2012

Peter J. Balestracci, Class of 1923

Peter Balestracci was Stonington High School’s first four-letter-man, earning 15 letters in football, basketball, track, and baseball during his career at SHS. As a senior, he was captain of the baseball team and earned All-Conference recognition.

He was very active in local athletics, playing basketball for the Westerly Shamrocks, managing the Mystic Red Wings baseball team, was a founder of the Mystic Little League, and formed the Mystic Junior League (later the Mystic Babe Ruth League). He was president of the league for many years, and also started the Mystic Softball League. In 1936 and 1937, he served as Athletic Equipment Chairman, raising money to support SHS athletic programs and facilities.

He was very involved in politics at the local, regional, and state levels. He served as the chairman of the Democratic Town Committee for many years.

Richard S. Dimock, Class of 1928

Richard Dimock participated in football, basketball, and track at SHS. He earned All-Conference and All-Area recognition in football as a senior, when the Bears won the Eastern Connecticut-Western Rhode Island championship, and he earned All-Conference honors in basketball as a senior. He helped the Bears to conference championships in track in 1927 and 1928. He earned All-Conference honors in three events in track as a senior, and won the discus at the 1928 Rhode Island Class B meet, with the Bears winning the Class B title.

He played football, basketball, and track at Rhode Island State College (URI), serving as captain of the track team in his senior year. He graduated in 1933 with a degree in mechanical engineering and spent his career at Electric Boat, where he played football for the Electric Boat Diesels.

He was a member of the Stonington Board of Education, and was a member of the Stonington High School building committee for the new high school built in 1957.

Charles “Zeke” Palmer, Class of 1942

Zeke Palmer participated in football, basketball, and track at Stonington High School. He contributed to Eastern Connecticut Conference championships in football in 1938 and 1939, and the Bears were also recognized as the Class B State Champions in 1939. As a senior member of the football team, he earned All-Eastern Connecticut Conference and third-team All-State honors. He was also a member of the 1942 Class B champion track team.

After graduating from SHS, he attended Green Mountain Junior College, and then joined the United States Marine Corps. After World War II, he accepted a football scholarship to the University of Georgia. He was a teacher and the head football coach at Brunswick (GA) High School, then returned to Connecticut, teaching and coaching first at Rockville High, then at Plainville High, where he eventually became head football coach and athletic director. He is also a member of the Plainville High School Hall of Fame.

Andrew Dreher, Class of 1979

Andy Dreher participated in soccer, basketball, and baseball at SHS, serving as captain of all three sports in his senior year. A three-year starter for the soccer team, he earned All-Eastern Connecticut Conference honors as a junior and senior. A two-year starter in basketball, he led the Bears in rebounding as a junior and senior. A three-year starter for the baseball team, he earned All-ECC honors as a senior while leading the team in batting average, home runs, doubles, and runs batted in, and was voted to the Connecticut High School Coaches All-Star Baseball Team.

He earned a degree in Managerial Economics from Union College, where he was a four-year starter in both soccer and baseball, and served as captain of both teams in his senior year. As a member of the soccer team, he was named Outstanding Freshman in 1980, ECAC Championship Team MVP in 1981, and All-New York State in 1981, 1982, and 1983. As a member of the baseball team, he led the team in runs batted in and home runs in 1982 and 1983, and was named Team MVP and earned All-Region honors in 1983. He also played in various amateur baseball and soccer leagues in Connecticut and Pennsylvania. He is Senior Vice-President of the George C. Moore Company of Westerly, Rhode Island.

Bernadette Macca, Class of 1991

Bernadette Macca participated in tennis, basketball, and softball at Stonington High School, earning All-ECC honors in each sport twice and serving as captain of each team in her senior year. She was a member of ECC champion tennis teams in 1988 and 1989, and the Bears were also Fall State Champions in 1989. She also contributed to ECC basketball championships in 1989 and 1990.

She is a graduate of Connecticut College, where she scored over 1000 points in her career and ranks third all-time in scoring for the basketball team, and was a Regional All-American goalkeeper in lacrosse.

Currently the head coach of the Mitchell College women’s basketball and tennis teams, she previously served as softball coach and as Sports Information Director at Mitchell. She has extensive coaching experience at the college level: she was assistant basketball coach at Bloomsburg University; she was a graduate assistant for basketball and softball at Elmira College and later coached field hockey and lacrosse there; she started the softball program at Wells College; and she was head lacrosse coach at Utica College. She earned North Eastern Athletic Conference Coach of the Year honors while at Wells, Empire 8 Conference Coach of the Year honors twice while at Elmira, and was named the New England Collegiate Conference Coach of the Year as Mitchell basketball coach in 2011.

Mark A. deCastro, Class of 1995

Mark deCastro participated in soccer and baseball at SHS.

A four-year varsity performer in soccer, the Bears won three ECC championships during his career, and were Class M state champions in 1993 and finalists in 1994. He earned All-ECC honors as a sophomore and senior, and as a senior was also named All-State, All-New England, and All-American. A three-year varsity performer in baseball, he earned All-Eastern Connecticut Conference honors as a senior.

He was a four-year starter for the University of Vermont soccer team, leading the team in goals in his sophomore year.

Michael Mellow, Class of 2001

Michael Mellow participated in football, basketball, and baseball at SHS, and was a member of the National Honor Society.

A four-year varsity performer in football, he was team captain as a senior, and earned All-ECC and All-State honors as both a junior and senior. He also captained the basketball team in his senior year, when he earned All-ECC honors and was MVP of the Westerly Credit Union Holiday Tournament.

He accepted a football scholarship to the University of Maine, where he was a kicker and punter for four years and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology. He held ten school records when he graduated and was ranked fifth in the nation in punting as a senior. He was a two-time Maine Special Teams Player of the Year, and as a senior was named All-Atlantic 10 Conference and New England Football Writers All-New England Team as a punter. He graduated with a degree in Biology and is employed at Amgen, Inc.

Fran McSweeny, Coach

Fran McSweeny coached varsity boys’ soccer and girls’ softball, and also coached junior varsity baseball and boys soccer during his coaching career. In 13 seasons of soccer, his teams won four Eastern Connecticut Conference titles and were the Connecticut Class M runner-up in 1988. In nine seasons of softball, his teams won the ECC title in 1994 and won the Connecticut Class M championship in 1995, and also finished as runner-up three times. In 1998, the Eastern Connecticut Board of Approved ASA Softball Umpires presented the softball team with the Good Sportsmanship Award.

He was also a Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference softball umpire for many years, and he has taught mathematics at Stonington High School for over thirty years.