(1918-1993)
Inducted into the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, 1989
Edward L. Waltman was a prominent local athlete during the 1930s and 1940s. He was an all-star football player at Weaver High School and played baseball and basketball. He was an All-state half-back and co-captain of the baseball team at Weaver. He focused on baseball and football at the University of Connecticut and was a star half-back. He played football for the Hartford Blues, the Hartford Pros and the Bristol West Ends, which he coached in the mid-1940s, as well as playing semi-pro baseball in the Hartford Twilight and Industrial Leagues. In 1944, he returned to UConn and was co-captain of the baseball team and an assistant coach for the Huskies before graduating with a degree in education.
He went on to play pro football for the Miami Seahawks of the All-American Conference, and when that team was relocated to Baltimore, he played baseball for the Greensboro Patriots in North Carolina. He was a member of the Central Connecticut Board of Football officials. After retiring from sports, he coached and officiated in the Midget Football League, and co-owned the Southington Gems, a semi-professional football team, in the late 1960s.
Waltman founded a Hartford building company specializing in residential construction in the 1950s and was involved in subdivision projects throughout the state. In the early 1960s, he joined the T & M Building Co. in Torrington and worked in land acquisition, in which he was active until his death.