Ray Falkoff moved to Branford at an early age. He began his involvement in athletics as a Little League player and earned varsity letters at Branford High School in football, playing for Hall of Famer Dom Cote, and in golf, playing for Hall of Famer Stan Petela. In 1972 Ray began his last stint as an active team sport athlete as a member of various amateur softball teams, including the Big Yaz All Stars, Town and Country and Wilson Ford.<\/p>\n
At Branford High School, from which Ray graduated in 1966, a classmate of Hall of Fame members Dave Maloney, Dr. Wayne DeSarbo, Bruce Johnson and the late Peter Anderson, Ray began to hone his leadership skills that have had such a tremendous positive impact on Branford. He was active in class activities and the BHS Youth Day, where he served as Police Commissioner.<\/p>\n
Ray matriculated at American International College, majoring in business administration while becoming a campus leader. He served as President of the Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity and President of the Inter-Fraternity Council. Following graduation from AIC, Ray became a self-employed public accountant. In 1992 he became CFO at Colt Refining Inc. and in 2006 was hired as CFO for the Atlas Companies LLC.<\/p>\n
Since 1971 Ray Falkoff has been a major contributor to sports in Branford and area towns as a coach, scout and leader. He served AIC as a scout and talent evaluator, during which time he assisted several BHS basketball players and others to earn scholarships. He served as Chairman of Greens, Golf Chairman and Long Range Planning chairman for the Pine Orchard Yacht and Country Club in the 1970\u2019s, as well.<\/p>\n
One of Ray\u2019s greatest passions continues to be coaching basketball and baseball. Early in his coaching career he was a volunteer assistant for the Lee High School of New Haven Basketball Program, working with head coach, Peter Evans. During this time he coached the Lee players in the Goffe Street Summer League in New Haven and was the Chairman of the Q House Basketball Tournament. Following his work at Lee High, Ray served as Assistant Boys Basketball Coach at Branford High School for head coach Hall of Fame member Tom Murray. Later, Ray was hired as JV Boys Basketball Coach at East Haven, working with head coach Ed Crisafi. He returned to Branford to coach with Head Coach Jake Palluzzi and Rusty Gordon, both members of the Hall of Fame, and with Joe Chandler. During Ray\u2019s tenure at Branford, the Hornets won their last Housatonic League Championship. Ray coached Travel Basketball for Branford Youth Basketball, winning multiple tournaments and over 100 games in five years.<\/p>\n
Ray\u2019s baseball coaching was also extensive. He was an assistant coach for the Branford Little League Majors Division and was assistant coach for the John Ardito Little League All Star Team. He served as assistant coach for the Branford Baseball Cooperstown in 2002. Ray helped to form and organize the Branford Sting Youth Baseball Team with John Litevich, George Dummar and Steve Daddio, serving as an assistant coach to the team that won the Cal Ripken Wave Rider 14U Tournament in Myrtle Beach, S.C. He helped to form and organize The Clinton Hounds Youth Baseball team, where he served as assistant coach to the team when it captured 3rd place in the 16U State Tournament. Ray worked as a volunteer assistant coach for Morgan High school of Clinton under John Litevich. In 2012 he served as assistant baseball coach for Hamden Hall under head coach John Fontana. The 2012 team won the Fairchester Championship.<\/p>\n
Ray Falkoff\u2019s contribution to youth and high school athletes and to the community of Branford is outstanding. The positive impact of his mentoring of hundreds of young athletes is his greatest legacy and is a significant reason why he is being inducted into the Branford Sports Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n
Ray married his wife Christy in 1988. The couple have two children, Patrick, a graduate of Haverford College, and Katie, who is a senior at Brown University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1122,"template":"","class_list":["post-1121","inductee","type-inductee","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/branfordsportshalloffame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/inductee\/1121"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/branfordsportshalloffame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/inductee"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/branfordsportshalloffame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/inductee"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/branfordsportshalloffame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/branfordsportshalloffame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}