Greenwich Family Ties

Scooter Braun Instagram page

There's a lot of Greenwich in that picture.

Scooter Braun is a media mogul who has found ridiculous success in music and more. He's second from left in that picture.

I knew him as Scott Braun.

That's his father Ervin -- a dentist -- on the right.

In the back are three more Braun boys: Sam, Adam, and Cornelio.

At one time, I knew them all.

Scott -- sorry, Scooter -- Sam, Adam, and Cornelio each played basketball at Greenwich High School and I was their broadcaster.

Sam Manhanga and Cornelio Guibunda were brought to Greenwich by Dr. Braun to join the family and play basketball. That season was interesting, as the Cardinals went 22-3, making their way to the FCIAC championship, and producing my "Insanity" call, as GHS fell to Trinity Catholic on a buzzer-beater by Dave McClure, who would go on and play at Duke.

I'm sure (oh, who I am kidding? I know)  if I were to dig through the the archives, I'd find plenty of scoresheets and programs featuring these guys.

Sam and Cornelio brought attention (not all of it great) wherever they went. Their arrival was considered a controversial. For the record, they were great with me and our broadcasts.

From what I've seen, the Braun family has done very well in their lives. Congratulations to all. They were each always nice to me in any interaction I had with them, so I wish them well.

A quick side story: Greenwich played Bridgeport Central in the state tournament in that 01-02 year. I was approached by two people from ESPN who were doing a story on Cornelio and Sam. They connected into our WGCH broadcast for audio to use during the story.

The Cardinals lost that night and the season came to an end. I gather that squashed the story.

It was back in the day when WGCH did everything. Every game.

It was just one piece of what made for a crazy winter of 2001-2002.

Oh yeah. I also became a father that season, but that's a story for another time.

Like next month.