New Britain, CT Sports Hall of Fame
Jim Gardner
It's hard to believe, but the first actual soccer game Jim ever saw also marked his coaching debut. Jim played three sports at New Britain High, but soccer wasn't one of them. Yet he went on to become one of the most successful soccer coaches in Connecticut scholastic history.
After working at the Boys' Club in Worcester, MA, and for the Beterans Administration Hospital in Palo Alto, CA, he became the physical education and health curriculum coordinator and soccer coach at Old Lyme High School in 1958.
It was the best thing that ever happened to Old Lyme athletics. Before his retirement in 1991 his teams compiled a 310-102-21 mark. They won four state championships and eight Shoreline Conference titles. And they qualified for the state tournament an amazing 22 years in a row, and reached the state finales a total of seven times.
Jim won innumerable Coach of the Year honors and in 1986 Old Lyme High School named its athletic field in his honor.
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