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Head shots of 2014 C-Club Hall of Fame inductees

SUNY Cortland C-Club Hall of Fame to Induct Seven New Members Sept. 13

Seven new members will be inducted into the SUNY Cortland C-Club Hall of Fame during its 46th annual banquet and ceremonies on Saturday, Sept. 13, in the College's Corey Union.
 
The 2014 honorees are:
 
• Ross Phelps '43, a former Cortland soccer and tennis captain and a long-time Montgomery County and Rensselaer/Columbia/Greene Counties BOCES director of guidance and administrator;
 
• Jack Radzavicz '59, a three-sport letterwinner at Cortland and former football East-West All-Star Game participant who enjoyed a successful teaching and coaching career in the Cortland City School District;
 
• Gary Wilson '68, the recently retired women's cross country and track and field coach at the University of Minnesota and former Red Dragon track and field and cross country runner;
 
• Joan Neuendorf '83, a record-setting and 11-time All-America swimmer at Cortland who has taught and coached at Suffern High School since 1983;
 
• David Cook '91, a two-time All-American at Cortland in both football and men's lacrosse and current director of athletics and boys' lacrosse coach at Maine-Endwell High School;
 
• Kiki Seago '93, an All-America women's basketball player and one of Cortland's top career scorers and rebounders who currently teaches at Penn Yan Academy;
 
• and Nate Leaman '97, the current men's ice hockey coach at Providence College and a former Red Dragon player who ranks in the top 20 in school history in career assists and points
 


C-Club Hall of Fame Weekend Information Page (Alumni Association)

C-Club Hall of Fame Weekend Facebook Page
 


 
In addition to Saturday night's official ceremony, the inductees will be introduced at halftime of the Cortland-Brockport football game earlier that afternoon.
 
Established in 1969, the C-Club Hall of Fame recognizes Cortland alumni who competed as athletes at the College and who have since distinguished themselves in their professions and within their communities. Honorary members are recognized for their long and significant contributions to SUNY Cortland athletics. New C-Club members have been added annually and this year's ceremony will bring the Hall of Fame roster to 237 alumni and 27 honorary members.
 
Nominations for next year's C-Club Hall of Fame voting will be accepted until January 15, 2015. The nomination form is available online at: http://www.cortlandreddragons.com/nominations. A person must be nominated in order to be considered for induction into the Hall of Fame.
 
A detailed look at this year's inductees follows.
 
 
Ross Phelps '43
Barrington, Rhode Island

 
Ross Phelps came to Cortland State Teacher's College from Henderson, N.Y., in the fall of 1939 and quickly involved himself in all facets of college life. Phelps played four seasons as a soccer fullback and halfback and three years on the tennis team as a first doubles and second singles player, and served as a co-captain on both teams. He also worked as a basketball public address announcer in his junior and senior years, and he sang as first tenor with the Men's Glee Club and acted in the Masquers Club.
 
In the second semester of his senior year in 1943, Phelps was called into military service. He participated in the highly competitive Air Force cadet pilot training program and was top turret remote control gunner on a B-29 Bomber in the South Pacific with the Army Air Corps. He served in the Army from 1943-46 and was a "Silver Wings" recipient. He returned to Cortland to complete his bachelor's degree work in the summer of 1946.
 
Phelps earned a master's degree at St. Lawrence University in 1948, and from 1946-52 served as a physical education teacher and coach in Romulus, N.Y., and Sag Harbor, N.Y. He coached baseball, basketball and football at Romulus Central School and Pierson High School, and wrote a sports column in Sag Harbor.
 
In 1952, he was named the director of guidance for the Montgomery County BOCES — a position he held until 1963. During that stretch, he coached varsity soccer at St. Johnsville High School from 1953-55. In 1968, Phelps joined the staff of the Rensselaer/Columbia/Greene Counties BOCES as its director of guidance. He was the organization's occupational center director from 1971 until his retirement 10 years later. He received the BOCES Superintendent and Board Recognition Award from RCG-BOCES in 1981 for his 13 years of service as a counselor and administrator at that institution.
 
