Success, hard work, team-oriented, caring, and pride was never more synonymous with one individual than it was with 2000 Branford Sports Hall of Fame inductee Gerald Crotty. As a player, a coach, an educator, and as a fan, \u201cGerry\u201d exemplified the winning traits of Branford athletics.<\/p>\n
Born in Bellows Falls, Vermont, he lettered in high school football, track, basketball and baseball.\u00a0 His main passion was football, a sport, which to this day remains close to his heart as his all time favorite.<\/p>\n
During World War II, he served on a Coast Guard picket boat in New York Harbor.\u00a0 His boat\u2019s duties included patrol, transporting pilots, and rescue missions.\u00a0 During this time, Gerry earned a medal fighting a fire on an ammunition ship.<\/p>\n
When he returned from the service, he attended Springfield College, chosen because of his interest in teaching and coaching. After graduation, Gerry taught at Pembroke Academy and coached the varsity basketball team.\u00a0 After three years, he returned to Springfield College to attend graduate school where he earned his Master\u2019s degree.\u00a0 He then moved on to Lebanon High School in Lebanon, New Hampshire and was an assistant football coach and taught Social Studies.<\/p>\n
In 1955, tonight\u2019s inductee came to Branford High School which was then located on Eades Street.\u00a0 When first arriving in Branford, Gerry taught Social Studies, coached varsity baseball, and acted as the Faculty Manager of Athletics.\u00a0 He continued as baseball coach for 13 years.\u00a0 When the high school moved to it\u2019s present location, he began teaching Physical Education.\u00a0 Later, he coached tennis for a short while and was a member of the CIAC tennis committee for three years.\u00a0 In 1980, his responsibilities as Faculty Manager of Athletics were expanded as he became the fulltime Director of Athletics for the town of Branford.\u00a0 During his reign, Gerry witnessed several Housatonic League titles in field hockey (1980-81) and (1984-85), volleyball (1982),\u00a0 girls\u2019 basketball (1982),\u00a0 and (1983),\u00a0 boys\u2019 basketball (1981) and (1983),\u00a0 boys\u2019 golf (1980) and girls swimming (1981).\u00a0 He was at the helm as Athletic Director for state titles in girls\u2019 field hockey (1985),\u00a0 girls\u2019 basketball (1983) and (1984),\u00a0 girls\u2019 volleyball (1981), (1982), (1983), boys\u2019 golf (1980),\u00a0 and in boys\u2019 swimming (1983) and (1985).<\/p>\n
Gerry is married to his wife, Marie and is the father to son, Brian.\u00a0 He retired from Branford High School in 1985.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":853,"template":"","acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/branfordsportshalloffame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/inductee\/852"}],"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\/853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/branfordsportshalloffame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}