The Wesleyan Connection

Norm Daniels, who coached five sports in almost 40 years at Wesleyan, died May 11 at the age of 102.

He coached baseball, football, basketball, wrestling and squash.

Norm Daniels coached Wesleyan baseball for 33 seasons.

Daniels, born March 25, 1907 in Detroit, Mich., came to Wesleyan as an instructor in physical education in 1934 and retired in 1973.

He spent 33 years coaching baseball, and 19 years coaching football, which included a 25-game winning streak from 1945-1948.

The Hillsdale, Mich. native graduated in 1932 from the University of Michigan, where he played football, basketball and baseball. He also earned a master’s degree at Michigan in 1941.

Among all individuals who coached at Wesleyan, Daniels ranks third in his tenure at the university, behind only Hugh McCurdy who served for 46 years, and Fritz Martin who coached for 43 years.

While at Wesleyan, Daniels was consistently active in the local community as a part of numerous organizations, committees and associations around Middletown including a three-year term on the Middletown City Council. He remained in Middletown after his retirement.

Wesleyan celebrated Daniels’ 100th birthday April 5, 2007, in the Freeman Athletic Center. It was attended by current and emeritus faculty, and current and past staff, past players, and representatives from the City of Middletown.

Barbara-Jan Wilson, vice president for University Relations, holds up a banner declaring the space "Coach Norm Daniels Lobby" during Daniels's 100th birthday celebration.

At the ceremony, Barbara-Jan Wilson, vice president for University Relations  announced that the Freeman’s lobby would be named “Coach Norm Daniels Lobby of the Freeman Athletic Center.” After a proclamation by the Mayor of Middletown Sebastian Giuliano designating April 6, 2007 as Norm Daniels Day in Middletown, the lobby sign was unveiled and then many members of the audience reflected on their fondest remembrances of Daniels.

Daniels was a member of the Spring 2008 class of the Wesleyan Athletics Hall of Fame.

Coach Jodi McKenna.

Jodi McKenna, head women’s ice hockey coach, was selected to be an assistant coach for the 2009 U.S. Women’s National Hockey Team. The team will defend its world title at the 2009 International Ice Hockey Federation World Women’s Championship from April 4-12, in Hameenlinna, Finland.

McKenna’s preliminary roster includes four goaltenders, 10 defensemen and 18 forwards, and will be trimmed by 11 players prior to Team USA’s March 30 departure for Finland.

Highlighting the roster are 24 players who have competed in previous IIHF World Women’s Championships, including 23 who have been on gold medal-winning squads, either in 2005 or 2008. Nineteen of the 20 members of the world champion 2008 U.S. Women’s National Team are in contention for roster spots on this year’s entry into the tournament.

Wesleyan sports fans can view play-by-play action of their favorite events through Wesscores, a new service hosted on Twitter.

Twitter is a popular social networking and “microblogging” service used to communicate timely information as well as exchange quick, frequent messages with others. The short Twitter messages, referred to as the “tweets,” can be viewed on a web browser or cell phone as text messages.

The Athletics Department at Wesleyan has created a Twitter account called wescores to send updated sports information and is inviting all the Cardinals fans to follow this account on twitter by visiting the URL http://twitter.com/wescores and clicking on the follow button.

“This is a great way to quickly circulate sports scores to sports fans who cannot be at the game live, or are not near a computer,” says Brian Katten, Wesleyan’s sports information director.

The service debuted for the men’s lacrosse (more…)

Four Wesleyan student-athletes visited the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation during Spring Break. (Photo courtesy of ESYHF)

Four Wesleyan athletes traveled to Philadelphia in early March to spend the first weekend of their spring break speaking to underprivileged girls about the importance of staying in school and pursuing higher education.

The event was organized through the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation (ESYHF), a non-profit organization founded by Ed Snider, owner of the Philadelphia Flyers, to use the sport of hockey to educate young people on how to succeed in the game of life.

ESYHF provides after-school hockey, life skills, and educational programming at no cost to the most disadvantaged communities in the Greater Philadelphia Region. (more…)

Men’s lacrosse posted a huge win in its home opener March 14, downing NESCAC rival and national powerhouse Middlebury, 8-7. Middlebury came into the game ranked 4th in the country. Wesleyan was 17th.

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Rich Langer, store assistant at the Cardinal Technology Center, will be inducted into the Regional School District 17 (Haddam and Killingworth, Conn.) Hall of Fame 2009 May 30. The Hall of Fame was formed to honor the contributions made by coaches, former student athletes and others to the various athletic programs offered as a part of the Regional School District 17 schools. The Hall of Fame Class of 2009 will recognize the Langer’s volleyball coaching career.

Ali Fourney '09

Ali Fourney ’09 has become the all-time leading scorer for Wesleyan women’s basketball.

The 18 points Founey scored 18 during a 66-55 loss at Emmanuel College in Boston, Mass. on Feb. 4. gave her a career total of 1,424 points, the most in Wesleyan’s program history. She surpassed the previous career points scoring record of 1,416 held by Angie Palmer ‘95.

Fourney, and Wesleyan Women’s Basketball still have two more regular season games before the NESCAC tournament begins Feb. 21.

For more information click here.

Lisa Drennan '09 (by SteveMcLaughlinPhotography.com)

In 2008, Lisa Drennan ’09 accomplished something never done by any Wesleyan athlete: she became a two-time New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Player of the Year. She was also named a second-team All-American by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA). She was the only player from a New England College to be named to any of AVCA’s three All-America teams.

“This season was by far Lisa’s best,” says 24-year Wesleyan head coach Gale Lackey. “Repeating as NESCAC Player of the Year is no surprise. (more…)

Tim Archibald '10

Tim Archibald ’10, goalie for the men’s hockey team, had 34 saves in a 1-0 win that was also the first-ever shutout of the Amherst in 81 all-time meetings between the two schools. The game was played at Wesleyan on Nov. 22. Dallas Bossort’s ‘09 scored the game’s only goal.

The game is online at:  1st Period – 2nd Period – 3rd Period.

Ali Fourney '09

Kevin Scura '09

Women’s Basketball player Ali Fourney ‘09 was named to the all-tournament team at the 11th Annual Swarthmore Tip-Off Tournament Nov. 23-23. Over the two games, she averaged 17 points and 5.3 rebounds while adding seven assists, three blocks and 11 steals.

Kevin Scura ‘09 was named to the all-tournament team at the Gordon College Tip-Off Tournament Nov. 21-22. He contributed 22 points during the two contests.