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IN MEMORIAM

Rudolf [Rudy] M. Gisolfi, 2014 Honoree

OBITUARY

It is with deep sorrow that [the family] announces the passing of Rudolph "Rudy" Gisolfi, beloved father, musician, and cherished friend, at the age of 71. Rudy Gisolfi, who was the husband of the late Carla Buonerba Gisolfi of Norwalk, passed away Sunday, January 5, 2025 at his home. Born September 2, 1953, in Norwalk, Connecticut, he was the son of the late Rudolph "Rudy" M. Gisolfi and Millie J. Gisolfi. Rudy attended Brien McMahon High School, where he played varsity baseball from '69-'71 and varsity football '69 and '70. Rudy was an All-FCIAC in football and held several CT state kicking records. Rudy continued his education at Columbia University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Music Theory. While at Columbia, Rudy played varsity football for the Columbia Lions from '71-'75 as kicking specialist and defensive end.


Rudy was perhaps best known as the founder and leader of the Silver Streaks Band, which he founded in February of 1964 at the young age of 11, a vibrant and well-loved ensemble that brought joy to countless audiences for over five decades. His passion for music was infectious, and his talent was matched only by his unwavering commitment to his craft. Rudy's love for performing never waned, and he was a constant presence in the local music scene, always willing to share his knowledge, mentorship, and warmth with fellow musicians. While managing and performing with The Silver Streaks band he also began his career in the insurance business at Northwestern Mutual Life, 1975-1990, where he was wildly successful earning the nickname, "The Hammer," for always closing his deals in record time.


A man of immense generosity, Rudy was not just a talented musician, but also a kind and compassionate soul. His caring nature extended far beyond the stage-he was a devoted father, papa to his grandchildren, friend, and colleague. His dedication to his family and the well-being of others was reflected in his everyday life. Rudy's work ethic was unmatched; whether rehearsing with his band, working behind the scenes, or lending a helping hand to those in need, he always gave his all with humility and grace.


He is survived by his sons Ryan, his wife Elisabeth, Alex, his wife Kerri, and his daughter Chelsea. He was grandfather to 3 grandchildren, Stella, Carlo, and Caia.


A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. Matthew Church, 216 Scribner Avenue, Norwalk, on Friday, January 17 at 10:00 a.m.

The family will be holding a private gathering after the mass for immediate family and close family friends to honor and celebrate Rudy's life. TBD.

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A Mass of Christian Burial for Rudy Gisolfi will be celebrated at St. Matthew Church, 216 Scribner Avenue, Norwalk on Friday, January 17, at 10:00 a.m. For directions or online guestbook, please visit: www.collinsfh.com/obituary/
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GARY C. LAWRENCE, 2010 Honoree

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OBITUARY

Gary C. Lawrence, 70, of Norwalk, died on Thursday, October 3, 2024 at Norwalk Hospital. Born in Norwalk, son of George "Mimi" and Helen (Trinkley) Lawrence, he was the husband of Sharon Lawrence for 11 loving years.


Gary was one of Norwalk's greatest all time athletes coming from Brien McMahon in the early 1970s where he excelled and co-captained the basketball team. After high school he was recruited to play softball professionally and for many local teams, including his father George Mimi Lawrence's Tigers, Sonny's, Devito Bros, Snellman Construction, and many others. Gary also played football for Partners Cafe, winning many championships.

 

Gary is widely regarded as possibly one of the best athletes from Norwalk, Conn. He was a legend and will be deeply missed by his family and loved ones.


Gary is survived by his wife Sharon, two daughters Alyson Baber of MD, Nicole Lawrence and her husband Jesus Martinez of FL (and their children Eliijah Lugo, Jaylynn Martinez, and Peyton Martinez), and Randy Rogers of Norwalk; two brothers, Bobby Lawrence and his wife Thea and Tracy "Moony" Lawrence and his wife Kathleen, as well as many other grandchildren, nieces, nephews and cousins, and his beloved sidekick Charlie, the poodle.

Gary Lawrence's family will receive friends on Saturday, October 12, from 1-5 p.m. at the Magner Funeral Home, 12 Mott Avenue, Norwalk. For directions or online guestbook, please visit:
www.Magnerfuneralhome.com

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This story below ran in Norwalk's The Hour Sports section on November 15, 2007.

Click on the photo above taken after Gary was inducted as a 2010 Honoree to the Norwalk Old Timers Association to see his complete bio.

Hall of Fame comes calling for Lawrence

by George Albano

Gary Lawrence can't even guess how many miles he traveled during an illustrious softball career that spanned some 30 years.

