Around Town

New Canaan Rams Football Golf Tournament & Dinner Set for July 22 [Q&A]

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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.

Bob VanDerheyden

‘It Was Wonderful’: NCHS Legend Bob VanDerheyden Steps Down After Calling Rams Football Games for 65 Years

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Bob VanDerheyden started out calling Rams basketball games as a New Canaan High School sophomore. The son of the sports director at WSTC-AM in Stamford, he’d always been around radio and loved it. 

“I did a lot of things with dad, going around the Little League games and high school football games,” the 1960 NCHS graduate recalled on an afternoon this week from his home outside Scranton, Pa. “And it occurred to me that I’ll do the PA [public address] at the basketball game. So I did a couple of basketball games. And [NCHS Football Coach] Joe Sikorski thought that was pretty neat.

Bo Hickey

‘That Is a Guy That I Love’: Friends and Colleagues Remember New Canaan’s Bo Hickey

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Jay Egan, New Canaan High School’s athletic director, was about 15 years old when he first got to know fellow Stamford native Bo Hickey. Ten years his senior, Hickey had been a standout multi-sport athlete at Stamford Catholic High School—earning all-county and all-state honors in football his senior year—who would go on to become the starting running back at the University of Maryland and played in the NFL. Hickey was “a larger-than-life sports guy,” Egan recalled. In those days, there weren’t many weight training facilities around, and the only place you could go locally was the Stamford Y, Egan said. One day, after his parents dropped him off—Egan and his pals weren’t yet old enough to drive—the group went to an old-fashioned leg press machine in the corner of the facility.

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NCHS Senior Drew Pyne Signs Early Letter of Intent To Play Football at Notre Dame

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New Canaan High School senior quarterback Drew Pyne on Wednesday signed an early Letter of Intent to play football at the University of Notre Dame. Pyne said he’s always dreamed of playing at the storied Indiana university. “[Rams Football Head] Coach [Lou] Marinelli gave me the right path in high school to make all this happen, so all thanks to him,” Pyne said moments before a signing ceremony in the Wagner Room at NCHS attended by more than 50 relatives, friends, classmates, teammates and coaches. “I’m blessed with this great opportunity so I’m very excited.”

Asked what special NCHS memories he’ll take with him, Pyne said, “All of high school has been fantastic, whether football or academically.”

“Mr. [Bill] Egan, our principal, has made it a great experience for me. And Coach Marinelli has made it unbelievable as well.