October 12, 1998 Volume 21, No. 4

Sports Hall of Fame Inducts Nine

One of the highlights of Homecoming weekend was the September 26 Ithaca College Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony, when nine new members were honored.

The 1998 inductees are Bomber football star Charles Boots ’61; former University of Rochester men’s basketball coach Lyle Brown ’45; two-time women’s soccer national championship coach Pat Farmer; three-sport performer Merwin Fenton ’41; Beth Howland ’92, an all-American soccer goalie; cross-country and track and field standout Julie Aman May ’90; baseball all-American Vince Roman ’91; Fred Seither ’50, another Bomber gridiron great; and Zac Shaw ’92, an all-American soccer goalie with Ithaca’s men’s squad.

The present mayor of Massena, New York, Boots was an all-American football player at Ithaca. A lineman, he was the Bomber most valuable player in 1959 and was selected as one of the top 11 football players of the 1950s at Ithaca. Boots taught and coached in the Potsdam, Norwood-Norfolk, and Massena school systems. He was inducted into the Massena Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994.

Brown forged a successful coaching tenure at the scholastic and intercollegiate levels after graduating from Ithaca. He coached soccer, basketball, and baseball at Pittsford Central School. Brown’s basketball teams won eight Monroe County titles and two Section V crowns. He moved on to Rochester, where he coached soccer, basketball, and freshman baseball. The Yellowjacket basketball squads won 242 games and made the NCAA postseason tournament four times with Brown directing the program.

The winningest coach in Ithaca women’s soccer history, Farmer guided his Bomber clubs to a 110-17-23 record in seven seasons. Ithaca was invited to participate in the NCAA Division III play-offs in each of those seasons and won the national championship in 1990 and 1991. Farmer is now the head women’s soccer coach at Penn State University.

Fenton played football, track, and baseball as an undergraduate at Ithaca. During World War II he served as a chief specialist for training at Farragut naval base in Idaho. Fenton was the director of athletics and a coach at Chaumont, Brocton, and Portville High Schools before retiring in 1971.

A key member of Ithaca’s two NCAA championship women’s soccer teams, Howland still owns program records for season (16) and career (44) shutouts, season (0.23) and career (0.36) goals against average, career save percentage (.924), and career wins (40). She set a Division III record for lowest career goals against average in play-off action (0.15). Howland received all-American recognition in 1990 and 1991.

An all-state performer in cross-country and track and field, May earned indoor and outdoor all-American recognition in the 800 meters. She established the indoor 800 (2:17.13) and outdoor 800 (2:12.10) records that still stand at Ithaca. She was an indoor and outdoor 800-meter Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) champion.

Roman, a two-time baseball all-American, currently works with the Texas Rangers as a minor league hitting instructor. Ithaca’s all-time leader in hits (220) and stolen bases (94), Roman played in the NCAA play-offs in each of his four seasons. He was signed by the Houston Astros and advanced as far as Class AA in the minor leagues.

Seither was named one of the top 11 Ithaca football players of the 1940s. He enjoyed a long and prosperous career in teaching and coaching at the scholastic level. He was employed by McGraw Central School, Virgil Central School, and Saugerties Central School. A year ago he was inducted into the Saugerties Sports Hall of Fame.

Recently hired as an assistant coach on Farmer’s staff at Penn State, Shaw was a 1991 soccer all-American at Ithaca. He ranks first in career shutouts (31), season goals against average (0.33), and career goals against average (0.64) at his alma mater. He played on three Bomber clubs that earned spots in the NCAA play-offs.

The 1998 induction ceremony brings to 169 the ranks of the Ithaca College Sports Hall of Fame.

Photo by Sheryl D. Sinkow