8/10/2019 Xavier Honors Larry McHugh with Field Dedication

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by Kathleen Pulek

More than 1,700 peopleammed the Xavier High

School campus Saturday,Oct. 18, to celebrate LarryMcHugh, the man whospent 20 years at the schoolas an educator, a motivator,a highly successful coachand the father of the Fal-cons’ football program.

Mayor Dan Drew des-

ignated the Saturday asLarry McHugh Day. TheXavier community andits league of alums sharedbreakfast before dedicat-ing the recently completedLarry McHugh Field, thusensuring an enduring link tothe school’s proud past andthat the legacy of their firstfootball coach will never beforgotten. They also experi-enced the enjoyment of theFalcon’s 27-7 Homecomingwin over the West HavenBlue Devils in the first var-sity football game played on

campus in many years, aswell as a jubilant post-gamereception.

“We had a great week-end. It couldn’t have beenbetter,” said Greg Brinn,Xavier’s director of ad-vancement. “This was anhonor long overdue and a

great day for Larry, his fam-ily, his friends, the Xaviercommunity and the highschool as a whole.

  “We knew the dedi-cation and Homecomingweekend would draw a goodcrowd. We had seating for1,100-1,200 spectators, withthe rest standing along thefences.

“Xavier had made adecision to begin a capital

campaign, which includesa new arts wing, improv-ing our athletic facilitiesand putting a new turf field

down. Bob Guere and BrianHetherington, both Class of1981, serve as co-chairs.When it came time to namethe field, it was a pretty easydecision.

“Right now, our varsityand jayvee soccer teams andour freshman and jayvee

football teams will play onLarry McHugh Field. In thespring, lacrosse and ultimateFrisbee will use the field,

and some physical educa-tion classes, when possible,will be able to participate onit,” Brinn continued.

“With the successwe’ve had this past week-end bringing a homecom-ing football game back to

Middletown’s C ommunity Newspaper  Volume 13, Number 11November 2014

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In the Kitchen Chronicled

Home Grown

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 For after the Thanksgiving feast,

chef Richard Moriarty has reci- pes for the leftovers.Page 24

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Xavier Dedicates Field to Larry McHugh

The newly-dedicated Larry McHugh Field during halftime of the 27-7 win over West Haven Saturday, Oct. 18. Photo courtesy of Xavier High School.

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8/10/2019 Xavier Honors Larry McHugh with Field Dedication

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The Chronicle - November 201416

Xavier and our alumni thrilled to be back oncampus, we hope to incorporate the new fa-cility into the varsity schedule so we can getthat true home field advantage. At a mini-mum, we hope to have our varsity footballhomecoming game here each year, though

Palmer Field is still very much a part of var-sity football and will be for a while becauseof seating and parking and continued con-struction on campus,” said Brinn.

The legendary McHugh admitted to“a flood of emotions and memories duringthe week leading up to the dedication. I wasgetting so many emails from former playerswho couldn’t make it to the dedication andhomecoming game and they were telling mehow much I meant to them.

“I went out to Xavier on Thursday,where I was interviewed by WTNH, got totalk to the football team and saw the field.On Saturday morning, there were over 300people at a breakfast, most of whom wereformer players, including some from all the

way back to my first Xavier team.“When I walked out to the field for the

dedication, I flashed back to 1964-1967,when we played all of our games on cam-pus. We had some great victories on thatfield,” reflected McHugh.

“I also thought of the two special peopleI needed to thank--Wally Camp and ArtieKohs. Wally hired me at Durham, whichis now Coginchaug. I had gotten releasedby New York [Titans of the American Foot-ball League] in 1961 after a broken foot. Itook a job teaching eighth grade science andplanned to go back and play professionalfootball. Then the Xavier job opened up in1963 and Wally recommended me. I talkedto Artie [former Xavier athletic director and

coach], who hired me and that was it. It justseems like yesterday.

  “The field dedication means a lot.Xavier is where everything started for me.It’s a huge honor that ranks right behindgetting married and my kids and my grand-kids,” according to McHugh, who remainsclose with former players like Class of 1969members Tommy Tokarz and Tony Jaskot,the current Director of Athletics at Xavierand McHugh’s successor at the Falcons’helm. “When someone like Tommy or Tonystill calls me coach, well, that’s the highesthonor for me.”

