Category Archives: Search for Inductee

Louise Albrecht

Posted on

albrecht

Louise began her volleyball career in the 1960’s as a player in the Southern California USVBA league. When Lou came to Connecticut, in 1969 where she and Joan Joyce started the Connecticut Clippers USVBA team.

She started the volleyball program at California State University at Fullerton where she coached the team to a 20-9 record. She left California in ’69 to coach at Western Connecticut State University.  In 1970, Lou moved on to Southern Connecticut State University where she posted a 57-8 record. She retired from coaching in 1975 but continued in volleyball as an official.

Lou’s role in officiating was multi-faceted. Her talents were well known as she was summarily invited to present at the Eastern Association for Physical and Health for College Women, CAHPERD and NAGWS. Under her direction, SCSU hosted the EAIAW volleyball tournament in ’74, ’75 and ’81. Lou also held the position of assignor for the EAIAW regional tournament in ’76 and ’77.

She held the position of chairperson of volleyball officials for the Southwest Board in ’71-’72. She officiated in the CIAC Volleyball Championships from ’69-’74 and the EAIAW regional tournament in 1972.

Having been honored for her many achievements as player, coach and official, Lou is a member of the National Softball Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, OK.  She is one of the founders of the CT Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. She was inducted into the Northeast Hall of Fame for Women in Sport as well as the CT Women’s Basketball hall of Fame. Most recently, she was inducted into the CT Scholastic and Collegiate Softball Hall of Fame and she received the prestigious Katherine Ley Award from Eastern College Athletic Conference.

Louise served from 1985-1988 on the NCAA Council and from 1986-1988 she served on the Committee for Improvement of Women’s Officiating.

In 1992, Louise retired from her position as associate athletic director at SCSU.

 

Lynn Spagnesi

Posted on

spagnesi

Lynn began her volleyball career at Brien McMahon High School where she played from 1969072.  she was team captain her senior year and her teams were undefeated during her junior and senior seasons. in 1972, they placed 3rd in the state tournament. during her high school career, she also was a member of the field hockey, basketball, track and field, badminton and softball teams.

Lynn continued playing volleyball in college when she went on to SCSU wand was a spiker for Louise Albrecht. She competed on the varsity squad from 1972-1976. The team won first place in the regional tournament in 1976 and qualified for the national tournament.

She received Outstanding College Athletes of America award in 1975. She was listed in the Who’s Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities in 1975.

After college Lynn continued to compete playing USVBA for the Connecticut Clippers and the New Haven Dippers for 1977-81. Her teams took first place in the USVBA regional championship in 1977, 79 and 81. She competed in the USVBA national tournament, held in Hilo Hawaii in 1977, representing the Eastern Zone. It was there she played against Olympians Flo Hyman and Debbie Green.

She was a member of the Greater New Haven board of volleyball officials from 1973-77. She also officiated basketball and was an ASA softball umpire.

Lynn also competed in AAU track and field, ASA softball, playing for the Raybestos Brakettes and was assistant women’s basketball coach at SCSU in 1977.

 

The Hour: BMHS hoop stars among Old Timers honorees

Bonnie Jean Kenny

Posted on

2010Kenney

(no high school data available)

Bonnie moved on to the University of Tennessee in 1981 where she captained the Lady Vol’s nationally ranked volleyball team. That team enjoyed much success with three appearances in the NCAA tournament, two Southeastern Conference titles and two SEC runner up titles. Bonnie herself was named to the Southeastern Conference all-tournament team in 1982.

Bonnie also excelled academically while at Tennessee.  She was named an Academic All-American in 1984 and remained on the Dean’s list for seven academic quarters.

Upon graduation from the University of Tennessee, bonnie was named head volleyball coach at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. She continued there until 1993 when she took on the position as head coach at the University of Massachusetts where she continues to coach at present.

Form 1980 until the present time, Bonnie has worked as instructor, clinician and director for numerous volleyball camps.

She is a content contributor in both the AVCA Handbook and Championship Volleyball Drills Vol I & II.

Dr. Winnie Hamilton

Posted on

hamilton

Winnie began her sports career as an outstanding athlete at Laurelton Hall High School. There she participated on the field hockey, basketball, softball and tennis teams. Upon graduation, she continued her education at SCSC where she majored in physical education.  It was at SCSC that Winnie had her first experience of being cut from a  sports team when she tried out for the volleyball team. They were looking for a middle blocker and Winnie, at 5’2”, did not fit the bill for the Owls. Winnie really believed that she could have been successful on that team.  Thus, upon graduation from Southern, when the opportunity arose to coach volleyball at Westhill, Winnie took the position. There she coached using her philosophy, formed by her experience at Southern, which was and is “you can be anything you believe you can be- and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t.”

From that start of her 14-year volleyball coaching career at Westhill, her teams qualified for every state tournament and always achieved a minimum of a quarterfinal appearance. During her tenure as coach, her tems accumulated 10 league championships, 2 state titles with 7 appearances in the finals. These accomplishments coming from a team whose tallest player during those years was 5’9”.

