Greenwich High School will induct seven athletes, coaches and administrators into its Athletic Hall of Fame on Friday, Oct. 23, ending a three-year gap for the program.
The ceremony takes place at halftime of the Cardinals' football game against rival New Canaan, with a 7 p.m. kickoff at Cardinal Stadium. A free pregame social begins at 5:30 p.m. in the GHS Performing Arts Center Galleria, according to a district announcement.
The 2026 class spans generations of Cardinal athletics:
- Mike Brown '76 — three-sport athlete in soccer, basketball and baseball
- Joe Cabrera '77 — football and track and field
- Charles Dattola (posthumous) — longtime director of health, physical education and athletics
- Peter McDevitt (posthumous) — coach of boys soccer, boys swimming and boys track and field
- Carolyn Pagnano — coach of field hockey and girls basketball
- Dave Rice — football and boys basketball coach
- Douglas Springer '64 — boys swimming
Two of the seven honorees will be recognized posthumously. Dattola, who oversaw GHS athletics as director, was inducted into the FCIAC Hall of Fame in 1998. McDevitt grew up in Greenwich, graduated from GHS and returned to coach soccer, swimming and track. His soccer and swimming teams both won state championships, and he started the first wrestling program at a Connecticut public high school, according to a UConn Athletics tribute published Aug. 3, 2021, after his death.
McDevitt later spent 21 seasons as UConn's head swimming coach and launched the first women's collegiate swimming program in the eastern United States in 1974. UConn head swimming coach Chris Maiello said Aug. 3, 2021, that McDevitt "was an educator, coach, mentor and American hero who served his country proudly."
McDevitt was a decorated Marine. He earned two Purple Hearts during the Korean War.
Rice coached football and basketball at GHS before moving to the college ranks. He led Western Connecticut State from 1972 to 1974 and Fordham from 1975 to 1978, winning the Metropolitan Intercollegiate Conference championship in 1977, according to his biographical entry.
The district did not explain the three-year gap. Current student-athletes and coaches will participate in the Oct. 23 celebration, and the district said additional details about the inductees' accomplishments will be released in the coming weeks.
The ceremony falls on a big night for GHS football. The Cardinals enter the season 3-0, having outscored opponents 94-7 through wins over Bridgeport Central (42-0), New Britain (35-7) and Warde (17-0), according to MaxPreps. Next up: New Canaan at Cardinal Stadium on Oct. 23 at 7 p.m.
