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By MICHAEL SMITH
Staff Writer
PUBLISHED OCTOBER 4, 2011
Four alumni athletes and an entire team were inducted into the Golden Knights Hall of Fame as the Class of 201l. 16 years after the very first induction—a class of just two—baseball players Chuck Bauer and Eric LeBlanc, were inducted alongside women’s cross country runner and track and field athlete Nora O’Heaney McGrath, women’s soccer player Drea Porteus, and the entire 1991 softball team.
Senior Associate Athletics Director Brian Gordon started the evening with the Welcoming Remarks, summing up the mood of the night by telling the crowd that the feel of Homecoming Weekend all culminated when the inductees were put in the Hall.
The 1991 Softball team got a warm introduction from Athletics Director Cathy Haker. Haker spoke of the team’s late coach, Nick Renchkovsky, who once said of his team, “What we have is 18 gifted kids who don’t know they’re supposed to get beat.” They posted a 28-4 record and won the NAIA District 31 Championship, and qualified for the NAIA National Tournament in Columbia, Missouri.
It was said about the softball team that they were good, but superstitious too: they ate Twizzlers before every game, and had a special song to which they listened. They played a doubleheader in Maine, the day before graduation, and they hadn’t heard the song before the first game. So coach Renchkovsky blasted it out of the radio of a van while the team was on the field. They swept the doubleheader, qualifying them for the National Championship, and letting the seniors return home for graduation.
McGrath, Class of ’96, was introduced by her coach JR Gaige, who shared an anecdote about her recruitment: He was actually recruiting her boyfriend who demanded that his girlfriend be recruited too. Coach Gaige told the crowd that he couldn’t remember the boy’s name, but O’Heaney became an All-American.
Baseball player Eric LeBlanc, Class of ’96, was presented by Assistant Athletics Director David Alexander, who referred to LeBlanc as one of the best pitchers ever to take the mound at Saint Rose. The ABCA first-team All-American still has more wins and strikeouts than any other Saint Rose pitcher in the NCAA era. He had the shortest speech of the night, fighting through tears to dedicate the honor to his parents.
Porteus, Class of ’03, was the final inductee of the night, introduced by women’s soccer coach Laurie Darling Gutheil. Gutheil called Porteus the first national talent to play at Saint Rose. She is second in school history with 104 points. Porteus fought through adversity, having missed the 2001 season after tearing her ACL at the end of the 2000 season. Following her surgery, she required a stomach surgery for a separate health issue which delayed rehab and subsequently caused her to require a second knee surgery. This took her out for the 2001 season, and made 2002 look doubtful. But she fought to be on the field even if she wasn’t fully recovered.
Bauer, Class of ’95, who was not present at the induction, ended his time at Saint Rose number one in strikeouts and ERA. He was named an NYCAC first-team All-Conference member his junior and senior seasons, one of only three Saint Rose players to do so since 1992.
Fred and Virginia Thompson were in attendance at the induction. The two graduates of Saint Rose still follow Saint Rose sports. They recently made a generous donation to the Saint Rose Hall of Fame. “When you’re here, your career has already been decided, but you come back to celebrate the four years you worked hard here,” said Fred Thompson.
Two sisters of Saint Joseph who have attended every Saint Rose Hall of Fame induction said it was for one reason alone: “The spirit of the Golden Knights.”
