Breakfast of Champions

Whether they were going to wear the Pittsburgh Steelers’ black and yellow or the Green Bay Packers yellow and green during the Super Bowl, local fans put aside all team rivalry at ’s 18th annual Super Bowl Breakfast Sunday – in favor of the school’s own unifying red and white.

Hosted by the Jane Ryan Fathers Club, the Super Bowl Breakfast is one of the most highly anticipated events of the year. The fun began at 9 a.m. sharp as more than 500 guests – parents, students, and alumni – streamed into the cafeteria with a donation of $5 per adult and $4 per child.

More than 50 volunteer dads served up a breakfast of champions that boasted chocolate chip, blueberry, and buttermilk pancakes, donuts, bagels, sausage, and fruit.

Although this is the annual Super Bowl breakfast, pancakes aren’t the only draw to an event that’s been wildly successful since 1993.

“Some of the dads have been here since 6:30 AM cooking, but the breakfast is only one part of the morning,” explained Rob Clark, co-president of the Jane Ryan Fathers Club. “There’s also games for the kids in the gymnasium, and raffle prizes donated from community families.”

Presiding at the raffle table – adorned with donated prizes that ranged from gift certificates to local businesses, to American Girl dolls, to a 46-inch television - announcer and Fathers Club member Vin Lipinski kept the crowd excited.

“Who’s going to win the American Girl doll? Who’s going to win the television? Who’s going to win the Super Bowl?” he shouted to cheers from the crowd.

After kids had helped themselves to (or mostly devoured) their pancakes, they headed down to the gymnasium to try their luck at an array of games that would have looked right in place at a Super Bowl training camp, including Nerf football throws and field goal kicks. Walking among the lively crowd were local celebrities of all size and, shall we say, stripe – including First Selectman Timothy Herbst and Storm the Sound Tiger.

The Jane Ryan Fathers Club hosts several events a year, including monthly movie nights, a campout in June, and the Pumpkin Fair in October (together with the school’s PTA). But none of the events quite measure up in size and scope to the Super Bowl Breakfast.

And with schools tightening their belts across the board, fun events like the Breakfast are even more crucial. All net proceeds from the Super Bowl Breakfast go into the Fathers Club’s general fund, which has been used to make donations to the school depending on the teachers’ and principal’s needs and wants.

“Funds from events like this have gone towards whiteboards, printers, a PA system, playground equipment, and picnic tables,” said Jim Fama, co-president of the Fathers Club. “The money that’s made goes right back to the kids.”

The cause is something the whole community can, and does, rally behind. But when the Breakfast winds up around noon, few people are thinking about budgets or proceeds.

“The whole thing just stemmed out of guys’ love for pancakes and football,” said Bob Sollito, a longtime breakfast attendee and Fathers Club alum himself. “Raising money is almost secondary – it’s important to have an event that the kids look forward to and the fathers look forward to, where kids can play and adults can socialize.”