"Oh, man, I don't know," he was saying Friday morning. "I wish I had a penny for every mile. I put a lot of miles in.

"I'll tell you what," he added with a laugh. "If I had a penny for every mile, I'd have about a hundred grand in the bank."

Lawrence will log a few more miles on his car Sunday afternoon when he travels to Milford for another softball event. This time, however, it won't be for a game. Instead, it will be for the Connecticut Amateur Softball Association Hall of Fame awards dinner, where he will be inducted as one of the newest members to the Hall's Slow Pitch WingThe lifelong Norwalker will be one of three players and four honorees who will be enshrined during a ceremony at Costa Azura Restaurant in Milford that will also include a trio of fast pitch honorees.

"It's the highlight of my career getting honored," the 53-year-old Lawrence, who played with a number of local teams, said. "To be with all the great softball players from the state is quite an honor. A lot of great players are in the Hall of Fame. I heard of a lot of them and even played with and against some of them. Now to be one of them is something I never imagined.

"It's definitely the biggest thing in my career."

One of the most dominant players in Connecticut for three decades, 'Moose' Lawrence hit for a .600 average, supplied plenty of power, and possessed a cannon for an arm in the outfield as he led his teams to a host of tournament titles playing against the top level of competition.

Many of his former teammates will be in the audience Sunday to help him celebrate this special milestone. But some who Lawrence wishes could be there, won't.

"My mom passed away Labor Day so it's going to be very emotional," he said. "I'm going to be sure to mention her. I just wish she could be there. But I'm sure she'll be watching."

Yes, you can bet Helen Lawrence will be smiling Sunday as the oldest of her three softball-playing sons gets inducted into the Hall of Fame.

And she won't be the only one smiling. So will the late Sonny DeMattio, who Lawrence played for on those great Sonny's of Westport softball teams.

"He was like a second pop to me. He was always good to me and my brothers," Lawrence said. "We were always playing somewhere every weekend, places like Delaware and Peabody, Mass. We'd pack up on Friday and play tournaments all weekend. Mom was happy when I played with Sonny because it would keep me out of trouble.

"There was nobody like him. He'd find a tournament somewhere to play in. He's probably up there now still arranging tournaments."

Lawrence, who, at 6-foot-6, was always an imposing figure on the field, had made a name for himself in softball even before he played with Sonny's.

"I started with Chatham Oaks back in 1969," he said of the former Norwalk powerhouse. "My cousin Harry Brower (who also passed away) played with them and Bob Peco, who used to run Chatham Oaks (a local catering hall on Connecticut Avenue), ran the team. They got me to play with them when I was only 16 years old." And with that, a hall of fame career was born.

"There were some great players on that team," Lawrence said. "Big Earl Stabell was our pitcher. We had Eddie Helmenski, who was a helluva second baseman, one of the best I ever saw play.

 

"Then there was Dickie Blake, who could hit a chopper and beat it out before you even picked up the ball, that's how fast he was. I was in left center, Gary O'Malley was in right center and Dickie Blake played right field and batted leadoff. Donnie Bieling and Mike Herring, two more great players, were also on that team.

"And Sam Longo coached third base. He passed away, too. I want to mention him, and I want to mention Sonny and Steve Lilly, God bless him, may he rest in peace. He passed away from cancer. Frank Sabito, who's also gone, is another one I want to mention."

By now, 30 years of memories were flowing out of Lawrence. He talked about his days with Norwalk teams like DeVito Brothers and Snellman Construction and Sandbar and Partners Café.

"A lot of those guys are gonna be there Sunday, too," he said.

 

Then he talked about the 1977 and '78 seasons when he played in a professional softball league with the New York Clippers in Mount Vernon and the Trenton Statesmen in New Jersey.

"I played with (former New York Yankee) Joe Pepitone in Trenton, and with Larry Chiappetta from Greenwich. He should be in the Hall of Fame. He was one of the best. And Jim Galloway, who was known as the 'King of Slow Pitch,' was also on that team.

"It was a good experience. We would fly out to places like Chicago and Cincinnati. We played all over against the best players in the United States. Everybody could hit it out of the ballpark."

Lawrence eventually returned to the amateur ranks. That is, once he was allowed to.

 

"I had to sit out a couple of years and wait to get reinstated to amateur status," he pointed out. "Joe Barber, the head of slow pitch softball in Connecticut, finally said I could play again in 1980." Just in time to re-join Sonny's and help them win the 1980 CASA Major state championship.

"Up until now, that was the highlight of my career, winning the state championship," he said. "There were some tough brackets in those tournaments. All the teams were good, teams like Preston Machine from up the line. To beat all of those teams was great."

