Warde's Health Program Stays in Good Hands of Softball Pioneer and Veteran Educator Bill Johnson

Mr. Bill Johnson is most closely associated with teaching health and coaching softball during his 35 years at Andrew Warde High School. Even though he hung up his softball coaching cleats 12 years ago, he's still teaching health to today's students.

"I started the health program in Fairfield and still teach health today," he wrote to me via email this week. "The first four years I taught only the boys until they let us go coed." He began teaching at Warde during the 1973-74 school year.

His softball program always fielded excellent teams and quality players. "There were so many great teams and great players, many of whom went on to play in college," wrote Mr. Johnson, who started the softball program at Warde in 1974 and coached his last game in 1996.

"We won so many (Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference) East Division East titles (that) it seemed to other schools it was always Warde (in the East) and Norwalk in the West. Of course it all came to be playing for the state championship in front of 3,200 fans," he continued. "(It was a) good show, (but a) bad ending," Mr. Johnson lamented.

Mr. Johnson has thoroughly enjoyed his career at Warde. "The styles have changed over the years, but the Warde student body has always been my inspiration," he admitted. "They have always been respectful of me and tons of fun to be with.

"They've kept me feeling young, although now my students are (the) children of my former students. First grandchild and I'm out of here," joked Mr. Johnson, who grew up in East Hampton, Connecticut, and attended East Hampton High School. He attended Seton Hall University on a soccer scholarship.

Mr. Johnson has fond memories of the consolidation of Andrew Warde and Roger Ludlowe high schools into Fairfield High School at the Warde site. "I really enjoyed the town coming together as Fairfield High," he admitted. "No more 'this side of town' stuff. Just a nice feeling of 'us.' My own children made so many good friends from the Warde side they never would have met."

Mr. Johnson's wife, Nanci, teaches first grade at Mill Hill School in Southport. His son, BJ, is the first assistant golf superintendent at New Haven Country Club. Daughter Meghan works at a hedge fund in Greenwich. Mr. Johnson and his wife live near the Fairfield Beach Club.

"My last 28 summers I've been the Beach Manager at The Country Club of Fairfield and have employed hundreds of Warde students over the years," he added. "(I) retired this Summer."

I got to know Mr. Johnson personally while watching my sister play softball as an All-FCIAC third baseman for his teams from 1981-84. He was an outstanding coach who was admired, respected, and well-liked by his players. Currently, his students speak very highly of him, too.

Good luck, Mr. Johnson.

Paul

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Visit the Andrew Warde High School Gift Shop.

Watch the AWHS 1976 vintage "film."

Web Site Earns "Best Blog of the Day" Award

The Andrew Warde High School blog has been named winner of "The Blog of the Day" award by a panel of judges from the Web site Blog of the Day awards.

According to the press release, "The Blog of the Day awards offer the best selection of weblogs and famous blogs on a variety of topics. The selection of Best Blogs of the Day is usually done a few days ahead of time based on nominations up to that point.

"Criteria include content, quality, creativity, and the personal opinion of the judges. Judges grant awards each day in recognition of outstanding nominees who are recommended by visitors to the site and by a panel of judges who bestow the honor of a Daily Blog Award upon the recipients.

"Being named a Blog of the Day awards winner can be the crowning achievement of hard work and dedication or it can be the beginning of a new chapter in the life of a blogger."

The Andrew Warde High School blog includes streaming video from 1976, news video from the Thanksgiving Day football game marking the school's 50th anniversary in 2006, slide shows, a Guest Book, interviews with teachers and former students, and an AWHS Gift Shop. The site began in the Summer of 2006 before the 30-year reunion of the Class of 1976.

"Congrats on the Blog of the Day award," wrote Debbie Elstein Lemen. "You've done such a great job keeping up our Web site. Thanks so much for all you do!"

Paul

Please sign the AWHS Guest Book.

Visit the Andrew Warde High School Gift Shop.

Watch the AWHS 1976 vintage "film."

