Danbury native Ken Green has earned yet another well-deserved award that he will share this time.
The Connecticut Sports Writers' Alliance announced Monday that Green, a five-time PGA Tour winner recovering from a horrific RV accident 20 months ago, and Bristol Eastern grils soccer team goalie Jamie Botteon have been selected to receive the Bob Casey Courage Award.
Green and Botteon will be honored at the 70th annual Gold Key Dinner April 17 at the Aqua Turf Club in Southington.
Green, 52, is a former PGA Tour player who made his Champions Tour debut in 2008. He has the five regular tour titles and won the Connecticut Open in 1985 and 1992.
While traveling to a Champions Tour event in Meridian, Miss., in June 2009, a tire blew in the recreational vehicle in which Green was traveling, causing the vehicle to hit a tree. His brother, William, girlfriend, Jeanne Hodgin, and dog, Nip, died in the accident. Green had his lower right leg amputated as a result of the injuries sustained in the accident. Seven months later, in January 2010, his son, Hunter, was found dead in his dormitory at Southern Methodist University, the result of an accidental drug overdose.
Green, who now lives in West Palm Beach, Fla., returned to competition in 2010, participating in three Champions Tour events: the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf tournament in April, where he tied for 26th; the Regions Charity Classic in May, where he tied for 73rd, and the Dick's Sporting Goods Open in June, which he withdrew from due to pain in the leg. He also played in the Connecticut Open at the Country Club of Fairfield in July, where he again withdrew after the first round because of pain in his right leg.
Botteon, 17, was diagnosed in December 2009 with acute myeloid leukemia, the same disease that her brother, Wade, died from five years earlier at 13. She overcame the disease the following spring and regained her spot as the starting goalie at Bristol Eastern, finishing with a school-record 31 shutouts before the Lancers (14-4) lost in the second round of the Class L tournament.
The Bob Casey Award, named after the former sports editor of the New Haven Register, is given annually to two individuals who have overcome adversity in an exemplary manner.
Since 1940, the Alliance has recognized individuals from Connecticut who have achieved excellence on the youth, high school, college and professional levels. Those receiving the Gold Key this year are UConn-Avery Point baseball coach Roger Bidwell, Simsbury boys golf and soccer coach Ed Lynch, Notre Dame-Fairfield boys hockey coach Marty Roos and retired boys soccer coach Bill Wallach.
The Gold Key Dinner begins at 4:30 p.m. Tickets are $75 and can be purchased by contacting Alliance president Zac Boyer at zboyer@courant.com or by mailing a check to Connecticut Sports Writers' Alliance, P.O. Box 70, Unionville, CT 06085. For more information on the history of the dinner, visit the Alliance web site at ctsportswriters.org. Additional honorees will be announced in the coming weeks.
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