The Connecticut Sports Writers’ Alliance announced its four Gold Key winners for 2017.

Atlanta Falcons defensive end Dwight Freeney of Bloomfield, five-time Olympic archer Butch Johnson of Woodstock, Farmington boys' soccer coach Steve Waters and former Cheshire swimming coach Ed Aston will be honored at the 76th Gold Key Dinner on Sunday, April 30 at the Aqua Turf Club in Southington.

The Gold Key has been given out by the CSWA since 1940. Past recipients include: Connie Mack (1940), Willie Pep (1961), Lindy Remigino (1975), Walt Dropo (1975), George H.W. Bush (1991), Gordie Howe (1992), Bill Rodgers (1994), Geno Auriemma (2001), Jim Calhoun (2003), Kristine Lilly (2012), New London's Amby Burfoot (2014), Craig Janney (2015) and Marlon Starling (2016).

Freeney, the former Bloomfield High School standout, has played in the NFL for 15 seasons and is a seven-time Pro Bowler. After finishing his senior season at Syracuse, Freeney was selected with the 11th pick in the 2002 NFL Draft by the Indianapolis Colts. He spent the next 11 seasons with the Colts, was the sacks leader in 2004 with 16 and was the AFC defensive player of the year in 2005.

Freeney helped lead the Colts to their first Super Bowl title in Indianapolis, recovering a fumble in the championship victory over the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI. Since leaving the Colts in 2012, Freeney has played for the San Diego Chargers, Arizona Cardinals and Falcons. 

When Butch Johnson competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, he had firmly established himself as a legend in his event.

Johnson was a contender for a medal in five straight Olympics. In 1992, he made his first Olympic team and at 52 he traveled to China in 2008 for his fifth straight Olympics. Johnson won the gold medal with the U.S. team at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and the bronze medal at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. In 2004, Johnson and the U.S. team just missed a medal, finishing fourth.

As an athlete, Waters had an impressive career at Wethersfield High and later the University of Hartford. But he’s left his mark in state history through coaching. In 34 seasons at Farmington, Waters has led the Indians to nine state titles and 529 wins. He has a record of 529-82-48 and his teams have made 14 state finals. After taking over an already strong program with plenty of pressure, Waters has put his own touch on the program and made Farmington the premier high school soccer town in Connecticut.

He’ll start the 2017 season one win behind E.O. Smith coach John Blomstrann for the all-time wins record. Waters won his first title with Farmington in 1986 over Avon in Class M and has won titles in each of the last four decades. He has won Class LL, Class L and Class M titles.

After 37 years coaching the Cheshire girls' swimming team and 33 coaching the boys, Ed Aston stepped down in 2011 as one of the most successful swim coaches in state history. He finished with 824 wins, 43 state championships and a historic dual meet win streak of 281 straight wins. In 1974, Aston started the boys' team. A year later, he also started the girls' team. It took him three years to win his first state title in 1977.

His girls' teams won 13 State Open titles and 26 class championships. When he retired, he had a record of 410-19-1 as the girls' coach.

Tickets to the 76th Gold Key Dinner, which begins at 4 p.m., are $75 and can be purchased by contacting CSWA President Matthew Conyers of The Hartford Courant at 860-874-4166 or mconyers@courant.com or dinner chairman Tim Jensen of Patch Media at tim.jensen@patch.com.

— Day staff reports