New Jersey City University Athletics

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University has announced its Athletics Hall of Fame class of 2017, and the results are historic in a number of ways. The 20th NJCU Athletics Hall of Fame class will be an all-female affair as for the first time ever all individuals elected are women, representing three different sports. Meanwhile, for the first time in 36 years and only the second time ever, a team will be honored.
 
Women's indoor/outdoor track and field All-Americans Ebony Barnes `09 and Denay Caldwell `07, inspirational NCAA Tournament and All-American women's bowling standout Eryn Cully-Bohleber `05, women's soccer three-time Academic All-America Katie Feehan `07 (MS, `09), and former women's bowling National Player of the Year Vicki Spratford `08, were the five individuals voted into the Hall of Fame by the seven-member Athletics Hall of Fame committee, from a list of 27 outstanding nominees and 11 finalists.
 
Additionally, the 1963-64 Jersey City State College men's basketball team, considered the first in a long-line of exceptional teams for NJCU's most successful athletics program, becomes the first team enshrined since 1981.
 
The 20th induction ceremony will be held on Thursday, January 26, 2017 on campus and will expand the membership of the University's Hall of Fame to 139 individuals and two teams, since being founded in 1979. The last induction was on Friday, April 5, 2013.
 
Feehan, a New Jersey State Trooper, who currently is in her ninth season as assistant women's soccer coach at NJCU, is the longest-serving active female coach, head or assistant at the institution, and becomes the first-ever women's soccer player elected.
 
Cully and Spratford become the second and third bowler enshrined while Barnes and Caldwell are the third and fourth women's track athletes.
 
In the seven previous five-person Hall of Fame classes inducted since 1994, no more than two women had ever been enshrined in the same year. In 1989, five women were inducted in the eight-person class. The classes of 1983 and 1985 had previously enshrined seven and eight men, respectively. The class of 2006 consisted of four men. Additionally, the election marks the first time all individuals competed in the same decade (2000-09).
 
Cully becomes the first-ever two-year female student-athlete elected and just the fourth individual to be enshrined after competing for only two seasons, joining Denis M. Richardson `68 in 1984, Sesser R. Peoples `63 in 1985 and Robert E. Maslo `66 in 1988.
 
The 1963-64 championship men's basketball team, coached by Hall of Famer Oliver S. Gelston, consisted of 14 players—four of whom are current individual Hall of Famers at NJCU, including Charlie Brown `65 (MA `85).
 
Brown, one of just two individuals elected to the NJCU Athletics Hall of Fame twice—a 1979 charter class member of the Hall of Fame as a student-athlete and again in 2011 as a basketball coach—will now hold the noteworthy distinction of being enshrined for a third time. Center court at NJCU's John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center is also named in Brown's honor.

Brown's teammates Ben F. O'Neal `65 in 1981 and Edwin H. Petersen `66 and Paul F. Yates `66 in 1985, are also currently in the Hall of Fame as individuals. Brown and O'Neal were co-captains of the squad.
Other individuals on the 1963-64 team include Robert Bagley `68, Paul Calocino `66, Michael Connolly `67, George Connors `66, Robert Elder `66, Tom Gleason `66, Earl Kingwill `66, Danny Lane `66, Anthony Mitolo `65, and Michael Scolamieri `65. The assistant coach was Pete Muir. Elder and Yates are deceased.
 
The only other team elected to the Hall of Fame was the 1942 and 1943 national championship women's fencing team. They were honored in 1981.
 
For information on the Hall of Fame induction, please call the NJCU Office of Alumni Relations at 201-200-3250 or email via jmcclellan@njcu.edu.
 

***HALL OF FAME CAPSULES***
 
EBONY BARNES `09
Barnes (Elizabeth, N.J./Elizabeth H.S.) was a five-time All-American in her four-year career on the track from 2005-09. She earned First-Team All-America honors in the indoor 55-meter dash in 2007-08 and 2008-09 and was a three-time First-Team All-America in the outdoor 100-meter dash in 2006, 2007 and 2008. A multiple-time New Jersey Athletic Conference champion, Barnes was named the 2008 NJAC Women's Outdoor Track and Field Outstanding Female Track Athlete of the Year and the 2008-09 NJAC Women's Indoor Track and Field Most Outstanding Female Track Athlete—equivalent to the conference Player of the Year in team sports. Her 100-meter dash conference record of 11.84 seconds in the 2008 NJAC outdoor championship meet still stands.
 
