as a Stanford University freshman and was a two-time collegiate All-American in cross country. She's still running at the master's level.

Inducted into the FCSC’s Jackie Robinson Professional Wing were , the Stamford-born NBA referee who has officiated in more than 1,650 regular-season games and 25 NBA finals, and Bridgeport native John Bagley, who fashioned an 11-season NBA career as a point guard with the Cleveland Cavaliers, New Jersey Nets and Boston Celtics. Bagley was unable to attend the dinner.

Two renowned coaches were inducted into the J. Walter Kennedy Community Service Wing, Charlie Bentley, who guided Warren Harding High to nine state basketball championships, and the late , who was a national soccer coach of the year at Staples High School of Westport. Bentley announced his retirement this year.

A moment of silence was observed prior to the dinner for , the former Sacred Heart University basketball player, who died in Romania last week following an incident in a bar, and , Trumbull High's retired football and baseball coach, who died on Oct. 12 at age 76.

The other Sports Persons of the Year recognized on Thursday were:

• Bridgeport: University of Bridgeport women’s gymnastics team; USAG national champions
• Easton: , world-ranked professional tennis player
• Fairfield: , Fairfield Prep state champion cross country runner
• Greenwich:  UConn baseball star and son of former major leaguer Lee Mazzilli
• Monroe: , Masuk High’s recently retired girls’ basketball coach
• New Canaan: , Connecticut’s state swimmer of the year
• Norwalk: , New England Babe Ruth Baseball Tournament organizers
• Shelton: Shelton High girls  soccer team
• Stamford: , USA Hockey U18 world champion gold medal winner
• Stratford: , athletic facilities donors
• Trumbull: , world champion archer
• Weston: , sports community leader, soccer organizer
• Westport: Staples High’s boys , Class LL state runners-up
• Wilton: , Wilton High’s all-time leading scorer in lacrosse