The CSGA Links Volume 3 Issue 6 September 2015 | Page 40

VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT

We Appreciate You

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ewly elected Junior Golf Chairman for the Connecticut State Golf
Association, Mr. Chuck Claffey, is “…honored to be chosen as the
chairman.” Claffey was born in New Jersey but raised in West Hartford.
He attended West Hartford Public Schools and graduated from Conard High School
in 1962. Claffey graduated from Springfield College in Springfield, MA in 1966
before earning his Master’s Degree in Special Education from Central Connecticut
State University in New Britain, CT in 1973. While at Springfield, he played on his
‘first golf team.’ He currently resides in Farmington with his wife of 46 years and
enjoys visiting his son and two grandchildren in Killington, VT during his free time.

Now retired, Claffey was once a Physical Education and Health teacher
in the Town of West Hartford. After serving as a teacher at both Smalley
Elementary School in New Britain, Claffey moved to Plant Junior High School
in West Hartford where he spent ten years teaching and coaching. He moved
to The Hall High School in West Hartford in 1979. While at Hall, he was an
Assistant Football Coach for three years and the Varsity Basketball Coach for
12 years. In 1980, Claffey earned the position of Varsity Boy’s Golf Coach. He
also served as The Hall High School’s Athletic Director for five years before
returning to teaching and coaching. Claffey founded the Girl’s Golf Program at
both The Hall High School and Conard High School in 1996 before returning
to Hall’s Boy’s Golf Team in 1997. Claffey serves as the All-State Chairman for
Golf of the Connecticut High School Coaches Association (CHSCA) and also
as the Boy’s Golf Liaison from the Central Connecticut Conference (CCC) to
the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC). To this very day,
Claffey continues to serve as the The Hall High School Boy’s Golf Coach. “I
was coaching three sports for probably the first 25 years that I was in teaching…I
enjoy the kids at this level. It’s nice to see them come in as freshmen and grow
after two or three years and then go onto college and play golf,” said Claffey.

In 2013, Claffey was named Boy’s Golf Coach of the Year for Region
One (New England and New York) by the National High School Athletic
Coaches Association; he was named Coach of the Year in Boys Golf by the
CHSCA in 2012. The CSGA named Claffey Volunteer of the Year in 2011.
Competitively, Claffey has been the Club Champion at Rockledge Golf Club
numerous times. He recently earned his fourth Club Championship at Farmington
Woods Golf Club, where he serves on the Golf Committee and as Handicap
Chairman. He also won the Connecticut PGA Senior Amateur Championship
in 2001 and continues to compete in Senior CSGA events. His biggest thrill
in golf was being a contestant at the 2003 USGA Senior Championship.

From volunteering for the CSGA and playing in the USGA Senior
Championship to serving in the CHSAC and the CIAC, Claffey has seen many
facets of a myriad of sports. He possesses a wealth of knowledge due to his many
years working with the young and the young-at-heart. For these reasons and his
impressive resume, Mr. Chuck Claffey is the perfect man for the position as the
Junior Golf Chairman for the Connecticut State Golf Association. ~ By Katie
Vrabel
40 | CSGA Links // September, 2015

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