PRESS ARCHIVE
August 3, 2005
3 Athletes Awarded Lione Scholarship
By Emery Filmer
Staff Writer, The Advocate
2005 Southern CT Newspapers, Inc.
The $7,500 scholarship that comes with winning the honor is wonderful, to say the least. The prestige that accompanies the recognition of being named a Mickey Lione Jr. Scholarship For Youth Excellence award winner is, well, priceless.
Three local student athletes who will be entering their junior year of high school, were recently honored by the Mickey Lione Fund as this year's recipients for the award: Mathew Richichi of Westhill High School, Vincent Cortese of Trinity Catholic and Daniel Zuchelli of Stamford High.
The trio will each receive the full scholarship amount, which was increased from $5,000 to $7,500 this year, Fund Chairman Jerry Lione said.
The money will, of course, be welcomed by each recipient's family. But when they stop and think about the person for whom the award is named - the real meaning of the honor - it becomes even more significant.
Here is the statement each candidate must read carefully before being interviewed by the Fund's selection committee: "The Lione award, given in the name of former Trinity Catholic and youth league coaching legend Mickey Lione Jr., is granted to a sophomore at (Westhill, Trinity Catholic and Stamford) as an acknowledgement of those particular qualities of excellence and leadership displayed by Lione that each have exhibited in their lives. It is also offered as further incentive in their final two years of high school to consistently emulate those values and high standards of leadership."
In other words, in the opinion of the selection committee, these youngsters must personify the characteristics of Lione. Anyone who knew the coaching legend and leader of young men who passed away in 1999 after decades of coaching baseball, hockey and football, can understand the essence of such a comparison.
"I'm speechless," Richichi said. The non-profit organization gives a scholarship award to one student at each of the three Stamford high schools each year. Since the foundation's inception in 2001, 21 students have received the award (three sophomores and three seniors were honored in each of the first two years, then just three sophomores).
In addition to the three individual scholarships that were awarded, the Mickey Lione Jr. Fund also awarded a grant to Babe Ruth Baseball of Stamford. That organization, as well as the Stamford Youth Foundation's Mickey Lione Jr. Middle School Football and Cheerleader Division, the Greater Stamford Tennis Association, the Junior Tennis Outreach Program and the Allyson Rioux Scholarship Fund have also received financial support from the Lione Fund in recent years.
"The Stamford community's generous response to our fund raising efforts has resulted in our being able to increase the (scholarship) amount and, more importantly, assure that these awards will remain available in perpetuity," Jerry Lione said. "We hope to continue to grow the award amount and perhaps in the future increase the number of awards as well."
Here is a look at this year's honorees:
Matthew Richichi, Westhill
Richichi just completed his sophomore year in high school, a bit early to decide his future. He's not ruling out football or baseball, two sports he has played so far during his scholastic career at Westhill, but he can probably eliminate one possibility: Acting. "When I received the letter informing me that (the Lione Fund) had selected me as the winner from Westhill, I was going to try and fool my parents and have them think I didn't win," Richichi said. "But when they came in, I was so happy I could keep a straight face. I just couldn't do it."
OK, so Richichi is a better football and baseball player than actor. He was the Vikings' back-up wide receiver last fall as a sophomore, although he played about as much as now graduated starter Scott Stone. Richichi and Stone alternated by relaying the plays in from the bench. "At first I figured I'd be on junior varsity last season, but then they told me I was going to be second string varsity," Richichi said. "They didn't throw the ball very much to the wide receivers. It was pretty much to the running backs and tight ends most of the time, but I got a lot of time on the field. Next year, with Scott gone, I expect to start."
Richichi is a graduate of the middle school football program, having played at Cloonan Middle School. It has been a series of baby steps for the 16-year-old on the football field, but that may all change this fall. Richichi's baseball career is moving at a slightly slower pace. The third baseman saw a lot of action on the junior varsity team early in the spring. "Right now I'm better in the field than with the bat," he said. "My goal in baseball is to be a big contributor by the time I'm a senior."