Lawrence also helped Sonny's finish second in the World Tournament one season. But what he remembers most was all the traveling, all the miles.

"We used to play in five or six tournaments a weekend. We'd drive to Branford for a tournament, then hop in the car and go to New York for a tournament in Mamaroneck, and then Harrison, and then drive back to Connecticut for another tournament. We'd go back and forth on 95. Sometimes we'd get out of the car and just make it in time."

Besides all the tournaments and championships, though, Lawrence cherishes all the friendships he made.

"I played with three families," he said. "The Bielings, the DeMattios and the Calises. I was always blessed with those players on my teams."

 

He forgot to mention one other family he played with: The Lawrences. His father, George "Mimi" Lawrence, started Lawrence's Tigers, for years another Norwalk softball power. The team featured his three sons, Gary 'Moose' Lawrence, Tracy 'Moonie' Lawrence, and Bobby 'Rocky' Lawrence.

 

"It was nice having all three of us on one team," Gary said. "Mom would always be at every game. She loved her boys.

"When I was in Little League, I was a pretty big boy and one of the coaches called me 'Moose' and it stuck all these years. When Tracy was small, he was always walking around with his diaper hanging off so we called him 'Moonie' and that stuck. Then we called Bobby 'Rocky.' We all had nicknames." Including their father, 'Mimi' Lawrence, a local sports icon who was also elected to the Hall of Fame this year as a sponsor/ manager and would have gone in with his son. But the elder Lawrence, who will be 81 on Christmas Eve, declined for what his son said were personal reasons.

"He has a very bad hearing problem," Gary explained. "The problem is with his ear cochlea (the auditory portion of the inner ear) and we talked about it and he didn't want to be up there not able to hear what was going on. It's a little scary. It's almost like being blind. He can't hear and it's so bad that sometimes I got to write out what I want to tell him.

 

"It's too bad because when we got the call I was told it was unanimous," he added.

 

"But he said he would be uncomfortable up there. I brought him to a doctor around here and my brother Bobby brought him up to Yale. He might get an operation and maybe that will fix the problem in his ear.

"We'll see if we can get it done and if it helps his hearing, maybe he can get in next year. It would be nice for him."

It would also be nice for Gary Lawrence, who said he owes much of his success in softball to his father. But that's not the only sport the younger Lawrence excelled in. At Brien McMahon High School, he was a three-year starter and an All-FCIAC center in basketball who scored 982 career points, and a power-hitting outfielder on the baseball team.

In fact, Lawrence was MVP of The Hour's first All-City basketball team in 1971.

 

"Gary Lawrence could have been an all-star in any sport he wanted. He was that good," said his former basketball coach, Ralph King, who knows a thing or two about hall of fames. "If he hadn't broken his wrist halfway through his sophomore year (averaging 22 points at the time) there's no telling how many records he would have set."

"You know how I ended up playing basketball at McMahon?," Lawrence asked. "About two weeks into practice my sophomore year, Leroy Vaughn (King's assistant and father of Mo Vaughn) came up to me. He played with my father on the Blue Moon. He heard I scored 50 of my team's 60 points in a Parochial League game and he said 'I hear you're a pretty good player. Why don't you come out.' So I tried out and I made it."

He also remembers little Maurice Vaughn, the future American League MVP. "He used to come to practices with his father on Saturday mornings and we used to throw the basketball at him and bounce it off him," Lawrence laughed. "Now look how he made out."

It was right around that same time that Lawrence began his softball career, a career that would last until 2001 and include parts of five decades.

And it might not be over yet.

"My hip started bothering me in 2001 so I had to stop playing," Lawrence, who will be 54 on Nov. 28, said. "I'm supposed to get a hip replacement early next year and then hopefully I can play again, maybe in a wooden bat league. I hate watching games and not playing. It kills me. So hopefully everything will work out and I will do something."

Even if he doesn't, Gary Lawrence will have at least one more "road trip" to make in his softball career, a few more miles to put on his travel log.

In a sense, it will be the biggest at-bat of his career when he steps to the plate on Sunday for his induction into the Connecticut Softball Hall of Fame.

"I'm sure I'll be a little nervous, but I'll get over it," he said. "My Mom will be looking over me."

REST WITH PEACE, GARY.

JOSEPH LIBERATORE, 2007 Honoree

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Norwalk Old Timers would like to remember Joseph Daniel Liberatore, 73, known to all as kind, generous, and the epitome of a gentleman. He was born on June 1, 1950, and passed away peacefully on September 2, 2023. Joe was surrounded by close friends and family during the last months of his life.


Joe attended Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk where he became a three-letter varsity athlete in football, basketball, and baseball. During his senior year in 1968, Joe was named Male Athlete of the Year. His athletic achievements continued at the University of New Haven where he excelled as a shortstop.


