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02/29/2016 11:00 PMClinton resident and former Huskies point guard Mary Ellen Ierardi is hoping for one final matchup before The Morgan School closes its doors and moves up the road.
She’s taken to Facebook to get the word out. “Calling all Morgan girls’ basketball alumnae! Your (last?!) chance to play in the soon-to-be-old Morgan gym could be on Saturday, March 26, at 6 p.m. It’s Easter weekend, so if you are back in town, let me or Grip know if you are ready to reclaim your Husky talent and pride on the court once more.”
Grip, of course, is Huskies veteran basketball coach Joe Grippo, and the game is part of a tournament to benefit the Edward Hidek Memorial Scholarship Fund.
“I thought it was important to share,” Ierardi said. “I played for the Huskies back in 1979, and my daughter played for them back in 2007. I’ve been reaching out on Facebook to all the old alumnae to make this year the one where we will be playing on the old hardwood for the last time, because the new high school opens in September.”
Even those who don’t play, she said, should come to reconnect and reminisce.
“Bring your kids so that we can celebrate the next generation of hoop stars,” she said
The Edward Hidek Memorial Scholarship was established in honor of Ed Hidek, softball coach and assistant girls’ basketball coach at The Morgan School from 1985 to 2006. Hidek, who had a passion for sports, guided the softball team to four state class M championships, and he and Grippo led the girls’ basketball team to two state championship wins in their time together.
Ten years ago, on Feb. 20, 2006, Hidek collapsed during a Presidents’ Day team practice at the school. It was the eve of the Shoreline Conference Girls basketball tournament, in which Morgan girls were the top seed. Hidek died of a massive heart attack that morning. He was 59.
With heavy hearts, the girls won the SLC title that year.
A retired state police officer and former history teacher (he graduated from Southern Connecticut State University with a bachelor of arts degree in education), Hidek had been actively involved in town affairs, chairing Clinton’s Parks & Recreation Commission at the time the Ethel C. Peters Recreational Complex was built, serving as a member of the Planning & Zoning Commission, and winning a seat on the Board of Selectmen in November 2005. His wife of 37 years, Lynn Hidek, was the children’s librarian and assistant director at the Henry Carter Hull Library. She has since retired.
“I established a scholarship in Ed’s honor,” Hidek said, “and it has helped 14 female scholar-athletes with college costs, some—when there was a lot of money—for all four years of their college career. For the past few years, I have funded one-year scholarships in the amount of $250. The alumnae game on March 26 will raise money to keep the fund going for the next cohort of female athletes.”
One of the student athletes who has benefited from the scholarship is Christy Coyne, a 2012 Morgan School graduate now in her senior year at Sacred Heart University.
“I’m graduating this May,” she said, “with a major in exercise science. My plan is to do an accelerated nursing program following graduation.”
Coyne, who ran track at Morgan and was on the school’s soccer and basketball teams—she scored a three-pointer during Coach Grippo’s 500th career win—now plays club basketball at Sacred Heart.
“During my Morgan career, I put a lot of time into the program,” she says, “and I was honored to receive the Ed Hidek Memorial Scholarship.”
The cost of tuition at private universities is high, she adds, and the scholarship “helped me start my SHU experience off right, which has been an amazing experience. I’m extremely grateful for receiving the scholarship. I’d definitely recommend all who play girls’ basketball at Morgan to apply for it. It’s coming from a dedicated and inspiring man who spent a huge amount of time with the Morgan girls’ basketball program.”
Morgan alums who’d like another chance to sink the winning shot on their home court should contact Joe Grippo at jgrippo@clintonpublic.net or Lynn Hidek at lynnhidek@sbcglobal.net.
“There is a rich legacy of dedicated athletes who played for Morgan during Ed’s tenure. This is the last time they can play at the Morgan gym they knew from their glory days,” Hidek said.