Palace Theater To Host Free CommUNITY Event: Unifying & Equalizing Through Sports

On Wednesday, May 1st at 7:00 pm, the Palace Theater hosts a free CommUNITY event showcasing the transformative power of team sports. The evening will celebrate and explore the role of sports in breaking down barriers and uniting communities.

Keynote speaker Attorney Joe Summa will examine the importance of skills developed by athletes and team members and how that translates to other aspects of life. An engaging panel discussion will follow with CT-based athletes who will share how their experiences on the field of play have translated to real-life situations, challenged stereotypes, and helped build bridges across divides. Anne Karolyi, Managing Editor of the Republican American and President of the Greater Waterbury Campership Fund will also be on hand to welcome guests and talk about how the fund helps area youth benefit from team experiences by underwriting summer camp tuition. 

Keynote Speaker: Attorney Joe Summa

Moderators: Kyle Brennan, Bob Sagendorf

Panelists: Willie Davis, Deneen Fryer, Anthony Ireland, Jennifer LaCapra, Loren Luddy

Admission is free but registration is required. Please register at the Box Office by calling 203-346-2000.

About Attorney Joe Summa

Joe Summa was the point guard on the 1967 Sacred Heart High School Class A State championship team and co-winner of the Most Valuable Player Award in the Class A State Tournament.  He attended Wesleyan University where, as a two-year co-captain, he set numerous assists and scoring records. In his senior year, he was Honorable Mention All American, received the Bob Cousy Award for the outstanding Collegiate Player under six feet in New England, and was selected to play in the Naismith Hall of Fame Game for seniors. In 1995 he was admitted into the legendary Pearl Street Summer League Hall of Fame. In 2004 Joe became the first Naugatuck Valley area basketball player to be inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame and the first Wesleyan player to be so honored. 

Joe is a founding partner of Summa & Ryan P.C. which represents numerous local companies, municipalities, and Fortune 500 corporations in all aspects of labor and employment law and is a frequent lecturer and author.

In addition to the practice of law, Joe has been involved in numerous sports related community activities over the last 40 years including the Armory 2000 project, Sacred Heart Alumni Hall, the Fairlawn Park restoration project, the Connecticut Kingz academic and athletic basketball program and the renovation and dedication of the Hubie Williamson courts at Martin Luther King Park.

Joe has served multiple terms as President of the Greater Waterbury YMCA Board of Directors, where he has been a Director for over 20 years. He also currently serves on the Board of Directors for The Leadership Academy.

About Kyle Brennan

Kyle Brennan, a former local sports journalist for more than 15 years, is currently a teacher and coach at Nonnewaug High School in Woodbury.

The Beacon Falls native began his sports writing career with Citizen's News in 2008, covering high school sports at Woodland and Naugatuck, before joining the Republican-American in 2010. During his career, he was an 11-time award-winner from the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists. He also broadcast high school football for WATR from 2012–16 and covered the 2012 London Olympics for NBC Sports.

Brennan left full-time journalism in 2017 to earn a master's degree in secondary education from the University of Bridgeport. Now in his fifth year as a social studies teacher at Nonnewaug, he maintains his roots by teaching journalism and a course called Sports and Society, a sports-based social studies class. Brennan is also the assistant baseball coach at Nonnewaug, helping the Chiefs win the 2023 CIAC Class M state championship.

About Bob Sagendorf

Bob Sagendorf has been involved with broadcasting since 1975 when he joined WOWW-AM (soon-to-be WNVR) in Naugatuck. Sagendorf worked in the Connecticut broadcast market until 1985 when he was hired as production director of the nation's leading oldies radio station, WCBS-FM in New York City.

In 1991, Sagendorf received a call from his friend Chris Berman (who he met at WNVR), who was looking to build The ESPN Radio Network. Bob became the first employee and one of the primary architects of The ESPN Radio Network, designing and implementing the operational infrastructure. During his time at ESPN, Sagendorf served in many production and strategic capacities including as the lead voice for many ESPN signature programs, which included, NFL Countdown, NFL Primetime, NFL Sunday Night Football, NFL Monday Night Countdown, National Hockey Night, College basketball and football, The Tour de France, The U-S Open Golf Championship, The British Open Golf Championship and many college bowl games.

In 2001, Bob ventured back to his roots in local radio as news and sports director at WATR while still serving in a production capacity at ESPN. Bob was one the primary architects of CTSN, the Connecticut Sports Network (soon-to-be CPTV Sports), a joint venture between Connecticut Public Television and WFSB-TV Channel 3 bringing high school and small college sports to Connecticut television viewers. In 2009 he was elected to The Naugatuck Hall of Fame for his outstanding work and achievements in Broadcasting.

In addition to his radio and television experiences, Sagendorf has served as an adjunct professor of Journalism and Radio Production at the former Briarwood College. There he developed a student mentoring business Hired! Education, lecturing college students across the country in the ways and means of securing employment once their education has been completed.

