{"id":1364,"date":"2022-07-07T19:56:21","date_gmt":"2022-07-07T19:56:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/branfordsportshalloffame.com\/?post_type=inductee&#038;p=1364"},"modified":"2022-07-07T19:56:21","modified_gmt":"2022-07-07T19:56:21","slug":"ed-lonergan","status":"publish","type":"inductee","link":"https:\/\/branfordsportshalloffame.com\/inductee\/ed-lonergan\/","title":{"rendered":"Ed Lonergan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201c<em>If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>John Quincy Adams, Sixth United States President,\u00a01825-1829<\/p>\n<p>Throughout his career as a railroad worker, a volunteer, or a civic organizer, 2007 Branford Sports Hall of Fame inductee Edward Lonergan exemplified the sentiments of this presidential leader.<\/p>\n<p>Born on August 19, 1904, in Branford, Ed attended Branford High School, where he graduated with honors in 1922.\u00a0 Following high school graduation, he attended Stone\u2019s Business College of New Haven and a year later went to work for the New Haven Railroad and remained \u00a0until 1961, when he retired on a disability.\u00a0 During his years of service, he reached the position of chief clerk. Ed\u2019s interest in youth began at an early age when he helped organize a Boy Scout troop at St. Mary\u2019s RC Church in the 1930\u2019s. The troop, under Lonergan\u2019s leadership, grew to over 100 boys.<\/p>\n<p>As a civic leader, tonight\u2019s inductee was a charter member of \u00a0the Recreation Commission in 1951 and was known as the \u201cdean of all recreation commissioners in the country \u201d.\u00a0 He was cited by the National Association in 1964 for \u201coutstanding contributions made to recreation in Branford and in the United States.\u201d Ed served on the Hammer Field Committee, a group that managed the athletic activities of the field and worked in conjunction with Recreation Director and 1988 Branford Sports Hall of Fame inductee Joe Trapasso.<\/p>\n<p>As an active member of St. Mary\u2019s Church all his life, he was a member of the Eldorado Council, the Knights of Columbus and served as grand knight for two terms.\u00a0 He was a fourth degree member of the John Barry Assembly of the Knights of Columbus and was president of the Holy Name Society of St. Mary\u2019s Church.<\/p>\n<p>Ed became a charter member of the Board of Recreation when it was formed in 1951 and served on the board until his death.\u00a0 He chaired the Branford Commission on Services for the Elderly.\u00a0 \u00a0Tonight\u2019s inductee was the town\u2019s Democratic Registrar of Voters. During World War II, he served on the local Selection Service Board and classified men for military service from the towns of Branford, East Haven, and North Branford.\u00a0\u00a0 Ed was a volunteer firefighter for the M.P. Rice Company for many years and served as secretary of the group.<\/p>\n<p>Sadly, Ed passed away on December 25, 1972.\u00a0 On November 18, 1973, the Board of Recreation held a formal dedication and named the lounge at the Branford Community House, the \u201cEdward B. Lonergan Lounge.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1365,"template":"","acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/branfordsportshalloffame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/inductee\/1364"}],"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\/1365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/branfordsportshalloffame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}