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And at the brunch, Stevens Director of Athletics Russell Rogers gave alumni an update of the newest foundations of the Stevens sports program.
New life
Yankuba Njie ’97 immigrated from the tiny country of Gambia, West Africa, at age 16 to attend Stevens—a journey that changed his life and brought many great opportunities, he said at the Alumni Brunch on Sept. 29 upon being inducted into the 2007 Stevens Athletic Hall of Fame.
“I am who I am today because of Stevens,” said Njie, a star striker on the Ducks’ soccer team in the mid-’90s, in his acceptance remarks.
Stevens sports is what helped Njie meet the challenges he faced in earning a Stevens degree and come out on top, he said. Athletics helped him find balance after intense periods of studying for his engineering degree.
“If I didn’t have soccer, it would have been much harder,” Njie said.
At Castle Point, he not only gained the technical foundation for a career (he’s now manager of Microsoft platform infrastructure for Key Bank in Cleveland, Ohio), he said, but also learned much from his studies and teachers in the humanities.
And the Stevens sports program taught him about teamwork, how strikers need defenders, and the whole team, to win, Njie noted. In particular, coach Nick Mykulak was an important influence, a foundational figure to him. “He was the Dad here that I didn’t have,” said Njie.
Njie was the Independent Athletic Conference (IAC) Player of the Year (1995) and a National Soccer Coaches Association of America Regional All-American (1993, 1995). He was named to the All-IAC three years in a row (1993-1995), the Collegiate Soccer Association of New Jersey (1993, 1995) and the All Jersey “9” (1993).
Stalwart
“The principles I learned at Stevens will follow me throughout my lifetime,” said honoree Christian T. Gavina ’02, an outstanding three-point and free-throw shooter and dedicated team leader in basketball.
Gavina thanked his family for their support and inspiration, especially his father and grandmother, who set standards for him and taught him to use his talents to the best of his ability, he said. “She is the guiding light I look to when I get lost,” Gavina said of his grandmother, his voice breaking slightly.
He thanked his Stevens coaches for helping develop his leadership abilities, and they, in turn, praised him for his strong work ethic and dedication to the team.
“This is an honored award that I certainly will cherish forever,” said Gavina, who is a chemist for L’Oreal USA Products.
Gavina was named to the All-Metro Writers Association and the All-Skyline Conference, both in 2000-2001. He also received the Irvin “Buzz” Seymour Male Athlete of the Year Award in 2001 and the Partel Basketball Award in 2002. Gavina holds the career record for three-point goals (211) and a season record for free-throw percentage (.882, 1998-99).
Team leader
A pioneer of the Stevens women’s soccer program and major contributor to the first year of women’s lacrosse in 2001, Lesa Glick Carroll ’02 is the first alumna to be inducted into the Hall of Fame for the sport of lacrosse, and the second for soccer.
“Lesa Glick is one of the finest student athletes I have been lucky to work with, and she is a large part of the foundation of the soccer program today,” women’s soccer coach Jeff Parker has said.
Upon receiving her award, Glick Carroll praised the phenomenal success of the women’s soccer program in recent years. Since their winning season in 2001, her last season on the team, women’s soccer has had five consecutive winning seasons. She also helped to transition the women’s lacrosse program from a club sport to a varsity sport.
During her career at Stevens, the women’s soccer team won six conference championships and qualified for their first Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) tournament (2001). In 2001, Glick Carroll was named to the All-Women’s Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and the All-Skyline Conference. In lacrosse, she was All-ECAC, received the ECAC Robbins Scholar Athlete Award (2002) and was honored as Stevens’ New Jersey Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women Woman of the Year 2002 and a College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-American (2001).
Glick Carroll, who is married to Terrence Carroll ’03, is plant manager for the BOC Group Inc., in Richmond, Calif. Lesa and Terrence Carroll reside in Berkeley, Calif.
On the mark
When times were difficult and pressures mounted as a Stevens student, said epee fencer Mark S. Majewski ’01, the son of Gregory Majewski ’72, he remembered how his father had made it through Stevens and that gave him confidence—and the Stevens sports program served as a welcome relief from the stress of studies.
“The athletes were really the part of Stevens that made me feel a part of the community,” Majewski said upon being inducted into the Hall of Fame for his fencing victories.
Majewski led the Ducks to a 70-24 record during his athletic career at the Stute. He holds the career record for epee in wins (225). Majewski was named to the First-Team Middle Atlantic Collegiate Fencing Association (2000, 2001) and the All-Eastern Collegiate Fencing Association (2001) and was an NCAA Regional Qualifier (1998, 1999, 2001). He received the ECAC Robbins Scholar Athlete Award and Stevens’ Clifford W. Kirmss Senior Award.
Now pursuing a doctoral degree at the University of Connecticut, Majewski works in that university’s combustion lab. He resides in Oakdale, Conn., where he also works part time as a firefighter.
The ‘Closer’
One of Stevens Athletics Director Russell Rogers’ best memories of Stevens sports, he said at the brunch, is a particular ball game against the College of Staten Island when David Riley ’02 took the mound as relief pitcher. “Done deal—we’re going to the NCAAs,” Rogers thought, and Riley did end up clinching the game. “It is one of my best memories.”
Well, once again, this time at the Homecoming brunch, Riley was the “closer.”
Riley credited the excellence of Stevens’ varsity program, his coaches and fellow athletes, and gave much thanks to his “late, great” father, Richard—who was his inspiration, his rock, his foundation in developing into a leading athlete at Stevens. His father put the passion into him, he said, without too much pressure, from encouraging him to imagine and emulate versatile ball players like Dave Winfield, to stoking his children’s confidence by pushing them to be the “best there ever will be.”
Those words did not fall on deaf ears, but helped build a solid foundation for Riley to excel. His statistical career records at Stevens top many of the charts. Riley ranks first in 10 categories for career records, and in the top three in 15 other categories. He holds career records in the following categories: batting average (.414), hits (183), runs (142), stolen bases (74), runs per game (1.09), walks (108), total bases (244), on base (O.B.) percentage (.538), assists (323) and saves (12).
Riley also holds season records for hits (65) and stolen bases (36), both set in 2002.
Riley was honored as the 2002 Irvin “Buzz” Seymour Male Athlete of the Year, an American Baseball Coaches Association Regional All-American (1999, 2002), and the Knickerbocker Conference Player of the Year (2002) and Rookie of the Year (2001). He was named to the All-Knickerbocker Conference (1999), All-ECAC (2002), the All-Skyline Conference (2001, 2002) and the All-State New Jersey Collegiate Baseball Association, playing in the NJCBA Senior North All Star Game in 2002.
The Towaco, N.J., resident, who grew up in Randolph, N.J., is now a project manager for Kevco Electrical Inc. in Middlesex, N.J.
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