Awards

We are proud to recognize and encourage outstanding students from greater Hartford who excel in academics, athletics, and leadership—emerging trailblazers!

The Yale Club of Hartford presents awards to such students with hopes of inspiring future achievements. The awards, which recognize Yale and secondary school students, are generally presented at the Bob Haller Memorial Sports Event, a Club tradition.

Thomas Redden Memorial Award (to high school seniors)

The Club presents Thomas “Tuck” Redden Memorial Awards to the high school senior boy and girl judged most outstanding in the fields of scholarship, athletics, and leadership. The Club selects awardees from among nominations provided by high schools in the greater Hartford region. Nominees need not be applicants to Yale College. The Redden Awards memorialize Tuck’s life and serve as an inspiration to young men and women of the Hartford area.

Thomas “Tuck” Redden was an outstanding athlete, scholar, and leader at Kingswood School, Class of 1945, and then at Yale College, Class of 1949. At Yale, he was a star basketball and baseball player who captained the basketball team in his senior year. His distinguished career carried on after college, when he was an active and valued member of his church and the Hartford community until his untimely death in 1967, at which time the Yale Club of Hartford established the Thomas “Tuck” Redden Memorial Awards.

C. Gilbert Shepard Award (to a Yale undergraduate from greater Hartford)

The Yale Club of Hartford presents the C. Gilbert Shepard Award to an outstanding Yale student from the greater Hartford area who, in his or her freshman year, best exemplifies the quality of leadership Mr. Shepard manifested and who has indicated an interest in the Yale athletic program.

The C. Gilbert Shepard Award is presented in memory of C. Gilbert Shepard (1913 S), long-time Yale Club of Hartford member who lived in West Hartford and had a keen interest in Yale students from the Hartford region. He was active for many years in encouraging many students from the area to apply to Yale. Before the days of Yale orientation programs in New Haven for new students, Mr. Shepard graciously entertained all incoming freshmen from greater Hartford at his home so that they might get to know each other before leaving for New Haven.

Yale Book Awards (to high school juniors)

For many years the Club has annually provided a Yale Book Award to 30-40 high schools in greater Hartford. In 2017, the Club added several magnet schools.

Each school’s principal or staff selects an outstanding student in the school's junior class to receive the award. In recent years, the Club has provided copies of The Yale Book of Quotations by Fred R. Shapiro.

Bob Haller Memorial Sports Event

The Yale Club of Hartford’s sports event is a tradition extending back many decades, from days when it was called a “smoker” due to cigar smoke filling the room and, later, simply “Sports Night.” In the 1990s, the Club named the event in honor of Bob Haller (YC ’58), a long-time director and past president of the Yale Club of Hartford. Bob graduated summa cum laude but did not allow either his studies or his work as an executive at Travelers Insurance to dim his love of Yale athletics.

While there is no smoke today, there is plenty of fire and excitement, as the YCH provides a lively sports event program. The Club traditionally invites Yale coaches of renown to meet members and speak about the current state of Yale athletics, as well regale the crowd with stories of their programs, exploits, and aspirations, often including brief highlight films.

The event typically includes the presentation of the C. Gilbert Shepard Award to the Yale freshman who best exemplifies Shepard’s quality of leadership and who has indicated an interest in the Yale athletic program. In addition, the Club presents the Thomas “Tuck” Redden Awards to local high school seniors judged most outstanding in the combined fields of scholarship, athletics, and leadership.

Connecticut Invention Convention Awards (to elementary, middle, and high school students)

The Yale Club of Hartford is a long-running supporter of the Connecticut Invention Convention (CIC), serving as a judge for the program during the semi-finals and finals, and providing three of the program’s awards. The Connecticut Invention Convention (CIC) is an internationally recognized educational organization started in 1983. Throughout the year, educators use CIC’s curriculum to develop creative problem-solving and critical thinking skills through invention and entrepreneurship. This culminates in the final competition event where students are recognized with awards and prizes for their hard work. Dozens of members of the Yale Club of Hartford serve as judges each year, and the Club confers three awards annually, one at each of the elementary school (Samuel Morse Award), middle school (David Bushnell Award), and high school (Eli Whitney Award) levels. These awards are in honor of those student inventors whose innovations are most emblematic of the genius of Yale graduates Samuel Morse, David Bushnell, and Eli Whitney, respectively.