In the Branford Milestone Yearbook, it is written that Hazel Smith Lerche was known for her height and her fate was to work in high altitudes as an airline hostess.\u00a0 Thankfully, for Branford and the various basketball teams which she played on, the 1993 Branford Sports Hall of Fame inductee utilized her height in assisting the Hornets women\u2019s basketball team to successful seasons in the 1930\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Smith Lerche first started playing basketball at the Branford Community House while attending junior high school.\u00a0 For four years, she played varsity basketball for Branford High School, including an undefeated season in 1936, a team which arguably is considered one of the best teams the Hornets assembled.\u00a0 One year earlier, the girl\u2019s basketball team enjoyed a highly successful season, winning ten of the fourteen games played.\u00a0 The Lady Hornets scored 415 points in comparison to its opponents 299.\u00a0 Besides Smith Lerche\u2019s presence on the team, Branford also had 1990 Branford Sports Hall of Fame inductee Eleanor Laich Schmitz and coached by Grace Norton Scranton.<\/p>\n
During her junior and senior years, Smith Lerche played for two amateur teams- the East Haven Jeffs and the Portland All-Stars.\u00a0 In 1937 Smith Lerche again was joined on the squad by Laich Schmitz and they both experienced being on an undefeated team.<\/p>\n
After graduating from Branford High School and being tabbed the Most Athletic Girl while the (Most Athletic Boy was fellow inductee John Yusievicz), Smith Lerche joined the All-American Red Heads, a traveling team out of Cassville, Missouri.\u00a0 The Red Heads traveled throughout the United States and spent the summer of 1940 in the Philippines, playing some of their games on outdoor courts.<\/p>\n
Off the playing field, Smith Lerche contributed her other talents to a number of organizations, including her responsibility as the Girls Sports Editor on the Beacon Board during the\u00a0 1936-37 academic year.<\/p>\n
Living in Miami, Florida for the past 40 years, Smith Lerche was inducted into the New Haven Tap-Off Club in 1984.<\/p>\n
The mother of two daughters, Jean Marks Colletti and Kathy Lasseter, Smith Lerche also has three grandsons and two step grandchildren.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis award means so much to me.\u00a0 Branford has always been my favorite town.\u00a0 Anywhere I\u2019ve been, Branford has remained my favorite town.\u00a0 Being inducted into the Hall of Fame, means a great deal to me,\u201d said Smith Lerche.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":785,"template":"","class_list":["post-784","inductee","type-inductee","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/branfordsportshalloffame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/inductee\/784"}],"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\/785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/branfordsportshalloffame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}