Phelps currently resides in Barrington, Rhode Island, and also resided for many years in the winter in Naples, Florida, and was active in community service in both areas. He was also a regular on both the golf course and tennis courts into his early 90s and competed in both sports for 26 years after his retirement.

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Jack Radzavicz '59
Penn Yan, New York

 
Jack Radzavicz excelled in three sports for the Red Dragons before embarking on a long and successful teaching and coaching career in the Cortland City School District.
 
Radzavicz earned a bachelor's degree from Cortland in 1959 and a master's degree in 1964. During his four-year football career for the Red Dragons, Radzavicz played offensively as a running back and defensively at linebacker or cornerback. A team tri-captain as a senior, he set school single-game and single-season rushing records and was selected to compete in the 1958 GEM Bowl East-West All-Star Game. He recorded an interception for the West squad, which was led by then-Northwestern and future Notre Dame head coach Ara Parseghian.
 
In addition to his gridiron prowess, Radzavicz played varsity lacrosse as a midfielder for two years, earning the Red Letter as a senior, and competed for two seasons on the track and field team in sprints, the long jump, the discus and the javelin throw. A four-year Beta Phi Epsilon member and the fraternity's president as a senior, Radzavicz was selected as the 1959 Beta Sports King as the best male athlete on campus.
 
From 1960-92, Radzavicz taught physical education and coached in the Cortland City School District. At various times he coached football, baseball, golf and junior varsity basketball. Radzavicz also started an intramural lacrosse program in 1972 that eventually developed into a varsity program. He led the Cortland High School football team to three undefeated seasons, two section titles and many division and league crowns. Cortland has named its annual awards to the top male and female senior athletes for Jack and his late wife, Bonnie.
 
Radzavicz also served as a long-time area basketball official. The Horseheads, N.Y., native was inducted into the Elmira Hall of Fame (now the Chemung County Hall of Fame) in 1984 and the Horseheads High School Hall of Fame in 1998. He has been a long-time Elks Club member in Cortland, Southern Pines, N.C., and Penn Yan.

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Gary Wilson '68
Stillwater, Minnesota

 
Gary Wilson retired from coaching in the spring of 2013 after 28 years as the head coach of the University of Minnesota's women's cross country program. The 2007 and 2008 Midwest Region and Big Ten Coach of the Year, Wilson led Minnesota to two conference titles (2007 and 2008), three consecutive Midwest Region crowns (2007-09) and 15 NCAA championship appearances. He coached six different runners to a combined nine All-America awards.
 
Wilson also served as Minnesota's head track and field coach from 1985-2007 before taking on an assistant coaching role. He was part of four Big Ten titles (2006-09) and was named the 2006 Coach of the Year for the Big Ten, Midwest Region and Midwest District.
 
Prior to Minnesota, Wilson coached the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's cross country team from 1977-85 and the women's track and field team from 1982-85, as well as five seasons as the men's track and field head coach. He led the women's track and field program to three outdoor national titles (AIAW in 1982, NCAA in 1983 and 1984) and the women's cross country team to the 1983 NCAA Division III crown in addition to a pair of national runner-up showings. His teams won a combined 29 conference titles.
 
A native of Lyndonville, N.Y., Wilson earned a bachelor's degree from Cortland in 1968 and a master's degree in 1974. He ran on the cross country team for three seasons and was a team captain as a senior when the Red Dragons won the 1967 SUNYAC title. He also competed in varsity track and field for three years and was voted captain of both the indoor and outdoor squads as a senior.
 
Wilson has been inducted into the University of Minnesota "M" Club, USA Track & Field-Minnesota, Drake Relays and UW-La Crosse Halls of Fame and was a recipient of the University of Minnesota's President's Award for Service. He has been a volunteer with the Big Brothers Program of the Twin Cities since 1995, and since 2004 has worked with the Tesfa Foundation to raise money for building schools and helping young women runners in Ethiopia.

