Teammates After All These Years (Part I)

This is the first of a two-part series which chronicles the illustrious careers of three former Andrew Warde High School basketball players and their coach from the successful Crimson Eagles squad in the early 1970s.

The following article is reprinted from the the Fairfield Minuteman newspaper. Former Andrew Warde High School Crimson Eagles' basketball players Dave Schulz (left) and Glenn Mackno, shown holding the 1973 FCIAC division championship trophy, are now educators on the other side of town. Mackno is the principal at Roger Ludlowe Middle School, while Schulz is the athletic director at Fairfield Ludlowe High School.

A lot can change in a school system over the course of three decades. Then again, a lot can end up being the same. Just ask four members of the early 1970s Andrew Warde High School boys' basketball teams --- players Glenn Mackno, Dave Schulz, and Mike Abraham, and coach Ed Bengermino. All four of these men, who once worked together on the same court at Warde, became teammates of a different variety --- educators in the same school system.

Mackno is the principal of Roger Ludlowe Middle School, Schulz is the athletic director of Fairfield Ludlowe High School, Abraham is the adaptive physical education coordinator for Fairfield's special education department, and Bengermino, although officially retired, coached the freshman boys' basketball team at Warde last year.

Dave Schulz, Glenn Mackno, Ed Bengermino, and Mike Abraham (left-to-right) are four names synonymous with the glory days of basketball at Andrew Warde High School. They led the Crimson Eagles to the 1973 FCIAC division championship.

"The common thread between (each of) us is we have a desire to work with children and give back to the school system we went to," Abraham said. "Ironically, we are all working together in the same school system."

And that same school system has come full circle, much like the lives of the former athletes. Fifteen years after Mackno, Schulz, and Abraham graduated from Warde in 1973, their high school and cross-town rival Roger Ludlowe High School combined to form Fairfield High School at the Warde site. Three years ago, though, both schools were reopened, igniting the rivalry once again.

The former teammates say the friendships they formed in high school set a foundation for their interaction today. They still get together for a round of golf from time-to-time, Mackno said.

"We were friends first and teammates second, and that is something that has carried on throughout our lives," said Mackno. "Dave and I went on to be roommates in college." After the two graduated from Southern Connecticut State College, they returned to their roots on the Fairfield basketball courts, although under much different circumstances. The former teammates found themslelves coaching against each other this time.

Schulz coached basketball at Ludlowe beginning in 1978, and Mackno and Abraham coached basketball together at their alma mater, Warde. Abraham was an assistant under Mackno during the final five years of the first two-high school scenario before Warde and Ludlowe combined to form Fairfield High in 1987. At that point, Schulz continued as the head coach.

In the 1980s, Mackno also worked as a volleyball assistant under Bengermino at Warde. Bengermino coached basketball for eight years, baseball for 20, and volleyball for 22 years at Warde/Fairfield High. He says the competitiveness Mackno, Schulz, and Abraham brought to the basketball courts led to their careers as coaches.

"Those three guys exemplified leadership, right from the beginning," said Bengermino, who became Warde's basketball coach in 1970. It was the camaraderie these players had that Schulz said helped the team earn a division crown before their playing days were over.

The next installment will feature the roles all four have today in the new rivalry between Warde and Ludlowe high schools.

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