Coming off its second consecutive CIAC State Championship, the New Canaan Rams football team is already setting its sights on a three-peat. While most of the preparation comes on the field and in the film room there are significant contributions outside of the staff and players which keep the Rams at the top of the heap year-after-year.
One of the most important of these efforts is the New Canaan Football Golf Tournament and Touchdown Dinner. This year’s event, held on July 22nd at the Country Club of New Canaan, marks the silver anniversary of the outing – we took some time to talk to New Canaan Football Head Coach Lou Marinelli about the tournament and dinner and also discussed the importance of community involvement.
New Canaanite: Coach, talk to me a little bit about the origins of the New Canaan Football Association Golf Tournament.
Head Coach Lou Marinelli in 2023
Lou Marinelli: We started 25 years ago at Silvermine Gold Club. We got a keg of beer and a six-foot wedge or a couple of six-foot wedges. Guys came out and we just had a ball. That was the very first one and it was humble beginnings but so much fun and just evolved from there. It gets better and better every single year.
How important is this event to the program?
It’s so important. We’ve had such tremendous support from the community in general that helps keep us at the same level as Greenwich and Westport and Darien. Bigger schools than us. Some programs have 10, 12, 14…even 20 coaches. And I think the coaches we have are second to none. I am so blessed to have the staff that I do and because of events like the golf outing we can retain the guys we have. We can take kids to seven-on-seven tournaments, like the one we went to last week at Boston College and did not charge our families anything. We have equipment needs and training needs that are met because of the support we receive.
We’re able to send kids to camp if they want to go. We’re able to supplement a lot of different things for kids that they normally wouldn’t do. To do things to keep the program on top. And we provide scholarships for some of our players and managers that can use some help. This year we are giving out four scholarships for $5,000 each.
And we do this through the golf tournament and dinner, and we are all having a hell of a time doing it. Everyone who comes has a lot of fun. The people who come out and put it together and attend and support us – I just can’t say enough, but that’s New Canaan. It’s a true community effort from the police to the stores and restaurants in town who sponsor holes and take care of our kids. I’ve seen acts of kindness in New Canaan that I could write books about in my time here. It’s really tremendous to see.
Give us some details of the outing. What can people expect to see and experience?
Sponsors of the 2023 New Canaan Football Golf Outing and Touchdown Dinner
I’m really excited that this year we are bringing it back to the Country Club of New Canaan after many years of having it in Darien at Woodway. It starts out in the morning and we have a luncheon and you meet and greet everybody getting ready to go. And then you have a shotgun start so everyone goes to a different hole around noon and we play golf in a best ball format so each foursome plays as a team. There are prizes for best team score, longest drive, closest to the pin and there is an opportunity to win a Mercedes if you get a hole-in-one on one of the holes. Then everyone finishes and there’s a cocktail hour. Then we have a dinner with an auction on some amazing items and experiences from food and wine to pro and college football games and memorabilia. The Touchdown Dinner has gotten very popular, so if people didn’t want to play golf and just wanted to attend the dinner and bid on some of those items it is a great opportunity to meet some great players from the past, meet some of our coaches and other supporters, hear more about our program and actually see some of the things that go on and where the money goes. Denis LaPolice is our emcee and auctioneer, and he does a fantastic job. It’s just a great, it’s a great day.
What would you say to a local family that’s involved with football, wants to maybe support the football program but doesn’t know too much about it and hasn’t yet experienced the golf outing and dinner?
I would say you got to come and see the type of program that your son is getting involved in. Come and see the type of young men that we have, the type of coaches we have. See the type of guys that have played here before and how they come back and give back. I invite everybody to come just to see what it’s all about — to see what we’re doing for the kids.
Twenty-five years of this golf tournament and now you’re about to start year 43 at New Canaan. What are your thoughts when looking back at how both have grown?
L-R: Lou Marinelli, Cooper Dinan and Denis LaPolice
I’m so blessed to be in a position where I’ve seen what the football experience has done for our kids. It has helped their work ethic, their never-give-up attitude, camaraderie, being a good teammate –things like that I think are so important in life. I’m proud of our program and the people that support us with events like this over the years. People like Matt Kelley, Denis LaPolice, Frank Granito. Everyone has done an amazing job to put this together and it’s no easy task. But it’s something that really helps other kids coming up, going through this crazy time of adolescence for these kids trying to find out who they are and what they can do.
There is a famous quote attributed to Jeremy Pruitt, who used to be the head coach at Tennessee. He said, ”football is just like life, but sped up.” Things are happening very fast — good things, bad things, bad calls, tough situations. And you have to adjust, keep on playing and don’t look at the scoreboard, just focus on the next play…the next thing that happens. I think it helps keep these kids on track and keeps them focused on what the goal is.
So I’m very proud to when I sit back and look at it and I see some of the quality of men that have gone through and what they’ve done. That can be another interview for another time, where we just go back and name names of all of these guys and how successful they’ve been. It’s something that is second to none.
To reserve a spot in the New Canaan Rams Football Golf Tournament and Touchdown Dinner or to make a donation please visit https://e.givesmart.com/events/Cu0/