Friday, October 1, 2004
Athletics honors alumni achievements
By Sara Kamber
co-sports editor
Emotions ran high on Saturday for the
2004 Athletic Hall of Fame ceremony
where members of the class of ’94 were
welcomed back to acknowledge their
place in Behrend sports history. The 15"’
annual Hall of Fame was held in the
McGarvey Commons, where guests
were greeted by Athletic Director, Brian
Streeter, and enjoyed a dinner reception
before the ceremony kicked off.
The five misty-eyed inductees in
cluded two women’s basketball players,
Anne Bonner and Wendy Ebinger
Sudnerman, two men’s basketball play
ers, Don Plyler and Byron Thome, and
representing men’s tennis, Eric Good.
Women’s basketball coach Roz
Fomari introduced the first former ath
lete, Anne Bonner. Fomari recalled her
excitement about being able to coach
both Bonner and Ebinger, then seniors,
in her first season as the Behrend
women’s basketball head coach.
“I told some of the ‘93-‘94 team that
was there to support Anne and Wendy
that I wish I had the opportunity to coach
them now,” said Fomari. “I am much
more prepared to handle situations and
coaching elements than when I was a
rookie coach. I kind of wish I knew then
what I know now.”
Bonner and Ebinger led women’s bas
ketball to their most successful three
year run in the history of the sport at
Behrend. Bonner finished her career
shooting 53 percent from the field and
80 percent at the line. She tops the record
books as number one in field-goal per
centage, number two in points per sea
son with 431, and number two in field
goals made in a single game with 11 as
well as holding thirteen other records.
As a result of scoring 431 points during
her senior season, Bonner was named to
the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Confer
ence Southern All-Star Team.
Bonner warned the crowd filled with
family members, athletic staff, and stu
dent athlete representatives that she
would try her best to get through her
speech without crying, but made no
promises. She choked up when recall
ing her first meeting with Fomari. Coach
had outlined her expectations for Bonner
and told her, “this is your job, and I ex
pect you to do it.” Today, Bonner still
holds her coach’s confidence in her abili
ties as sacred.
“I am really proud of all that Anne and
Women’s tennis rolls
win streak at six, lead AMCC
By Mike Tomko
staff writer
The women’s tennis team continued its
great play this week winning four games,
three of them against AMCC teams and all
in consecutive days. Following these four
impressive victories, two of them by the
score of 9-0, the lady Lions sit atop the
AMCC conference alone.
“The team lost only one match out of
three days of games. The girls played very
well for having three straight days of
matches,” said Coach Jeff Barger. “It was a
big confidence boost.”
On Sept. 24, the team defeated Chatham
8-1 in Pittsburgh. Next the team traveled to
Maryland for two matches, one on Satur
day and Sunday. On Saturday the lady Li
ons shut out Frostburg 9-0 and continued
their winning ways on Sunday by shutting
out Penn State Altoona 9-0.
“It was worth while because they are in
our AMCC division. So it was good prac
tice to play them now before the champi
onships,” said freshman, Allison Mudrey.
Intramural Sand Volleyball Champs...
cood- Prelect Mayhem men’s - Fockers
Bryon Thorne, Wendy Ebinger, and Eric Good pictured with Athletic Direc
tor Brian Streeter. The Hall of Fame ceremony took place in the McGarvey
Commons.
her teammates accomplished,” said
Fomari. “It is always a great feeling to
have such an impact on a student
athlete’s life.”
All-star guard, Wendy Ebinger,
guided her team to 70 wins over four
seasons, ECAC championships, and the
NCAA tournament. She, too, is ranked
in more than 15 categories including
number one in field-goals made in a
game notching 12, number one in all
time steals with 290, and number one in
assists with 386.
Ebinger reminded the guests that no
matter how aggressive she was on the
court or how many point she scored,
none of her accomplishments would
have been possible without her team.
