PUTNAM

Allan Rawson has been going above and beyond for town soccer for more than 20 years. He's devoted countless hours, put thousands of miles on his cars and even built the town a soccer field from scratch.  Friday, more than 100 friends, players and families gathered to dedicate "Rawson Field" off Recreation Park Street to him. It's the field Rawson built 20 years ago. "I couldn't be more surprised," said Rawson, who didn't know the dedication had been planned. He thought he was going to a picnic for the Cobras, the girls team he coaches.

"I'm deeply honored," he said  Donald St. Onge, who coaches with Rawson, thanked him for his years of dedication to town soccer. He said Rawson often would do whatever it took to make sure girls in the area got to play. "If there's ever a hard luck case, he saw to it that no player was left out," he said.  Rawson is responsible for starting town girls soccer, said Ron Frechette Jr., Rawson's friend and coaching partner.  When the club was just getting off the ground, it didn't have its own soccer field and sometimes it was difficult getting playing time on the high school fields, Frechette said. More often than not, his teams would have away games in towns as far as Danbury.  Denise Roireau, president of Putnam Youth Soccer, said Rawson always would pack the back seat of his car with players who needed rides to games.

He's always picking up kids, making sure kids have a ride," she said. The field, which used to be known as the "glass field," was used for bonfires before the annual Thanksgiving Day football game, Frechette said. Even after 20 years, Rawson is still making a difference in town soccer. Rawson said he's looking to develop more soccer fields in Canterbury. The plan is to create places in Eastern Connecticut for everyone to play soccer, something Rawson has been doing all along, Frechette said. "Even though he wears glasses, he's not a shortsighted individual," he said. Roireau said when she became president of Putnam Youth Soccer, Rawson came to her house and spent three hours going over how to run the program most effectively. Rawson's current players praised him, saying he always tries to make them better players and people. "He's a great coach and role model," said Alyssa Bond. "He never yells or loses his temper." Rawson knows how to get the best out of his players, said Caterina Wilson.