Ernest Borgnine Park

All Hail McHale
Ernest Borgnine Park, Hamden
June 2024

If you are over the age of, say, 40, you should know who Ernest Borgnine is. In my case, I know him fistly as Lieutenant Commander Quinton McHale from McHale’s Navy, the 1960’s sitcom. (Thanks, Granndad!) Younger folks may know him from Airwolf and movie buffs surely know his Best Actor winning role in the movie Marty.

He was also in two of yours/your husband’s/dad’s favorite movies – The Dirty Dozen and Escape from New York.

He was in a ton of other things, of course, but these days he is perhaps best remembered for Ernest Borgnine Park in downtown Hamden, Connecticut.

Right at the intersection of Dixwell and Putnam Avenues in an unkempt patch of grass and weeds next to a strip mall. It is, in fact, between a CVS and a Walgreens and in front of a Family Dollar. (I should note that this is in 2024, as this is bound to change.)

Hamden, why are you doing my man Ernest wrong? He deserves so much more!

Borgnine is certainly the most famous Hamdenite of all time, right?

Let’s see…

Glenn Beck lived there when he was a KC101 DJ, but he’s irrelevant now. James J. Greco, former CEO and President of Sbarro, grew up in town… nah. New York Rangers goalie Jonathan Quick is a Hamden kid and is certainly more well known to many. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson lived here for elementary and middle school? Yes, yes he did. Paul Fusco, the voice, creator, and puppeteer of ALF, grew up in town. Okay.

More?

Scotty Burrell, UConn basketball hero! Thornton Wilder, the playwright! And joking aside, Hamden’s most famous son is clearly Eli “Cotton Gin” Whitney.

So, I guess in order I’d go Eli Whitney, The Rock, Wilder, Borgnine, Quick. Fair?

Way more famous people than you thought, eh? And only one has a park in town. (Whitney is of course honored in museums, Wilder at the library, Quick probably at Hamden High but he transferred to Avon Old Farms…)

But Borgnine loved Hamden and frequently visited even after he became rich and famous. And so, as a result, Hamden honored him in 2005 with a small piece of land in the corner of a shopping plaza parking lot.

It isn’t the most well-maintained park I’ve ever experienced. Granted, I left my son in the car, scampered across the grass and litter, walked into the shady copse, out the other side, and back to the car. There was trash on the bench and no Borgnine statue as you’d expect.

But there it is: Ernest Borgnine Park in Hamden.

RIP Big Guy, you’ll always have Hamden’s heart.