Warde's "Wonderful World of Dizney" Celebrates 35 Years

Mr. Patrick Dizney began his teaching career at Andrew Warde High School in the Autumn of 1973. Thirty-five years later the veteran educator has no plans to retire anytime soon.

"(I plan on teaching) as long as I am physically able and enjoy my classes," he wrote to me via email this past weekend. "I teach computer technology, drafting, and woodworking."

Mr. Dizney says today's students are different from their counterparts of over 30 years ago. "The students of the 70s were more hands-on and had hand skills that they developed at home with their fathers or other family members," he wrote. "Today's students have more of an academic background and (have) not developed the hand skills of the (students of the) 70s."

Even though he started his teaching career well before computers became an integral part of education and daily life, Mr. Dizney always enjoyed working with them. "I always liked computer technology since high school, and I am always staying current, upgrading my skills as things change," he added. "The new teachers have many of these new technology skills that they learned as a child."

Mr. Dizney was raised in Bridgeport and Trumbull, and he attended Notre Dame High School, Housatonic Community College, Central Connecticut State College, Fairfield University, and Southern Connecticut State College.

His wife, Kathy, an Andrew Warde High School graduate, works with him at Warde. "She currently is the coordinator for the College Career Center at FWHS. Our children attended Trumbull schools and attended UConn and Yale."

When Mr. Dizney began his career in education at Andrew Warde in 1973, he was one of the top graduates in the Industrial Arts program at Central Connecticut State College. He has taught Woodworking, Graphic Arts, Drafting, Computer Tech, and Tech Math the last 35 years.

He admitted that there weren't many challenges when Warde and Ludlowe merged into Fairfield High School in the mid 1980s. "We had a large enrollment and easily expanded the program," he wrote. "Every Tech Ed teacher became and was a specialist in their area."

His best memories at Warde? "Working with some outstanding students (such as) Floyd Scholz (1976) and many, many others," Mr. Dizney admitted. "The list is too long."

Mr. Dizney says there is one simple reason for his longevity at Warde: "Teaching what I enjoy and enjoying the students." And the students have been most fortunate to have Mr. Dizney as their educator over the past 35 years.

Paul

Please sign the AWHS Guest Book.

Visit the Andrew Warde High School Gift Shop.

Watch the AWHS 1976 vintage "film."

Follow-Up to Warde Neighborhoods: Stratfield

Paul,

I thoroughly enjoyed your essay on the Stratfield section, and look forward to the subsequent entries in this series.

This story really “hit home” with me, literally. I grew up there and my parents still own and live in the only home they ever bought, in 1955. On our immediate streets, they have remained the longest, by far. Until I bought a car our senior year, I walked to Warde, since we lived close enough to allow that.

The Baptist church you refer to is next to a large white house (on the same hill) that belonged to my grandmother, until she died in 1972. I was there many times, and have many fond memories of her, two uncles who lived with her and the general area. Two well-known Fairfield families (Churchill and Tadduni) lived adjacent to the property.

Fortunately, very few houses in the Stratfield section have "up-sized," i.e., become McMansions. I hope it stays that way.

Last but not least, just beyond the business district in your other photo lies the empty IGA store building. Local residents don't want Walgreen's to move in there. I'll leave out my opinions, but because of this debate the venue has been empty for about two years, I believe. I hope this is resolved soon.

Tony Procaccini

Andrew Warde High School Neighborhoods: Stratfield

This the first of a four-part series on Fairfield's neighborhoods in and around Andrew Warde High School. The neighborhoods include Stratfield, Tunxis Hill, Black Rock Turnpike, and Holland Hill. Please share your thoughts in the "comments" link below.

Stratfield Road, which extends from the Bridgeport line, is the main artery in the Stratfield neighborhood. A northerly drive from the Bridgeport line along Stratfield Road offers a panorama of Fairfield development and living. Spotted with historical landmarks such as the First Baptist Church of Fairfield, Stratfield Road is a meandering thread of life drawing the past to the present and into the future.