She recalled her days playing on the
Perry courts and was saddened that a
place she held so close to heart had now
been built over. Ebinger said she felt
honored to be inducted with four of her
closest friends of that time, whom she
felt all built an important legacy to their
respective programs.
Eric Good led the men’s tennis team
to 14 wins in 1993 and 13 in ’94. Dur
ing his career he posted a 47-30 mark in
singles play, and his 40-16 doubles
record is still the best in Behrend his
tory.
Eric Good was the most emotional
speaker of the inductees saying many
times that the other four were athletes,
he was just lucky to be there. When stop
ping to remember Herb Lauffer, the Ath
letic Director at the time of these ath
letes’ college careers, he almost could not
go on. Lauffer was remembered by all
“It was rough playing three matches in a
row but then we had Monday off and an
other match on Tuesday so we were all
pretty well rested.”
On TUesday, the team had a home game
against a talented Waynesbuig team. Frus
tration set in early for Waynesbuig as they
were down early and often. Mudrey and
partner Mindy Calvert set the tone winning
their doubles match 8-3 with Mudrey domi
nating the net throughout Mudrey also won
singles match 6-1,6-4, helping the lady Li
ons win against Waynesbuig by a score of
6-3. This win gives the lady Lions a six game
winning streak.
“It was good competition,” said Mudrey.
“Last year Waynesbuig beat us pretty bad
so it was good to come back and win.”
Despite the team’s recent win streak,
which now stands at six games, few fans
have come out to the games to support the
team.
“It’s nice when people come and cheer
us, but you can’t force people to go,” said
Mudrey.
To this point, the team leads the AMCC
five of the inductees and each noted that
he holds a special place in their hearts.
Don Plyler and Byron Thome are con
sidered two of the best to ever run the
court for the Lions. Plyler is especially
noted for his long-distance shooting,
holding number one records in three
pointers made in a season with 196, and
three-pointers made in a game at nine.
He holds a number of other records as
well, and was named Male Athlete of the
Year in 1991-92. During his speech, he
thanked Thome for being his go-to guy
without whom he would not be here.
Thome has been named one of the
most athletic players in Lions history by
the Athletic Department. In his senior
season, he totaled 568 points, which is
the third most all-time points scored in
Behrend men’s basketball history.
Thome made his mark on the record
books finishing number one in steals at
171, number two in all-time scoring with
1,386, and number three in assists with
321. He was the first ever Division 111
All-American at Behrend.
While Thome remembered Lauffer, he
recalled a story of a visit back to Behrend
when Lauffer sat Thome down and said
“thank you.” Thome said that it was not
until that night he realized what Lauffer
was thanking him for, and in a way, what
Lauffer was thanking them all for.
‘This was one of the most talented
groups I have seen here,” said Fomari.
“It takes a lot qualify for the hall of fame,
and certainly this class was a superb
group.”
conference with a 5-0 record within the con
ference and is the only team with a winning
record. Overall the Lions have a record of
9-3.
“It’s always good to see my ladies domi
nate the opposition,” said Brett Pollack, a
follower of the lady Lions.
For the third straight week the lady Li
ons have had the AMCC tennis player of
the week. This week the award went to
sophomore, Mindy Calvert,. The award was
previously held by Freshman, Allison
Mudrey and Sophomore .Jenna Yankowski.
“This is the third straight week someone
from our team has won this award,” said
Coach Baiger. “That is pretty good.”
The Lions next game is a rematch against
Chatham at home on Oct. 3. This is the last
conference game of the season for the lady
Lions, who have already clinched first place
in the AMCC conference.
“This year it seems like we are the team
to beat This year is the first year we’ve
beat teams 9-0,” said Mudrey. “In the past
they haven’t done that, so we are doing
pretty good so far.”
women’s-ASA
Brad Ruffo
Sport:
Class:
Brad Ruffo (West
Middlesex/West Middlesex
H.S.) was named this week’s
Beacon/Food and Housing
Athlete of the Week.
