October 19, 2009
Mercy College Inducts Hall Of Fame Class of 2009
| |
|
2009 Hall of Fame Inductees. |
Four former standout student-athletes were honored.
DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. – On Saturday, Oct. 17, Mercy College inducted its third class into the Athletics Hall of Fame at a dinner and awards ceremony. More than 120 alumni, family members, friends, past and present staff members, and current students attended the event, held at the Rotunda on the Mercy College Dobbs Ferry Campus. The event coincided with Mercy College’s second annual Founders’ Day.
This year's inductees were Brian Donohue (New City, N.Y.), Mary Brechbiel Agnetti (Haverstraw, N.Y.), Bob Crescenzo (Clark, N.J.) and Noreen Annunziata Apicella (Stony Point, N.Y.).
Mercy College also presented the Dr. Ann Grow Friend of Athletics Award to Dr. Darryl Bullock (Yonkers, N.Y.). Katelyn Klobus (Averill Park, N.Y.) and Kevin Gibson (Buenes Aires, Argentina) received the Neil Judge Scholar Athlete Awards, presented to the male and female graduating student-athletes with the highest cumulative grade point average from the last two academic years.
Also attending the dinner were Mercy College Athletics Hall of Fame members former women’s basketball coach Carol Schachner-Leib, former Director of Athletics and coach Neil Judge, former men’s basketball player Rob “The Rocket” Davis, former baseball standout Pat Geoghegan and former head baseball coach Rick Wolff.
|
|
| 2009 Hall of Fame Inductees and Award Winners. |
HALL OF FAME BIOGRAPHIES
Brian Donohue ‘78
Brian Donohue, From New City, N.Y. came to Mercy College by way of Albertus Magnus in Bardonia, N.Y., A classmate of fellow 2009 Mercy College Hall of Fame inductee Mary Brechbiel Agnetti, he is one of the Mercy College Basketball program’s three retired jersey numbers (#12),
Donohue, denoted as “the man with the golden shooting touch,” is the program’s second all-time leading scorer with 2,028 career points. He is also ninth all-time with 119 career steals. Donohue was the first men’s basketball player in Mercy College history to score both 1,000 and 2,000 points. He also broke the all-time scoring record as sophomore.
An All-County honoree for Albertus Magnus, Donohue was the fifth leading scorer in the county. Recruited by fellow Hall of Famer, Dr. Neil Judge, Donohue played in Judge’s final season as coach of the Flyers’ basketball team, and went on to play under two Mercy College coaching changes with one-year head coach Angelo Petrone, and the school’s all-time win’s leader, head coach Joe Flower.
A three-time captain, Donohue averaged 22.5 points per game. He held the single-game record with 45 points scored against St. Thomas Aquinas, a top-20 NAIA team. He was ranked in the top 20 in scoring in the country for three-straight seasons. As a junior, Donohue was selected to the Westchester All-County Collegiate first team and the All-Metropolitan New York second team. He was named “All Star” on the ECAC’s weekly honor roll 20 times and received honorable mention on five other occasions.
In the Knickerbocker Conference Championship final against Stony Brook, Donohue scored 26 points, 20 in the first half to become the first person in Mercy College history to score 2,000 points with 2,003. He was named both Regular Season Knickerbocker Conference MVP and Tournament MVP. Once again, Donohue was honored at the Metropolitan Basketball Writers’ Association’s Awards Dinner.
Donohue completed his bachelor’s degree in business from Mercy College in 1978. Donohue currently resides in Brewster, N.Y. with his wife Maureen, his sons Conor (17) and Ryan (15) and his daughter Kaitlin (14). He currently works for IBM.
Mary Brechbiel Agnetti ‘78
Mary Brechbiel Agnetti enters the Mercy College Athletics history books as the first female to receive an athletic scholarship from the College. An alumna of Albertus Magnus High School, she joined fellow Falcon and 2009 Hall of Fame inductee Brian Donohue at Mercy College in the fall of 1974. Agnetti, is Mercy College’s No. 3 all-time scorer with 1,534 career points, and is the record holder for steals with 488 on the all-time ledger. She is also ninth on the all-time leader board in rebounds with 686 and fourth in assists with 414.
A Haverstraw, N.Y., native, Agnetti was captain of the Albertus Magnus Falcons girls varsity basketball team. With the Falcons in 1973, Agnetti led the county in scoring with an average of 24 points per game and knocked in 44 points in a single game.
Agnetti played her first season with Mercy College under first year Flyers head coach Cathi Wasilik [Wahh-sil-ik]. During Agnetti’s rookie season, the Flyers went 15-2. As a sophomore, she averaged 17.8 points a game, which tied her for the sixth highest single-season average in program history.
