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Southern Connecticut To Be Well Represented At 82nd Annual Connecticut Sports Media Alliance Gold Key Dinner

General

Southern Connecticut To Be Well Represented At 82nd Annual Connecticut Sports Media Alliance Gold Key Dinner

Southern Connecticut State University Athletics will be well represented at the 82nd Annual Connecticut Sports Media Alliance Gold Key Dinner on Oct. 20, 2024. Southern's name will be announced with four honorees including current Owl Jordan Davis, as well as SCSU Athletics Hall of Famers Larry Ciotti, Paula Fitzgerald and Rick Leddy.

Davis was named the Bill Lee Male Athlete of the Year while Leddy will receive the Bo Kolinksy Memorial Special Recognition Award. Fitzgerald was named the Hal Levy High School Achievement Award recipient and Ciotti will receive a CSMA Gold Key which is presented to deserving individuals who made a considerable impact on the state's sports landscape.

The 82nd Gold Key Dinner, a yearly event organized by the Connecticut Sports Media Alliance, is slated for Sunday, Oct. 20 at 2 p.m. at the Aqua Turf Club in the Plantsville section of Southington. Tickets are $75, and may be ordered at 860-394-5091 or via email at tim.jensen@patch.com.

Jordan Davis is coming off an appearance at the 2024 Olympic Trials finals after capturing his second NCAA Division II Javelin National Championship last Spring. Davis, in addition to two national titles, is also a four-time All-American, the 2024 USTFCCCA National Field Athlete of the Year, Bowerman Award Finalist as well as a four-time Northeast-10 Conference and New England Champion in the Javelin.

Ciotti, '66, inducted to the SCSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998, was captain of the Owls' 1965 team, leading them to the Eastern Football Conference Championship and earning All-New England honors at center. He went on to become the head football coach at Daniel Hand High School in Madison, as well as serving as director of athletics and physical education and coaching wrestling and track. He amassed a career coaching record of 141-41-2, with 13 conference championships and four state championships.  In 1993, he was inducted into the Connecticut High School Coaches Hall of Fame. Ciotti received the Walter Camp Football Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011. Ciotti went on to coach football as an assistant at Yale University, serving as offensive backfield coach, linebackers coach, backfield coach and head freshman coach, until 2014.

Fitzgerald '77 graduated from Southern Connecticut with a degree in physical education while competing as a member of Southern's varsity tennis team, as well as junior varsity basketball. It was basketball where Fitzgerald made her mark an assist at Westbrook High School from 1980-1995 when Westbrook won a state record 62 consecutive victories and eight state championships. The 1995 state assistant coach of the year, she also received the CIAC Merit Award in 2017. Fitzgerald has been the athletic director at Westbrook for over 40 years and received the Connecticut Association of Athletic Directors Distinguished Service Award in 2002. As Westbrook's tennis head coach, she won her 500th career victory in 2023. She was inducted to the Connecticut Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2024.

Leddy, '71, inducted to the SCSU Hall of Fame in 2017, began as Southern's sports information director as a student in 1969, and continued until his retirement in 2007. He was named associate director of athletics in 1993. During his career, he developed athletic media guides for women's sports teams and developed the Southern athletics website. He also trained and developed many students and assistants who went on to work in the field of sports information. As director, he was responsible for publicity, game coverage, athletic media guides, compilation of statistics, and conference and NCAA reporting for all of Southern's athletic teams. In addition, he served as public relations director for the National Association of Basketball Coaches, and was inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame in 2004 and the College Sports Information Directors of American Hall of Fame. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the 2004 Clifford Wells Appreciation Award from the National Association of Basketball Coaches, the College Sports Information Directors of America Distinguished Service Award, the Football Writers Association of America Outstanding Press Box citation and the Eastern College Athletic Conference Sports Information Directors Association's Irving T. Marsh Service Bureau Award.
 
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