Last weekend at the Allegh
eny Invitational, Ruffo fin
ished 12 out of 206 runners
notching a time of 27:04.
Ruffo has been the top men’s
Sports psychology major ends
research, heads for home
Cole during his interview with writer Annie Sevin earlier this week.
By Annie Sevin
staff writer
Mark Cole, a senior from the Univer
sity College Northampton, England, has
finished his sports psychology research
at Penn State Behrend. Unfortunately for
Behrend and Cole, he will be leaving the
campus today to return to his home Uni
versity. “1 would love to stay here for a
year, but I’ve got to get back and gradu
ate,” said Cole.
Cole was here at Behrend for six
weeks researching sports psychology for
his senior thesis (a 15,000 word paper).
He was comparing and contrasting how
American and English sports teams ap
proach issues such as handling stress,
mental attitudes, and coping with a big
game.
Cole chose Penn State Behrend be
cause the campus matched perfectly to
Northampton in terms of size, teams, and
sports facilities. He said it’s the exact
same level of sporting ability here. He
chose sports that are available here as
well as in England such as soccer, ten
nis, golf, volleyball, cross-country, and
track and field. He used Behrend ath
letes and coaches from those sports
teams to conduct the research for his the
sis. Mainly, he surveyed them about their
athletic experiences.
Not only did Cole work with the sports
teams, he also worked with the psychol
ogy department. Specifically, he worked
with Dr. Dawn Blasko. She took an in
terest in Cole’s work and encouraged
him to talk to Behrend students about the
field of sports psychology and how it can
help athletes.
Cole explained that psychology is very
important aspect of athletic competition.
“The difference between winning and
losing in any sport is not points.. .instead
it’s [the athletes] attitude toward their
mental game.” He stated that it was a
challenge to “convince people that
within the world of sports, psychology
is a massive field now.”
The Behrend Beacon 111
HOUSING
AND FOOD
SERVICE
ATHLETE OF
THE WEEK
Sept. 27,2004
Men’s cross country
Sophomore
finisher for the blue and
white at all three
Invitationals this season
Next up the team will travel
to the Dickinson Invitational
on October 2 at 10:00 a.m.
Housing and Food Service
Athlete of the Week is se
lected by the Sports Informa
tion Staff.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t Cole’s only
challenge; he also had to get over the
negative attitude obstacle. “The biggest
challenge is trying to break down the
barriers of people’s negative attitudes in
[sports] psychology,” he said. Cole’s
research wasn’t about finding the nega
tive or positive aspects of sports as some
might think. Instead, he maintained it
was about comparing and contrasting the
differences and similarities of the En
glish and American sports teams.
During his stay at Behrend, Cole was
pleased about how helpful and friendly
everyone was. Jokingly, he attributed
everyone’s kindness to his nationality
saying, “Maybe it’s my accent.” He en
joyed his living experience on campus
as well. When asked what he thought
about Behrend, Cole declared, “Beauti
ful, beautiful campus.” He said when
people come here; they soon realize what
they’ve got. “You’ve got everything you
need here. You’ve got shops, food, a
gym, everything.”
Cole says he enjoyed his stay in Penn
sylvania; he thinks Erie is very lucky to
be near water. “I’d die to be living any
where near water,” he said. Cole enter
tained the idea of bringing more water
sports to the campus; he thought that
perhaps Behrend should make better use
of having a lake so nearby.
Cole’s stay at Behrend was all too
short, but before he says goodbye to
North America, he will spend a few
weeks in the Algonquin National Park
enjoying kayaking, repelling, and hiking.
Then he will return to Northampton to
graduate this coming May.
Cole considers himself lucky for com
ing to Behrend to conduct his research.
That puts him ahead of the game when
he returns to school because the rest of
his peers are still on summer vacation.
He mused, “I’ve already started my
dissertation...[but] I still have to do a
year’s worth of classes when I go back
as well as write a 15,000 word paper.”