Photo Above, From Left:
The Presleys: Stamford High School star sibling athletes Ejai Presley (football, basketball) and Jalynn Presley (soccer, basketball, lacrosse) with their parents, Jay (who recognized Jeff Salvatore at this photo shoot from their Pop Warner days) and Edith (former Westhill High School girls’ basketball statistician and current head of Cradle to Career).
The Robustelli/Salvatores: Andy Robustelli’s great-grandson, grandson, granddaughter, and son-in-law: SHS athlete Mikey Salvatore, Trinity Catholic alum Jeff Salvatore, Brittany Smegal (née Salvatore) who played at Trinity and SHS, longtime NBA ref Bennett Salvatore. (Ella Salvatore, who appears on our cover, had to rush out of the photo session before this group snap in order to make it to a summer select soccer game.)
The Foxes: Current Black Knights Emma (soccer, basketball, softball), Kaitlyn (soccer, basketball, softball), and Mattingly (field hockey, softball) with mom Kathy and three-sport Stamford Catholic alum and coach Bryan.
The Lydens: Stamford Catholic hockey star Peter who used to compete in some of the rinks where his daughter Maggie now dominates in the same sport.
The Stokes: Pete Stokes with his family from left: wife Mary Ellen, daughter Rachel (SHS field hockey, basketball, softball), daughter Alexis Melfi (Trinity Catholic volleyball, softball alum), son Jack (SHS football, basketball alum), daughter Olivia (SHS field hockey, softball manager).
Maggie Lyden joined the celebration around goalie McCaffrey Tuttle as time expired in the semifinals of this year’s girls’ hockey state tournament. Lyden, then a freshman, scored both goals in the 2-0 win over Darien as the team with athletes from Stamford, Westhill, and Staples upset the defending state champion and tournament top seed.
Peter Lyden, Maggie’s father, had not only seen this movie before but also starred in it. In the early 1990s, Lyden was recognized as one of the best players in the state. He earned All-State honors in 1993 for Stamford Catholic when he amassed 37 goals and 94 points, the highest among Division I players that year. His team won one state title and finished runner-up in his senior year. Some observers believe Peter was the best hockey player in the city’s history.
“Maggie didn’t start playing until she was 8 or 9,’’ her dad says. “She was always Irish dancing. She was getting carted away to the hockey games for our son, Peter. She said maybe she should start skating. Within three or four years, she was recognized as one of the top 68 players in the country.”
Maggie Lyden’s family lineage suggests she could have excelled in other sports as well. Her grandfather Artie DeFilippis was selected in the second round of the Major League Baseball draft in 1970 by the Washington Senators. A legendary pitcher, he now coaches softball in the area. Her mother, Angela, was an all-league field hockey player. With that heredity, it’s nearly a given she would be a star athlete. “Her grandfather was always trying to get her into softball,’’ Lyden says. “Somehow, hockey won out.”
In Stamford, the Lyden story is not unfamiliar. Bloodlines run deep, and the same surnames of athletes who excelled one and two generations ago are still capturing headlines. Robustelli and Salvatore might be the most recognizable, but that only scratches the surface. Athletes with surnames such as Fox, Ballo, Stokes, Possidento, O’Leary, Smyth, Malloy, and Haggerty (and more) have excelled on baseball and softball diamonds, football fields, hockey rinks, and basketball courts for decades. Sometimes, the legacy lines are easily identifiable. Others are harder to discern for a newcomer (and in Stamford, a newcomer might be someone living here fewer than 30 years), such as Maggie’s biological link to one of the best ballplayers in city history.
“There’s a strong support system among Stamford families. I don’t see that changing.”
Peter Lyden
It must be partly genetics, of course, but the enduring athletic success of so many Stamford families seems to stem from something else—multiple seeds planted long, long ago.
“Stamford is a different animal,’’ says Bryan Fox, who starred at Stamford Catholic in three sports, coached the Trinity Catholic football team for several years, and now watches his three daughters shine at many of the same venues where he once excelled. “My wife, Kathy, moved here from New Jersey after we were married. She couldn’t get over the amount of people we know in such a large city through youth sports. It feels like Stamford is a tiny town with 130,000 people in it.”
All the Bases
Forty years ago, Pete Stokes sprinted off the sidelines for the first play from scrimmage as the starting quarterback for the Stamford Catholic football team in the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference championship game on Thanksgiving Day. The Crusaders upset Wilton, 20-18, before a standing-room-only crowd at Boyle Stadium. A 61-yard touchdown pass to star running back Jay Baines in the final minutes provided the winning margin for the Crusaders in their last league championship. Some longtime sports historians believe it is the most exciting championship game in FCIAC history.
The title was one of many memories for Stokes, who has experienced Stamford sports from different vantage points over the past half-century. A football and baseball standout, he returned to Stamford after playing both sports at Plymouth State College (now University) in New Hampshire. He works as a landscape specialist for the Parks and Recreation Department—one of his primary responsibilities is upkeep at Cubeta Stadium—but he also served for four years as the head football coach at Trinity Catholic. He worked as an umpire before retiring a few years ago, and now spends most of his non-working hours supporting his children’s sports activities. His daughter Alexis played volleyball and softball at Trinity. Another daughter Rachel plays three sports at SHS. Yet another daughter Olivia manages the field hockey and softball teams. His son, Jack, played football and basketball there before he graduated in 2022.