Barnes was a four-time NJAC outdoor champion, including three 100-meter dash titles and the 2008 crown in the 200 meters. She placed as high as third nationally in the 100-meter dash NCAA final in 2008. She captured two ECAC championships outdoor, claiming the 2007 ECAC title in the 100-meter dash and the 2008 crown in the 200.
 
In the three years the award existed, Barnes was a combined 16-time NJAC Track Athlete of the Week recipient—a nine-time NJAC Indoor Track Athlete of the Week from 2006-09 and a seven-time NJAC Outdoor Track Athlete of the Week from 2007-09 .

 
DENAY CALDWELL `07
The second most decorated women's track athlete in NJCU history, Caldwell (Paterson, N.J./Paterson-Eastside H.S.) joins her first cousin and former teammate, Andrea Herbert `07, a 2013 Athletics Hall of Fame inductee, in the Hall of Fame. Caldwell, who is married to former NJCU men's track and field All-American Terry Pearson, was a dominant seven-time All-American between the indoor and outdoor seasons from 2003-07.

 
Caldwell was an NCAA First-Team All-American in the 2005 and 2006 indoor 55-meter hurdles, twice placing fifth in the national finals. But she was at her best in several outdoor events, claiming five All-America plaques in the spring. A 2003 First-Team All-American in the 400-meter hurdles, in 2004 she was a double All-American in the 100-meter hurdles and 4x100-meter relay. It was the first of three consecutive years she was a First-Team All-America in the 100-meter hurdles; her best finish was fourth as a senior in 2006.
 
Caldwell was a frequent NJAC champion. In the 2004 outdoor season, she was named the Outstanding Female Track Athlete and when NJCU returned to the conference after a one-year hiatus, claimed the 2006 indoor NJAC Outstanding Female Track Athlete nod. Overall, Caldwell was a three-time NJAC champion and one-time Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference winner during her indoor career. Outdoors, she was a five-time NJAC and two-time ECAC champion. She also helped NJCU place second of 68 teams at the 2005 ECAC Division III Outdoor Championship and 10th at the NCAA Division III Championship
 
ERYN CULLY-BOHLEBER, `05

One of the first All-Americans in NJCU women's bowling history, the inspirational Cully (Medford, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford H.S.) was a 2004 NCAA Division II/III Second-Team All-American. Her emotional leadership style and exceptional skill almost single-handedly propelled the Gothic Knights into the 2004 NCAA Bowling national final when NJCU placed third nationally in the first-ever national collegiate bowling championship before NJCU lost to eventual champion Nebraska, 4-games-to-3, in a best-of-seven series on ESPN.
 
At the 2004 NCAA Championship, Cully was named to the All-Tournament Team after finishing first overall in the individual standings with a remarkable 235.714 average. It is the second highest average in NCAA championship history. What made her finish at the NCAA's even more remarkable is it occurred less than one week after she miraculously walked away from an automobile accident on her native Long Island in which she was struck and severely injured by a drunk driver. She can be seen in photos from the 2004 NCAAs wrapped in tape to keep her leg stable from the injuries.
 
Cully was the 2004 co-winner of the Thomas M. Gerrity Scholar-Athlete of the Year award. The most prestigious honor any New Jersey City student-athlete can receive, she shared the award with teammate Jennifer Viens `06, who was the first-ever bowler inducted in the Hall of Fame in 2013.
 
A two-time All-Conference selection in 2002-03 and 2003-04, Cully, a national NCBCA All-Academic Team selection, was NJCU's anchor for two seasons after transferring to the University on a full academic scholarship from Briarcliffe College.
 
After graduating, she served as the team's assistant coach for three seasons when it qualified for the NCAA Tournament each year.
 
KATIE FEEHAN `07 (MS, `09)

In four years on the soccer pitch for the Gothic Knights from 2004-07, Feehan (Manasquan, N.J./Wall H.S.) was the ultimate example of the term student-athlete and one of the top scholar-athletes to ever play for the University in any sport. A three-time CoSIDA Academic All-America recipient, she became the first athlete in the history of NJCU to be named a First-Team Academic All-American in any sport in 2007 after earning Third-Team Academic All-America distinction in 2005 and 2006. She is the only NJCU student-athlete to ever be a multiple-time Academic All-American. As a senior in 2007, she was one of only three midfielders nationwide named to the First-Team and among just two in Division III and the only graduate student on any of the three teams.
 
