Matt Buckler To Be Honored With Courage Award By Connecticut Sports Media Alliance 

Longtime Connecticut journalist and short track racing announcer Matt Buckler will be honored by the Connecticut Sports Media Alliance at the association’s annual Gold Key Banquet on Sunday May 17. 

Buckler will receive the Bob Casey Courage award by the Connecticut Sports Media Alliance. 

Buckler spent more than 40 years at the Manchester based Journal Inquirer as an award winning sports reporter, media reporter and editor. 

Buckler had already been covering motorsports for the Journal Inquirer when he took on his first regular short track announcing role in 1996 at the former Riverside Park Speedway in Agawam, Mass. 

After Riverside Park Speedway closed in 1999, Buckler then took on roles announcing over the next two decades plus at Stafford Speedway, Thompson Speedway and the New London-Waterford Speedbowl. 

Buckler, who is a former president and longtime member of the Connecticut Sports Media Alliance, was inducted into the New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame in 2022. 

The Bob Casey Courage Award has been presented annually since 1999 by the Connecticut Media Alliance to recognize an individual or group for extraordinary courage. The award is given in honor of Bob Casey, a former New Haven Register sportswriter and public relations director for the Hartford Whalers who passed away due to cancer in 1994.

Buckler will be honored by Connecticut Sports Media Alliance at the 83rd Gold Key dinner on Sunday May 17 at the Aqua Turf Club in Southington. For more information check the Connecticut Sports Media Alliance website.