The Great Larry Sconzo Presented Brauns Award at National Doubles from US Squash Media L-R: US Squash Director of Doubles Preston Quick, Lawrence J. Sconzo, Jr., James Zug
March 29, 2015
- At the gala Saturday night dinner at the 2015 U.S. Doubles
Championships, US Squash honored Lawrence J. Sconzo, Jr. with the 2015
W. Stewart Brauns, Jr. Award.
For almost forty years, Larry Sconzo has been the nation’s most prominent referee.
He joined the old Fifth Avenue Racquet Club in New York in fall of 1976
and by the spring of 1977 was refereeing matches at the club. He soon
became a sought-after referee for all sorts of league, national,
amateur, professional singles and doubles tournaments all around the
continent.
He has refereed an estimated five thousand matches in his career.
He marked the legendary 1984 match at the Canadian Professionals in
Toronto where Mario Sanchez beat Jahangir Khan, Khan’s first loss on a
squash court in more than four years.
Since 1980 Sconzo has refereed thirty-six consecutive finals of the
Johnson, the annual flagship doubles event at the Heights Casino.
“Larry is the consummate referee,” said Preston Quick, US Squash
Director of Doubles. “He is judicious, clear-eyed and fair. He knows
the game and the players as well as anyone.”
“Beyond officiating, Larry has been an incredible ambassador for the
game, always welcoming, making sure everyone feels comfortable and
included,” said Kevin Klipstein, President & CEO of US Squash. “He
is a humble man who richly deserves this recognition.”
The W. Stewart Brauns, Jr. Award, begun in 1989, is named after one of
the most dedicated and involved leaders of our game who was a
tournament director, head referee, committee chair and a founder of the
World Squash Federation.
Appropriately for Larry Sconzo, Stew Brauns was a leading referee in
the middle of the twentieth century and marked many historic matches
including the finals of many of the early U.S. Opens.
The Brauns is annually given by the US Squash board to a person who has
made major administrative, off-the-court contributions to the game of
squash.
Previous winners include Quentin Hyder, Anne Smith, Will Carlin,
Jahangir Khan, Ham Biggar and last year’s recipient, Anne Farrell.
