Heading the list of inductees is West New York native and former Union City resident Gene Wettstone, who is one of the most influential figures in American gymnastics. Wettstone, who graduated from Emerson High School, went on to become the head gymnastics coach at Penn State, where he led the Nittany Lions to an amazing 16 NCAA championships. Wettstone, now 93 years old, resides in State College, Pa. and was part of the United States Olympic gymnastics team as a coach or a manager three times.
Others being inducted include current high school baseball coaches Joe Urbanovich of St. Peter's Prep and Mike Hogan of Ferris, as well as Franklin Walker, the assistant superintendent of schools in Jersey City, who was a great athlete and coach. Sandy Sanger, the current superintendent of schools in Union City, is also being honored for his basketball career, as well as North Bergen's Eddie Petersen and Union City's Serge DeBari for basketball. DeBari was a standout at St. Peter's Prep and later Assumption College and is currently the head men's basketball coach at his collegiate alma mater.
Memorial High School will be well represented when current principal Matt Sinisi and assistant principal Gene Pagnozzi get honored. Sinisi was a fine basketball player in his high school days, while Pagnozzi was the first All-State gridder to come out of North Bergen High.
Current St. Dominic Academy track and field coach and athletic director John Nagel will gain induction and will be joined by one of his best all-time athletes, Liane Sullivan.
Former Demarest High School football standout George McGuire, who was part of two national championship teams at Oklahoma in 1952 and 1953, is also being inducted. McGuire is still a fixture at every single Hoboken High School football game.
Three inductees will receive the awards posthumously. The late Tom Shipman, who was Hudson County's first-ever two-time First Team All-State football player at Lincoln High School (1969 and 1970), will gain induction. Also, the Shannon twins, Joe and Red Shannon, who became the first twins to ever play major league baseball back in the 1920s out of Jersey City, will also be honored posthumously.
Bayonne's Tommy Baxter, who won 16 games as a senior at Bayonne High and later became the coach at Marist and the pitching coach at Rutgers University, will also gain induction, as will North Bergen football standout Rick Capozzi, who led the Bruins to the 1978 NJSIAA state championship and the No. 1 ranking in New Jersey.
Jack Stephans, who has been a football coaching fixture for four decades, including stops at Jersey City State and Weehawken, is also among the honorees.
Respected orthopedic specialist Dr. Ernie Tolentino, who was a great track performer for St. Michael's (Jersey City) and later Seton Hall, is also gaining induction.
Two respected members of the Harrison High School athletic community, namely the late Al Barber, who was a long-time soccer coach, and Kevin Hoey, who was a four-sport standout in the 1960s, will also gain induction.
John Hnath, the Jersey City native who has organized the Olympic Spirit Track and Field program for the youth of Hudson County for more than 30 years, has been named as the recipient of the Marty Seglio Memorial Community Service Award.
It should be a great night of nostalgia and reminiscence for all. For ticket information, contact Beth Ruttler at the Hudson County Parks Office at (201) 915-1386...
Former St. Peter's Prep and Merrimack College basketball star Bill Herenda, a native of North Bergen, is doing a bang-up job as the color commentator on the University of California-Davis radio network. Herenda lives in the Sacramento area and also runs a basketball school in the area. Herenda can be heard on the UC-Davis network over the Internet. Check it out...
Local basketball official Brian Dorsey is a rising star in the business. Dorsey, the former Weehawken basketball standout who went on to play at St. Peter's College, recently worked the Clemson-Virginia game, showing that he's ready to make big-time officiating a permanent home. Dorsey is a physical education teacher in the Union City school district...
On a somber note, condolences go out to local basketball ref and evaluator Steve Krychkowski, who lost his mother recently. "Miss Teddy" Krychkowski, who owned a dry cleaners in Jersey City for many years, was a wonderful and loving woman.
It should have been a great time for Steve, who hasn't had it easy in recent years, having endured two open heart surgeries and a major stroke, because his beloved Seattle Seahawks finally made the Super Bowl. But now, Steve has to endure the passing of his mom. Prayers to the entire Krychkowski family for their loss...
Got a chance to see former Union Hill standout Melissa Beyruti playing for Kean University recently, when Kean played Rutgers-Newark. Beyruti, a freshman guard with the Cougars, has really developed into a fine all-around player, especially showing a great touch from 3-point range. She should have a fine career at Kean. The future looks very bright...
Mark Everett, the long-time Dickinson High School baseball coach, will not return this season. Rumor has it that Everett will be replaced by former Ferris assistant coach Angel Zayas...
One of Everett's high school teammates at St. Anthony, Mike Carlsen, is keeping himself busy in the game of baseball. Carlsen is one of the owners of a Toms River-based baseball school, called the Triple Crown Baseball Academy, along with former St. Mary's baseball standout Bobby Thrunk.
Carlsen says that he has about 400 or so regular students who come regularly to the academy, where former St. Anthony standout and former major leaguer Willie Banks - another former teammate of Carlsen and Everett - has been a regular instructor.
For more information about Carlsen's baseball school, call (732) 914-1050 or log onto www.tcbaseballacademy.com...
- Jim Hague
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