Fairfield Citizen-News Asks: Why Is It So Cold and Windy at Warde High School?

The following article was written by Fairfield Citizen-News sports editor Pat Pickens and published today. Tony Procaccini and Paul Piorek, from the AWHS Class of 1976, contributed to the article along with former coaches Ed Bengermino and John Honey.

Sitting in Kiwanis Field's press box in mid-April as one of the most beautiful days of the spring at the time passed, I was freezing.

The wind was blowing in off of the Sound, and it made the 60-plus-degree day feel like about 40. Sitting with me was Ludlowe's public address announcer Art, who said: "The two coldest places in town, here and Warde's baseball field."

I had been to Warde only once at the time, on a similar day earlier in the week, and wondered, "How can on a day this nice, with no water around, can it be this cold?"

The parents, fans and family members of Warde feel the same way. Every time there is a baseball game at Warde, parents come prepared with blankets and coats. They constantly ask each other "why is it so cold here" or "it is a beautiful day everywhere else, and it's freezing here." Even the Ludlowe parents can attest that there is something different about the weather at Warde.

"It's really cold," Warde athletic director Chris Manfredonia said. "It is windy and cold, I think it is from the wind that blows off of the Sound."

Even softball games are cold. The trees that cover the right side of the infield cause a sun-covering effect. But the real question is why?

Needless to say, a professional was needed to answer a question like this. Enter News Channel 12 weather anchor Paul Piorek, who is both a meteorologist and a 1976 graduate of Andrew Warde High School and Fairfield resident.

"Warde high school is one of the highest elevated places in Fairfield," Piorek said. "The higher up one goes, the thinner the air gets. Also the higher up one goes, the windier it gets.

"That's why on the calmest days on Route 1 or on Black Rock Turnpike, at Warde it will always be windier and colder there."

Warde is 177 feet above sea level and only the Catamount area in northwest Fairfield is higher than the school at the corner of Melville Avenue and Knapps Highway.

"The property was donated in the 1950s and it was one of the highest elevated places in town," Piorek said. "It's been cold since the school opened, and has always affected outdoor sporting events."

Ahh yes, those outdoor sporting events that have been impacted over the years. This simple reporter has only been cold, and (one time) drenched by the wind and elements over at Warde, but what about those who have been attending, competing in, and working games for years over at Warde?

"The wind impacted us by blowing the infield dirt into the air and causing batted balls to go either farther or for less distance, depending on the direction of the wind," Former Warde baseball player and 1976 graduate Tony Procaccini said. "That also made it hard for outfielders to position themselves. I should know; I was one of them.

"I could blame the wind for my four-base error against Stamford, but I won't."

Former baseball coach Ed Bengermino would know about the weather and wind at Warde. He was the varsity baseball and volleyball coach for a number of years.

"The springtime is the worst," Bengermino said. "When you're coaching on that field, you have to get your players ready to play, and it is cold and windy, and I had hats and coats on and the guys are looking at me like 'what are you doing?'

"A lot of times I would start things out by saying 'in Boca, Raton, Fla., it's 85 degrees and the guys are playing their 35th game right now.'"

Bengermino also has memories of games and practices of past players. "One time we were out on the field practicing and it was cold, so we go outside and it started snowing and sleeting," Bengermino recalled. "I called them all over at the end and I congratulated them and said 'good work' and I pointed out a kid named Charlie Field, who was our first baseman, and I said, 'Look at Charlie, he's got a smile on his face' and Charlie said 'that's because it is frozen.'"

Bengermino also heard of a way to control the whipping winds around the fields, which never came to fruition. "Originally when they built the high school someone told me that they wanted to have a line of trees down the third base line of our baseball field," Bengermino said. "It got cut out of the budget, I guess.

"Those trees would've made my career a lot easier and a lot longer."

Former Fairfield High boys' tennis coach and current Ludlowe boys' tennis coach John Honey knows a thing or two about the winds over at Warde too. Honey was the coach at Fairfield High before the Blake courts were built, and had a way of dealing with the winds at the Knapps Courts.

"I never put my winter coat away until May 1," Honey said.

"The wind was horrific," Honey continued. "They put up wind screens and the wind blew them down. Every year during tryouts I would ask myself if I really wanted to be the tennis coach."

Honey also has stories of the Warde elements affecting players, and teams, especially in the tryout stages. "Tryouts were the worst. Kids would throw up lobs and the ball would fly back in their face," Honey said. "Then in the early matches, if you were playing with the wind, the ball would go long, and if you were against the wind, it was like a drop shot."

So fans and parents of Warde, take solace in the fact that we now have an answer of why it is colder at Warde than anywhere else in town or in the county. Bengermino also had an idea to protect the baseball team of the frigid temperature.

"It is colder and windier there, more so than any other field in the county," he said. "It's the only field that doesn't have dugouts either."

So bundle up next time you are around Warde. With the elevation and the lack of trees and the wind blowing off the water, it'll make for a fun, but cold and blustery time.

Please sign the AWHS Guest Book.

Visit the Andrew Warde High School Gift Shop.

Watch the AWHS 1976 vintage "film".