By Tom Rowe

Sun Contributing Writer

Editor’s note: Today’s look at the 1937 football team is the final profile of the 2012 Norwich High School Sports Hall of Fame induction class. The article will run in two parts with the completion in Friday’s edition.

Perfection!

In an instant, the word conjures up an array of ethereal splendor that rivals Charles Martel’s meeting with Dante in the Heaven of Venus, during the author’s final chapter – “Paradiso” – of his classic “The Divine Comedy.”

Like Dante, all people strive to find that perfect something. It could be the perfect mate, the ideal vacation spot, that most appealing outfit, the ability to ace the big exam or owning the car of your dreams. But, unfortunately, those quests usually hit a quick and very imperfect brick wall.

The world of athletics, however, can produce that much sought-after nirvana. Steeped in numbers crunching, sports has long elevated individuals and teams to mythical heights. For example:

Nadia Comaneci of Romania scored the first-ever 10 on the uneven bars at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. She would go on to record six more perfect 10s before the Olympics closed.

Twenty-one times during major league baseball – 18 since the modern era began in 1900 – there have been perfect games. The most notable of these gems is Don Larsen’s perfecto back on Oc. 8, 1956 in a 2-0 victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers in Game 5 of that year’s World Series.