Alumni to be
honored on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2008, at the Stevens Athletic Hall of Fame
Brunch at Stevens are the late Winfield S. Stickle ’49, tennis; Kenneth
P. Simonson ’73, soccer; Justin T. Brinkerhoff ’02, soccer and lacrosse;
Dr. Elena M. Ziarnik ’02, soccer and lacrosse; Jessica M. Soltysik ’03,
soccer and lacrosse; and Philip D. Wolf ’03, baseball. The brunch,
sponsored by the Stevens Department of Athletics and the Stevens Alumni
Association, will also honor Dr. Yu-Dong Yao, an associate professor
with Stevens’ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, with
the SAA Outstanding Teacher Award. The brunch will begin at 10 a.m.
Saturday and is part of the many activities of Stevens Homecoming 2008.
This year’s Homecoming features an expanded schedule of events that
actually begins on Thursday night, as some events are part of the annual
Tech Fest for Stevens students. At Homecoming on Saturday—the busiest
day of the weekend—alumni can enjoy the Athletic Hall of Fame Brunch, a
Fun Run, a campus barbecue, a Performing Arts Showcase, Stevens sports
games, an alumni ‘Meet and Greet’ and a comedy show.
The cost of the Hall of Fame Brunch is $12, $5 children 12 and under.
For the full Homecoming schedule and to register, please visit
http://stevensducks.com/homecoming.asp, or call the Alumni Office at
(201) 216-5163.
Gifted student athletes
This year’s 19th Hall of Fame
class spans the World War II to the Internet generation, but they share
a common gift, says Stevens Director of Athletics Russell Rogers.
“I had the pleasure of watching Jessica, Elena, Justin and Phil
perform during their careers at Stevens,” Rogers says. “I know firsthand
how hard they worked and how much they contributed to their respective
teams. Most certainly, Ken Simonson and Winfield Stickle represented
this type of student athlete in their time at Stevens as well.
“I think that the Stevens Athletic Hall of Famers represent the best
of both worlds. These are men and women who were not only outstanding
athletes but also outstanding students who have gone on to represent
Stevens quite well in the areas of work and profession. It’s a nice
recognition of people who were able to handle both the academic and
athletic rigors and demands of Stevens and handle them well.”
This year’s class will bring the total number of Hall of Famers to
81, among them athletes, coaches and administrators, since the Stevens
Athletic Hall of Fame program began in 1990.
Here’s a look at the newest members of the Stevens Athletic Hall of
Fame.
Tennis pioneer
In the ’48 Link yearbook, Winfield “Scott” Stickle’s classmates swear
that he was “literally born with a racquet in hand” and later grabbed
the Silver Cup in the Boys’ National Table Tennis Tournament when he was
just 15.
Mr. Stickle would go on to play tennis at Stevens for three years,
ranked as the team’s top player in singles and doubles. He led the
Stevens tennis team to an outstanding 20-6 record and is certainly one
of the greatest players in Stevens tennis history, as these individual
career statistics show: first in win-loss percentage, at .960, with a
record of 24-1; first in win-loss percentage as an individual in
doubles, at .791, with a record of 19-5; and first for the number of
wins in a row, 23. He also ranked as high as 25th in the national
intercollegiate rankings during his career.
Mr. Stickle started his career with Gibbs & Cox, Inc., in New York
City and later moved to California, where he lived in Reseda, CA, and
owned The Liquor House in Northridge, CA. Mr. Stickle died on Dec. 16,
1998.
A ‘very strong left foot’
He was arguably one of the best Stevens soccer players of the 1960s and
’70s, and now Ken Simonson ’73 will be the second soccer player from
that era to enter the Stevens Athletic Hall of Fame.
This forward and midfielder had many shining moments, including that
day in 1971, when he scored four goals against Wagner College in the
opening game that season, tying a school record.
He would score 14 goals that year, helping him lead Stevens to its
first winning season in nine years. For Stevens, Mr. Simonson ranks
first in both goals per game (1.40) and in points per game (3.00) in a
season, and, during his Stevens career, ranks second in goals per game
(.838) and in points per game (1.87). His Stevens career totals are 58
points on 26 goals and six assists. He was also a member of the tennis
team.
“Simonson, with a very strong left foot, took all the penalty shots
for Stevens when he played,” said John Lyon, former Stevens sports
information director and coach and fellow Hall of Famer. “Quickness and
endurance were two of the attributes he brought to the field.”
Mr. Simonson lives in North Ridgeville, Ohio, and owns Bergren
Associates, a waste and waste water equipment company in Cleveland. He
has three children and three grandchildren and will wed his fiancé
Elizabeth in October 2008.
