Danbury Old Timers Banquet

Cover of Program

September 25, 2025

The Old Timer’s Association of Greater Danbury is an organization that was founded in 1964 by the athletic community of the Danbury area. The purposes of the organization are:

1. To unite and continue the good fellowship that originated in the field of sports and athletic activities in years gone by

2. To further sports and good fellowship

3. To honor worthy old time athletes and those civic-minded individuals who were associated with sports

4. To establish and maintain a scholarship fund. Through this fund the “Association” will provide financial assistance to deserving area students.

I was inducted into their Sports Hall of Fame on September 25, 2025 along with nine other individuals. The awards dinner was held at the Amber Room in Danbury. There were over three hundred people gathered for the dinner and award presentations.

The event was much bigger and more impressive than I had anticipated. I had no idea so many people would be present! It was good to mingle and talk with the other inductees and also to see some old friends. It felt high energy, exciting, and a little overwhelming in a good way.

There was an article in the News-Times with short bios for each person. I’ve copied my bio here.

Tom Schmiedel is a graduate of Immaculate High School. His basketball career started at St. Joseph’s grammar school, where he was a varsity player at the position of guard, helping St. Joe’s to the league championship by defeating St. Mary’s of Ridgefield. Tom also played in the War Memorial Grade School League on Saturday mornings where his team came in first and he named MVP in 1968-69. As a freshman at Immaculate Tom was a junior varsity guard. By 1971-72 Tom was a varsity starting guard and was named All-City Second Team. In his Senior year, the Mustangs finished as runner-up in the Class S state finals, and he was All-City First Team. Tom played Industrial League basketball for several years in the 70’s and 80’s, his teams winning championships during those years. Tom has made secondary, post scholastic athletic careers in bicycling, running, and hiking. He has biked multi-week trips Danbury to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, San Diego to Death Valley, and Danbury to Niagara Falls. His running includes hundreds of 5ks, 10ks, half marathons, and marathons. His last marathon was the NYC Marathon in 3:12:29 in 2008. He also loved running “hills,” winning age group awards several times at the Mount Washington Hill Climb, the Vail Hill Climb, and the Pikes Peak Ascent. His most recent epic hike, just last year, was North Rim to South Rim of Grand Canyon, twenty-four miles, with his brother Rich in under twelve hours. Tom holds master’s degrees in both education (WCSU, 1998) and library science (SCSU, 2006). He retired from Ruth Haas Library at Westconn in 2021.

The program for the night:

6:15-7:30:        Cocktails

7:30:                  Introduction of Mayor Alves, Older Timer’s Board Members, and Inductees.

7:45:                  Dinner

8:30:                  Presentation of Awards

Each of the inductees gave a short speech. Here is a copy of mine:

First, congratulations to all the other honorees here tonight, both the new inductees and those who have come before us. Thank you to Frank Acri and all the other board members for their work on Old Timer’s projects and for putting together tonight’s event.

I did not get here on my own doing. I have had a magical ride supported by numerous people. I’d like to acknowledge and thank several people who have been supportive of me through the various segments of my life.

First my parents, Howard and Joan. They were the simply the best, teaching about life through their words but more importantly through their actions. They demonstrated that commitment and hard work were important characteristics as well as kindness, fairness, and caring about others. They sacrificed their own needs to allow us kids, myself and my four siblings, to do the things we wanted to do, particularly in sports in our school-age years, but much more as we grew older.

Another critical element, in life and in sports, was growing up in Mill Ridge. We moved there in 1959, when I was four years old, and lived there until June 1973, moving to Jefferson Avenue right after my high school graduation. The Mill Ridge group was fun loving while being very competitive and talented. It was a fun time, a strong, competitive environment. There is a long list of characters who participated in in what seemed to be daily activities of baseball (hardball, softball, and wiffle ball), football, and basketball. I will name some of them, though I realize I am forgetting others.

All of these people pushed me to be a better player, a competitor.

• On High Ridge Road, of course my siblings, Bob, Ken, Rich, and Patty.

• Next door neighbors: the Petersons and the Smiths

• Down the street: the Reeds, Bob Van Houten, the Wells’, the Gormans, and the Hutchinsons, and for a time in high school, Larry Harrison.

• From High Ridge Gardens: the Spruills, the Whitfields, and the Curtis’s.

• From the lower Ridge, the Bonnaci’s, Ray Cowan, the Stoops’, two sets of athletic Harts, Dukey and his siblings and Barry and his siblings, the Samahas, and the Keelers.

• We would often meet up on the playing fields of Mill Ridge School, when there was only one building there. There were several grass fields and basketball courts.

I express my thanks to the coaches at St. Joe’s School in Danbury, home of the Purple Knights, where we won the Parochial League Championship against St. Mary’s Ridgefield in 1969: Mr. Hennesy, Mr. Zuma, and Fr. Coleman (who gave me a key to the gym in the summer of 1969 so we could play all day. I would open the gym in the morning, close it in the late afternoon.)

Also, thanks to coaches and administrators at Danbury War Memorial, Marshal Shaker and Ralph DeRubertis in the grammar school years and Tom Clarkson and Rob Reyerson in later years.

I acknowledge and thank the Immaculate Mustang coaches: Paul Hart, Ralph DeRubertis, Bob Suchy with occasional appearances at practices from Bob Gerwein.

Our 1972-1973 season was exciting and had a very surprising last couple of weeks. The Mustangs started the season 4-wins 6 losses, then turned things around going 6-3 to finish at 10-9, qualifying us for the state tournament. We were ranked 20th out of 22 teams.

We won our first four games in the tourney, against higher ranked teams, including a close game against Coventry in the opening round, followed by blowout wins against East Hampton, #3 Tourtellotte, and #2 Portland. We faced #1 St. Thomas Aquinas in the Class S state championship. Though we came up short and lost that game, it was a wonderful season, finishing on a 10-4 run, and I like to think our team paved the way for the 1975-76 Mustangs, who won the school’s first state championship three years later.

That was all over fifty years ago. A good memory. I stopped playing basketball in 1985 more or less, age 30, and immersed myself in running, hiking, and bicycling. These activities have given me an amazing degree of satisfaction. I have found them to be great for physical fitness, perhaps even more so for the mind and spirit. They have been a gateway into opportunities where the spirit soars and the mind finds meaning. I wish that for each of you, wellness in body, mind, and spirit.

Thank you.