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Joan Neuendorf '83
Valley Cottage, New York

 
One of Cortland's most accomplished swimmers, Joan Neuendorf earned All-America honors in 11 events and at one time held seven school records during her four-year collegiate career.
 
As a freshman in 1980, Neuendorf was an AIAW Division III All-American as part of Cortland's 200-yard freestyle relay. She swam on two All-America relays at the 1981 AIAW Championships and in 1982 finished seventh nationally in the 50-yard backstroke and was part of five All-America relays. In her senior season, Neuendorf helped Cortland tie for ninth at the 1983 NCAA Division III Women's Swimming and Diving Championships. She placed 11th in the 50-yard backstroke and swam on the sixth-place 200-yard medley relay team. Neuendorf also won many SUNYAC titles and was a team captain as both a junior and senior.
 
Neuendorf earned a bachelor's degree from Cortland in 1983 and a master's degree from Long Island University in 1988. She has taught at Suffern High School since 1983 and has been the department chair for physical education and health since 1999. Neuendorf coached girls' swimming from 1983-2000 and boys' swimming from 1983-93. She returned as a girls' assistant coach in 2008 after taking time off to have three children.
 
A Palisades, N.Y., native, Neuendorf earned 10 straight Rockland County Coach of the Year honors and was Section One Girls' Coach of the Year twice. She was inducted into the Rockland County Sports Hall of Fame in 2004 and was part of Tappan Zee High School's Sports Hall of Fame inaugural induction class in 2009.
 
Neuendorf also was inducted in 2012 into the Suffern High School Sports Hall of Fame as a coach with her 1988 girls' varsity swim team that went undefeated and was ranked second in the state. She will be inducted again into Tappan Zee's Hall of Fame in November 2014 as a member of the 1977 girls' varsity swim team that won sectional and state titles.
 
A Who's Who's Among America's Teachers honoree in 2000 and 2007, Neuendorf is the president of the Rockland County Summer Swim League and the Rockland County Coaches Association and the vice president of the Rockland County Sports Hall of Fame.

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David Cook '91
Vestal, New York

 
David Cook shined as perhaps the greatest football running back in school history in addition to being a two-time men's lacrosse All-American during his storied career at Cortland.
 
Cook still ranks first in the Red Dragon football record book with career totals of 3,455 rushing yards, 44 touchdowns and 268 points scored from 1981-84, and he also holds the school mark for longest run from the line of scrimmage with a 91-yard jaunt at Albany during his sophomore season. He was named a Division III All-American in both his junior and senior years and was named to the 1983 Associated Press "Little All-America" squad, which recognizes players from all non-Division I schools. He also earned All-ECAC recognition four times, including ECAC Upstate New York Player of the Year in 1984 and Rookie of the Year in 1981.
 
On the lacrosse field, Cook was chosen twice as a first-team All-America midfielder and garnered three All-SUNYAC awards. He registered career totals of 58 goals and 36 assists and was ranked consistently in the top two on the team in ground balls each season. His teams tied for third nationally in his senior year, tied for fifth nationally in his junior year, and won three SUNYAC titles. Cook was chosen to compete in the 1986 North-South All-Star Game.
 
A Vestal, N.Y., native, Cook returned to Cortland and completed his bachelor's degree in 1991. He also earned a master's degree from the college in 1999.
 
Since 1991, Cook has worked in the Maine-Endwell School District as a teacher, administrator and coach. He has been Maine-Endwell's director of athletics since 2004 and the school's boys' lacrosse head coach since 1994. Cook also has worked as a volunteer coach with the Vestal Youth Football and Lacrosse programs and the Vestal Challenger Baseball League, in addition to volunteering with the Maine-Endwell M-EALS Program assisting families in need with food donations and deliveries.