In her final season with the Flyers, Agnetti helped lead the way for Mercy College to knock out schools such as Brown University and Eastern Connecticut in their Eastern Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women’s Northeast regional tournament run. Against Brown on March 4, 1978, Agnetti scored 29 points to lead Mercy College to the 89-60 tournament victory. Agnetti scored her 1,500th point against Yale, helping the Flyers to a 89-69 semi-finals victory sending the Flyers to the tournament championship. She finished her senior season with an average of 14.3 points per game.
In 1978 she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. Post-college, Agnetti continued to work at St. Agatha Home For Children. She went on to join the New York City Housing Police Department in 1980, which later merged with the NYPD. She moved up the ranks to detective and detective sergeant and was later assigned to the Manhattan Special Victims squad. She recently retired in 2001.
The daughter of Frances and George (Jiggs) Brechbiel, she lives with her husband Bob, spending time between her Haverstraw home and a house in Myrtle Beach. She has three grown up step children and two grandchildren.
Bob Crescenzo ‘82
As a first-baseman for the Mercy College Flyers, Bob Crescenzo quickly became key asset in building the Mercy baseball program’s prowess in the early 1980s. A two-year captain, Crescenzo helped Mercy College eclipse the .500 mark for the first time in program history in 1981, with a 18-12-1 finish. He was a part of several big wins against strong Division I and II programs.
He possessed a power-hitting stroke, which also complemented inaugural Hall of Famer, Jim Schult, to give the Flyers a powerful 1-2 punch. Under the tutelage of 2008 Hall of Fame inductee and former Mercy College head coach Rick Wolff, Crescenzo recorded a .345 career batting average with eight home runs, 14 doubles, five triples and 70 RBI.
Bob Crescenzo got his start playing baseball on the sandlots of Mount Vernon, N.Y. with the Mount Vernon Travelers club team, he later played high school baseball at Mount Vernon High School and gave up no more than three hits in a game in his entire pitching career. After rehabbing a year-long arm injury, Crescenzo played junior college ball for one year at Westchester Community College. In 1977, he went to Florida to pursue his dream of playing professional baseball.
Crescenzo came to Mercy College in the fall of 1978. In the spring of 1979, Crescenzo batted .416, which ranked him 28th nationally. He had his career-best game against the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy on April 18, 1979 in Kings Point. N.Y., when he batted 7-for-8 in a double-header with four doubles, two singles, and a home run with eight RBI.
As team captain in 1980, Crescenzo batted .327 and collected 26 RBI. On March 26, 1980, Crescenzo hit the game-winning two-run home run for a 5-3 victory over Pace University. In 1981, his final season with the Flyers, Crescenzo batted .304, with 24 RBI and 26 runs scored.
Crescenzo graduated in 1982 with a B.S. in management. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in childhood education. Still bitten by the baseball bug, he currently owns and manages the U-14 New Jersey Cyclones Baseball Club. Crescenzo currently resides in Clark, N.J., with his wife Darla and children Robert (13) & Michael (10).
Noreen Annunziata Apicella ‘86
Noreen Annunziata Apicella was noted as a knowledgeable leader and hustling guard with tremendous enthusiasm. Playing for the Mercy College women’s basketball program from 1982-86, Apicella is the Flyers’ fourth all-time scorer with 1,532 career points. Apicella ranks sixth on the all-time steal record ledger with 254, seventh in all-time assists with 331 and 13th in rebounding with 657. Apicella is the first female basketball player in Rockland County history to score 1,000 points in high school and college.
Apicella was recruited from Pearl River High School where she was a three-sport Varsity student-athlete for the Lady Pirates. In her primary sport of basketball, Apicella was a first-team All-County selection three times. She led the county in scoring for three consecutive years, 1980-82.
At Mercy College, Apicella was recruited and played for second-year head coach Carol Schachner-Leib, an inaugural Hall of Fame inductee. In her rookie season, she averaged 10.5 points and 5.1 rebounds. Schachner-Leib denoted Apicella as the “sparkplug of the team.” Under Schachner-Leib, Apicella and the Flyers had three-straight 20-win seasons and two runner-up finishes in the Empire State Conference.
As a sophomore, Apicella earned both New York State Division II All-State honors and HVWAC All-Conference honors with an average of 16.1 points and 5.1 rebounds. Apicella posted a career-high 468 points that season.