The Covici family moved from Bridgeport at the beginning of the 20th century. Their farm property originally consisted of 65 acres, but in 1945, most of the property was sold. New houses and the First Presbyterian Church were constructed on the land. The Covici farming business, which began as a dairy farm, evolved into a more selective produce farm.

In recent decades, residents of the area have been wary of the potential for rapid growth. Through the Stratfield Improvement Association, residents have organized to preserve the non-commercial, residential character of the Stratfield section of town, and to improve the area for the best use of the neighborhood.

Stratfield is a community of middle- and upper-middle class people with varying backgrounds and religious beliefs. Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish faiths are well-supported by the First Presbyterian Church, Assumption Parish, the First Baptist Church of Fairfield, said to be the oldest Baptist church in Fairfield County, and Congregation Ahavath Achim.

A feeling of community is also developed through the schools in the Stratfield area, such as the private Unquowa School and the public Stratfield and North Stratfield elementary schools.

The Stratfield section of town includes Sacred Heart University, set on a beautifully-landscaped 65-acre campus on Park Avenue, straddling the Fairfield-Bridgeport line. The university was founded in 1963 by the Most Reverend Walter W. Curtis, bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport, as the nation's first and only lay Catholic university.

The university consists of four colleges, which include the John F. Welch College of Business, named in honor of Jack Welch, the former chairman and CEO of General Electric Corporation. The $17.5 million William H. Pitt Health and Recreation Center is available to students and the Fairfield community at large.

Historical information courtesy of "Remembering Fairfield: Famous People and Historic Places." Next week we'll take a look at Black Rock Turnpike in part II of our series. Please share your thoughts in the "comments" link below.

Paul

Please sign the AWHS Guest Book.

Visit the Andrew Warde High School Gift Shop.

Watch the AWHS 1976 vintage "film."

Class of '76 Spirit Shines; Celebration of 'Golden' Birthday Year Planned

The Andrew Warde High School Bicentennial Class of 1976 held a reunion committee meeting and subsequent social at Testo's Restaurant on Madison Avenue in Bridgeport Saturday evening, January 5, 2008.

The get-together was well attended by members of the class, who will formally celebrate their 50th birthdays this year. The committee members also discussed the establishment of a scholarship.

Following the meeting, the committee members and other classmates enjoyed a social, and an opportunity to celebrate classmate Billy DiStasi's 50th birthday.

Reunion committee members pictured above include (left-to-right) Jerry Vigorito, Debbie Russo, JoAnne Amelung, Leslie Allen, and Tony Procaccini.

Pictured above are (left-to-right) Nina Bonacci, JoAnne Amelung, Tony Procaccini, Leslie Allen, Lauren Karpinski, Debbie Russo, Jerry Vigorito, Billy DiStasi, and Bob Henry.

Classmates Leslie Allen, JoAnne Amelung, Nina Bonacci, and Debbie Russo, pictured above, enjoyed the get-together and very much look forward to the classwide event later this Summer.

The class held a popular 30-year reunion nearly a year-and-a-half ago, and the spirit and momentum generated by the event continues to build. Our reunion was a tremendous success.

Thirty years after our graduation from Andrew Warde High School, 160 classmates from the Class of 1976, and 220 people attended the gala event at Testo's Restaurant in Bridgeport. It was an exceptional evening.

Paul

Please sign the AWHS Guest Book.

Visit the Andrew Warde High School Gift Shop.

Watch the AWHS 1976 vintage "film."

Is Today's Warde/Ludlowe Rivalry as Heated as a Generation Ago? Latest Poll Results a Toss-Up

Whenever the Andrew Warde High School Crimson Eagles met the Roger Ludlowe Flying Tigers in any sporting event over a generation ago, it was sure to stir the emotions and passions of students on both sides of town. The rivalry can best be described as "heated," and the contests were always intense.

