Hoops in Connecticut:: The Nutmeg State's Passion for Basketball (Sports)

Hoops in Connecticut:: The Nutmeg State's Passion for Basketball (Sports)

Home to both the University of Connecticut's men's and women's NCAA championship teams as well as the Connecticut Sun WNBA team, this small state has made a name for itself in basketball. Infatuation with the sport started here in 1896 with the first intercollegiate game between Yale and Wesleyan Universities. The roster of Connecticut's round ball greats includes Naismith Hall-of-Famer Calvin Murphy; NBA stars Vin Baker, Marcus Camby, Charles Smith, the late John Williamson, Johnny Egan and John Bagley; and Harlem Globetrotter Alvin Clinkscales. Award-winning sportswriter Don Harrison wows fans with stories of the Nutmeg State's most notable players and coaches through personal interviews and firsthand accounts. Don Harrison has covered basketball for the Waterbury Republican, Waterbury American and New Haven Journal-Courier. During his tenure in Waterbury, he won two "Connecticut Sportswriter of the Year" awards from the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. His cover story for the Fairfield County Advocate, "The Devil Drives," was cited in The Best American Sportswriting 1993. Away from the sports arena, Don was the founding editor of the Greenwich Citizen, a weekly newspaper that garnered several awards-- including one for General Excellence--from the New England Press Association and the Connecticut Press Club. He is a contributing columnist to two news websites, Fairfield Patch and Naugatuck Patch. Don and his wife, Patti, reside in Fairfield, Connecticut.