Winnie was recognized for her achievements by the Connecticut High School Coaches Association as the Volleyball Coach of the Year in 1977 and the  New England HS Coaches Assoc. as the Volleyball Coach of the Year in 1984.  She was elected as the second woman to serve as president of the CHSCA in 1985. Winnie received the Stamford YWCA You Make a Difference Award for all her work with the children of Stamford.

Winnie is presently serving as principal of Dolan Middle School in Stamford.

Edna Fraser

Posted on

fraser

Edna graduated from West Haven High School and SCSU with a BS and MS in Health and Physical Education.

She played softball for the Raybeston  Brakettes during the 1950’s and 1960’s.  Her teaching and coaching began at Milford High School and in 1973 she moved to Foran High School. It was there that she coached volleyball (1973-1978), basketball (1973-1986), and softball (1973-1991). Her teams won 399 games in the three sports over a 33-year career.  In 1986, she took the position of athletic director at Foran. She served in that position until 1992. She served as CIAC volleyball tournament director from 1992-1996.

Edna was a pioneer in establishing sports for girls in the state of Connecticut. she began her career at a time when there were few if any sport opportunities as well as establishing herself and her programs as models of excellence.

Aside from her award presented tonight, Edna has also been inducted into the SCSU Alumni Hall of Fame. She is a member of the Softball Hall of Fame, the Conn. Coach Association Hall of Fame and will be inducted into the Connecticut High School Basketball Hall of Fame in April. Edna was also honored by the town of Milford with the renaming of the gymnasium at Foran High School as the Edna I. Fraser Gymnasium.

Gail Lackey

Posted on

lackey

Currently in her 33rd year at Wesleyan University, Gale Lackey will complete her 26th season as the Head Coach of the Cardinal Volleyball team in 2010. Gale has compiled a 429-334 mark over 25 seasons at Wesleyan. Gale joined the Wesleyan staff in 1978 after spending a year coaching volleyball at the University of Bridgeport. With 13 wins there, Gale has 442 victories in her volleyball college coaching career as of the 2009 season, which ranks among the national leaders in Division III and ranks her as the second all-time winning coach in the history of Wesleyan University Athletics.

Prior to her stint at the University of Bridgeport, Gale coached girl’s volleyball for seven years at Spring Grove High School in York County, Pennsylvania, an area of Pennsylvania with a long and impressive volleyball tradition. In four of her seven seasons at Spring Grove, Gale’s teams were Western Division Champs and played for the prestigious York County Championships. She coached members of her high school squad at the Girls’ Junior National Tournament in Chicago in 1977, after her team won the Middle Atlantic Regional Championship that spring.

Gale is a 1970 graduate of West Chester University in Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Health and Physical Education and earned her M. ED degree there, as well. At Wesleyan University, Gale’s team won the coveted Little Three Championship in 1992 with wins over Williams College and Amherst College. At Wesleyan she has coached seven All-Americans, one NESCAC Rookie of the Year, one NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year and three NESCAC Players of the Year. She was named 2001 NESCAC Coach of the Year after guiding her squad to a 30-6 record, a NESCAC Regular -season Championship with a 9-1 mark, and an invitation to the NCAA Division III tournament. Gale also coached her 2000 squad to an ECAC North Region Division III Championship. In between the 2000 and 2001 seasons, Gale arranged for her squad to take a memorable trip to Cuba during the winter break in January 2001. There, her team competed against a Cuban Junior National team in Havana. Her Wesleyan teams are consistently presented with the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s “Team Academic Award,” which requires a Team Cumulative GPA of 3.4 or higher. Gale has mentored and given free volleyball clinics to residents and students at the Children’s Home of Cromwell. She has given free clinics to underprivileged girls in the Cape Henlopen, DE area. Gale provided volleyball instruction in the Cape Town region of South Africa during a People to People Sports Exchange tour in 1997. She served as a Deputy Commissioner of Volleyball for the Special Olympics World Games in New Haven in 1995, scheduling over 150 contests over the course of that competition.

Gale, who holds the rank of Adjunct Professor of Physical Education and Feminist and Gender Studies at the University, teaches a fencing class and a course entitled “Gender and Sport.” Gale served as Head Coach of Field Hockey from 1978 to 1984, be-fore taking over the volleyball helm in 1985. She was also the Head Coach of Women’s Lacrosse at Wesleyan from 1979 to 1997. She is the athletic department’s Senior Woman Administrator and Associate Director of Athletics. Gale earned Stage I International Coaching Certification from the FIVB at Texas A&M in 1978.

