Chapin announces 2024 AIC Athletics Hall of Fame Class
SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts – American International College will induct seven individuals and three teams into the AIC Athletics Hall of Fame as the Class of 2024, Director of Athletics Jessica Chapin announced on Wednesday, March 13.
The individual inductees will be Wally Barlow, Jeptui Cherotich, Mark Cordeiro, Yves DeRome, Glarius Rop, Jim Roy, and Kim Steiner; the teams being inducted are the 1969 Ice Hockey, 1978-79 Softball, and 1976-79 Women's Volleyball squads.
"Each of the individuals and teams we are inducting made an indelible mark on the history of the Yellow Jackets with their talents and efforts in their time at AIC," noted Chapin. She added, "Our Hall of Fame Committee had the difficult task of selecting this class out of a pool of incredible nominees."
Barlow – the lone selection who is not an AIC alumnus – represented Great Britain in the 1936 Olympics in wrestling before coming to the United States, where he served as the head trainer for the Springfield Indians American Hockey League team for 12 years, winning three Calder Cups in 1960-62, and was the athletic trainer at AIC for just under a quarter century. He even stepped behind the bench as head coach of the ice hockey team for two seasons in 1970-72, coaching players such as Mark Bousquet '72 and Kevin Collins '72, both themselves in the AIC Hall of Fame.
Cherotich had a brilliant career on the cross country and track teams from 2009-13. She was a three-time NE10 Cross Country Athlete of the Year, as she won the individual title in 2010, 2011, and 2012; she added eight individual NE10 titles in indoor and outdoor track and field across various distance races. She also qualified for the NCAA Championship six times – three each in cross country and track.
Cordeiro put together an astounding four-year career with the football team, compiling 5007 all-purpose yards from 1986-89 as he played quarterback and fullback for the team. He was New England Division II Offensive Player of the Year in 1988 at quarterback, throwing for 22 touchdowns and rushing for seven more in nine games, and repeated the following year despite switching positions. He was the 1990 President's Trophy winner as well as the Alumni Football Award, given to the team's most outstanding senior that year.
DeRome was the captain and key cog in the 1969 ECAC East Championship team, the first title in the program's two-decade history. He won the William Coniff Award in 1969 while leading the team, scoring an astounding 124 points in just 58 games. Among his points were 86 assists, which was a program record at the time and still stands as the tops for the Yellow Jackets.
Rop dominated the cross country and track and field scene from 2009-13, collecting a dozen All-American nods. Among his incredible performances were four national runner-ups as he took the silver twice in the Outdoor 10000 and once each in the Indoor and Outdoor 5000. He earned 11 Northeast-10 titles overall, with three in cross country and eight in track and field, and was 2009 and 2011 NE10 Runner of the Year as well as the 2013 President's Cup winner.
Roy was a force on both the mound and at the plate in a four-year career for the baseball team from 1981-84. He was a First-Team All-NE10 honoree in 1981 and 1984, and led the NE10 in RBI in both 1983 and 1984. Overall, he hit .344 in 425 at-bats as a Yellow Jacket, with 146 hits, 126 runs driven in, 22 home runs, and 100 runs scored; he also compiled a 3.70 earned run average across 12 pitching appearances in his final three seasons.
Steiner was the backbone of the field hockey team's run to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances – the first two in program history. In net from 2008-11, she set program records for games played and won and total saves as well as single season win and save percentage records in 2010. She was a two-time NFHCA All-American, including First-Team All-American in 2010, and was named the team's Most Outstanding Player for both 2010 and 2011. As a graduate student, she also added a USTFCCCA All-Region honor in the Pole Vault for track and field in 2013, and won the FJ Maloney Award from AIC in 2012.
The 1969 Ice Hockey Team was the program's first champion – won the same day as the 1969 men's basketball team collected its first title – as the Yellow Jackets downed Norwich 8-6 for the ECAC East crown. Led by DeRome, the Yellow Jackets boasted a number of remarkable players, including a rookie Dave Forbes, who would later become AIC's first to reach the NHL, and three-time All-ECAC selection Gary Socha.
The 1978-79 Softball Teams dominated the MAIAW in historic fashion. Coached by Judy Groff, the Yellow Jackets won back-to-back titles, with a combined record of 34-5 over the two campaigns. The 1978 squad was led by Debbie Rog, who co-captained as a senior alongside Kim Mortara. After starting 2-3, the team rattled off 15 straight wins, including a 3-0 showing at the MAIAW Championship. The following year saw even greater success as the team went 17-2 with four players hitting over .400 and 2022 Hall of Fame inductee Christine Leone threw two no-hitters in the MAIAW Championship.
Likewise, Groff's 1976-79 Volleyball Teams quickly rose to prominence and dominated the MAIAW. They reached the MAIAW Tournament for the first time in 1976, just their third season, and won it to cap a seven-game win streak; that group, like the softball team in the spring, was captained by Rog. They set a program record at the time the following year with a 13-5 mark, and then captured two more crowns in 1978 and 1979, a run of three titles in four years unmatched by any AIC volleyball team since.
Notably, these inductions will give Groff her third and fourth selections; she is in the Hall of Fame as an individual, and also as the head coach of the 1997-98 Softball teams that reached the College World Series.
The Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will take place on Friday, September 20, as the opening athletic event of the 2024 Homecoming Weekend.