Now that Warde and Ludlowe have returned, albeit with slightly different school names and very different mascots, will today's rivalry be as intense as it was in the 1960s and 70s? That depends. According to our latest on-line survey, it's a virtual "toss-up," so-to-speak.

Of the 22 total votes cast, 11 people (52%) felt the battles would be just as hard-fought today as they were when we attended high school. Ten readers (47%) thought the rivalry was much more heated "back in the day," while just one person felt it really didn't matter.

Former AWHS athletic director and coach Ed Bengermino thinks it will be a war whenever Warde and Ludlowe meet. "I believe the rivalry will be equal to what it was in my heyday coaching in the 70s and 80s," he told me Sunday afternoon during a chance encounter, acknowledging that the youth programs of today might make things a little bit different.

"I think that will soften it a little bit because they know each other, but when they throw that ball up, they're not going to be friendly," Bengermino added. "They're going to want to beat each other."

Former Warde basketball star and current Roger Ludlowe Middle School principal Glenn Mackno hopes there is not as much animosity today. "Our games were very intense," he affirmed. "I do look forward to the rivalry. I hope (it's) a different type of rivalry. I don't think I want it to go back to the days where they were fierce."

In case you're wondering, the Warde and Ludlowe boys' and girls' basketball teams play a doubleheader on Friday evening, February 8, at the Mustangs' gymnasium. The girls' game begins at 6 o'clock, while the boys tip off at 7:45.

Mark the date on your calendar and see for yourself. As for me, I'll be there rooting for today's Mustangs and yesterday's Crimson Eagles.

Paul

Please sign the AWHS Guest Book.

Visit the Andrew Warde High School Gift Shop.

Watch the AWHS 1976 vintage "film."

Remembering 1976 --- Fairfield's Public School System

The landscape of Fairfield's public school system has changed dramatically since 1976. We know that Fairfield's two high schools --- Andrew Warde and Roger Ludlowe --- consolidated into Fairfield High School at the Warde campus over 20 years ago. Due to an increase in student population, the Ludlowe site was reopened in 2004, and the Board of Education renamed the schools Fairfield Warde and Fairfield Ludlowe high schools.

Are you a product of Fairfield's public school system? If so, the chances are very good that you attended Fairfield Woods Junior High School before moving into Andrew Warde. As for elementary school, I grew up in the Lake Hills section of Fairfield, well before Jennings School opened in 1967. As a result, I attended kindergarten at Osborn Hill School in 1963-64. Four years later, our neighborhood was redistricted from Osborn Hill, literally "up the street," into Jennings when that school opened on Palm Drive in September of 1967. Jennings is adjacent to Fairfield Woods, and the elementary students graduated into the junior high school next door.

According to Barbara Bryan, a volunteer with the Fairfield Historical Society, there were 12 elementary schools, two junior high schools, and two high schools in Fairfield in 1976. Grasmere and Oldfield elementary schools no longer exist. The elementary schools included Dwight (456 students), Grasmere (397), Holland Hill (465), Jennings (473), McKinley (532), Mill Hill (327), North Stratfield (465), Oldfield (427), Osborn Hill (478), Riverfield (433), Sherman (404), and Stratfield (426). The total elementary school population was 5,283 students. The figures are courtesy of the annual town report for 1975-76.

Thirty-two years ago there were only two public junior high schools in town. Junior high schools were comprised of seventh- and eighth-grades. Fairfield Woods (869 students) fed into Warde, while Tomlinson's students (905) graduated into Ludlowe. There were a total of 1,774 junior high students in town. It wasn't until 1984, according to the Fairfield Historical Society, that the junior high schools became middle schools and included sixth-grade.

Andrew Warde and Roger Ludlowe high schools had a roughly the same number of students during our senior year at Warde. "The high school enrollments were very similar (in 1975-76)," said Bryan, who obtained the official figures from the town report. Nearly 4,000 students attended public high school in Fairfield in 1975-76. Andrew Warde High School's population was 1,994, while Roger Ludlowe High School had 1,951 students for a total of 3,945 pupils.

