The Legacy of Cheshire Academy Athletics

1962 Program cover for a football game, Cheshire Academy vs. Brewster Academy. Artist: Joe Little.

Take a stroll around the Arthur Sheriff Field House and you will see walls that showcase an athletic program rich with history and success.

A photo from the early 20th century of students boxing and wrestling hangs next to the gymnasium doors. Near the end of the hallway is the framed U.S. Army All-American Bowl jersey of Tarik Black ’17, who is now a wide receiver at the University of Michigan. Across the hall, through the gymnasium doors, banners line the walls. They honor Cheshire Academy championships and milestones from a wide range of sports: basketball, baseball, softball, skiing, track, tennis, and more.

These walls tell great Cheshire Academy stories; stories like that of the 1964 undefeated Cats football team. That year a dominant defense led the Cats to a 6-0-1 mark, which included wins over Harvard and UConn freshmen. Another section of the wall is dedicated to members of the Kevin Slaughter Memorial Hall of Fame which displays many of the female and male student-athletes who starred for the Cats and went on to make their mark in college, coaching, or professionally.

1901 Football Team

Roxbury Weight Room early 1920s

Known in its early years as the Episcopal Academy of Connecticut, Cheshire Academy students began playing baseball as early as the 1860s. In an earlier edition of the 1794 magazine, it was reported that in 1865 “students from the Episcopal Academy of Connecticut traveled about 10 miles south to play a ‘match game’ of baseball at Hamden Park in June.”

Football at Cheshire Academy dates to at least the late 19th century. There is a photo in the Cheshire Academy archives of the school’s football team from 1880. In 1912, the year of the school’s first yearbook, Cheshire Academy had three sports: baseball, basketball, and football. Each had winning records.

“Garrison, pitcher, showed brilliant form throughout the season pitching wonderful ball and pulling his team out of many tight places,” according to the 1912 yearbook’s Baseball Review. “Not once was the visiting team able to solve his delivery.”

Athletics grew gradually, adding track, tennis, and hockey. The hockey team used to flood the tennis courts with the hopes it would freeze and give them a place to practice. The school had its first swim team in 1927. For many years, Cheshire Academy played against college freshmen teams and public high schools. The Cats were the only prep school in 1927 to play the Penn, Brown and Yale freshmen football teams in the same season.

Cheshire Academy athletics had its share of highs and lows early in its history. While there were some disappointing seasons, the track program had many dominant teams in the 1920s, including an undefeated campaign in 1927 highlighted by a Yale Interscholastic meet title. Fencing fared well in the 1940s, while golf had success in the 1950s.

An influx of South American students bolstered the boys’ soccer team in 1947 and helped lead the Cats to an 8-1 mark, one of the school’s best records during that era. Wrestling was on the rise in the early 1960s, and the school’s sailing team captured the NEPSSA title in 1961.

“Sports have always been a big part of the school,” said Hank Cashen ’57, a member of the first Kevin Slaughter Memorial Hall of Fame class in 1987. “It was a lot of fun. There was a strong emphasis on sports and a strong following from the student body.”

Cashen played football and baseball for Cheshire Academy before going on to play football at Brown. He said he was the only nonpostgraduate on the Varsity A team his senior year. He starred at halfback for the Cats. He remembers playing on a beautiful grass field that was manicured and well-kept and recalls a game against the West Point Plebes. The Cats had a talented but small roster – just 19 players. He remembers looking over to the West Point sideline which had close to 100 players. Cheshire Academy hung with the opponent for the first half, but a lack of depth took a toll down the stretch, and the Cats eventually lost.

1976 Softball Team

Soccer Team early 1920s

Cashen also remembers his father telling him old Cheshire Academy football stories. His father, Raymond Cashen, attended the school from 1921-1923 and played football for American History teacher and football coach Mr. Grove. His father said the team was very strong and had several players go on to big-time programs.

Stewart Lindsay, an All-American lacrosse player at Syracuse, came to Cheshire Academy and founded the lacrosse team in 1962. He coached the Cats for seven seasons and built a solid foundation for the program. Bevan Dupre ’69 was instrumental in the growth of the program, both as a player and a coach. He was on the Cats coaching staff as an assistant and head coach for 40 years. Under his leadership, Cheshire Academy won a WNEPSLA Division III title in 1996.

