The 1958 Hale-Ray boys soccer team will always be remembered for their incredible accomplishments on the field.
"The Zero Boys, this team that went undefeated, untied and unscored upon," said Justin Bellucci, a 2009 graduate of Hale-Ray High School who directed a new documentary titled "The Zero Boys" about that historic team. "I think to me it was just an inconceivable amount of success."
"Their legacy is really important to the overall soccer landscape of not only East Haddam but the state of Connecticut," said former Hale-Ray boys soccer coach Roy Parker. "What they really accomplished is something special considering they only had 34 kids in the senior class and only 17 boys."
They also had a legendary head coach in Tom Nevers, who made quite the impact on his players and the entire community.
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"He's kind of our Red Auerbach, he's our Leo Durocher, our John Wooden," said Parker.
"Most of his success came down to just hard work," said Bellucci. "I've never been in person with someone who has so much reverence for another human until I saw these guys talk about their coach."
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Nevers didn't go easy on his players, but they responded to their coach, who went on to have a successful coaching career at Eastern Connecticut State University.
"Some of them went on to the military and said it wasn't even close to as difficult as their training in high school was," said Bellucci.
"To see the Zero Boys talk about him with the love, admiration and loyalty 63 years later, we can just only hope to have that much impact," said Parker.
Documenting this team and season has become a passion project for Bellucci and he hopes this is only the beginning.
"Now that all the living Zero Boys have seen it that we know of, that's really the biggest success for me," said Bellucci.
"Who knows, it could be like Hoosiers," said Parker. "It's that good of a story and I think the legacy really needs to be carried on because if you're going to build upon your success, you cannot start at a better place than talking about the 1958 soccer team."
