The CHSAA Hall of Fame now stands at 238 members, as seven new inductees joined the ranks May 29 at the 29th annual ceremony and dinner held at the Brynwood Golf and Country Club, Armonk, N.Y.

All proceeds benefit the Msgr. Matthew Peters-Bernard Gallagher Scholarship Fund. Both were former presidents of the league.

The seven members of this year’s class represent a wide range of sports. The following honorees make up the Class of 2014:

 

Tom Fraher is a 1981 graduate of Iona Prep, New Rochelle, N.Y., where he played basketball and baseball.

He then played four years of baseball at Stonehill College, Easton, Mass.

After graduating college in 1985, he returned to his high school alm mater to serve as an assistant basketball coach for five seasons.

He then moved on to Mount St. Michael Academy, the Bronx, where he has coached varsity basketball since 1991. His team captured the CHSAA ‘A’ Division State Federation Title in 1995. He also won city championships in 1996, 1997, 2006 and 2011.

Additionally, he coached 12 years as an assistant baseball coach at the Mount, with his 2000 team winning a city championship title.

Brother Paul Hannon, C.F.C., hails from Boston joined the Christian Brothers in 1981.

He served as the hockey moderator at Power Memorial Academy, Manhattan, and as athletic director and hockey moderator at All Hallows H.S., the Bronx.

He was then a member of the archdiocesan CHSAA executive board and the moderator of hockey at Msgr. Farrell H.S., Staten Island.

He was instrumental in founding the N.Y.S. CHSAA hockey championship.

George Kochman started coaching track at St. Joseph’s H.S., Metuchen, N.J., in 1963 before moving to Msgr. Farrell H.S.

He took over as head track coach at Farell in 1968 and served in that post until 1980. During that time, his teams won 32 Staten Island championships.

His 1979 team was crowned intersectional track champions with a then-record low score of 29 points.

He then coached at Wagner College, Staten Island, for six years, and he currently covers the sport as a track and field writer for the Staten Island Advance.

Bob Leckie played his high school basketball at St. Francis Prep, Brooklyn, where he was named team captain and M.V.P. in 1964.

He earned a basketball scholarship to play at St. Peter’s University, Jersey City, N.J., and his teams appeared in three straight N.I.T. Tournaments.

After coaching stops all over the globe, he settled in as the head varsity coach at Bishop Loughlin M.H.S., Fort Greene, in 1986 and compiled a record of 241-72. His team won the 1992 city championship, and he was named Brooklyn CHSAA Coach of the Year 10 times.

He moved on to serve as head coach of St. Peter’s University from 2000 to 2006. He has since returned to Bishop Loughlin as an assistant for the varsity squad.

Peter McNamara is a graduate of St. John the Baptist H.S., West Islip, L.I., and Fordham University, the Bronx. He played soccer in both schools.

He has coached soccer at Fordham Prep, the Bronx, for the past 29 years. His teams have won 15 division titles and 13 N.Y.C. archdiocesan titles.

He’s also won two city championships at the ‘AA’ level and one at the ‘A’ level. He’s been to the state final four eight times and captured the state championship in 2011.

He also coached tennis at Fordham Prep for 19 years, where his teams won 10 N.Y.C. archdiocesan titles and two city championships.

Bill Niklaus graduated from Archbishop Molloy H.S., Briarwood, and St. John’s University, Jamaica. He has worked at Molloy for the past 30 years as a psychology teacher, former department chairman, girls’ basketball coach and golf coach.

He started the school’s golf team in 1989 and has coached ever since. His teams have racked up 271 wins with only 41 losses. He’s won two city championships and 17 divisional titles, 16 of which cam consecutively.

Since 1992, he has served as the CHSAA golf chairman, where he has been instrumental in bringing together the N.Y.C., L.I. and Buffalo, N.Y., leagues to create the CHSAA state championship.

He’s also the N.Y.S. Federation golf coordinator and helped develop the Federation championship.

Billy Sacco has been a basketball official since 1979 and was recently recognized for his 35 years of service.

He is a member of the International Association of Approved Basketball Officials Board 52 and has officiated numerous Section 1 championship games as well as several N.Y.S. public high school championship games.

He began officiating games in the CHSAA in 1988. During that time, he’s officiated seven ‘AA’ division finals, as well as ‘A’ and ‘B’ finals. Four times, he has represented the CHSAA at the N.Y.S. Federation Finals.

He later served as a Division I women’s basketball official from 1998 to 2012 in the Ivy League, Northeast Conference and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

[hr]Contact Jim Mancari via email at jmancari@desalesmedia.org.[hr]