What do regional horseshoe master Michael “Mickey” Vecchitto, former world featherweight boxing champ WIllie Pep, and major league star Jeff Bagwell all have in common? That’s right, all hail from good old Middletown, Conn. How do I know this, you might ask? No, I am not a local historian, I just happened to stumble upon a secret off the depths of Route 66: The Middletown Sports Hall of Fame.
The Hall of Fame is nestled at the back end of the Palmer Field parking lot. After years of planning, and renovations to the once run-down town maintanance building, the HOF opened its doors in 1993. Since then 137 local heroes have been inducted.
The Hall used to be open for at least three hours a day, allowing the curious public to go and learn about some Middletown legends. Now it is closed and locked for a majority of the year. The American Legion, which shares the building with the Hall, remains open. I asked one of its members, Middletown resident Sal LoGuidice, if he could let me in. Sal had access to the keys and opened my door to Middletown sports lore.
Inside was a large, fairly bland, flourescent-lit room, lined wall to wall with display cases containing mostly memorabilia and photgraphs. There is the 1926 “Sons of Italy” football team, the pennant commerating Middletown as the host of the 1988 American Legion World Series (Minnesota 7, Washington 4 if you care), and the major league pitcher Joey Jay, the first 20-game winner in the famous1961 season, when Maris and Mantle battled for the home run record.
The back end of the room contains the plaques of all of the inductees. Names range from “Prof” Gallitto to Salvatore “Flash” Faraci to William E. Wrang M.D. All probably mean nothing to you, but each holds a special place in Middletown history.
Among the highlights are Pep, the world featherweight champ for nine years. His record speaks for itself, 229 wins and 11 losses all time, but as the HOF points out, he is perhaps best knows as the only boxer to ever win a fight without throwing a punch. A quasi-Pep shrine takes up one end of the room. There are many pictures of the young Pep, some autographs, as well as some photos of other Middletown boxing heroes such as heavyweight “Two Ton” Tony Galanto.
Bagwell, who is amazingly not yet an inductee, still has a sizeable pice of the room dedicated to him. There is a life-sized poster of him as a young player in one of the priceless old-school Astros uniforms. There are also some signed baseballs, as well as many newspaper articles charting his career.
While Pep and Bagwell get a lot of attention, there are many local stars that excelled at some pretty obscure sports. There is Vecchitto, the prized horshoe pitching star. The card next to his name claims he is “regarded as one of the outstanding horseshoe pitching champions in the state and New England.” Some of his lucky ‘shoes outline a picture of stone-faced Mickey in action. How about duckpin bowling champion Dot Czajka Valenti, considered “one of the best in the nation” during her prime. Visitors can see some of her lucky balls.
I asked Sal what his favorite part of the Hall was, and he didn’t hesitate to point me to the blown-up photo of the 1948 MIddletown High School football team. Considered the best high school football team ever to come out of Middletown, Sal told me that members still meet every five years to reminice about their magical season. They were so good that they had 1,500 fans go to their away games. When was the last time we had 1,500 fans for any of our home games?
While it was nice to get acquainted with some Middletown history, noticeably absent was an adequate Wesleyan influence or representation. One small display case in a corner of the room containted photos of the 1948 and 1969 undefeated Wes football squads. Other than that, the only other piece of memorabilia assocaited with the school is a USA Olympic trainers jacket worn in 1972 by then Wesleyan trainer Walt Grochowski. Where art thou Bill Belichick? The directors of the Hall only consider people native to Middletown, or those who have played for a Middletown team to be eligable for induction. Apparantly, Wesleyan sports do not count as Middletown teams. But even if our athletes can’t be inducted, there is no reason why there can’t be more of a Wesleyan representation.
It is clear that the Hall is struggling for money and popularity in Middletown. The collection box at the front of the room is noticeably empty. The guest book next to it has barely 50 names in it over the past three years.
Perhaps the University or some alums could donate a little time and effort to help keep the Hall of Fame running. Deep pockets can go a long way for a place like this. It could even lead to a joint Wesleyan/Middletown Hall of Fame, one that could attract visitors and afford to remain open year round.
If you are interested in local lore, give the Hall of Fame a chance. I’m sure Sal wouldn’t mind unlocking the door for a few more people.
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