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Kiki Seago '93
Keuka Park, New York

 
One of the top women's basketball performers in school history, Kirstjan "Kiki" Seago recorded 1,424 points and 703 rebounds from 1989-93. She graduated as Cortland's career scoring leader and ranked third in rebounding, and she currently ranks third in scoring and sixth in rebounds.
 
During her senior season, Seago averaged nearly 20 points and 10 rebounds per game. She was named both the SUNYAC and ECAC Upstate New York Player of the Year, was an honorable mention Kodak All-American and was a Champion USA Division III National Player of the Year finalist. As a junior, she led the team with 12.5 points per game and also averaged six rebounds per contest as the Red Dragons won the SUNYAC title and advanced to the NCAA Division III Sweet 16.
 
The Penn Yan, N.Y., native earned both All-SUNYAC and All-ECAC honors and was a team captain each of her final three seasons.  She also chaired Cortland's Student Athlete Advisory Council. Seago earned a bachelor's degree in 1993 and a master's degree from Ohio State University in 1994.
 
Seago coached and taught physical education at Wayne Central High School from 1994-2002. She served as varsity girls' basketball head coach from 1995-2001 and assistant track and field coach from 1995-98. Seago also held the position of interim assistant principal in 1997 and was interim director of athletics in 1997-98.
 
Since 2002, Seago has taught at Penn Yan Academy, her alma mater. The New York State Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (NYSAHPERD) honored her with its 2013 Amazing Person Award in Secondary Physical Education and its 2008 Central Western Zone Secondary Physical Education Teacher of the Year honor. In 2011, she was an integral part of a team that successfully received a competitive $600,000 Mary M. White PEP Grant to improve the students' physical education program by addressing their cardio respiratory endurance and activity levels.
 
In addition to her teaching, Seago teaches yoga, serves as a volunteer coach in Penn Yan's youth sports programs, and is on the board of directors and selection committee for the Penn Yan Academy Athletic Hall of Fame.

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Nate Leaman '97
Providence, Rhode Island

 
One of the nation's fastest rising collegiate men's ice hockey coaches, Nate Leaman has been the head coach of the Providence College Friars since 2011.
 
In 2013-14, he led the Friars to their first NCAA Division I tournament appearance since 2001 and their first NCAA victory since 1991. They finished with a 22-11-6 record, tying for the third-most wins in program history. Providence ranked in the top 12 in the national polls for 24 consecutive weeks and advanced to the Hockey East semifinals for a program-record third straight year. Leaman became the 16th NCAA Division I men's ice hockey head coach to lead two different teams to the NCAA tournament.
 
Prior to Providence, Leaman spent eight seasons as head coach at Union College (N.Y.) and posted 138 victories, the most in school history. Leaman led the program to an ECAC regular-season title and the NCAA tournament, earned the Spencer Penrose Award as the Division I Men's Coach of the Year and received his second straight ECAC Coach of the Year honor in the 2010-11 season.
 
As head coach at Providence and Union, Leaman has coached 110 all-conference academic and 15 all-conference selections, eight all-conference rookie team honorees, three ECAC Student-Athletes of the Year and two CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District honorees. He has coached 22 NHL draft picks, six All-Americans and one Hobey Baker finalist. His teams also have been involved in community service with Habitat for Humanity, the Ronald McDonald House and the YMCA, among other groups.
 
Leaman was an assistant coach at Harvard University from 1999-2003 and a volunteer assistant at the University of Maine in 1998-99 when the Black Bears won the NCAA title. In addition, Leaman was an assistant coach with USA Hockey for the U.S. World Junior Team in 2007 and 2009.
 
The Westerville, Ohio, native earned a bachelor's degree from Cortland in 1997 and a master's degree at the University of Maine in 1999. While at Cortland he played four seasons and served as a team captain his junior and senior years. He currently ranks 11th at the school in career assists and 18th in career points. In the classroom, Leaman earned the Aldo Leopold Award for excellence in environmental science.

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