Hall of Fame
The postal service delivered the best of news to Dante Bonamico.
“My wife and I were sitting in the house and I saw this letter from Bridgeport High School. I thought, ‘What in the world could it be?’”
The contents? Bonamico was officially a member of the first class of the Bridgeport High Athletics Hall of Fame.
“It was just a lot of excitement and memories,” Bonamico said. “It’s an honor. I know the amount of athletes that have come out of Bridgeport that have gone on to do great things in college and beyond. To be thought of as one of the best, knowing that my peers voted on me to be in the first class, it’s a privilege.”
Lots of excitement and memories, and lots of state championships – Bonamico won six of them, three in football and three in baseball, in addition to three state tournaments and two semifinal berths in basketball.
“I was blessed all four years to be on great teams with great athletes, great teammates, great coaches. I think the more competitive your team is, the better you become as a player and the more you get out of yourself as a player,” Bonamico said. “Our coaching was the best in the state.”
In all, Chris Johnson tabulated his overall record as a high school athlete as 203-31.
“The more sports you play, the better you’re going to be at each” was Bonamico’s philosophy. “That doesn’t specifically mean you’re going to fine-tune your craft in each one, but it gives you an opportunity to stay in shape, to learn different things are far as techniques and know that your strength is building the whole year.
“It made me a better athlete. It made me appreciate each sport each year.”
Extra sweet was sharing that glory with brother Anthony.
“My sophomore year with my brother, winning baseball and football, was something that I’ll never forget,” Bonamico said. “And then just finishing out senior year with kids I grew up with and some of my best buddies were some memories I’ve never forgotten to this day.”
What made Bonamico great is what has continue to make Bridgeport’s programs great.
“Playing with the kids I grew up with from youth sports all the way up to high school, we built a bond. We knew each other, how we fed off of each other in each game and how we would react to adversity. You can’t replace chemistry with a teammate with anything in sports.
“Go down to the city park, go down to the football field, go down to the baseball field each night and you’ll find out why (Bridgeport has had success). You have kids starting out at young ages that have coaches that care about them and a community that cares about them.
“People all around here want sports and Bridgeport to be the best they can be.”
Bonamico got to continue his football career at West Virginia University after finishing his time with the Tribe.
