This 2017 Danbury High School Hall of Fame inductee is a beloved teacher, coach and mentor. Mr. Bergman came to Danbury in 1964 after teaching in Willimantic for seven years. Before teaching and coaching at Danbury High School, he was at Mill Ridge, Hayestown, and Broadview.
At the beginning of his coaching career at Danbury High School, Mr. Bergman coached freshman football, basketball, and baseball. Then Mr. Bergman moved on to J.V. football and baseball. Eventually he took over the varsity girls basketball program. Over a ten year period Mr. Bergman coached two All-State players, two-time honoree Lisa Mikelic and Dawn Berguson. Danbury High girls team was ranked #1 in state polls and had a nineteen game winning streak that stood in the school's records for 25 years. In his third year coaching girls varsity basketball, Danbury High qualified for the state tournament and then continued to do so for six of the next seven years. Danbury lost in the LL state semi-finals in 1986 and lost a heartbreaker in the last second of the 1987 state LL final game to Southington High School. Five young women from that great DHS 1987 LL finalist team have been inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Aside from his distinguished teaching and coaching career, Mr. Bergman has other areas of accomplishment. After the DHS girls basketball team participated in Stamford's summer league, Mr. Bergman started a local summer league. He also started a co-ed varsity club for Danbury High School athletes. Some of the activities included a weekly recreation night for all DHS students and Special Olympics. Their many fundraising efforts resulted in the purchase of a sound system for the gym and the establishment of several scholarships. A scholarship in Mr. Bergman's name is still in existence today.
In 1993, the FCIAC honored Mr. Bergman for his coaching accomplishments. After the 1987 LL State Final game, the chairman of the Girls Basketball Committee wrote about Mr. Bergman that sums up his entire career at Danbury High School: "I have rarely seen a coach with more gentleness towards his players, more bench decorum and more graciousness...You are a credit to your profession, to your school, and to your community. |