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Members Of The Honor Roll

JACK LAWRENCE

Several Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame inductees have earned additional recognition for their stellar athletic accomplishments.

They include Tara VanDerveer, Jack Lawrence, Tom Priester, Jim Adamczak and Sheilah Gulas.

Meanwhile, two other area standouts, John Woodfield and Nick Sirianni, will also add significant entries to their athletic resumes this fall.

Following are the details:

¯ The Atlanta Tipoff Club named VanDerveer (CSHOF Class of 2010), the Stanford women’s basketball coach, the recipient of the 2021 Werner Ladder Naismith Women’s Coach of the Year Award. In addition to leading the Cardinal to the NCAA championship this spring for the third time, VanDerveer surpassed Pat Summitt as the all-time winningest coach in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history.

TOM PRIESTER

¯ Lawrence (CSHOF Class of 1987) was inducted into the Watkins Glen Walk of Fame at the 2021 Grand Prix Festival earlier this month.

The Walk of Fame was established by the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Historic Community, the Schuyler County Chamber of Commerce and Watkins Glen International to honor drivers who have competed on the Glen’s world-famous facilities over the last 73 years. Lawrence, who passed away in 2020, drove a Saab Sonnett from 1978-2002 and was an SCCA National Champion in 1983. Named the Northeast Division Driver of The Year in 1983, Lawrence is known as a driver, builder and innovator in the auto racing world.

¯ Priester (CSHOF Class of 2014) will be inducted into his high school’s athletic hall of fame this Saturday.

A graduate of North East (Pennsylvania) High School and Slippery Rock University, Priester is best known in Chautauqua County as a prominent coach and physical education teacher at Southwestern Central School for 45 years. He has also distinguished himself as a track and field official from 1975 to the present, and has been a USA official since 1985. In that role, Priester has officiated NCAA Division I, II and III championships and also national and international meets, including three U.S. Olympic Trials.

¯ Adamczak (CSHOF Class of 2005) and Sheilah Gulas (CSHOF Class of 2018) will be inducted into the Western New York Softball Hall of Fame in October.

JIM ADAMCZAK

Adamczak, one of Chautauqua County’s greatest pitchers, played from 1958 through 1975 during which he tossed more than 25 no-hitters and four perfect games while pitching for teams in Western New York and Pennsylvania. In a career that covered more than 1,200 games, Adamczak averaged more than 17 strikeouts per game during one 10-year span. Perhaps his most memorable performance was when he tossed a two-hitter and struck out 17 in a 1-0 victory over Eddie Feigner of the King & His Court at College Stadium in 1967.

Gulas, a 1979 Southwestern Central School graduate, enjoyed a 31-year career as a collegiate head coach, the last 21 at Ashland University. Compiling 30 wins in her final season, Gulas surpassed the 900-victory mark and won nearly 66% of her games (929-487-1). The 2017 NFCA Hall of Fame inductee collected 723 of those wins with the Eagles and led them to 12 NCAA Division II tournaments and collected five Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles and three conference Coach-of-the-Year awards. In 1998, Gulas guided Ashland to a school-record 53 wins and a No. 3 national ranking.

¯ Joining Adamczak and Gulas in the WNY Softball Hall of Fame next month is Woodfield. Although not a CSHOF inductee, the 1976 Maple Grove High School graduate has quite a softball resume.

A member of two national championship teams with the Jock Shop and one with Fudge’s Sub Shop, Woodfield, a third baseman, was a three-time first-team All-American (1982-84), a two-time second-team All-American (1985 and 1989), and, in 1984, was named the tournament Most Valuable Player.

¯ Sirianni will be the recipient of a special award at his alma mater, the University of Mount Union, next month.

SHEILAH GULAS

The Philadelphia Eagles head coach has been selected to receive the Duke Barrett Award of Excellence by the school’s M Club Hall of Fame.

The Jamestown native and Southwestern Central School graduate was a four-year letter winner as a receiver on the Mount Union football team. After graduation, he joined the Purple Raiders coaching staff and then on to Indiana (Pennsylvania) before embarking on an NFL coaching career with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2009. After three years in Kansas City, he went on to assistant coaching stops in San Diego and Indianapolis before landing the head coaching job with the Eagles earlier this year.

The Duke Barrett Award of Excellence is named for the 1951 graduate who was a longtime supporter of Purple Raider athletics. He was an avid M Club member, former chair of the Hall of Fame committee, and Mount Union football coach from 1956-61. The award honors a member of M Club for career experiences or activities that have brought honor and recognition to the indivdual and, in turn, Mount Union.

JOHN WOODFIELD

NICK SIRIANNI

TARA VANDERVEER

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