Notre Dame-West Haven Graduates Among Diamond Club Hall Of Fame Inductees

From the Southern Connecticut Diamond Club

WEST HAVEN, 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 are Notre Dame High School of West Haven graduates Don Martone and Joe Tonelli Jr.

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.

Martone and Tonelli were teammates on Notre Dame’s first state championship baseball team, as the Green Knights captured the 1985 CIAC Class LL crown under coach Tom Marcucci. Tonelli’s father, Joe Tonelli Sr., was NDHS’s athletics director at the time. Both Marcucci and Tonelli Sr. are members of the SCDC Hall of Fame.

Martone also played football at Notre Dame, graduating in 1987. He continued his baseball career at Providence College, where he earned All-Big East Conference and All-New England honors. He possesses a bachelor’s degree in health policy and management from Providence (1991) and a master’s in sport administration from St. Thomas (Fla.) University.

Martone, a science teacher at Notre Dame for 18 years, coached the Green Knights’ baseball team from 2015-23 and led NDHS to the 2016 Class L state championship. He now teaches and coaches at North Country Union High School in Newport, Vermont.

Tonelli earned his Notre Dame diploma in 1986. He was an all-conference and all-New England third baseman at Assumption College (now University) before completing a bachelor’s degree in 1990. Tonelli has enjoyed a 33-year career as a college baseball coach. He was the first head coach at Albertus Magnus College (1990-2003) and recently completed his 13th season at the University of Bridgeport, where he is the all-time winningest coach. He was also the athletics director at Albertus for eight years and is in the Falcons’ Athletics Hall of Fame. Tonelli resides in East Haven.

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.