Dr. Julia Chase-Brand wasn't Smith College's only pioneer.
Coach Brian Collins, right, presents the newly named Garry Brown Trophy to yours truly, center, after a vintage base ball game between the Westfield Wheelmen and Whately Pioneers at Forest Park in Springfield in June 2011.Brian Collins of Springfield has been appointed as chairman for District 3 (Hampden County) of the American Legion’s baseball program. He takes over for Tom Pitoniak of Westfield, who served for nine years.
Collins brings valuable experience to his new role. He coached East Springfield Post 420 for 12 years, then assisted Pitoniak for two.
“Legion ball means a lot to me. That’s why I decided to stay involved after I stopped coaching,” Collins said.
“When I played, we had men from the Greatest Generation (World War II veterans) teaching us how to play and respect the game. We’re trying to continue that, and our league is doing it with a lot of good, young coaches.”
Collins will oversee 18 teams. Managers and coaches will meet Feb. 20 at Chicopee Post 452 to finalize a 17-game schedule opening June 5.
“Hampden County has been putting out good teams in recent years,” Collins said. “Much of that has to do with the success of the Red Sox in this decade. They’ve sparked interest, and a lot more kids are playing Little League ball, then eventually coming to us.”
PAIR OF PIONEERS: Dr. Julia Chase-Brand of New London, Conn., Smith College ’64, returned to her alma mater Thursday for a presentation covering her life as a distance runner, animal behavior scientist and practicing psychiatrist who earned her medical degree at the age of 53.
As Smith sophomore Julia Chase, she challenged an AAU edict which barred women from running more than 800 meters. Her “illegal” appearance in the 1961 Manchester, Conn., road race sparked a boom in women’s distance running which eventually broke down the AAU’s stand against it.
Smith, of course, has another pioneer in its athletic history. Senda Berenson, known as “the mother of women’s basketball,” was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1985. With that came an end to the shrine’s longstanding policy of ignoring the women’s game, which Berenson had pioneered. In January of 1892, she began teaching basketball in her Smith phys-ed classes only a month after James Naismith invented the sport at the YMCA Training School in Springfield.
PROUD GRANDPA: Springfield native Dan Della-Giustina, a professor in the College of Engineering and Mineral Resources at West Virginia University, keeps up with what’s happening in Central Massachusetts high school basketball.
That’s because his granddaughter, Denise Della-Giustina, is an all-star point guard for Gardner. Thursday night, she sparked a 45-41 victory over North Middlesex with a triple-double – 22 points, 16 rebounds and 10 steals.
Grandpa Dan played basketball at Springfield Tech and American International College. He’s now serving his 12th year on AIC’s Board of Trustees.
BEST BET for the weekend: Sanagas, in the San Marcos Stakes at Santa Anita.
Garry Brown can be reached at geeman1918@yahoo.com