The changes at the elementary level since 1976 are the most striking. Thirty-two years ago elementary schools included grades K through six. Now, "Moving Up" ceremonies are held at the conclusion of fifth-grade. There are currently 11 public elementary schools in Fairfield, including the new $25 million Burr School located north of the Merritt Parkway. It is the town's crown jewel.

The sparkling new McKinley School, built when the original building was demolished due to mold and age, is an example of modern architecture in the Tunxis Hill section of town. Osborn Hill, which opened in 1957, then closed in the mid 1980s, was reopened in 1997 and is the largest elementary school in town on Stillson Road. Mill Hill School in Southport also reopened several years ago.

A third middle school --- Roger Ludlowe Middle School --- opened in 1998 for sixth- and seventh-graders at the former Ludlowe High School site. The eighth grade was added the following year. It is the largest of the town's middle schools, housing well over 800 students. Warde graduate Glenn Mackno is the principal of the school, which re-opened in a sparkling new building adjacent to Ludlowe High in 2003.

Students from Stratfield, McKinley, Osborn Hill, and Riverfield elementary schools graduate into Ludlowe Middle School. The children who attended Stratfield and McKinley schools ultimately wind up at Warde, while the students who were products of Osborn Hill and Riverfield move next door into Ludlowe High School. As a result, half the graduates of Ludlowe Middle School attend Warde while the other half attend Ludlowe, located on the same campus!

Graduates of Jennings, North Stratfield, and the newly-opened Burr elementary schools attend Fairfield Woods, while students who attended Dwight, Mill Hill, Sherman, and Holland Hill graduate into Tomlinson Middle School.

Bryan and Dennis Barrow, the Fairfield Historical Society's librarian, welcome you to their facility to review the records and the town's annual report from 32 years ago. The report also includes illustrations and photographs, too.

As you can see, Fairfield's public school system has changed dramatically over the last 30 years. Two high schools became one and then two again. Two junior high schools are now three middle schools. And, two sparkling new elementary schools have been added to the mix.

I'd like to know about your elementary and junior high school experience. You're more than welcome to post comments at the end of each blog entry.

Paul

Please sign the AWHS Guest Book.

Visit the Andrew Warde High School Gift Shop.

Watch the AWHS 1976 vintage "film."

Happy Birthday, Linda Kozlowski, AWHS Class of 1976 Celebrity Movie Star

Let the party begin!

Most of the members of Andrew Warde High School's Class of 1976 will turn 50 years of age this year, and a gala birthday party is being planned to mark the occasion. The idea was the brainchild of the Class of 1975, which celebrated such an event last year.

One of the first to reach the "golden" birthday milestone is perhaps the most famous graduate of the AWHS Class of 1976. Linda Kozlowski turns 50 years of age on Monday, January 7. Happy birthday to our very own star of the movie Crocodile Dundee.

The actress made a splash with her first screen role as the photo-journalist who does a story on Crocodile Dundee (1986) and then falls in love with him. Kozlowski was nominated for a Golden Globe award as Best Supporting Actress for her role in the movie.

In a case of life imitating art, Kozlowski married her leading man, Paul Hogan, on May 5, 1990, after appearing in the sequel Crocodile Dundee 2 (1988). She seemingly fell out off the radar screens in the late 1980s, however, only to reappear in the mid-90s.

The Juilliard-trained, Fairfield-born actress began her career on the stage at the New York Shakespeare Festival. In 1985, while still attending Andrew Warde High School (yearbook photo at left), Kozlowski was selected to appear in the small role of Miss Forsyth in the revival of Arthur Miller's classic Death of a Salesman, starring Dustin Hoffman, a role she reprised in the TV production.

Nevertheless, she was a virtual unknown when she landed the role of Sue Charlton in Crocodile Dundee. Despite the film's box office success, Kozlowski did not have Hollywood contracts thrown at her, perhaps because the success of the film was almost entirely heaped on Hogan.