Two-sport powerhouse
Justin T. Brinkerhoff ’02 enters the Hall of Fame as an outstanding
four-year player in, incredibly, both lacrosse and soccer. Indeed, he
helped both teams reach new heights in Stevens athletics.
In 2001, Mr. Brinkerhoff led the men’s lacrosse team to its first
Knickerbocker Conference Championship, which qualified them for NCAA
post season play, making the men’s lacrosse team the first Stevens team
to qualify for NCAA championship play since the women’s fencing team
qualified in the early 1980s. In 2002, Mr. Brinkerhoff and the lacrosse
team would again win the Knickerbocker Conference Champion-ship and
enter NCAA post season play, accumulating an impressive 22-9 record over
that two-year period of 2001 and 2002. In his last soccer season at
Stevens, in 2001, the men’s soccer team went 12-8-1, won its first
Skyline Conference Championship and became the first Stevens soccer team
to qualify for NCAA Tournament play.
Mr. Brinkerhoff, a midfielder in both soccer and lacrosse, holds a
number of Stevens lacrosse records. During his Stevens career, he is
ranked first in ground balls, at 356; second in ground balls per game,
at 6.36, and second in face off wins, at 431. For a single lacrosse
season, he ranks second in ground balls, at 129, and second in face off
wins, at 151.
“Justin was very fast and not afraid of mixing it up,” said Stevens
Men’s Lacrosse Coach Byron Collins, who coached Justin for his last
three seasons. “His control of ground balls and face-offs was very
important to us.”
Mr. Brinkerhoff is a project engineer with Dominion Home Networks in
San Antonio, Texas, and lives in San Antonio with his wife, Gerrah.
National record holder
Elena Ziarnik, M.D., ’02 helped to make history for women’s sports
at Stevens. A member of the first women’s varsity lacrosse team at
Stevens in 2001, Dr. Ziarnik, in her four years on the women’s soccer
team, led the team to four Women’s Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
(WIAC) championships, two Sky-line Conference Championships and to the
team’s first-ever Eastern College Athletic Conference Tournament bid.
And, in 2001, Ziarnik had 21 assists in one season, ranking her No. 1 in
this category among all NCAA Division III schools that year and setting
a Stevens women’s soccer record that still stands. This midfielder also
holds the career record for number of assists (38) and in assists per
game (.056) and the season record for assists per game, 1.71.
“Elena was our vocal leader,” says Women’s Soccer Coach Jeff Parker.
“She helped set the tone on how we played.”
Dr. Ziarnik, a graduate of the Medical College of Wisconsin,
Milwaukee, is an intern with Bay State Medical Center, Springfield,
Mass, and lives in Chicopee, Mass.
A ‘tenacious’ defender
Jessica M. Soltysik ’03 made her mark in both Stevens women’s soccer
and lacrosse history, in her quiet, tenacious way. Ms. Soltysik led the
women’s soccer team to a 47-22-4 record over her four years, four WIAC
Championships, two Skyline Conference Championships and, in 2002, to the
team’s first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament. She was also an
important player in the school’s first three years of its women’s
varsity lacrosse team, as they compiled an impressive 33-11 record, won
their first conference championship in 2003 and earned their first-ever
Eastern College Athletic Conference post season bid.
“Jessica was very coachable and always seemed to step in when we
needed her most,” said lacrosse coach, Celine Cunningham. “She played
tenacious defense.” Women’s soccer coach Jeff Parker called Soltysik “a
very good athlete (who) led by example.” For lacrosse, Ms. Soltysik
ranks No. 1 in draw controls per game, at 3.75, for a season; and second
in ground balls per game, 4.42, in a season. For her career, she also
ranks second in ground balls a game (4.09).
The Collingswood, N.J., resident works as a systems engineer with
Life Cycle Engineering in Philadelphia.
‘Consummate leader’
A hard-working leader, Philip D. Wolf ’03 also got results. This
four-year baseball player led the baseball team during his senior year
to its first Knickerbockers Conference Championship tournament and 21
wins, a record at that time. The catcher and first baseman was both a
strong fielder and slugger, batting .296 and fielding .958 during his
career. Mr. Wolf ranks first in triples in a season (7); second in
triples (9), RBIs (104) and homeruns (12) in a career; and second in put
outs (617) in a career.
“Phil was a consummate leader on and off the field,” said coach John
Crane, who called him a “prolific run producer” who often came through
with the big hits.
Mr. Wolf, a project engineer with Tech Group, Inc., in Millersville,
Md, lives with his wife, Cheryl, in Baltimore.
Former Stevens Sports Information Director and coach John Lyon
contributed to this report.
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