ERIE, Pa. -- The Gannon University Athletics Hall of Fame will add to the family this February, welcoming five athletes, one team and one coach as members of the Class of 2019.
The Class of 2019 will be formally inducted at an awards banquet on Saturday, Feb. 16 at Gannon's Yehl Alumni Ballroom in the Waldron Campus Center. The new class of inductees brings the hall of fame to 115 members.
Reservations for the Hall of Fame Banquet can be made online at www.gannonalumni.org/ahof2019. Seating will be limited to 250 registrations. Cost for the event is $45 and includes admission to the women's and men's basketball games against Edinboro on Feb. 16. Full table sponsorships are also available, which include 10 seats and a full-page advertisement in the event program.
The women's basketball game begins at 1 p.m., followed by the men at 3. The Hall of Fame reception kicks off at 5 p.m., with the banquet to follow at 5:45. The Gannon Athletics Coach of the Year will also be announced at the banquet.
Please direct any questions regarding the Athletics Hall of Fame weekend to Melanie Vadzemnieks in University Advancement at 814-871-7005 or by e-mail at vadzemni001@gannon.edu.
The 2019 inductees are:
- 1967 Men's Cross Country team
- Joanna (Fergus) Keller '06, '08M, Softball
- Kyle Goldcamp '09, '11M, Men's Basketball
- Carrie (Nolan) Stoczynski '10, Women's Basketball
- Lauren (Sazama) Giles '13, Women's Volleyball
- Jerry Slocum, Men's Basketball Coach
- John Yurisinec '01, '03M, Football
The 1967 men's cross country team is the 10th team and first cross country team to be inducted. The team won the NAIA District 18 championship, and finished 23rd at the national championships. The Golden Knights posted an 11-4 record, defeating Geneva, Fredonia State, Erie County Tech, John Carroll, Buffalo State, Slippery Rock, Canisius, Niagara, Buffalo, Cleveland State and Ohio Northern during the regular season. They placed three in the top 10 to win the district championship at Frontier Park with 43 points, 19 points ahead of two-time defending champion Waynesburg.
Members of the team included: Jack McLaughlin, Dan Pomerleau, Terry Dwyer, Tom Dwyer, Gerry Grygo, Matt Laskowski, Tony DiPasquale, Nick Petroff, Lou Qualtiere, coach Bud Elwell and assistant coach Seth Bloomquist.
Joanna (Fergus) Keller '06, '08M is the third softball player to join the hall. A standout first baseman, Keller became just the second All-American in program history when she was named to the second team by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association following the 2006 season. She earned all-conference honors in all four seasons she played for the Lady Knights, including being named Player of the Year in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference as a senior in 2006.
Also a standout in the classroom, with an Academic All-District honor and three GLIAC All-Academic selections, the Austintown, Ohio, native is still Gannon's all-time home run leader with 28, and sits third in RBIs (146) and sixth in hits (202).
Kyle Goldcamp '09, '11M is the 27th men's basketball player to be inducted. While playing only two seasons with the Golden Knights, and only one full season due to injury, his name dots the record books. His 62.6 career field goal percentage ranks second in program history, and he is fourth in blocked shots (115) and sixth in scoring average (16.7).
A 2008-09Â season in which he helped Gannon win the NCAA Atlantic Regional and reach the Division II Elite Eight produced an Academic All-America and PSACÂ Scholar-Athlete of the Year award for the Pittsburgh native. His 66.5 field goal percentage that season ranks second all-time in Gannon history, and his 79 blocked shots that season put him fourth in the record books.
Carrie (Nolan) Stoczynski '10 is the 11th women's basketball player to be inducted. She was a starting guard on the Lady Knight team that advanced to the NCAA Division II national semifinals in 2009-10, and she is Gannon's all-time leader in games played (129) and free throw percentage (86.9).
A two-time All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference honoree, the Girard, Pennsylvania, native finished her career with 1,371 points, 221 3-pointers, 449 rebounds, 290 assists, 53 blocks and 178 steals. Those totals put her 10th in career points, fourth in 3-pointers made and 24th in rebounds. She has two of the top five single-season marks in both 3-pointers (75 in 2008-09 and 73 in 2009-10) and free throw percentage (90.1 in 2009-10 and 87.9 in 2008-09).
Lauren (Sazama) Giles '13 becomes the third volleyball player to be inducted into the hall. She capped her Gannon career with a first-team All-America honor in 2012, becoming just the third Lady Knight to earn All-America honors. Helping the team to a PSAC conference title that season, the outside hitter was also named the Daktronics Atlantic Region Player of the Year and the PSAC Western Division Athlete of the Year.
The St. Louis native was a four-time All-PSAC selection, and still stands second all-time at Gannon with 254 aces and fourth in digs (1,421) and kills (1,667). Giles was part of the beginning of the program's streak of NCAA tournament appearances, helping the team to four straight to start a run that has extended to 10 berths in a row with the 2018 season.
Jerry Slocum is the eighth coach and fourth men's basketball coach to be inducted. In his nine years at the helm, Gannon won 179 games, winning 69.6 percent of his games and reaching the NCAA Division II tournament in six consecutive seasons. He put together an incredible 125-21 home record at the Hammermill Center, and his teams qualified for the GLIAC tournament in every season of his tenure.
Slocum was a college basketball coach for 42 seasons, winning a total of 723 games, which ranks him 39th all-time across all NCAA divisions. He was named the 2000 GLIAC Coach of the Year, and coached six All-Americans and 21 all-conference performers. Troy Nesmith was named the Division II Player of the Year in 1996-97 under Slocum's tutelage, and he and Javar Cheatham in 1999-00 were named GLIAC players of the year.
John Yurisinec '01, '03M is the 10th football player to be inducted into the hall. He was selected to the D2football.com all-region team as a senior in 2002, and was the first Academic All-American in program history, earning the honor as a senior.
The Irwin, Pennsylvania, native finished his four-year career at Gannon with 303 total tackles, 130 solo stops and six interceptions. His tackle total ranks second all-time in Golden Knight history, and he stands 13th in career interceptions. The defensive back led the team in tackles as both a junior (71 tackles in 2001) and a sophomore (67 in 2000), and recorded 17 stops against Walsh as a junior in 2001, which is still the third-highest single-game total in school history.
Current members of the Gannon University Athletics Hall of Fame can be viewed here.
