Highly-Successful Darien Volleyball Coach Named 2023 Gold Key Honoree

DARIEN, CT — One of the most successful coaches in Connecticut sports history, with 23 state championships at Darien High School, has been selected to receive one of the state's oldest and most prestigious sports honors.

Laurie LaRusso, Blue Wave girls volleyball coach for more than 40 years and boys coach since 2006, will receive the Gold Key Award from the Connecticut Sports Media Alliance (CSMA) at the 81st annual Gold Key Dinner on Sunday, Oct. 22 at the Aqua Turf Club in Southington.

LaRusso started the girls volleyball program at Darien in 1982, and has won 18 state championships and 23 FCIAC crowns from 1993 through 2022. The team had a streak of 140 straight wins - the eighth longest nationally - and another of 121 straight victories. She founded the boys program in 2006 and has won five state titles, including 2021 and 2022, and seven FCIAC championships.

Her teams have posted more than 1,000 wins, and she has been inducted into the Connecticut Volleyball Hall of Fame and Connecticut High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Other Gold Key honorees are longtime Norwich Free Academy coach and athletic director Gary Makowicki, Olympic runner Jan Merrill-Morin, North Branford High School field hockey coach Babby Nuhn and retired Major League Baseball umpire Terry Tata.

With two exceptions, the Gold Key Dinner has been an annual event since its inception in 1940. Among the Connecticut sports legends recognized in past years are Gordie Howe, Willie Pep, Floyd Little, Geno Auriemma, Calvin Murphy, Kristine Lilly, Julius Boros, Connie Mack, Gene Sarazen, Ron Francis, Dwight Freeney, Terry Lowe, Bill Rodgers, Brian Leetch, Rebecca Lobo, Bobby Valentine and Joan Joyce.

Award winners in other categories will be announced later this spring. They include the President's Award, the Doc McInerney High School Coaches of the Year, the Bill Lee Male Athlete of the Year, the Hank O'Donnell Female Athlete of the Year, the Bo Kolinsky Special Recognition Award, the Bob Casey Courage Award, the Hal Levy High School Achievement Award and the John Wentworth Good Sport Awards.

Tickets for the Gold Key Dinner are $75, and are available by contacting CSMA president Tim Jensen of Patch Media Corp. at 860-394-5091 or tim.jensen@patch.com. Proceeds support the Bo Kolinsky Memorial Sports Media Scholarship, a $3,000 annual award named in memory of the noted high school sports editor of the Hartford Courant and past CSMA president, who passed away in 2003 at age 49.