8/12/2011 - SUCO Hall of Fame Class Stellar
The names of the nominees for induction into the Sussex County Hall of Fame were sent out last month and this year’s class is as deserving as any I have seen in the past.
The nominees—Mickey Thomas and Shannon Sweeney of High Point; Lee Ann Wyble-Best of Vernon; Kevin Monell of Wallkill Valley and Melissa Soroka Williams of Pope John---are all highly-qualified, but only three of the five will be inducted when the Hall has its annual dinner Nov. 4 at Farmstead Golf and Country Club.
Hall members must submit their ballots to be counted and the Hall will tally the votes at its Aug. 16 meeting at the Newton VFW. The Hall will also induct two members from its Veterans Committee for a total of five.
This year’s class is comprised of athletes I have had the privilege of covering during my many years of following sports here in Sussex County.
Seeing Wyble and Soroka on the ballot makes me feel even older than I am because it just seems like yesterday when I was detailing their outstanding exploits for Vernon and Pope John, respectively.
I’ve known Mickey Thomas for a long time as well, although his playing career was before my time, he has been an outstanding coach at High Point for the last 30 years, and in my opinion, one of the best assistant coaches the county has ever seen along with Gene Mendes of Sparta.
I just interviewed Shannon Sweeney recently when his team won the Sparta Summer Basketball League, and despite closing in on 40, the man can still play.
Kevin Monell had a fine baseball and football career at Wallkill Valley but his most impressive accomplishments came at FDU-Madison where he excelled at the plate and behind the plate as a catcher.
Here is a brief bio on each candidate:
LEEANN WYBLE-BEST—She graduated from Vernon in 1992 as one of the top female athletes the school had ever produced.
Although she made her mark in soccer, she was also an outstanding basketball and softball player for the Vikings.
In soccer, she helped the Vikings win the first-ever Sussex County Interscholastic League titles in 1990 and 1991 and a section crown as well for coach Gary Carter. She was a prolific scorer notching 73 career goals and 37 assists.
She was terrific on the wing and could create and distribute with the best of them. She went onto a fine four-year career at Kean and she is currently the outstanding head girls soccer coach at Hillsborough High School where she notched her 100th career coaching victory last October.
She is a true girls soccer pioneer in the county.
SHANNON SWEENEY—He is a 1992 graduate of High Point and played for the great Charlie Kier, who won over 200 games at High Point.
Sweeney was electric on the court as he could beat you off the dribble or burn you with a terrific pull-up jumper which is still lethal today. He graduated as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,318 points.
He played one year at Virginia Wesleyan before transferring to Rutgers-Newark where he had an amazing college career, scoring 1,000-points and being named MVP his senior year and the school’s Outstanding Male Athlete.
Sweeney proved that kids from the “sticks” can play at the next level and he did playing professionally in Ireland and in Russia.
Sweeney, in my opinion, is one of top 10 players I have seen play in the SCIL.
MICKEY THOMAS—When High Point’s wrestling team won its first-ever Group 3 title four years ago I was most happy for Thomas, the guiding force behind Wildcat Rasslin’ since he donned a singlet in the late 1960s for coach Butch Anspach.
Thomas helped established the new program by winning a couple of district titles, but he has made his mark as a coach at the Wantage school. The born-and-bred Branchville native was also an outstanding baseball and football player receiving Skyline Conference honors.
After graduating from East Stroudsburg, he joined Jeff Hull’s staff in the mid 1970s and along with Hull turned the team into a state power. Thomas has been part of the Wildcats two state titles, 21 section crowns and 12 SCIL championships.
There hasn’t been a big moment in High Point wrestling that Thomas has not been a part of. After Hull retired Thomas coached with Jan Michaels and he is still an assistant to John Gardner, one of his former wrestlers and baseball players.
If you total his wins in baseball and wrestling he has 738 victories and counting.
Thomas is in his second stint as the head baseball coach and if elected he would join Hull, Gardner and former teammate Fred Swanson in the Hall.
This one is a no-brainer, folks.
MELISSA SOROKA WILLIAMS—By far one of the top softball players Pope John and Sussex County has ever produced and not a shabby field hockey player as well.
I covered Soroka for years on the field hockey and softball beat and she was one of my favorites, graduating in 2000.
In softball she could do it all. She was an outstanding catcher but a gym class injury forced her to move to shortstop where she excelled as well. Her career numbers at PJ are staggering: .493 batting average, 89 hits, 52 singles, 17 doubles, 13 triples, 7 homers, 74 RBI and a slugging percentage of .851.
And if you know PJ coach Frank Canning, those numbers are legit.
She also excelled for Wendy Morris in field hockey setting the school single-season scoring record of 45 points on 20 goals and five assists in 1999.
Soroka also competed in indoor track and helped the Lions win the gold in the 1600 meter relay.
Soroka then went onto an All-American softball career at Moravian where she complied 191 career hits and helped the squad qualify for the Division III College World Series.
KEVIN MONELL-- Monell graduated from Wallkill Valley in 1998 and was a four-year varsity letter winner for the Rangers in baseball for coach John Pew.
Monell really blossomed in college at FDU-Madison where he helped the Devils win the Freedom Conference title and the ECAC Metro championship his senior year when the team went 31-9 in 2002.
He hit .336 that season and caught 39 out of the team’s 40 games providing great defense, while handing the pitching staff with great leadership.
Monell is tied for ninth place on the school’s all-time hit list with 111 and was named the school’s Athlete of the Year in 2002.
As I mentioned before, the Veterans Committee also selects two inductees and here is my pick for one of those slots: Mike Parichuck.
Those of you who have watched the Sports Beat and the basketball Games of the Week know Parichuck. The proud Sussex County native and Pope John graduate has come into your homes for the last two decades and is as fine a man you will ever encounter.
He played football, hoops and baseball at PJ in the late 1960s and continued his hoops career at Assumption College in Massachusetts. He came back to coach at PJ and was an assistant to Sam Mitchell in hoops and to the legend Vic Paternostro in football.
He took over the boys basketball program and guided PJ to the SCIL title in 1978 and coached Hall-of-Famer Gunner Frauenpries. Parichuck left PJ to begin a long and productive career as a coach, educator and guidance counselor at Kittatinny in the Fall of 1980.
He coached basketball for over 10 years and touched the lives of many Kittatinny students not only as a coach but as a guidance counselor before retiring in 2010.
Add in his work for Mugs Media and his long career as a baseball and softball umpire, Parichuck has been a big part of the Sussex County sports community since his days of playing rec ball for John Zamos as a boy growing up in Newton.
Yes, I’m biased when it comes to Mike because over the years I have developed a great relationship with him and I’ve seen the good he has accomplished on and off the court. So if anyone from the Hall can’t think of a nominee, you couldn’t go wrong with Mike Parichuck.
That’s it for now, see you on the sidelines.
|
