Stratford Couple Honored at County Sports Dinner

Jeff and Donna Babineau were recognized for their generosity to the town of Stratford at a dinner Monday in which they were named Stratford's Sports People of the Year.

The Fairfield County Sports Commission hosted the awards dinner, which took place at the Hyatt Regency in Old Greenwich.

After the Babineaus lost their daughter Erin in a tragic bus accident in 2005, the couple made it their life's goal to erect a sports facility in her honor. That facility, the Erin Babineau Memorial Gym, will open on Oct. 22.

to read more about Erin's Gym and the vision behind it.

The full story from last night's dinner follows:

The point guard generally regarded as Fairfield University’s greatest player and a woman who became one of the nation's outstanding distance runners at Greenwich High School were inducted into the Fairfield County Sports Commission Hall of Fame Monday night at the group’s seventh annual dinner held at the Hyatt Regency. An estimated 500 were in attendance.

, a 6-foot-2 guard who sparked the Stags to a 22-5 season in 1977-78, one National Invitation Tournament bid and back-to-back appearances in the Eastern College Athletic Conference New England Tournament, was inducted into the James O’Rourke Amateur Wing. He was joined by , formerly of Greenwich, who went on to win the NCAA 3,000 meters as a Stanford University freshman and was a two-time collegiate All-American in cross country. She's still running at the master's level.

Inducted into the FCSC’s Jackie Robinson Professional Wing were , the Stamford-born NBA referee who has officiated in more than 1,650 regular-season games and 25 NBA finals, and Bridgeport native John Bagley, who fashioned an 11-season NBA career as a point guard with the Cleveland Cavaliers, New Jersey Nets and Boston Celtics. Bagley was unable to attend the dinner.

Two renowned coaches were inducted into the J. Walter Kennedy Community Service Wing, Charlie Bentley, who guided Warren Harding High to nine state basketball championships, and the late , who was a national soccer coach of the year at Staples High School of Westport. Bentley announced his retirement this year.

A moment of silence was observed prior to the dinner for , the former Sacred Heart University basketball player, who died in Romania last week following an incident in a bar, and , Trumbull High's retired football and baseball coach, who died on Oct. 12 at age 76.

Also recognized at the dinner were the county’s Sports People of the Year. They were, by community:

Bridgeport – University of Bridgeport women’s gymnastics team; USAG national champions

Darien – , Darien High’s national field hockey coach of year

Easton – , world-ranked professional tennis player

Fairfield – , Fairfield Prep state champion cross country runner

Greenwich – UConn baseball star and son of former major leaguer Lee Mazzilli

Monroe – , Masuk High’s recently retired girls’ basketball coach

New Canaan – , Connecticut’s state swimmer of the year

Norwalk – , New England Babe Ruth Baseball Tournament organizers

Shelton – Shelton High girls soccer team

Stamford – , USA Hockey U18 world champion gold medal winner

Trumbull – , world champion archer

Weston – , sports community leader, soccer organizer

Westport – Staples High’s boys , Class LL state runners-up

Wilton – , Wilton High’s all-time leading scorer in lacrosse