Respectful.\u00a0 Humble.\u00a0 Unselfish.\u00a0 These are just some of the traits which best describe 2008 Branford Sports Hall of Fame inductee Richard D. Biondi as a shining track and cross country athlete, an exceptional educator and an inspirational coach.<\/p>\n
While attending Branford High School from 1981 to 1984, Rich was a member of the Branford High School cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track teams.\u00a0 With the outdoor team, he was a four year varsity letter award winner and earned a place on the All-Housatonic League Team as a senior in the 3000 meter and 5000 meter events.\u00a0 Rich was the outdoor track captain in his final year at Branford High School.<\/p>\n
As a three-year varsity athlete on the Hornets\u2019 indoor track squad, Rich was named to the All-State Team in the 3000 meters during the 1983-84 season and was a tri-captain in 1984.\u00a0 Tonight\u2019s inductee also earned accolades while he competed for the Hornet\u2019s cross country team.\u00a0 As a three year varsity member, he was named to the All-Housatonic League teams in his sophomore, junior and senior season. He held the school record at the Old Branford Supply Pond Race Course in the 3.5 mile, with a time of 17:49, set in his senior year.\u00a0 The cross country teams enjoyed winning seasons during the \u201cBiondi years\u201d, putting together an 8-4 record in his sophomore season, in which he was later named to the All-State team.\u00a0 Branford was 6-4 in Rich\u2019s junior year and 9-3 in his senior season.\u00a0 For his accomplishments, he was named to the New Haven County Team in 1984.<\/p>\n
After high school graduation, Rich attended Southern Connecticut State University from 1985 to 1988 and was a member of the cross county, indoor and outdoor track teams.\u00a0 He was part of the 1985 cross country team that was fourth at the NCAA\u2019s, the 1985 indoor track team that was sixth, and the 1987 cross country team which finished ninth.\u00a0 He graduated from Southern with a bachelor\u2019s degree in history in 1988, received his master\u2019s degree in 1991 and later earned his six-year degree in 1997.<\/p>\n
Rich became a full-time track assistant in the spring of \u201989, was named head coach of the boys indoor team in 1993 and co-head coach of the outdoor squad in 1994.\u00a0 Under his direction, the Hornet\u2019s indoor team won four divisional titles, the 2004 Hammonasset Division and the Oronoque Division titles in 2005, 2007 ,and 2008, and was the Southern Connecticut Conference (SCC) Runner-Up Divisional Champions in 2008.<\/p>\n
As co-head coach of the outdoor track team with Scott Jenkin, this inductee led Branford to a Class MM State Championship in 2005, (the first in school history), and SCC Conference Runner-up\u00a0 with a 14-0-1 undefeated seasonal record, two Hammonasset\u00a0 divisional titles (2003 and 2004), three Oronoque Division championships (2005,2007, and 2008) and the 2008 SCC Conference Championship.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For his efforts, he was named the New Haven Register Co-Coach of the Year after the 2005 and 2008 seasons.\u00a0 Spanning a period of 13 years, Rich holds a career coaching record of 116-49-1 in track and field.\u00a0 He has coached 58 athletes to All-Division status, 24 All-Stater\u2019s, nine to the All-SCC team and 4 to the All-New England team.<\/p>\n
Professionally, this inductee has been a social studies teacher in Branford High School\u2019s Horizon Alternative Education Program since 1996. He helped set up the Branford High School Veteran\u2019s Appreciation Day and is the Branford High School Co-President of the Teacher\u2019s Society. Rich is also involved in the Volunteers to Read program to elementary students at the John B. Sliney School.<\/p>\n
Rich is the author of a book on Italian American Boxers entitled Pugilistic Paisani ,\u00a0<\/em>an extensive research done on Italian-American boxers in the United States and Italy ,where he interviewed over 250 fighters and boxing trainers.\u00a0 He has also authored articles published in the National Italian American Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n Rich lives in North Haven with his wife of 14 years, Ramona, who was also an All-Housatonic League runner at Branford.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1383,"template":"","acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/branfordsportshalloffame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/inductee\/1382"}],"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\/1383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/branfordsportshalloffame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}