Ribbon Cut On Athletic Center Renovation

By Thomas Breen, New Haven Independent

NEW HAVEN, CT — Dozens of student athletes, school district leaders, city and state officials, and high school sports fans gathered at the Floyd Little Athletic Center last Thursday to celebrate the completion of a state-funded, $8.77 million renovation.

They also marked the dedication of a new basketball court in honor of two local legends — former school district athletics director Robert “Bob” Laemel and the late former Hillhouse principal and celebrated basketball coach Salvatore “Red” Verderame.

That ceremony took place on the second floor of the 480 Sherman Pkwy. “field house,” which hosts athletic practices and competitions in indoor track and field, basketball, and wrestling for New Haven public school students. The athletic center is also regularly used for sports competitions involving young people from throughout the region.

As explained by Mayor Justin Elicker, New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) Supt. Madeline Negrón, City Engineer Giovanni Zinn, and NHPS Athletics Director Erik Patchkofsky, among many others, the athletic center — which first opened in 2002 — has a new basketball hardwood court, new running surfaces for the track, and a new four-sided digital score board.

Phase two of the athletic center’s renovations will include upgrades to the foyer and concession area, restrooms, and bleachers.

This is the largest high school athletic facility in New England, Elicker said. The building is 105,000 square feet, and has a capacity for around 3,000 people.

Thanks to these state-of-the-art renovations, Negrón said, this venue “now stands ready to serve the next generation” of student athletes. “But of course, we have to take care of it. That is one lesson I have learned.” She framed this renovation as an investment in opportunity, health, and community connection. She also promised to make sure that similarly significant renovations take place at buildings across the district, so that all students — and not just student-athletes — benefit from this level of infrastructure attention and upkeep.

“I can’t explain what this building means to our young people,” Patchkofsky said while looking at a group of Hillhouse student athletes who joined Thursday’s presser. “It’s for you guys,” he said to the teens. “So, thank you.”

Much of Thursday’s event was split between praising the court renovations — and heralding the men whose names are now written on the court.

Board of Education member Ed Joyner, who led the way in getting the court named after Laemel and Verderame, said, “I never a got a chance to know Garibaldi, but I knew Red Verderame. I never got a chance to know Abraham Heschel, but I knew Bob Laemel. I never got a chance to know Frederick Douglass, but I knew Floyd Little.” Joyner spoke about growing up in the South and regularly passing buildings and monuments honoring Confederate generals like Robert E. Lee and Nathaniel Bedford Forrest. He described how meaningful it is to honor men like Verderame and Laemel — who dedicated their lives to helping so many young people in New Haven — by immortalizing their names on the new basketball court.

Verderame worked for 21 years as an administrator — including as vice principal and then principal — at Hillhouse High School. He also served as Wilbur Cross’s basketball coach from 1953 to 1966, winning five district championships, among other accomplishments. According to Verderame’s 2008 obituary, he also “undertook many foreign coaching assignments as a foreign service officer with the U.S. Dept. of State between 1963 and 1983, including Africa and the Middle East. His love for Africa inspired him to establish The International Ambassadors For Education program which enabled high school students the opportunity to travel the continent.”

While Verderame’s son Jeff represented his family at the podium Thursday, Laemel — who flew up from Florida to attend the event in person — was able to take the mic himself.

He spoke about stepping into the role of NHPS athletics director in 1977 — while still staying connected to students in each public high school by teaching a course called “Career in Sports.” He also helped found the high-school-athletics-focused Southern Connecticut Conference.

“To have my name on a court while I’m still alive,” he said, “that is really a blessing.”

The New Haven Independent is a not-for-profit public-interest daily news site founded in 2005.