Husky Talk- Chad Pens

Husky Talk is exploding, thank you for listening. A special thank you to Matt Nuzie, who has been the best REMAX real estate agent 8 years running. Thank you Geoff Heyl for donating, as well as Tommy Collins. Thank you, Kyle Muncy for donating despite me constantly asking if the media needed me and you let me down easy. Sean Rabinowitz, thank you for donating and we will be talking Rugby, and more importantly the Rugby house at UConn on Friday. We are grateful for all the support and contributions allow us to record more episodes. Anyone interested in donating, Venmo @Husky-Talk, last 4 digits 9729. New episode of Husky Talk with a local alum from my area, Chad Pens was our guest and his part on the UConn football team had a trickledown effect to why I decided to commit.

Chad comes from a great family and his father Doug, was my Ecology teacher in high school. I remember as a sophomore, my locker was by his classroom and I saw pictures of Chad, along with the UConn football team. My first thought of course was..... UConn has football.

Mr. Pen's was ahead of his time in more ways than one. Chad played soccer until he made the varsity football team as a freshman. He played DB, WR, and excelled at kicking. At 123 pounds soaking wet, Chad focused on kicking and Mr. Pens took him to camps every year at Penn State.

Chad kicked 50 extra points at Clinton high school, with 17 field goals, was all conference and Mr. Pen's knew the difficulty of being recruited. Sending out VHS tapes with football resume, Chad was receiving attention from D1 college coaches. He settled on UConn to go into athletic training.

Sometimes, things do not go as planned, Chad came in with head coach Tom Jackson. Dave DeArmas transferred from Maryland; Skip Holtz became the new head coach. Dave had a strong leg and Chad entered the sports medicine program. It was rigorous, not many can survive it while playing a sport, Chad had to focus on his studies.

Working with legendary UConn trainer Bob Howard, Chad was still a very important part of the program. He was at training camp, up early to help with treatment of injuries and traveled with the team on gameday's. Also worked with other sports teams.

Chad attended graduate school for PT, has a family, and works for a Physical Therapy company managing several offices.

Mr. Pens became my Ecology teacher and the main reason I went to UConn. Having contacts, I believe he got the coaches to evaluate my film early and I was offered a scholarship after my junior year.

Mr. Pens started teaching as a substitute for a woman on maternity leave and was offered an earth science job after. Not interested, he was asked what he wanted to do and at 23 years old, developed a curriculum for Ecology, the first in NY state.

He grew it into a special class, you had to submit a formal application to get accepted in. We did a lot outside the classroom, and he wanted everyone to get to know each other.

He jokingly used to break up the football players because he wanted us to become friends with people outside our group. When any coach from another school came to visit and I was in his class, the office would call his room, Mr. Pens would tell them I was taking a test and not available.

Mr. Pens talked about Chad and how well he was doing. His encouragement, educating me on UConn football is the reason I committed. Each season, he attended 2 or 3 games, Chad remembered coming to one, which was memorable because they met Diana Taurasi after the game. Being a huge women's basketball fan, Mr. Pens was thrilled!

Sadly, Chad lost his father this last year and everyone has incredible memories. We did the show to talk about Chad's career and success from UConn, but also I wanted to honor his father. Mr. Pens was always supportive and had a tremendous impact on my life. We all loved his Ecology class, the curriculum was adopted by the entire state of NY, and at New Hartford High, it is in the best hands possible, Adrianne Greer