Missing Bill Gonillo

Southwestern Connecticut schools' sports seasons are now underway, but their most ardent fan will no longer be watching. Or keeping score or videotaping the athletes or interviewing coaches--and then coming back to News 12 Connecticut's anchor desk to report their stories.

Sports Director Bill Gonillo is gone. He died this week of vascular problems related to diabetes. The news came as an enormous shock not just because he was so young--only 44--but because he personified the term "full of life."

Kind, self-deprecating and just plain funny, Bill loved nothing more than sharing in the joy of those he covered, like the Fairfield University women's basketball team and its coach Dianne Nolan as they learned they had earned a place in a national tournament.

The winner of a slew of awards that kept on coming, Bill was the radio voice of Yale University sports in his earlier days. In recent years he spent plenty of time with the Bridgeport Bluefish, as well. But his true passion was local high school sports games, to which he tirelessly hauled his camera for a dozen years.

Tributes to him have been pouring in to the Fairfield County Conference blogs and websites. One coach credited him for putting "girls' ice hockey on the map." Another blogger called him so kind to the kids and "wonderful to watch in-studio. Always a quick quip and a good writer."

For those who shared that studio and the newsroom with him, it has been a very difficult week indeed. Hands down, Bill was the favorite member of the News 12 family.

As for our Cablevision editorial point, well, it's just our thanks to Bill for the extraordinary care he always took in making sure to spotlight the unsung as well as the champs. Michael Haughton
Orange, CT

I am an avid high school football fan. My nephew is a linebacker for Masuk High School and I always looked forward to Bill Gonillo's sports reports on Friday nights. Tonight's report, while well done as usual, wasn't the same. I have been a type-one diabetic for five years. I did not know that Bill had diabetes, so his death was a total surprise. I will be submitting a donation to the American Diabetes Association in his name. Thanks for the touching editorial.