Her next effort, Pass the Ammo (1987), had her playing Bill Paxton's girlfriend as they tried to steal back money televangelists conned out of her grandmother. After the inevitable Crocodile Dundee 2 and the NBC miniseries Favorite Son (1988), she was again teamed with Hogan in the less than stellar Almost and Angel (1990). It was three years before she graced the screen in the modest The Neighbor (1993), in which she thinks Rod Steiger wants to kill her unborn baby.

The following year, Kozlowski appeared in Backstreet Justice with Hector Elizondo, and then traveled to Sweden to appear in Zorn, which was never distributed in the USA. She next was seen in the John Carpenter's well-packaged remake of Village of the Damned (1995). After time off for motherhood following the birth of her son, Chance, Kozlowski returned to the screen opposite her husband in the belated, third installment in the series Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles (2001).

The AWHS Class of 1976 shares its pride and congratulates Linda on her professional success and achievements. We had a special class and a truly wonderful high school. Happy Birthday, Linda, and to the other members of the AWHS Class of 1976 who celebrate their milestone birthdays this month. Can it really be 50 candles on the cake already?

Paul

Please sign the AWHS Guest Book.

Visit the Andrew Warde High School Gift Shop.

Watch the AWHS 1976 vintage "film."

Warde Girls' Hoop Title Stirs Thoughts of '76 Crimson Eagles' FCIAC Championship Squad

The Fairfield Warde girls' basketball team, a pre-season favorite in the FCIAC this season, atoned for a surprising 0-3 start by defeating crosstown rival Fairfield Ludlowe last week, 42-34. The Lady Mustangs captured the championship game of the holiday tournament on the Falcons' court after dispatching of Bassick, 59-22, in the semi-final round opener.

The Mustangs have been a perennial power in the FCIAC, first as Fairfield High and then, more recently, as Warde. Veteran Head Coach Dave Danko routinely fields squads which advance to the league and state tournaments.

Naturally, after reading about Warde's triumph over Ludlowe in the title tilt, I remembered the Warde girls' basketball team from 32 years earlier. And what a team it was!

They were known as the "comeback kids." And they completed an impossible dream. The 1975-76 version of the Andrew Warde High School girls' basketball team will always be remembered for its shocking come-from-behind victory over Stamford to claim the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference championship. But, they'll probably be remembered more for their heart and spirit.

With a new head coach, Miss Mary Beth McGirr, the girls got off to a slow start early in the season, but they staged a remarkable comeback to end up winning the league title.

One of the reasons for the team's mid-season surge was the play of sophomore sensation Kathy Anderson. Anderson's phenomenal improvement from the beginning of the season paralleled the improved play of the team as a whole. By the end of the campaign, Anderson was habitually leading the team in points and rebounds every game. She earned All-FCIAC first-team honors, and she was named the MVP of the league tournament.

But, Anderson wasn't the only reason the team won the coveted FCIAC championship, which it did by defeating Stamford, 48-44, in dramatic come-from-behind fashion, and by trouncing powerhouse Westhill by a 62-49 margin. The many other players who contributed much to the team's achievements included seniors Diane Dionis, Debbie Mendell, who earned All-FCIAC second-team recognition, Gayle Johnson, and Marti Causey. The juniors included Kris Ness and Betsy Niesyn.

With their 16-5 regular-season record, the team also qualified for the state tournament. They easily defeated Bunnell of Stratford, 74-46, but bowed to R. C. Lee of New Haven, 63-39.The FCIAC championship was the highlight of the season. For that reason, the 1975-76 Andrew Warde High School girls' basketball team earned my vote for the most memorable athletic achievement during our senior year at Andrew Warde High School.

Paul

Please sign the AWHS Guest Book.

Visit the Andrew Warde High School Gift Shop.

Watch the AWHS 1976 vintage "film."