Saluting our dads: Rudy Bagos and father Rodolfo

Ned Griffen, The Day, New London, Conn.
·2 min read

Jun. 20—The Ledyard High School football team had opened its 1986 season with consecutive losses, prompting head coach Bill Mignault to make a quarterback change and start junior Rudy Bagos.

Bagos threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Scott Petersen in his first start as the Colonels beat Norwich Free Academy 14-0, but it was a rare positive moment Bagos remembers about that game.

"I was 2 for 14 (completions to pass attempts)," Bagos chuckled.

Bagos, then, wasn't brimming with confidence when Ledyard played at Windham in Week 4.

"I was just nervous and thinking, 'I don't want to do another 2 for 14,'" Bagos said. "I wanted to contribute more to the team.

"I was warming up and I just remember looking up at the stands. I see my father (Rodolfo). He just nods his head and it was like, 'Okay, everything is going to be alright' ... and it was. It helped calm me down."

The Colonels won, 22-0.

"I didn't throw a touchdown pass but my completion percentage was better," said Bagos, now the head coach of East Lyme's football and boys' golf teams. "I just remember (then assistant) John Langford coming up to me and saying, 'that's how you play the game!"

Bagos and Ledyard went on to win the CIAC Class M title, the first of four for the program.

Rodolfo made an impression on Rudy about the value of hard work. Rodolfo grew up in the Philippines and joined the United States Navy. He served for 20 years and rose up the ranks to chief before moving on to work at Millstone.

"Growing up, I always had heroes," Bagos said. "I always loved Larry Bird. He was my guy. Carl Yastrzemski, Fred Lynn, but it wasn't until I got older that I realized my father was (my hero) for what he did. Where he came from in the Philippines. How hard he worked so that his family would be provided for. To me, it's pretty amazing."