Feehan is a 2007 graduate of NJCU with Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice (Pre-Law) with a 3.98 grade point average and a 2009 Master of Science from the institution. She is in her ninth season as an assistant coach with the Gothic Knights. The 31-year-old Union, N.J. resident is the longest-serving active female coach, head or assistant at NJCU. Off the field, Feehan has bravely served the residents of the state as a New Jersey State Trooper for five years.
 
Athletically, Feehan proved to be a technical and versatile player offensively and defensively, who played every position on the field during her career—even 45 minutes in goal. But she was a center midfielder by trade and when she concluded her playing career for the Knights, owned every major career record at NJCU. While many of her records have since been broken by players she has helped recruit to the program as a coach, she was the all-time leader in points (92), goals (33), assists (26), multiple-goal games (9), game-winning goals (6), shots (250), shots on goal (135), games played (73), games started (73) and minutes played (6,372) at the conclusion of the 2007 season.
 
She was honored for her athletics and academics by the NJAC. She was a three-time All-Conference selection (2005-07), earning Second-Team honors as a senior. Meanwhile, she was a two-time First-Team Academic All-NJAC recipient. NJCU competed as an independent her freshman year.
 
VICKI SPRATFORD `08

Considered the greatest bowler in the illustrious history of the NJCU bowling program, Spratford (Hopelawn, N.J./Woodbridge) was a four-time All-American who led NJCU to the 2006 and 2008 NCAA National Collegiate Women's Bowling Final Four and was voted the 2006-07 and 2007-08 National Tenpin Coaches Association (NTCA) Division III National Player of the Year.
 
In a career that spanned from 2004-08, Spratford, arguably one of the greatest female student-athletes ever to attend the University, was among the most dominant players in the history of NCAA Division I, II or III bowling—backing that claim up with a dynamic resume of accomplishments.
 
A four-time All-American among players in Division I, II and III, the NJCU anchor bowler earned First-Team All-America honors three times. In 2007 and 2008, she was the highest vote recipient on the All-America First Team and had the NTCA given out just one national player of the year [rather than one per division], she would have been the Division I Player of the Year. NJCU amassed an incredible record of 303-117-2—a .720 winning percentage—and qualified for four NCAA Tournaments in her career. The Knights were just one win shy of the 2008 national title match.
 
As a freshman in 2004-05, she earned First-Team Division II/III All-America honors and Second-Team Division II/III honors in 2005-06. In 2006-07 and 2007-08, the All-America team was combined to include those in Division I, and Spratford earned First-Team honors each time.
 
In 2005-06, Spratford was voted to the NTCA Division II/III All-Northeast Region First-Team and was a 2004-05 NTCA Division I/II/III All-Northern Region First-Team in the only seasons that a regional All-America team was announced.
 
Spratford was named to the 2006 and 2008 NCAA All-Tournament Teams. She is one of only three Gothic Knights ever named to the NCAA's All-Tournament Team in seven championship appearances and remains one of only 10 players in the history of the sport named to the NCAA All-Tournament Team more than once.
 
Spratford appeared on regional and national television several times for her exploits on the lanes and on January 21, 2008 became the sixth athlete in school history to appear in the 'Faces in the Crowd' section of Sports Illustrated.
 
A May 2008 graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice, she later served as head coach for one season (2013-14).
 
1963-64 MEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM
A team that featured some of the all-time greats in the history of the program was the second Jersey City State team to win a conference championship, but behind Gelston, produced a two-year stretch of dominance that resulted in back-to-back New Jersey State Athletic Conference crowns. The Gothics were 20-6 overall (.769) and 9-1 in the conference and in the days before NCAA Division III, there was only Division I and NAIA—consisting of all the nation's small colleges or what is now Division II, III and NAIA. Jersey City State went on a magical run through the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Tournament, culminating in a pair of dramatic one-point victories and a District 31 championship.
 
During the season, the Gothics won at least four games in a row four times and never lost consecutive games. In the District 31 semifinals in Jersey City, the Gothics defeated Maryland State College (now Division I Maryland Eastern Shore) 52-51 before upending Plattsburgh State College, 62-61. The run finally came to an end in the 32-team NAIA national championship tournament in Kansas City, Mo. with a loss to St. Cloud (Minn.). The team finished the year ranked No. 3 in the nation in scoring defense at just 58.7 points per game. That school record lasted for nearly 50 years until a team coached by Brown's son, Marc Brown, eclipsed it in the 2012-13 season (58.3 per game). Charlie Brown, Ben O'Neal and Ed Petersen were each 1,000-point scorers, with Yates narrowly missing the milestone.

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