For now, he'll concentrate on preparations for football... and bask in the glory of winning the Lione award. "It's such a great honor," he said. "I guess I'm shocked. I was very nervous during the interview and I didn't think I'd get it. I have pretty good grades and I play sports. But I also do a lot of volunteer work with the mentally challenged and for my church. I guess they were looking for someone well-rounded."
Vinny Cortese, Trinity Catholic
Cortese was just 10 when Lione died six years ago at age 59 and never got to meet Lione, But it's hard to attend Trinity Catholic and not get a feel for what Lione meant, both on the playing field and off, to the community. "Unfortunately I have little knowledge about him because I was only 10 when he died, but I can tell what he meant to this school," Cortese said. "What I know for sure is that it is a very prestigious award. It means so much. I beat out a lot of kids, probably more qualified than me. I guess it came from a lot of hard work and dedication."
Hard work and dedication. Those are two ideals Lione practiced and preached for decades. And they're two that have helped make Cortese a potential star at TCHS. Cortese saw time on the varsity football team as a freshman and really came into his own last fal with Crusaders, who finished 1-10. Cortese, who also plays hockey, was named honorable mention All-Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference after his sophomore season as the Crusaders' starting offensive guard and linebacker. Cortese performed well despite the most difficult of circumstances. "It was tough," he said of the team's losing ways. "When you put in a lot of hard work and don't see much success, it's hard. We hit rock bottom, though, so with only four seniors last year and so much youth, we can only get better.
Cortese won't say that football is his favorite sport. "It depends on what season it is," he said. Cortese is looking forward to taking his position on the blue line as one of the Crusaders' top defensemen.
Cortese, who came up through the Stamford Youth Hockey Association, played varsity hockey as both a freshman and a sophomore. Cortese says he is playing in a summer hockey league and is also playing some non-contact football. He is also spending a lot of time in the weight room, preparing for the football season. His long-term goal is to eventually play college football. "There's a lot to look forward to," he said.
Daniel Zuchelli, Stamford
There are multiple factors used in selecting a Lione award recipient. One of those clearly is potential. The Lione committee must have had that in mind when choosing Stamford High's Daniel Zuchelli, whose athletic and professional careers are still relatively in their infancy stage. Zuchelli played varsity lacrosse at Stamford and has yet to experience the thrill of victory as the Knights' went winless in Zuchelli's freshman and sophomore seasons, the second and third years the program existed at the varsity level. Zuchelli also ran cross country where he has yet to break 20 minutes (a cross country race is 5k, or 3.1 miles).
"I decided to give lacrosse a try when I got to Stamford High and I worked pretty hard my freshman year," Zuchelli said. Head coach Jeremy White obviously saw some potential as he named Zuchelli a co-captain as a sophomore last season, something virtually unheard of in scholastic sports. The progress in cross country has come a bit more gradually. "I'm not so great," he said of his current stature on the cross country team. "I've been running just over 20 minutes and my goal is to get under 20. Getting under 20 is pretty good. By next year, I'll get under 20, you'll see."
Zuchelli's determination and aspirations are what may have attracted the Lione committee to him. And aside from sports, he has also set his sights high. "I have aspirations to be a doctor," he said. Zuchelli has spent this summer interning as a volunteer at Southhampton Hospital in Southhampton, N.Y. "I'm serving an internship at a cardiologist's office," Zuchelli said. "My uncle is a doctor and I'd like to be one, too."
Zuchelli was also the sophomore class treasurer and will hold the same position with this year's junior class, all of which made him a rather easy choice for the Lione committee. "I've heard of Mickey Lione and know he was a great man and coach, and I played in the National-Lione Little League (which is named after Mickey Lione, Sr.)," Zuchelli said. "It's a tremendous feeling getting this award. A real honor."
Media Relations
If you want to obtain information for articles or television/radio programming contact:
Tom Chiappetta
The Mickey Lione, Jr. Fund
84 West Park Place 3rd Floor
Stamford, CT 06901
Phone: 203 984-4806
Fax: 203 966-2973Press packets are available. Permission must be secured for all photograph and video use.