Loretto, PA -- Saint Francis University President Father Gabriel Zeis, T.O.R., and Director of Athletics Bob Krimmel have announced that six individuals and two men’s basketball teams will be enshrined into the Red Flash Athletics Hall of Fame on Nov. 17, before SFU’s non-conference men’s basketball contest against Lehigh University, at DeGol Arena in the Maurice Stokes Athletics Center.
Former Saint Francis University President Father Vincent Negherbon, women’s basketball player Stacy Alexander, golfer and coach Tom Crist, coach and athletic director Art Martynuska, women’s basketball and tennis coach and administrator Deb Polca and football player Dr. Gerry Zahorchack will all be enshrined into the Hall of Fame. Additionally, the 1953-54 and 1954-55 men’s basketball teams will be honored as a group.
“We are very honored and privileged to announce this special group into enshrinement in the Saint Francis University Athletics Hall of Fame,” Krimmel said. “Every person in this class holds a special place in the history of Saint Francis University, and it is with great excitement that we will welcome them into the Hall of Fame on Nov. 17. A great deal of time and thought went into the selection process. I want to thank every person who served on the Hall of Fame selection committee. There were many outstanding nominees and candidates, and I am extremely pleased with the class of 2007.”
The Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place during a dinner to be held in the Stokes-Twyman Room of DeGol Arena in the Maurice Stokes Athletics Center prior to the 7 p.m., Nov. 17, tipoff between the Red Flash and Mountain Hawks.
Father Vincent Negherbon has been associated with Saint Francis University for nearly 70 years. Since arriving in Loretto, he has been very active in the university’s daily activities, as well as Red Flash Athletics. He is also a lifetime member of the athletic department’s booster organization, the Stokes Club. He has served in many roles since he graduated from the university with his bachelor’s degree in 1943. He pronounced his solemn vows that year, and was ordained to priesthood on Feb. 9, 1946. He served as the school’s head librarian from 1947-66, but also held duel roles as Dean of Students (1949-52 and 1956-57), Academic Dean (1962-63), Executive VP (1962-66), Saint Francis President (1966-72), and Presidential Assistant (1972-73), as well as VP for College Relations beginning in 1973. Negherbon currently resides on campus, and remains one of the most recognizable faces in the community.
Stacy Alexander was team captain of the Red Flash women’s basketball team for three seasons, and helped step the program into the national spotlight with its first of nine Northeast Conference titles, and nine NCAA Tournament appearances, as a senior in 1995-96. Following a brief professional playing career in Europe, Alexander returned to her alma mater as an assistant coach for two seasons. She helped lead the squad to back-to-back NEC titles and automatic NCAA Tournament berths during her coaching tenure. Alexander was a three-time all-NEC performer, including a pair of first team selections. She was named the NEC Co-Player-of-the-Year during her junior season, and received the Wallace Athletic Award as the school’s Most Outstanding Senior Student-Athlete in 1996. During her senior year, she ranked second in the NEC in scoring (16.2 ppg), 3-point percentage (.349) and free throw percentage (.834), and fourth in assists (4.5 apg). She currently ranks second at Saint Francis in 3-pointers (235), fourth in assists (433), fifth in scoring (1,566) and free throws made (329), sixth in steals (195), and eighth in field goals made (501). Following her two-year coaching stint at Saint Francis, Alexander served two seasons as an assistant coach at Washington State. She is in her seventh season as an assistant on the Towson University women’s basketball coaching staff. Alexander was promoted to Associate Head Coach on Aug. 22, 2007.
Tom Crist is another former student-athlete who went on to coach at his alma mater. As a men’s golfer at Saint Francis, Crist won back-to-back Northeast Conference individual titles in 1993-94 and 1994-95. As a junior, he averaged 78.94 per round, and bested that as a senior with a 75.75 scoring average. Crist then returned to his alma mater as head coach of the Red Flash women’s program in 1998. He led Saint Francis to its first two of seven Northeast Conference titles, and was named the NEC’s Coach-of-the-Year both seasons he served at the helm of the Red Flash women’s golf program. Additionally, he helped guide former women’s player, Michele Raymond, to the first of her two individual NEC titles with a then-record 158 in 1999. Crist participated in the National PGA Assistants Championship and the PGA Tour Qualifying School’s second stage in 1997.
Art Martynuska will be enshrined into the Saint Francis Athletics Hall of Fame posthumously following a brilliant career. He was the face of Saint Francis athletics from 1969-1984 when he served as head football coach, assistant basketball coach, and director of athletics, while also serving as director and assistant director of counseling for the university. He came to Saint Francis in 1969 and immediately began the reformation of the football team after it folded in 1953. A former coach at Lilly-Washington, Penn Cambria and Bishop Carroll High Schools, Martynuska was the first club football coach beginning with that 1969 campaign. He then led the team into varsity status when the Red Flash became an NCAA Division III team in 1978, and retired from coaching in 1981. In the process, he became Saint Francis’ all-time wins leader with 45 victories, a record that still stands. He led the 1971 and 1974 teams to 7-1 records. Martynuska served as director and assistant director of counseling from 1971-91, while also serving as football coach (1969-81), assistant basketball coach (1968-78), and director of athletics (1979-84). He was married for over 50 years, and had three children. Martynuska passed away on Dec. 24, 2006.
