Ansonia native Rich Marazzi will be honored at the Casey‑O’Brien New Haven County Chapter of the National Football Foundation with the Chapter Award of Merit at the 56th Annual Scholar Athlete banquet April 8 at Fantasia in North Haven.
“Rich Marazzi has had a remarkable impact on many different sports over the years as a player, coach, umpire, author and consultant”, said Bill O’Brien, chapter president. “We are proud to honor him as a chapter member for his many sports contributions.”
Marazzi is a well regarded rules consultant for major league baseball and is affiliated with 10 different teams, including the Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers. In 2015 he launched “You Make the Call,” a scoreboard video program in several major league parks.
In 2014 he published his latest book, A Bowl Full of Memories: 100 Years of Football at the Yale Bowl, that has been very popular with many former players and Yale fans across the country.
From 1997 to 2013 Marazzi hosted the popular weekly radio baseball talk show that was aired on WICC 600 AM, WELI 960 and ESPN 1300. He also trained with Bob Sheppard the late legendary public address announcer at Yankee Stadium.
Marazzi was a school teacher and administrator at O’Brien Tech in Ansonia for 29 years. While there he coached both the boy’s and girl’s basketball teams. He umpired baseball for 23 years from 1966 – 1988 working high school, college and independent professional games.
He is a past president of the Valley Umpires Association and in 2012 received the Umpire’s Appreciation Award from the Connecticut High School Coaches Association and was inducted the same year into the Southern Connecticut Diamond Club Hall of Fame.
Marazzi will be honored along with 28 area high school scholar athletes including Jake Palmieri of Ansonia. Others being honored include Shelton coach Jeff Roy who will receive the Coach of the Year Award, John Manzi of Hamden the Official Recognition Award and Michael Barbaro of Wallingford, Senior Vice President of Town Fair Tire who will receive the Distinguished American Award.
Tickets for the dinner cost $50 and can be purchased by sending a check payable to “National Football Foundation” to Donna Limone 10 Ludlow Court, Branford 06405 or calling her at 203 – 481-8375