Wesleyan

Class of 2012

Posted on

Brenton Graveley  AD Hebron

Gemetta Neal Player Norwich

Maribol Santana  Official Hartford

Alesia Vaccari

Posted on

Alesia

Alesia attended The Gilbert School in Winsted, where her team won the 2000 Class S Championship and were finalists in 2001. She was awarded Most Valuable Player in the 2000 tourney and All-State in 2000 and 2001. She was also named CT Player of the Year by the Hartford Courant in 2001. She then enrolled and graduated from Springfield College where she was setter for four years.

During her time running the office at Springfield, they won two NEWMAC Championships and played in two NCAA Regional Finals. She received many individual honors, including three All-Region honors, two honorable mention All-American honors, and was named NEWMAC Player of the Year in 2004. She continues to hold the all-time assist record at Springfield College with 5,196. Coach Joel Dearing stated upon her graduation that even with all of her accolades she would best be remembered for her “love of the game of volleyball.”

Alesia went on to share that passion as an assistant coach at Clarkson University in Potsdam, NY where she was part of the Golden Knights’ 2010 Liberty League Coaching Staff of the Year, helping the program in its first-ever  NCAA tournament berth. She then took the head coaching position at Simmons College in Boston, where she posted a 50-49 career record with the Sharks, reaching the Great Northeast Athletic Conference semifinals in each of her three seasons. Alesia was named the GNAC Coach of the Year in her first season at Simmons, when she led the program to a 20-10 record. In 2012, she was honored by the American Volleyball Coaches Assoc. Thirty Under Thirty Award. In 2014, Alesia was hired as head women’s volleyball coach at Brandeis University in Waltham, MA.

 

Allison Baker

Posted on

baker
Allison N. Baker

Allison was born in Connecticut but raised in Dallas, Texas and Ft Wayne, Indiana. She spent most of her childhood growing up in Ft Wayne. She was introduced to volleyball in the third grade and began playing club volleyball in fourth grade. While living in Indiana, she had the opportunity to train with elite club programs such Munciana Volleyball Club and Sports Performance Volleyball Club. Her father relocated to Glastonbury, Connecticut in 1998 where she began her high school volleyball career as a Tomahawk under Coach Steve Geryk. She made an immediate impact as a setter for the varsity team and after a few games was named the starter. During her sophomore season she was named team captain, a role she held her remaining three years. Glastonbury quickly became a volleyball powerhouse across the state securing the number one spot in the state polls for many weeks in 2001. Allison led the Tomahawks to the CCC West Conference title all four years and the CCC Conference title against rival Maloney in an exciting five game match in 2001, where she totaled 32 kills. Glastonbury made it to the state semifinal match before their season ended with an impressive 21-2 record.

During her high school career she was a four year all conference team member, the three time Allstate team member, member of the Hartford Courant all Courant team, named the 2001 East Region All-Star MVP, and the 2001-2002 Gatorade player of the year. She spent the off-season playing for Pat Ryan’s candidate husky volleyball club on their High Performance team. She joined other top players in the state such as Alesia Vaccari securing the 2002 New England region championship Allison was selected to participate in the USA Junior National High Performance training camp held in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 2001 and named to the USA New England High Performance team which competed in Salt Lake City, Utah in 2002.

After visiting many schools, she committed and signed with the University of Connecticut, before transferring to Providence College after her freshman season. While at Providence, she was a three year starter and named captain her senior year. She was named to numerous all-tournament teams throughout the years and the All-Independent team her senior year. Interestingly, Allison has played every position including club burial at some point during her career.

Allison married her husband Charles, a former member of the Providence College basketball team in 2012 and they are awaiting the arrival of their first baby also due in November. Allison currently works within the juvenile court as a forensic social worker. Her parents and sister were a large part of her success over the years, her father who also played basketball for Providence College passed away in 2010 after a battle with cancer and her mother now resides in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Her sister is a prominent high school basketball coach in North Carolina.

Judy Sochin

Posted on

Judy Sochin is a 1971 graduate of Maloney High School. She was co captain of the Volleyball Hall of Fame coach Sandi Piantek’s first state championship volleyball team.

Judy began working voluntarily, in the Maloney athletic department in high school and has continued her association in various capacities for over 45 years. Following her graduation from Maloney, Judy attended UConn, where she played volleyball for two years on the club team, prior to its establishment as a varsity sport.

Judy received her undergraduate degree in speech /language pathology in 1975, and later received a Master’s Degree and sixth year certificate in communication disorders/speech pathology from SCSU. She was a speech pathologist in the one area school system for one year in return to Meriden where she continued as a speech/language pathologist for 14 years and several of the district’s schools, until she retired in 2012.

Judy also coached field hockey for Maloney for 13 years. She has been a member of the Hall of Fame committee since this is inception in 2003, serving as chairperson for four years, and was a member of the ninth class of Maloney Hall of Fame inductees receiving her honor in April 2014. Judy is affiliation with the volleyball Hall of Fame began with the inaugural class when she and her co captain presented Sandi Piantek with her award. She was asked to take photographs for the first group of inductees and has photographed every class of inductees since.