Deb Polca will forever be remembered as the coach who guided Saint Francis women’s basketball into Division I status, where the Red Flash have earned nine automatic bids into the NCAA Tournament. During her time at the university, she also served as assistant director of athletics, and was promoted to associate director of athletics and head women’s tennis coach in 1991. She was largely responsible for Saint Francis’ entry into Division I in 1985. Prior to joining SFU, she served as an assistant professor of physical education and head women’s basketball coach at the University of Bridgeport. Polca also taught physical education and coached women’s basketball at Villa Maria Academy in Erie, Pa. She left SFU in 1995 to become Eastern Illinois’ Senior Associate Athletics Director. In 2004, after nine years at Eastern Illinois, Polca left to become the Associate Athletic Director and Senior Women’s Administrator at Old Dominion University, where she is still employed today. She is a current member of the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Issues Committee, and was a member of the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee from 1997-2001.
Dr. Gerry Zahorchack, a graduate of Greater Johnstown High School, has worked with students at virtually every level of education as a superintendent, principal, teacher and football coach. A football player at Saint Francis under fellow Hall of Fame honoree, Art Martynuska, Zahorchack was nominated by Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell to serve as Secretary of Education in 2005. Prior to his nomination, Zahorchack served as Deputy Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education. A former Superintendent of the Greater Johnstown School District, he also served as president of the Johnstown Rotary in 2003, as an elected official of the Greater Johnstown School District school board and of the Johnstown City Council. Additionally, he was also the Deputy Mayor of Johnstown. Zahorchack has received numerous awards, including the Distinguished Alumnus in Education President’s Award from Saint Francis University in 2002. He was named Pennsylvania’s Outstanding Young Citizen by the Pennsylvania Jaycees in 1991 and 1996. Zahorchack set the Red Flash single-season record for tackles with 138, and also holds the single-game record with 27 tackles.
The 1953-54 and 1954-55 Saint Francis men’s basketball teams put “The College Among The Pines” on the national map with two of the most amazing small-school seasons in collegiate basketball history. Under the direction of head coach Dr. William “Skip” Hughes, they were the first two squads in school history to play in the National Invitational Tournament, which was then the most prestigious tournament in college basketball, at world-renowned Madison Square Garden. The teams combined for a two-year record of 42-15, including a win over national power Duquesne, which was ranked No. 1 in the nation.
Led by legendary player and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer, Maurice Stokes, the Frankies advanced to the 1954 NIT quarterfinals. Despite a fourth-place national finish, 6-foot-6 All-American Stokes was named the tournament’s MVP in 1954. He tallied 34 points in that year’s win over Brigham Young, and set a national record with 689 rebounds, which he bested with 726 during the 1954-55 campaign. Stokes averaged 23.1 ppg and 26.5 rpg during that season. His 26.5 rpg still ranks fifth all-time in the NCAA record books. The Frankies finished 21-6 that season behind a very talented team.
The 1953-54 men’s basketball team set the benchmark for success at Saint Francis, but it didn’t take long to re-write the record books. Team co-captains Stokes and Eugene Phelps, and the 1954-55 version of the Frankies finished 21-9 overall on their way to the NIT semifinals. They beat Seton Hall and defending NIT champion Holy Cross to advance into the semifinals, but bowed out of the NIT after a pair of tough overtime losses against Dayton and Cincinnati, which featured Stokes’ good friend Jack Twyman.
1953-54 Team
Head coach Dr. William “Skip” Hughes
Maurice Stokes (23.1 ppg, 26.5 rpg)
Edward W. Dugan (14.1 ppg, 7.1 rpg)
Frank Puschauver (9.1 ppg, 4.7 rpg),
Eugene Phelps (8.6 ppg, 4.0 rpg),
Emil Wandishin (7.9 ppg, 4.4 rpg),
William Saller (7.3 ppg, 5.2 rpg),
Pat Farace (4.8 ppg, 1.1 rpg),
Robert Watro (4.1 ppg, 3.8 rpg),
Walter Milinski (3.7 ppg, 1.6 rpg),
Tom Wrabel (2.4 ppg, 0.8 rpg),
Robert Ford (1.9 ppg, 2.7 rpg),
John Novalessi (1.8 ppg, 1.3 rpg),
Ronald Muffie (1.6 ppg, 0.4 rpg),
Robert Giardina (1.4 ppg, 0.8 rpg)
Team Manager Charlie Trusk
1954-55 Team
Head coach Dr. William “Skip” Hughes
Maurice Stokes (27.1 ppg, 26.2 rpg)
Frank Puschauver (13.5 ppg, 7.9 rpg)
Walter Milinski (12.2 ppg, 4.2 rpg)
William Saller (12.2 ppg, 9.4 rpg)
James McClellan (8.8 ppg, 8.0 rpg)
Emil Wandishin (8.5 ppg, 4.1 rpg)
Robert Watro (4.3 ppg, 2.6 rpg)
Edward Langton (2.1 ppg, 1.4 rpg)
Junious Daniels (1.9 ppg, 0.7 rpg)
John Novalessi (1.6 ppg, 0.7 rpg)
Robert Ford (1.4 ppg, 1.4 rpg)
Ray Carman (2.3 ppg, 2.3 rpg)
Paul Giarth (1.5 ppg, 1.0 rpg)
Ronald Muffie (0.4 ppg, 0.4 rpg)
Team Manager Pete Parish