By Kim J. Harmon

 

Few students – if any – have heard of Harold S. DeGroat or Ann Anderson prior to last week. But now that the athletic complex behind the school has been dedicated in their honor, each and every student can start learning about these two giants of Newtown High athletics.

Harold S. DeGroat came to Newtown in 1944 when he transferred from Springfield College. The director of athletics at Springfield, coach DeGroat was set to head up the physical education department for a new regional school expected to service Southbury, Middlebury and Newtown.

The school was never built and coach DeGroat ended up at Hawley School. He joined forces with coach Anderson, who also began at Hawley in 1944, to form the first physical education department in Newtown.

Coach DeGroat led the six-man football team, the basketball team, and the baseball team.

Ken Smith, a 1960 graduate, once said of coach DeGroat, “He was a very dedicated guy. He really loved the kids and worked hard with them. Winning and losing wasn’t a big thing with coach DeGroat. He was very big on learning the fundamentals. He’d tell you things like how many square inches of the bat you needed to make contact with the ball. Little things like that I remember most about him.”

Since P.E. was so important to coach DeGroat, he also ran enormous Gym Shows where anyone could participate and the activities could range from skipping rope to square dancing. It would probably be no surprise to anyone that he was also responsible for the town’s first playgrounds.

Coach DeGroat and his physical education program was featured in the 1957 issue of Sports Illustrated.

In 1963, coach DeGroat – retired from teaching – became Newtown’s first Parks and Recreation director.

And May 5, 1966, was proclaimed by first selectman Carl Schutz as Harold S. DeGroat Day.

Meanwhile, Miss Andy – as she was known far and wide – coached girls’ basketball, girls’ soccer, girls’ softball, field hockey, cross country and gymnastics. The girls Miss Andy found for her basketball team in the 1940s and ‘50s had a lot of ability, it seems. From the 1944-45 season, her first as coach of what was the Hawley School girls’ basketball team, right through the 1953-54 season, Miss Andy watched as her girls won 96 games, lost just three and tied three others, while captured four Housatonic Valley Schoolmen’s League championships in the six years that league players were sponsored.

The Hawley girls had eight undefeated seasons and winning streaks measuring 29 and 35 games. No team, in those 10 seasons, suffered more than one loss.

“She always could bring out the best in anybody,” said Joan Glover Crick, who played for Miss Andy from 1946-47 through 1949-50 and was on the field dedication committee. “She always had a twinkle in her eye and a smile. You wanted to prove yourself to her. She didn’t say an awful lot, but you knew just by looking at her that she was proud.”

Miss Andy was prolific not only in basketball, though. When field hockey became a part of the athletic landscape at Newtown High School, Miss Andy started winning some more championships. The Western Connecticut Conference had yet to be formed, but in 1960 the Lady Indians were priming themselves by finishing 4-0-1 (two wins over Masuk and one over New Milford).

Four years later, in the infancy of the WCC, Miss Andy led the Lady Indians to a 6-0 record and their first WCC title and watched as her team not only remained undefeated, but did not allow a goal until the final half of the final game of the season.

Miss Andy won another title, her last, in 1970.

Miss Andy had a profound impact on hundreds of young female athletes . . . as well as many of the coaches she worked alongside.