About Willie Davis

Willie Davis, a Waterbury native, graduated Crosby High School as a three-time all-city 1st team, NVL 1st-team, and an all-state high school All-American honorable mention in basketball. After leaving Crosby, he attended Charles County Community College and then Alderson Broaddus College. There, he earned 1st team NAIA All-American 3 times and All-Mountain State honors 2 times.

Willie was drafted in 1992 by the Tri-City Chinook, a professional basketball team in the Continental Basketball Association, the (now defunct) development league for the NBA. Willie Davis averaged 19.3 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game in his 11-game career with the Tri-City Chinook, New Haven Skyhawks, and Connecticut Skyhawks. After his stint in the CBA, he started playing basketball overseas, with 2 years in South America, 5 years in Austria, 1 year in Israel, and 1 year in Cyprus.

Today, he is the Founder and President of 3D Music Academy Inc. in Waterbury. His organization works with inner-city youth to develop and nourish their artistic abilities through a free music training program.

About Deneen Fryer

Deneen Fryer is the Founder and CEO of Hoops4Life, a community-driven initiative dedicated to providing youth with a platform to hone their basketball skills while fostering growth and resilience. By offering structured basketball programs, mentorship opportunities, and a supportive environment, Hoops4life empowers youth to channel their energies into productive pursuits. 

Deneen Fryer has over 30 years experience in basketball, as a player and a coach.  She has been active in sports since elementary school. In 1989, she began coaching girls' basketball teams at Crosby High School (Freshman, JV & Varsity), Westover Preparatory (JV), and Kaynor Technical High School (JV). In addition, she has volunteered as a coach for the Special Olympics, Slamma Jamma Basketball Camp, CT Starter Camps and PAL. She has been an AAU Team A certified IAABO Basketball Official since 2003. Deneen is committed to promoting the positive aspects of sports for youth in the Waterbury area.

About Anthony Ireland

Anthony Ireland, a Waterbury-native, played collegiate basketball at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) from 2010–2014 before embarking a professional career spanning across Europe. He most recently placed for HydroTruck Radom of the Polish Basketball League.

AT LMU, he earned First-Team All-WCC honors three times from 2012–14. His 2,169 career points rank third in program history. Ireland earned LMU's first NABC All-District honor in 2011–12 and Second-Team All-NABC recognition as a senior. Additionally, Ireland picked up the Lou Henson Preseason Mid-Major All-American recognition and was named to the Bob Cousy Award Watch List and Senior Class Award Top-50 as a senior. In 2019, he was inducted in the LMU Athletics Hall of Fame.

He later founded the AI3 Leadership Academy in 2015, which was created with the intent to produce future leaders, both on and off the court, focusing on youth development and community leadership, while emphasizing the opportunities that discipline, hard work and passion can develop. 

About Jennifer LaCapra

Jennifer LaCapra, a Waterbury-native, was a three-sport athlete at St. Margaret's McTernan School, where she played for her father, long-time Athletic Director, Ray Behr. Jen has been teaching for 22 years (3 years as a special education teacher and 19 years as a Physical Education and Health Teacher). She has 25 years of coaching experience consisting of elementary, middle, and high school levels as well as Unified Sports/Special Olympics.

Jen was introduced to School Based Unified Sports by the late Joe Canzanella while teaching Physical Education within the New Haven Public Schools. She later started the program at Oxford High School in 2012. She was named CIAC George Synnott Unified Sports Coach of the Year as well as the CT High School Coaching Federation Unified Sports Coach of the Year. In 2020, she was given her biggest honor, The Special Olympics North America Unified Champion School Coach of the Year. Jen's OHS Unified Program was named Rookie School of the Year after its first season in 2012 and was named the number one program in the state by the CIAC, twice.

Jen loves sharing her passion, stories and benefits of sports and unified sports for all involved. It truly brings her joy and happiness.

About Loren Luddy

Loren Luddy grew up surrounded by sports — she played soccer, basketball and softball through the Bunker Hill Sports Association in Waterbury. At the Taft School, Loren earned 12 Varsity Letters for soccer, basketball, and softball, in which she was a starter for all three sports. Her soccer team won 4 New England Championships. After Taft, she played softball at Colgate University and earned NCAA Division 1 All-American Scholar Athlete honors in 1994.

After graduating, she started teaching and coaching back in Connecticut at Naugatuck High School and then later Woodland Regional High School (WRHS). At Woodland, she won the Doc McInerney High School Coach of the Year for a Girl's Sport in 2023. In 21 seasons, she coached the WRHS to a 335-141 record, 3 NVL championships, and 2 Class M State Championships. She also coached soccer at Woodland from 2001–2006 and won 1 NVL Championship in 2004.

She currently teaches Spanish and serves as the Department Chair for World Languages at Woodland Regional High School.

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