Basketball games and wrestling matches enjoyed an exciting atmosphere inside what was called the “Gymnasium,” which is now the Gideon Welles Dining Commons. Students packed the second-floor observation deck to cheer on the Cats. The field house opened in 1966 and hosted its first basketball game on Jan. 15 that year. The basketball team went on to win the league title. Also that same year, the baseball team won its first of three straight Inter-Ac League championships, and the tennis team polished off an undefeated season.

Cheshire Academy welcomed back female students in 1969 and fielded a softball team. The program recorded its first victory that season, a 17-5 win over Foote. Cheerleading began the following year, and girls’ basketball was added in 1972. It wasn’t very organized,” said Jennifer Gates Goldman ’72, a member of the first softball team. “We didn’t have uniforms. Parents were coaches. But we had fun. Most of us joined the team to get out of gym. No one wanted to go to gym because you had to go back to class with wet hair after a shower.”

Nare Diawara ’03

1991 Basketball team.

Female sports grew steadily. Softball increased its schedule, and by 1980 the school had field hockey, tennis, and volleyball for girls. Volleyball was a league power throughout the 1980s. That included a perfect 12-0 campaign in 1988. Girls’ basketball had some strong teams later led by Nare Diawara ’03, who went on to play in the WNBA and was inducted into the Slaughter Hall of Fame in 2018. The best season came in 2005 when Johannah Leedham ’06 led the Cats to a 27-0 mark and a NEPSAC Class C title, the first New England championship for girls’ basketball. Leedham went on to become the Division II women’s basketball all-time leading scorer at Franklin Pierce, was drafted by the Connecticut Sun and played for Great Britain in the 2012 Olympics.

Boys’ basketball was the school’s signature sport from the late 1980s and through the 1990s. The talented trio of Jamal Faulkner ‘90, Lee Green ‘90, and JoJo Outlaw ’91 led the Cats to the 1990 NEPSAC Class B title and solidified Cheshire Academy as a regional prep power on the hardwood. The Cats made the jump to NEPSAC Class A the next season, which was the highest level of New England prep school basketball at the time. The Cats went on to reach the tournament semifinals three times in the 1990s and produced several Division I players.

“You had big-time coaches like Roy Williams, Jim Boeheim and Jim Calhoun walking into the gym,” said Bill Casson, former Cheshire Academy athletic director, and basketball coach. “That was a big thrill. The field house was rocking. People from local towns came. It was a great run.”

Casson also helped revive football at Cheshire Academy. The school brought back the sport in 1995 after a 16-year hiatus. After struggling early on, the Cats began to flourish and evoked memories of the great teams from the program’s early years. Cheshire Academy saw its gridiron rise in the 2000s under Brett Torrey, who served as athletic director for over a decade, and head coach Dan O’Dea. O’Dea is now an assistant coach at Dartmouth. He led the Cats to multiple league titles and produced players like Cody Keith ’11, who broke several state passing records, and Malik Golden ’12, now a safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

‘ATHLETICS HAVE NEVER BEEN STRONGER’

Cheshire Academy athletics have made real strides in recent years.

Cats football has established itself as a perennial regional power, producing 63 college football players since 2012. The list includes schools like Michigan, Alabama, Boston College and Harvard. All girls’ varsity sports have moved up a class in NEPSAC competition over the last four years, and field hockey grew from a club to varsity sport. Of the students who receive their diploma at commencement and are honored at the postgraduate ceremony, about 30 percent of all graduates in recent years have gone on to play college sports.

“Athletics here have never been stronger,” Associate Head of School and head football coach David Dykeman said.

Team schedules across the board have grown larger with tougher competition. For example, in boys’ soccer this past fall, the Cats played nationally ranked programs and nine teams that reached the NEPSAC playoffs in 2017. Furthermore, girls’ basketball has seen an 11-game increase in its schedule over a four-year span.

2017 Volleyball Team.

Alexis Holmes ’18

Along the way, there have been plenty of successes for all sports at Cheshire Academy. The Cats have won 10 NEPSAC titles over the last four years. Female sports have seen real progress. Led by All-American Mia Leko ’18, now at Dartmouth, last year’s swimming team rewrote the Cheshire Academy record books shattering several school marks. Girls’ tennis has reached the NEPSAC tournament three times in five years under Banach, and girls’ lacrosse is playing in a league for the first time. Alexis Holmes ’18 became the school’s first student-athlete to earn a Gatorade Player of the Year honor and the first female to run track at the Division I level. Holmes is now at Penn State.

