Field hockey coaches are a rare breed, the right mixture of toughness and caring, the right mixture of old-fashioned know-how and 21st century technology.
Most scholastic coaches labor in obscurity, making only a small stipend over and above their jobs within the school district. But for some reason, the state of Connecticut has developed more than its fair share of coaches who have served the game for decades.
This includes women like Babby Nuhn of North Branford, Cookie Bromage of Enfield, Angela Tammaro of Greenwich Academy, Cathy McGuirk of Branford, Dorothy Johnson of Granby Memorial, Arlene Salvati of Cheshire, Linda Dirga of Pomperaug, and Kitty Palmer of Guilford. Each of these coaches have more than 350 wins or 40 years on the sidelines.
On Wednesday, the Canton field hockey community lost long-time head coach Nancy Grace. She was 65 years of age.
Grace coached at Canton for 20 seasons, winning eight Class S state championships and turning every game against North Central Connecticut Conference rival Granby into one of the best derby matches in the country.
“We had an intense rivalry on the field,” Granby coach Dorothy Johnson tells The Canton Patch, “but after many years we got to know each other and got to be more friends than rival coaches.”
It was telling that Grace’s final field hockey match, the Class S final in 2004, was a 3-1 loss to none other than Granby. It was the third time the Warriors finished runners-up in the state.
Grace touched many lives as head coach and made many of her players into better citizens. She will be missed.
