courtesy photo
Among those who received the Mona Garone Outstanding Sportsmanship Award at the Senior All-Star game were (left to right) Steve Cicio (official), Randy Lumsden, Xavier Hill, Caitlyn Davison, Tessa Luther and Aaron Hill representing Hazen Union, and Glenn Sjoblom, John Diebold and Mike Orton (officials).
WINDSOR – The old adage, “It takes a village,” couldn’t ring any more true, with Hazen Union’s basketball programs receiving the Mona Garone Outstanding Sportsmanship Award from Vermont Basketball Referees at the VBCA Senior All-Star games over the weekend.
For those who may not know the name Mona Garone, she is the coaching standard for Vermont girls’ high school basketball. She won over 500 games in her 36 years at Bradford Academy and Oxbow, winning 10 state titles. She took her teams to 31 Final Fours and 18 state title games, with one of her eight state runner-ups coming to Jan Howard and Jean Hacket’s 1975 state champion Lady Cats. She posted five undefeated seasons and holds the state record with 74 consecutive wins. She is a member of the Hall of Fame with the VPA, VBCA, New England Basketball, and Lyndon State Athletics.
Hazen’s receiving this award doesn’t mean their programs are without flaws, but it shows the leadership in place in both their sports programs and community. Two years ago, the Hazen boys’ soccer team was on administrative probation for physical play that led the entire state in red cards received. They had to forfeit a game during that stretch because there wasn’t a designated school administrator available to supervise their match. Fast forward to this past fall where head coach Allison Paradee and her program were among the cleanest programs in the state in red and yellow cards received.
Hazen’s basketball, baseball, and track and field teams are also under tremendous leadership. That sportsmanship also translates to a Hazen fan base that not only supports home events but travels statewide to support their programs.
I’m focusing more on the leadership and community over the kids because this article can’t be written without mentioning the past three seasons that the Hazen boys’ basketball team matched up against Winooski at the Barre Auditorium. All three games were physical, intense, and maybe even chippie at times. Those things happen in competition at times, but how you handle them is important. Winooski’s players, and more importantly coaches, chose to not shake hands at the end of those three games. Hazen players also had to be escorted to their buses for safety reasons after one of those games and Winooski requested to the VPA to play in a fanless Barre Auditorium in this past season’s semifinal match-up. I state all this because it is too easy to blame the Winooski kids for the things that fans see during those games that might push the boundaries of sportsmanship. Their head coach is also the athletic director at Winooski and his programs and the coaches and kids in those programs are learning under his model. It is a model, unfortunately, that won’t win a Mona Garone Sportsmanship Award anytime soon. That model is the problem, not the kids.
Back to Hazen’s achievement and how it truly does take a village, look no further than the coaching staff of the Division III champion Lady Cats this past winter. Head coach Randy Lumsden is a former champion of current A.D. Aaron Hill’s varsity boys’ program and now leads his own championship program where his daughter Mya was a starter as a freshman. His assistant coaches are Alison Blaney, Sue Rivard, and Dorothy Hill. Blaney coaches a Lady Cat junior varsity program that went undefeated last season and that same group won it all with class this past season. Sue Rivard is still the all-time leading scorer at North Country and her son Tyler graduated last spring as the greatest three sport athlete in school history. Her daughter Kelsie raised a trophy alongside her teammate Mya after a historic freshman season. Dorothy Hill graduated from Cabot as their all-time leading scorer 25 years ago and her son Xavier will graduate as a Wildcat champion in the spring as one of the best basketball and soccer players in the state. Not to mention the countless community members who are involved in Hazen Union, middle school, and youth athletics year around.
The student athletes at Hazen Union should be proud of receiving the Mona Garone Outstanding Sportsmanship Award this year, but be even prouder of the coaches, leaders, and community they represent with this award.
