Waterford Honors A Legend With The Francis X. Sweeney Field House

Thanks to the efforts of Vonn Hartung, Tom Passaro, First Selectman Dan Steward and hundreds of others who were touched by the man, the field house at Waterford High School will now be renamed the Francis X. Sweeney Field House.

Late last month, the Board of Education unanimously approved renaming the field house at Waterford High School - which houses basketball games, volleyball games, wrestling matches and more - the Francis X. Sweeney Field House. Francis Sweeney was a longtime athletic director in Waterford and the support for this change was overwhelming, Board of Education member Jody Nazarchyk said.

"It was utterly amazing," Nazarchyk said. "The love of everyone in town for Fran was amazing."

While the board has approved the name change, they have yet to change the name of the actual field house. Nazarchyk said a group is planning the naming ceremony, which will most likely happen sometime this winter. The field house will hold a portrait of Sweeney, a plaque honoring him and perhaps a biography describing who he was, she said.

Who Was Sweeney?

Sweeney died in December at the age of 86. However, he was the face of Waterford athletics for the 28 years he worked in the school district, working primarily as Waterford's first ever athletic director.

Sweeney launched the majority of the sports that exist in Waterford today and coached nearly every sport as well. He also was insistent on having as many sports for women as men, Nazarchyk said.

Patch asked dozens of people over the past few years about Sweeney, some of whom were big athletes, some of whom were not. Yet all had fond memories of Sweeney, and said he was a loving man who cared about even the worst players on the team.

“He’s always been a person to look up to,” Hartung told Patch in April, a man who began this push to rename the field house after Sweeney. “A lot of us didn’t have good home lives and stuff and he was a beacon to a lot of us kids. He was a person who cared and you knew he cared.” 

How It Got Changed

The Board of Education, for years, was resistant to naming buildings or fields after any one person. They also had a policy that forbid them from doing so.

However, this year hundreds of people signed a petition urging that the policy be changed and Waterford High School's field house be renamed the Francis X. Sweeney Field House. The Board of Education, at its September meeting, agreed, and changed the policy (to read the new policy, click here, and to read what it takes to get something named after someone, click here).

In October, now able to do so, the Board of Education unanimously approved naming the Waterford High School Field House after Sweeney. And yet, for some, it was bittersweet.

"I just wish he was around to see this," Nazarchyk said. "He's so deserving. He did so much."