Mustangs Saddle Up With Gorilla Lemonade Sponsor

Justen Wilson held up a finger on his right hand. It wouldn’t bend. It won’t for several months, until the off-season when he’ll have surgery. He strained the tendon making a tackle on the gridiron. 

“Injuries are part of the game,” said Wilson, a linebacker, tackle, and running back for the Connecticut Mustangs, a semi-pro football team representing Greater New Haven in the East Coast Football League. The team is currently ranked sixth in the northeast.

Wilson was one of a dozen CT Mustangs assembled on a recent afternoon outside Seven Haven convenience store on the corner of Sylvan Avenue and Greenwood Street in the Hill to mark the announcement of Gorilla Lemonade as an official sponsor of the team. 

The occasion coincided with the unveiling of a color-splashed mural by local artist Jesse Wolf that pictured the familiar logo of the gorilla roaring with satisfaction. 

Kristen Threatt, co-creator of Gorilla Lemonade, said Mustangs owner Jose ​“Conie” Matos approached him earlier this summer about becoming a sponsor. 

“I was inspired by the work they do, and how they’ve been able to achieve so much in so short a time,” said Matos, who also plays right guard on the team.

He was referring to the pledge of Threatt and co-creator Brian Burkett-Thompson to donate 10 percent of the profits from each case of lemonade to their Eat Up Foundation in support of initiatives like backpack drives, Thanksgiving food drives for people experiencing homelessness, and Christmas toy drives.

“We share the same goals,” said Threatt who, along with Burkett-Thompson, celebrated Gorilla Lemonade becoming the first Black-owned beverage supplier at Yale in late February. ​“We’re two guys from this neighborhood with big dreams of making positive change where we are, and we’re two guys who are willing to do what it takes to make that happen.” 

As a member of the ECFL, the Mustangs compete in games each Saturday from June to September against teams from towns and cities in Connecticut and Massachusetts, with home games at Amistad High School and West Haven’s Veterans Memorial Field. 

“We recruit players by word of mouth,” said Matos, clad in a royal-blue jersey that sported a Gorilla Lemonade logo. ​“I’ve got a lot of friends who are coaches in high schools and area programs, and I ask them: Are there any seniors who want to continue to play but don’t have the opportunity?” 

For some, Matos said, it’s a way to ​“stay in football shape. It’s one thing to work out and another to actually play the game.” For others, it’s an opportunity ​“to get film to get the chance to play elsewhere.” 

For still others, it’s for the love of the game. ​“I only started playing football at Hillhouse,” said running back Dennis Coleman. ​“Before that I was doing track, wrestling, and band.” After high school, he decided to continue playing in the ECFL. He hasn’t looked back, he said.

“They treat you like family, not just players,” he said. ​“If anyone has a problem, they got your back.” 

Herbie Bagwell starred as a defensive back at Hamden High and SCSU before enlisting in the Army. 

“I served in Djibouti, building houses,” he said. ​“I like impacting change. I like to serve. I love football, but we also do a lot in the community.” 

That includes, according to Robert ​“Mack” Hayes, outreach like back-to-school drives, community cleanups, and trunk or treat each Halloween.

“We get all our guys out there, it builds us as a team, and also lets people know who we are, which brings ticket sales,” said Hayes, a West Haven High standout who went on to play at SCSU. 

For Hayes, who’s coached at West Haven High and Emmett O’Brien Tech, continuing to play football is ​“a great opportunity to relieve stress and stay fit,” he said. It’s also the camaraderie of ​“brothers battling for each other.” 

The ​“family vibe” is the point, said Matos, who recalled one afternoon when the players sat around the kitchen table of his grandmother, Tomasa Pizarro, prepping fried tacos for a fundraiser. 

“It’s more than football for us,” Matos said. ​“I’m always throwing cookouts. They always come by, they know they’re welcome.

“But also on any given day, any given time, the players know they can call any of their teammates. It could be they caught a flat on the highway, or they’re moving out of their apartment. We’ll be there. Or if you’re having a long day because you’re watching your kids all day, come over with the kids.”

That goes to financial support of players as well. ​“If there’s a player we know can’t afford the $175, we’ll reach out to a sponsor so they can play for free,” Matos said, referring to the pay-to-play arrangement, with team members paying $175 for uniforms and equipment.

“That’s just who we are,” he said.

So is winning, it seems. ​“Who wants to watch a losing team?” Hayes asked, alluding to the CT Mustangs as one-time league champ and perennial playoff contender. 

Hayes said that the partnership with Gorilla Lemonade is a win-win. 

“We need the funding,” he said. ​“They need the promotion.”

“We have something really special going on, and we want to keep it going for years,” Matos said. He encouraged everyone to come out for a game, which has tickets going for $5. ​“It gets intense and exciting, and everyone, especially the kids, has a lot of fun.” 

“And this drink is a boost for sure,” Bagwell, the Army veteran, added, having just polished off a bottle of blueberry lemonade.

With that, Threatt nodded and smiled.

“We’re all about partnering with local businesses and organizations that are doing good,” he said, noting that Gorilla Lemonade just signed a contract with distributor Beverage Express that will put the drink in 2,000 locations in Connecticut and another, with Husam Distribution, for 300 locations in New York. 

“Conie and the Connecticut Mustangs, they’re doing their part in this community, and that’s why this is a beautiful thing.”