After college Joe was a softball enthusiast and played for multiple teams over the years, most notably the Norwalk Aces. He became a basketball referee in 1972 when he joined the International Association of Basketball Officials. He demonstrated a steadfast commitment to excellence, integrity, and a true passion for the game. Joe became a pillar of the officiating community and a respected figure in the basketball officiating world, holding true the value of fairness and sportsmanship. In 2007 he was honored and inducted into the Norwalk Old Timers Association for his athletic accomplishments.


At the time of his death, he was the owner of Joe Liberatore Trophies and Awards. Joe took great pleasure in being able to help athletes around Norwalk and the surrounding communities celebrate their achievements.
While passionate about athletics, his fondest joy was spending time with his family. He was a loving husband, father, brother, uncle, cousin, and grandfather "Papa." He loved to organize and attend family gatherings and was often the catalyst that brought people together.


Joe supported the entire family in helping them achieve their own personal athletic journeys and made it a huge priority to attend all family sporting events and ceremonies. Joe made fond memories playing golf with his dear friends and loved playing at world renowned golf courses with his son, Kevin, his favorite golf partner.


He is survived by his loving, devoted, and cherished high school sweetheart and wife of 51 years, Marilyn Petronella Liberatore. Joe also leaves behind his daughter Kelly Bishop (Jarrod), son Kevin Liberatore (Adriana), brother Paul Liberatore (Diana), sisters Holly Liberatore, Wendy Tarantino, mother-in-law Rosemarie Petronella, and his four beloved grandchildren, Cole, Olivia, Leo, and Nico. Joe was predeceased by his mother Grace DeLallo Liberatore, father-in-law Robert Petronella, and brother-in-law Nick Tarantino.


Donations may be made to the Carver Athletics and Recreation Charity in Joseph Liberatore's name to support the children of Norwalk toward achieving their athletic goals: https://the-carver.org/athletics

SAL NUZZO, 2015 Honoree

Norwalk Older Timers extends condolences to friends and family of 2015 honoree Sal Nuzzo, following his passing on April 9, 2020 in Jupiter, FL.

Salvatore J. Nuzzo was born and raised with eight brothers and sisters in Norwalk. He was an outstanding scholar, leader, and athlete. His senior year, Sal led the Norwalk High School football team to its only state championship while serving as the school’s student body president. He attended Yale University on a scholarship, graduating in 1953 with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, and later earned a master’s degree in business from Columbia Business School in 1974.

 

Immediately following graduation from Yale, Sal joined Hazeltine Corporation, a NYSE-listed defense electronics contractor. He rose through the ranks to eventually become president, CEO, and chairman. He was the recipient of numerous business awards and civic honors.
 

Sal was also an avid golfer. He served as chairman of the North Hills Classic, a golf tournament held on Long Island, which eventually became a regular event on the Senior PGA Tour. He was a founding member of The Bear’s Club in Jupiter, FL and Sebonack Golf Club in Southampton, NY. Although he never achieved his ambition of breaking 80, Sal was proud to have shot an 81 at the age of 83 (from the regular mens’ tees). 

 

Sal adored his wife of 68 years, Lucille (Cocco) Nuzzo, and leaves behind four children: James of Boston, MA, David of Houston, TX, Thomas of Lumberton, NC, and Dana of Norwalk, CT. 

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MARY ROMAN, 1995 Honoree

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Mary Barboza Roman, 84, passed away at Norwalk Hospital on March 23, 2020. Mary was the first victim in Norwalk to succumb to complications from COVID-19.


Mary was born September 30, 1935 in Pittsfield, MA. She was the oldest of three children born to Arthur and Beatrice Barboza. She graduated from Williams High School in Stockbridge, MA where she participated in Women’s Basketball and Softball. Upon her graduation from Williams High School, Mary attended Springfield College in Springfield, MA.


Mary was a very active member in her community; she was the Norwalk City Clerk for eight years for three different mayors. She also volunteered for many different nonprofit organizations, such as the Norwalk Senior Center, and was president of the Rotary Club.

 

Mary enjoyed being competitive, which drove her to participate in the Senior Olympics. She then moved on to the USA Track and Field Master’s Division. Mary has won over 300 medals and holds two world records for her age in the throwing events. She has touched the hearts of many and will be missed by all.


Mary was preceded in death by her parents, husband Granville, sister Charlotte (Hoyt), and son Warren. She is survived by her sons, Michael Roman, Kenneth Roman, Craig Roman and his wife Suzanna, as well as Gerald Roman and his wife Jennifer.

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