Hamden Resident Among Diamond Club Hall Of Fame Inductees

From the Southern Connecticut Diamond Club

HAMDEN, CT — The Southern Connecticut Diamond Club, Inc., will hold its 17th Annual Hall of Fame Banquet and Induction Ceremony on Thursday, Oct. 23 at The Woodwinds in Branford. Among the honorees is Hamden native Richard Shultz.

The SCDC, a non-profit, volunteer-run organization whose stated mission is to foster and promote the game of baseball in the southern Connecticut region, will recognize nine individuals in the Class of 2025. SCDC Hall of Fame members are selected by the group's Executive Board.

Tickets to the 2025 SCDC Hall of Fame dinner are $65 per person and will only be sold in advance. Tickets can be purchased online here or by contacting Rose V. Mentone, Executive Director, at info@southernctdiamondclub.org.

Shultz will be honored with the Tony Mentone Memorial Distinguished Service Award. He is the Secretary and Umpire-in-Chief of the Hamden Fathers Baseball/Softball Association and the President of the Hamden Fathers Basketball Association. He has spent nearly three decades as a coach, game official, league director and board member with both organizations.

Shultz, who still resides in Hamden, is a 1975 graduate of Hamden High School. He was a highly-decorated cross-country and track & field student-athlete at the University of New Haven before completing a bachelor of science degree in business administration in 1980.

A former board member of Boy Scout Troop 608, Shultz is a high-school referee/umpire in the sports of football, basketball, baseball and softball.

Also being honored this year are Haddam-Killingworth High School coach Mark Brookes, former Milford High School and University of Connecticut standout Dave Lanese, longtime area coach and SCDC Board member Ron Luneau, former Notre Dame of West Haven player and coach and Providence College star Don Martone, University of Bridgeport coach Joe Tonelli Jr., and two-time Foran High all-stater and current coach Garrett Walker. Carl Perez of East Haven is the winner of the Andrew Gassira Memorial Umpire Award, and the late Ken Walker will be memorialized with the inaugural Dan Gooley Legends Award.