“Those who wish to play at a higher level in college have enough exposure and opportunity to play at a high level in high school to prepare them for the college game,” said Ed Banach, athletic director, and head boys’ soccer and girls tennis coach.

Dykeman and Banach have continued to strengthen Cheshire Academy’s athletics. The baseball program has developed into a hardball hotbed generating close to 30 college baseball players and 56-5 mark over the last three years. Thomas Craley ’21 is a nationally ranked fencer, while Casey Kania ’20 is among the top-ranked boys’ tennis players in New England. Cats softball has won four WNEPSA titles in the last six years and Aliya Catanzarita ’19 will be the school’s first student-athlete to play Division I softball. Catanzarita is headed to Hofstra. The volleyball program won its first-ever NEPSAC Class B championship last year.

THE FUTURE

Dykeman noted that while Cheshire Academy’s top fundraising priority is building a Community Fine and Performing Arts Center, the school’s athletic facilities need to improve as well.

The school opened The Simosa Athletic Field and Track in 2011 and in 2016 added The Armando Simosa ’08 Athletics Performance Complex – a combination of a newly renovated strength and conditioning room and a new fitness center. Both have become valuable resources for student-athletes and the health and wellness activities for the Academy community at large. The school also resurfaced the gym floor last year.

While Cheshire Academy wants to prepare its top-level studentathletes for college athletics, it also wants to continue to provide all students with the opportunity simply to play a sport.

2017 Softball Team.

“Athletics are an integral part of the overall student experience,” Dykeman said. “Students have the opportunity to be a part of a team while building character and developing leadership skills.”

It also gives students the chance to try something new. Last year’s senior class president Jemimah Frempong ’18 played softball for the first time at Cheshire Academy; she eventually became a team captain and was part of championship teams. Others have joined the swim team and learned to swim, while some international students to enjoy the chance to try American football.

The Simosa Athletic Field and Track.

“Our goal is to give those students who want to play an opportunity to play,” Banach said. “For the students who may not play in college, it’s a chance to play a sport and grow through the program.”

Banach would like to see a continued increase in athletic participation – close to 90 percent of students currently participate in athletics – and consequently field more teams. Reviving sports like water polo and adding new sports such as boys’ volleyball or archery are also potential ways to grow Cheshire Academy athletics.

The Cats have a mix of proven veteran coaches and new faces with impressive resumes which bodes well for the future. Dykeman and Banach have brought the football and boys’ soccer programs to new heights, while volleyball coach Tom Brady is aiming for a ninth straight NEPSAC postseason berth. Jeff Allen, who played basketball at St. John’s and professionally in Europe, has elevated the girls’ basketball program each year and led the team to a New England Girls Basketball League title last season. Samantha Cieri has established softball as a league power and legendary boys’ tennis coach Chip Boyd keeps the Cats competitive in a challenging NEPSAC Class A Division.

There is excitement surrounding the hiring of some new coaches this year. Boys’ basketball coach Jim McCarthy came to Cheshire Academy with tremendous college coaching experience. He served as an assistant at several colleges including Yale, Northeastern, Towson and most recently New Haven. Molly Purcell will lead the girls’ lacrosse program after helping launch lacrosse at Division III Earlham College. She was the head coach at Earlham and Millsaps College. On the boys’ lacrosse side, Torrey Martone will serve over as head coach. He was a three-year starter at the University of Hartford before joining the staff at Albertus Magnus College. He spent one season there and was an assistant at Wesleyan University last year.

Head of School Julie Anderson said athletics have always been one of the three major components at the Academy, along with academics and residential life. “Athletics teach life lessons and are a way to stay healthy and fit. We want to continue to nurture and further develop the talents of Cheshire Academy’s top studentathletes, while also providing opportunities for all students to participate in sports,” shares Anderson.

“Athletics are an integral part of Cheshire Academy,” Anderson said. “What’s most important to me is that our student-athletes that want to continue on and play at the collegiate level, understand the value of the education and leave here with a really strong academic background. We want them to feel confident, not only in their athletic ability but in their academic ability as well and leave here knowing they’re going to be successful academically and athletically in college.”