The Origin And History Of The Prestigious Gold Key Dinner

CONNECTICUT — A prestigious statewide sports award ceremony which predates World War II is rapidly approaching, and tickets are still available.

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.

Gold Key Award recipients for 2024 are former Daniel Hand High School and Yale University football coach Larry Ciotti, longtime Windham High School wrestling and football coach Brian Crudden, retired Pomperaug High School field hockey coach Linda Dirga, award-winning sportscaster George Grande and Wesleyan University women’s basketball coach Kate Mullen.

Other honorees are:

• President's Award: Bob Cuneo, Bethany, U.S. Olympic bobsled engineer
• Hank O'Donnell Female Athlete of the Year: Shea Dolce, Darien/Boston College lacrosse
• Bill Lee Male Athlete of the Year: Jordan Davis, Wallingford/SCSU track and field
• Doc McInerney High School Coaches of the Year: Leigh Barone, Masuk softball; Rich Bowen, Killingly wrestling
• Bob Casey Courage Award: the family of Charlie Capalbo, Fairfield
• John Wentworth Good Sport Award: Marc Forster, Ledyard; Mary-Jane Hussey, Windsor Locks; Bob Rafferty, Trumbull; Jim Reynolds, East Haven
• Hal Levy High School Achievement Award: Paula Fitzgerald, Westbrook High School
• Bo Kolinsky Memorial Special Recognition Award: Rick Leddy, retired SCSU sports information director
• Art McGinley Media Award: George Albano, Norwalk Hour (ret.)
• Bo Kolinsky Memorial Sports Media Scholarship: Casey O'Brien, Ridgefield High School

Since 1939, members of the Connecticut Sports Media Alliance have been chronicling and sharing the exploits of Connecticut athletes with the citizens of the Nutmeg State and beyond.

The Alliance began as a group of newspaper scribes called the Connecticut Sports Writers’ Alliance. But over the last eight-plus decades, the Alliance has evolved to include television and radio broadcasters, photographers, online journalists and media professionals in the collegiate and professional sports world. To reflect that evolution, the organization officially changed its name in 2021.

Shortly after the group formed, the inaugural Gold Key Dinner – initially called the Hall of Fame Dinner - took place at the Hotel Taft in New Haven on Jan. 29, 1940. Presided over by Alliance president Edward Shugrue of the Bridgeport Post, a crowd of more than 500 sports fans witnessed presentation of the initial Gold Keys to legendary baseball manager Connie Mack, Masters tournament founder Bobby Jones, Bridgeport Central High School coach/AD Edward Reilly and sportswriter Hubert Sedgwick.

Since the ceremony's inception, 280 Gold Keys have been awarded to deserving men and women who made an impact in the Connecticut sports world. Gold Keys have been presented to 17 inductees of the baseball, pro football, hockey and Naismith Memorial basketball halls of fame; to eight Olympic medalists; to world champion boxers; to Super Bowl, World Series, Stanley Cup and NBA champions; to pioneering college and high school coaches; to a sitting U.S. president; to the founder of ESPN; and to the first female president of the PGA of America.

From its debut until the early 1980s, some of the biggest names in sports and entertainment were often guest speakers at Gold Key Dinners. That roster includes Jackie Robinson, Mickey Mantle, Ed Sullivan, Yogi Berra, Weeb Ewbank, Jake LaMotta, Dolph Schayes, Tom Seaver, Bart Starr, Alan Page and Gordie Howe. As more award categories were created, the keynote speakers were phased out.

The Bill Lee Athlete of the Year Award was established in 1973; in 1984, it was changed to the Male Athlete of the Year Award, and the Hank O’Donnell Female Athlete of the Year Award was first presented. Fifteen athletes of the year have gone on to eventually earn Gold Key recognition, most recently 2023 honoree Jan Merrill-Morin. Likewise, 19 winners of the Doc McInerney High School Coach of the Year Award, established in 1975, have earned Gold Keys, including 2024 recipient Larry Ciotti.

Other honors include the Art McGinley Media Award, first presented in 1976; the John Wentworth Good Sport Awards (1988); and the Bob Casey Courage Award (1999). In 2004, the Bohdan Kolinsky Memorial Sports Media Scholarship was founded in memory of the longtime high school sports editor of the Hartford Courant and past Alliance president, who passed away unexpectedly at age 49 in 2003.

Various venues have been utilized in different parts of the state over the years, many long gone but not forgotten. They include the Hotel Bond (Hartford), the Ritz Ballroom (Bridgeport), the Waverly Inn (Cheshire), the Longshore Club (Westport), the Ambassador Hotel (Hamden), the Park Plaza Hotel (New Haven), the Hartford Civic Center, Valle’s Steak House (Hartford) and the Radisson Hotel (Cromwell). The Aqua Turf Club in Southington first hosted the event in 1991, and has been home annually since 1997.