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Seven new members of the Class of 2016 Fairfield County Sports Hall of Fame will be inducted and 16 local Sports Persons of the Year will be honored.
The Fairfield County Sports Commission announced its final honoree for the gathering of the area sports community with Damian Andrew being named as the Bill Gonillo Local Sports Media Award winner.
Hall of Fame inductees are Fairfield native J.J. Henry, Norwalk native Rita Williams, Bill Steinkraus of Darien, Stamford's Mike Walsh, New Canaan's Lou Marinelli and the late Manute Bol of Bridgeport and Maurice "Wilky" Gilmore of New Canaan.
Andrew, a two-time, Emmy Award-winning sports anchor/reporter for News 12 Connecticut, joined the local Fairfield County TV sports desk in October 2006. Gonillo, who was the sports director at News 12 for 12 years, played a major role in Andrew's career as he served as a mentor when Damian first arrived at News 12. When Gonillo passed away in 2007 he left big shoes to fill and in the nine years since Andrew has continued to live up to the standards his good friend set by providing outstanding coverage of the entire county sports scene.
The 9th annual Gonillo Media Award, which is co-sponsored by Sacred Heart University and Fairfield University, will be presented as part of the evening's program. Also to be recognized is the 2016 Chelsea Cohen Courage Award recipient Danielle Kemp of Milford. Kemp, who this spring completed her freshman season with Stony Brook University's women's softball team, was a standout player at Foran High. During the summer the 19-year-old played her first year with the legendary Stratford Brakettes. She is currently undergoing treatment for a rare cancerous tumor in the pons region of her brain.
Tickets can be purchased by contacting Tom Chiappetta at 203-984-4806 or via email at tomchip21@aol.com or online at www.fairfieldcountysports.com.
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