Two games that define McHugh’scoaching tenure at Xavier are the 1965victory over Hillhouse and the 14-7 come-from-behind win over Northwest Catho-

lic (1973) “We had a lot of great wins, butthose two are signature victories. Hillhousewas a state power and we were supposed toget clobbered by something like 40-0. Over10,000 fans saw our last minute win overNorthwest Catholic. That was our 34th-straight victory, which set the Connecticutand New England record,” said McHugh,who posted a 152-36-6 record as varsityfootball coach at Xavier (1963-83) alongwith a trio of undefeated seasons in 1971,‘72 and ‘74.

McHugh’s legacy also includes numer-ous local, regional and national awards,

designations and honors, including Na-tional Coach of the Year 1973; ConnecticutCoaches Hall of Fame 1984; ConnecticutSports Writers Alliance Gold Key 1985;Middletown Sports Hall of Fame 1994; NewHaven Gridiron Club Hall of Fame; and theAmerican Legion Americanism Award.

The past president of the National HighSchool Athletic Coaches Association wasnamed one of Hartford Magazine’s 50 MostInfluential People in 2012. Four governorsin a row appointed McHugh to the Boardof Trustees of the Connecticut State Univer-sity System, where he served for 27 years,part of the time as chairman, attesting tohis commitment to academics. His rigor-ous schedule includes serving as the Chair-

man of the UConn Board of Trustees aswell as President of the Middlesex Cham-

ber of Commerce, which he has built intothe state’s largest and most active chamber

while increasing membership ten-fold.The Larry McHugh Senior Leadership

Award is presented annually to a Xavier se-nior football player that puts the needs ofthe team first and his personal goals secondand who provides leadership on and off the

field by his actions, effort and play.“It was great to spend some time withformer players, family, friends and long-time supporters,” said McHugh. “But asI have repeatedly noted, this is the play-ers’ field, not mine. I want to thank XavierHigh School, and in particular HeadmasterBrother Brian Davis, Director of AthleticsTony Jaskot, Director of Advancement GregBrinn, the Capital Campaign Committee ledby Bob Guere and Brian Hetherington andformer Director of Athletics Art Kohs,” saidMcHugh, who saw his 1974 Xavier statechampionship football team (10-0) honoredduring halftime of Homecoming.

“I was fortunate to be hired at an unbe-lievable school. Xavier is a very, very spe-

cial place. My legacy is not the wins andlosses. My legacy is the players and studentsI coached and taught and who have becomeoutstanding leaders in their communities,”said McHugh.

Chronicled

 From left, Capital Campaign co-chairs and members of the Class of 1981 Bob Guere and Brian Hetherington, Larry McHugh and Xavier parent and Brian’s father, Ray Hetherington. Photo courtesy of Xavier High School.

Xavier Honors Larry McHugh with Field Dedication

 Xavier High School headmaster Brother Brian Davis with Larry McHugh. Photo courtesy of Xavier High School.

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Donald E. Williams, Jr., the author ofhe recently published book Prudence Cran-all’s Legacy: The Fight For Equality inhe 1830s, Dred Scott, and Brown v. Boardf Education, will be the featured speakert a program sponsored by the Middlesexounty Historical Society at 7 p.m. Thurs-ay, Nov. 13, at Congregation Adath Israel.illiams will be joined by Kazimiera Ko-

lowski, the curator of the Prudence Cran-all Museum in Canterbury, Connecticut,ho will offer remarks about the museum.

Prudence Crandall, Connecticut’s Offi-ial State Heroine, was a schoolteacher whoought in the early nineteenth century tontegrate her school in Canterbury and edu-ate black women. Her acceptance of blackirls into the school unleashed a storm ofontroversy that catapulted her to nationalotoriety and drew the attention of the mostrominent pro- and antislavery activists ofhe day. Crandall was arrested and jailed,nd Williams’ account details her legalegacy. Crandall v. State was the first full-hroated defense mounted for civil rights innited States history. The arguments by at-

orneys in Crandall played a role in two ofhe most fateful Supreme Court decisions,red Scott v. Sandford, and the landmark

ase of Brown v. Board of Education.Williams served as the President of the

State Senate from 2004 through 2014, and

represented the 29th Senate District of Con-necticut from 1993 through 2014. In addi-tion to his career in public service, he hasserved as an attorney, educator, and journal-ist. He graduated from Syracuse Universityand earned his law degree from Washingtonand Lee University School of Law in Lex-ington, Virginia. Copies of the book will beavailable for purchase and inscription.

Congregation Adath Israel, located atthe corner of Broad and Old Church Streets,is handicap accessible. The program is freeand open to the public, although donationsare welcome. For further information, con-tact the Historical Society at 860-346-0746.

MCHS Hosts Donald E. Williams