Gene Casey Scholar Athlete Dinner set for April 12

Twenty six high school and prep school scholar athletes will be honored for academic excellence and citizenship at the 53rd Anniversary of the Gene Casey New Haven County Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame scholar athlete dinner will be held on April 12 at Fantasia Banquet Facility in North Haven. A reception will begin at 5:30 p.m. with the march to the head table at 6:30.

Greenwich resident Jim Bell, the Executive Producer of NBC Universal’s coverage of the Olympic Games, will receive the Distinguished American Award. Previously, Bell was the executive producer of the Today Show on NBC.

Chapter member Robert Rafferty of North Branford will receive the Chapter Award of Merit and long time football official Joseph McVetty of Hamden will receive the Official Recognition Award.

Hand coach Steve Filippone will receive the Chapter Coach of the Year Award. The Tigers finished with a 14-0 record and won the Class L state championship and finished No. 1 in the final Register Top 10 poll.

The scholar athletes are: Eli Bonadies (Hamden), Alexander Borkowski (Branford), Jordan Coley (Hamden Hall), Timothy Kovel (Cheshire), Kevin Dean (Xavier), Gary Falanga (North Branford), James Farrell (Shelton), Michael Ferrara (Guilford), Peter Gerson (Hand), Christopher Golger (Fairfield Prep), Bucky Gumbrewicz (Oxford), Qusaan Hoskie (West Haven), Matthew Marcarelli (North Haven), Dillon McMahon (Derby), Sean Merrill (Sheehan), Je’Vaughn Moore (Hillhouse), Ryan O’Connor (Ansonia), Rourke Phalon (Holy Cross), Kyle Rivera (Platt Tech), Anthony Scirpo (Woodland), Devante Sealy (Hyde), James Semmonella (Amity), Matthew Shumaker (Notre Dame-West Haven) and Daniel Ziebell (Law).

Tickets can be purchased for $45 and can be ordered by calling Donna Limone at 203-481-8375 or by email at dpludlo214@aol.com. Anyone interested in placing a congratulatory ad can contact Paul Criscuolo at 203-231-3992 or at paul@rabassociates.net.

Information about the chapter can be found at www.newhavenfootballfoundation.com.