Athletic fields meant more to 2003 Branford Sport Hall of Fame inductee Vincent S. Giordano, Jr. than to most people.\u00a0 Not only was tonight\u2019s recipient an elite member of the football and track team, but a successful contractor of high school and college complexes.<\/p>\n
Vincent attended Branford High School from 1961 to 1964 and while attending, he developed a passion for sport, especially on the gridiron. He became a member of the varsity squad as a freshman and grew in stature among his teammates as he demonstrated his desire to win as a running back.\u00a0 As he honed his skills as a football player, Vincent helped his team win the Housatonic League title in his junior year.\u00a0 That year Branford held a record of<\/p>\n
6-2-1 and played alongside Hall of Famers Bob Tobin (\u201996), Edward \u201cLeon\u201d Brazzell (\u201999), Alfred \u201cAllie\u201d Aguzzi, Jr. (\u201902), and Bob \u201cT.O.\u201d Tokarczyk (\u201903).\u00a0 In his senior year, Vincent received the coveted Savitt Award for Leadership and Sportsmanship.\u00a0 His second varsity sport was track.\u00a0 He ran the 100 and 220 yard dashes the\u00a0 880 yard relay, the long jump and triple jump.\u00a0 He captained the team in his senior year.\u00a0 Vincent was the Class President for four years, Student Council President, and the President of the Connecticut Federation of Student Councils.<\/p>\n
After graduation in 1964, Vincent went to Boston College where he played football his freshman year and then dedicated himself to academics and intramural sports. Vincent was an ROTC student and upon graduation was commissioned an Officer in the United States Army Corps of Engineers.\u00a0 He spent his first two years of service in a Construction Engineer Battalion in West Germany.\u00a0 As Platoon Leader of the Earthmoving Platoon, and then Company Commander of the Battalion Construction Company, he had many assignments to assist the local communities improving their infrastructure facilities including their recreational facilities.\u00a0 This experience inflamed Vincent\u2019s passion for sports as he took great pride and joy in the construction of soccer fields for the Germans.\u00a0 This later inspired him to pursue the construction of Athletic Fields when returning to his family construction business.<\/p>\n
After Germany, he served as the Facilities Engineer of Phu Bai Combat Base, Republic of South Vietnam.\u00a0 At the conclusion of his tour, Vincent received the Bronze Star, Presidential Citation, and Certificate of Recognition from the Chief of Staff, General Westmoreland.<\/p>\n
Vincent returned to civilian life in 1971 to join the Giordano Construction Company.\u00a0 He shares the responsibilities of the company business with his brother, Mike and his son, Vincent.\u00a0 Over the years, he has enjoyed the specialty of the construction of athletic fields. Some of the fields Vincent is responsible for construction include: Hopkins School soccer field and field hockey field, Albertus Magnus soccer and softball fields, baseball field at Bowen Field, Jess Dow Football Field at Southern Connecticut State University, Ken Strong Football Field at West Haven High School, Athletic Complex at Emmit O\u2019Brien Regional Vocational School, Central Connecticut State University football field, Amity Regional High School Athletic Complex, Branford High School football, baseball, softball, and all-purpose field, and the John \u201cWhitey\u201d Piurek Baseball Field at West Haven High School.\u00a0 The recently completed 100,000 SF New Haven Indoor Athletic Center is the milestone of the company\u2019s athletic construction venues.<\/p>\n
Tonight\u2019s inductee has also been a valuable resource in the community as a President to the Branford Lions Club, President of the Pine Orchard Yacht and Country Club, Director of St. Therese\u2019s Parish Council, President of the Association of General Contractors, Director of Connecticut Carpenter\u2019s Benefits Fund, and the Master of Ceremonies for the Memorial Day Parade for 22 consecutive years.<\/p>\n
He is married to his wife, Linda, and is the father to daughter, Elena, and son, Vincent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":495,"template":"","class_list":["post-494","inductee","type-inductee","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/branfordsportshalloffame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/inductee\/494"}],"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\/495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/branfordsportshalloffame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}