In\u00a0 the athletic arenas, he inspired his team by his work ethic. In the classroom, he impressed many with his dedication to detail.\u00a0 In his love for the community, he allotted his time to serve in many\u00a0 ways.\u00a0 2000 Branford Sports Hall of Fame inductee Tony Mott provided success, teamwork, and community pride to the town of Branford during the early 1930\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Very active during his high school career, Tony\u00a0 was a member of the football, basketball, and baseball team.\u00a0 As a running back in his freshman year, Tony enjoyed a successful season as the Hornets only lost one game to Derby, 13-7. That season, Branford posted six shutouts and outscored their opponents 97-19.\u00a0 As a member of the Freshman baseball team ,he was elected captain.<\/p>\n
The 1929-30 varsity basketball team, which Tony was a member of, won the State Championship Class \u201cC\u201d and were runners-up in the Housatonic League. That year, Branford finished with a record of 14-3.\u00a0 Tony played with fellow inductees Harry \u201cHeb\u201d Williams (1990),\u00a0 Paul Pauk (1991), Joe Purcell (1991), Louis Aceto (1994) and coached by another inductee, Johnny Knecht Jr. (1988).<\/p>\n
The football season of 1931 was at that time, one of the best in the history of Branford High School.\u00a0 Tony was part of a second consecutive Housatonic League football championship.\u00a0 They\u00a0 were also crowned the State \u201cB\u201d Class Champions.\u00a0 The Hornets were the only undefeated (9-0) and unscored upon team in the state and earned a name for itself among the officials as one of the cleanest teams in the state. The most notable victories of the season were the ones over Commercial and Derby.<\/p>\n
The basketball season of 1931-32 also proved to be\u00a0 very successful.\u00a0 Branford, due to the fact that it became a class \u201cB\u201d school made its schedule\u00a0 much stronger by adding two games with each of the three area district\u00a0 \u201cA\u201d schools : Hillhouse, West Haven, and Commercial.\u00a0\u00a0 The Hornets finished in second place\u00a0 in the Housatonic League that season while Tony was captain\u00a0 in his senior season.<\/p>\n
Off the athletic field, he was on the Junior Prom Committee, the Senior Reception Committee and was Chairman of the Noon Entertainment Committee.\u00a0 In his junior year, he was awarded\u00a0 the Harvard Book Prize, President of the Student Council, President of the Varsity Club, Vice-President of the Faraday Club, Class President and Editor in Chief of the school newspaper.\u00a0 Tony was also voted \u201cMost Popular Boy\u201d, \u201cDone Most for Class\u201d, \u201cMost Likely to Succeed\u201d, and \u201cMost to be Admired\u201d.<\/p>\n
Following graduation, Tony attended Yale University where he played football\u00a0 in 1936 on the 7-1 Bulldogs.\u00a0 The captain of the \u201936 team was Heisman Trophy winner Larry Kelley.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":553,"template":"","acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/branfordsportshalloffame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/inductee\/552"}],"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\/553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/branfordsportshalloffame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}