Over the course of his career at Branford High School, 2019 Branford Sports Hall of Fame Inductee Mike Tamsin excelled in baseball, football, and basketball, accumulating an impressive list of honors and awards.
Mike was talented in all three sports, but he was first noticed for football. In his junior year, playing for Hall of Fame Coach Gary Gravina (Class of 2018), the tight end caught 34 passes for 684 yards earning him All-League honors.
Everything seemed to be falling into place for a football scholarship. Wisconsin and other Division 1 schools were showing interest in the Hornet tight end. However, right before his senior season he suffered a burst appendix. He lost 40 pounds and missed most of his senior season.
The injury didn’t slow down his basketball or baseball career. In baseball, he was a two-time selection for CHSCA All-State, SCC All-League, and New Haven Register All-Area team. In basketball he earned honorable mention All-State and New Haven Register All-Area.
Perhaps the most prestigious award was the 2003-2004 New Haven Register Male Athlete of the Year.
Locally, people knew how good Tamsin was in baseball, but during the summer of 2005 the entire country found out. Tamsin was a member of the Branford American Legion team (along with fellow 2019 inductee Ed Bethke) that won the State and Northeast Regional Championships. The team earned a trip to the American Legion World Series in South Dakota where they finished third.
Tamsin was showered with awards that summer including Elm City Newspaper American Legion Dream Dozen (two years), MVP of the American Legion State Tournament, American Legion World Series All-Tournament team, Northeast Regional All-Tournament Team, and American Legion World Series Silver Slugger Award given to the player with the best batting average throughout the national tournament.
Tamsin attended Northeastern University and was a four-year starter for the baseball team. His awards were impressive. In his freshman season he was named a Louisville Slugger Freshman All American; CAA All-Rookie Team; and CAA 2nd Team All Conference.
In 2006, his sophomore year, the awards continued. He was named 1st Team All-New England and CAA 3nd Team All Conference. He finished the season with a .380 batting average (3rd highest in school history) and compiled a 17-game hitting streak (3rd highest in school history). Over the next two years, he continued to leave his mark on the record books. He still holds the record for most career hits (271) and total bases (382). He finished his career with a .361 batting average (2nd in school history), 750 at-bats (2nd in school history), 140 runs (4th in school history), 145 RBIs (3rd in school history), 197 games played (2nd in school history), and a career .444 on base percentage (4th in school history).
He was winning awards in the summer also. In 2007, Tamsin appeared in 35 games for the Cape Cod League Champion Yarmouth Dennis Red Sox.
Mike is a 2010 graduate of Northeastern. He currently works as an Analytical Engineer at Ensign Bickford. He lives in Branford with his wife Maria and son Luca.
