A Bristol native, Bob Fiondella was responsible for developing sports projects in Bristol, in the Greater Hartford region, and at the national and international levels. His Bristol projects included the new Bristol Boys & Girls Club (which named its field house in his honor) and Eastern Regional Little League complex, which includes the building of the Malone pool. He helped bring the Challenger Division of Little League into fruition. He was instrumental in the creation of Girls Little League Softball in Bristol, which led to Senior Softball and the Eastern Regional Tournament here.

The CEO of the Phoenix, he served on the Board of Special Olympics International and promoted UConn women’s basketball and saw that games were broadcast on CPTV. He had the High School Girls All-American Game come to Hartford prior to McDonald’s sponsoring the game. The Phoenix sponsored the women’s ABL N.E. Blizzard, AHL’s Wolf Pack, ATP Worlds Doubles Tennis Championships and Hartford’s 1995 Special Olympic Games. He created the Phoenix Classic and was a major contributor to many development projects, including Rentschler Field and the University of Hartford baseball field, named Fiondella Field in his honor.