“Being involved in Stamford sports all these years has been a dream, and I’m not ready to wake up.”
Pete Stokes
If anybody knows Stamford sports inside and out, it’s Stokes. Stokes believes much of the sustained success for Stamford athletes stems from coaches in previous generations. When he returned from college, one of his first jobs was as an assistant coach to Mickey Lione, a legendary figure at Trinity Catholic who coached football, baseball and hockey. Stokes also played under Mike Walsh who won several state titles in basketball and was an accomplished baseball coach.
“You have maybe the Mount Rushmore of coaches, and that makes Stamford different,’’ Stokes says. “We’ve had a lot of great athletes, like Bobby Valentine and Rick Robustelli, that really put us on the map. I think the history is encapsulated in the stories we have all heard and continue to tell our children.”
Lione and Walsh were among the coaching descendants of Sharkey Laureno and Mickey Lione Sr., who helped Stamford gain national recognition as a baseball community. Their commitment to youth sports paved the way for younger coaches who adopted the mindset that emphasized family, faith and teamwork all while remembering they were ambassadors for the city.
“A lot of us had Mickey as a mentor, and a lot of us played for Walsh,’’ Stokes says. “There are still a lot of people that run in Stamford athletic circles who have been touched by these guys. Mickey did not have children of his own, but he felt like he had a thousand sons here in Stamford. That’s the way a lot of us feel.
Some coaches currently in town have followed the winning script adopted by their predecessors. Donny Panapada, the Stamford High football coach, served as an assistant under Rich Albonizio at Stamford Catholic. It’s no coincidence that SHS made the state playoffs for the first time in 28 years last fall in his second year at the helm.
Stokes still marvels at the sight of seeing the same families he’s known for decades
at games. Former Major League Baseball manager Tommy Lasorda often joked he bled Dodger Blue. Stokes feels the same passion for Stamford.
“I’m blessed to be a supervisor in the Parks Department,’’ he says. “I couldn’t be happier. Being involved in Stamford sports all these years has been a dream, and I’m not ready to wakeup.”
Stick Around
It’s not only good genetics and superior early coaching that play a role in the generational success of so many Stamford sports families. The city has developed a heritage, a culture, an identity that leads many of them back right where they started.
Fox played three sports at Stamford Catholic before moving on to play baseball at Boston College. Like so many other former athletes, he returned home to launch his career. His sisters, Kelly and Kate, were also standout athletes and followed similar paths.
Like their predecessors, many of yesteryear’s athletes stay engaged in sports, extending the legacy. Athletes embracing the city’s heritage while carving out their own identity, making their own memories, and exhibiting pride to represent their community is typical of the culture in Stamford. Fox, who has three daughters, coached basketball and softball for a long time in youth leagues. His oldest, Kaitlyn, is a three-sport captain at Stamford High. Emma and Mattingly (yes, for that Mattingly) are also multi-sport players.
Last year, Kaitlyn was one of four winners of the Mickey Lione Award, which provides scholarships to high school sophomores to encourage them to set goals and be a positive influence among their peers throughout their high school careers. (Rachel Stokes was a finalist this year.)
“It was fun to talk to [Kaitlyn] about who Mickey Lione was,’’ Fox says. “I told her she should ask other people about who he was and told her she should talk with Marc Robustelli. His daughter, Mia, is one of her friends. I told her she should talk with Pete Stokes, too. That sort of storyline unravels in a million different ways in Stamford. It’s fun going through.”
Current Roster
Part of the charm for the parents of today’s athletes comes from visiting arenas where they once honed their skills. Fox, for instance, watched Kaitlyn play in a contest at West Haven High School. He competed in a state championship football game at the same facility.
“I sent a picture of the stadium to 13 people, and they all knew exactly where I was,’’ Fox says. “My last game coaching at Stamford Catholic was in Wilton, and we go up there to play softball. There’s a million gyms and rinks and fields you’re walking to, and I’ll say, ‘Hey, I remember this.’ It’s fun for me. There are just so many memories.”
Lyden skated in some of the same rinks where his daughter now tortures opponents with her speed, stickhandling and other skills. He even sees former teammates with children of a similar age and scorekeepers who have stuck around for decades. “It’s nice to go back and see the familiar faces,’’ he says. “I asked Maggie if she was nervous before the state championship game, and she said yeah. I remember what I was feeling. It brings it all back.”
“Stamford is a different animal. My wife couldn’t get over the amount of people we know in such a large city through youth sports.”
Bryan Fox
One tangible characteristic that runs throughout athletes who are following the footsteps of their parents and grandparents is strong family support. The legacy of so many Stamford sports standouts would not endure without family members who love and encourage (and challenge) one another, from one generation to the next.
Families who bond through athletics pass along that passion. In Stamford, it’s a train that never stops moving.
“I think for a big city, Stamford still feels like it’s a small town in a lot of ways,’’ Lyden says. “There’s a strong support system among Stamford families. I don’t see that changing.”
A generation of young athletes—and their fans—is counting on it.