As a junior, Apicella averaged 12.2 points and 6.8 rebounds with the 22-7 Mercy College Flyers, who went 11-4 to finish second in the Empire State Conference. Apicella scored her 1,000th point earlier that season and the flyers went on to the NCAA Division II Eastern Regional Tournament.
In 1986, Apicella was named Mercy College’s Female Athlete of the Year. She averaged 13.8 points and 5.5 rebounds. Apicella played alongside fellow guards Joyce LeNoir, and Ursula Gregg, Mercy College’s No. 2 all-time scorer, who were noted by writer Tom Quinn as the “cream of the Empire State crop.”
Apicella finished both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Mercy College. She currently resides in Stony Point, N.Y., with her husband Steve and sons Steven, Nicholas and Christopher. She is a teacher in the North Rockland School District, teaching Physical Education.
|
|
|
2009 Hall of Fame Inductees |
SPECIAL AWARD WINNER BIOGRAPHIES
Dr. Darryl Bullock ’73 – Dr. Ann Grow Friend of Athletics Award
Dr. Darryl Bullock has been a mainstay with the Mercy College Athletic Department for more than 30 years. After spending 33 years with the cross country squad and seven years with the track & field teams, Bullock continues to dedicate his time and talent with the Athletic Department as an Assistant Director of Athletics and Business Manager and advisor of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) he has overseen the development of the department’s community service and community engagement initiatives.
Bullock began the cross country program at Mercy College in 1976. He has had teams compete in more than 20 NCAA Division II regional championships, had a pair of male student-athletes capture conference championships, and trained numerous All-Conference runners. Bullock was named Business Manager of Mercy College’s Department of Athletics in September of 2007. He previously served the College in many different capacities including Assistant to the Athletics Director, Registrar and Director of Planning & Institutional Research. He currently resides in Yonkers with his wife Melissa.
Katelyn Klobus – Neil Judge Scholar Athlete Award, 2009
Katelyn Klobus had a successful four-year career with the Mercy College Mavericks. Since her arrival on campus in the fall of 2005, Klobus became the top distance performer. An all-conference, second-team performer in 2006-07 and three-time ECC All-Academic honoree, she set her first Mercy College school record as a rookie in 2005 with the outdoor 800-meter run with a time of 2:42.26 at the Coach Omeltchenko Invite in Kings Point, N.Y. As a Mercy College sophomore, she was named to the East Coast Conference’s second team for cross country and set three school records in both indoor and outdoor track & field. As a senior, she was the lone competitor for Mercy College at the ECC Conference Championship 5k in Kings Park, N.Y.
Also an executive member of the Student Athletic Advisory Committee and a member of the Mercy College cheerleading squad, Klobus graduated in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. She currently resides in Averill Park, N.Y. and is the cross country coach for Berlin High School in Berlin, N.Y. She attends graduate school at The College of St. Rose in Albany, N.Y., in the childhood education/special education dual-certification program. She is also a one-to-one aid for a child with autism at Capital District Beginnings preschool in Berlin.
Kevin Gibson – Neil Judge Scholar Athlete Award, 2009
Kevin Gibson came to Mercy College out of Scarsdale High School where he participated in both the cross country and track & field programs for one year under coach Richard Clark. The son of Nicholas and Nadia Gibson, he is originally from Buenes Aires, Argentina, where he won the Argentine ADE cross country championships as an individual under the tutelage of head coach Miguel Cortesse. The team also won the ADE cross country championship.
He came to Mercy College to compete under Dr. Darryl Bullock in 2005. As a sophomore, he ran a personal-best time in the 8k Albany Invitational by running a 32:08.7. As a junior, he finished in 33:34 at the ECAC/IC4A Championships. As a senior, he was one of the five point scorers at the ECC Cross Country Championships.
Earlier this summer he was named to the East Coast Conference’s Commissioner’s Honor Roll for his high grade point average as a senior student-athlete.
Gibson was also a resident assistant for three years in Mercy College’s residence halls. Gibson graduated with a degree in marketing and is currently pursuing his MBA from Mercy College as a graduate assistant for Carolyn Tragni, the Executive Dean of Academic Engagement and Planning.
Mercy College
Mercy College is a private, nonprofit institution founded in 1950,
providing motivated students with the opportunity to earn degrees
in more than 90 undergraduate and graduate programs within five
schools: Business, Education, Health and Natural Science, Social
and Behavioral Science, and Liberal Arts. An engaging and
personalized learning experience is offered at the main campus in
Dobbs Ferry, as well as campuses in the Bronx, Manhattan, Yorktown
Heights and White Plains. www.mercy.edu 877-MERCY-GO
