Category Archives: Search for Inductee

Joanne Conte

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Joanne’s involvement with volleyball began in 1981 at Maloney High School. She palyed four years in one of the premier programs in the state, coached by Hall of Famer Cindy Opalski. Not only did she learn how to better her skills and playing ability but she also learned the intricacies of the game that would server well as a coach. She showed herself to be someone who could lead as evidenced by her selection as captain. A versatile athlete, Joanne played tennis for four years. She was captain and received the Dan Sullivan Scholarship Award her senior year.

After graduation in 1984, Joanne attended CCSU as an Education major. In the Fall of ’85, she became assistant coach of the Lyman Hall girls’ volleyball team. With that one year coaching experience and start her junior year at Central, Joanne applied for the head coaching position at her alma mater. Maloney’s legendary AD Norb Fahey saw something in young Joanne and hired her for the job; and that rest is, as they say, history. She would remain there for 11 seasons, accruing an impressive 201-33 record, continuing the winning tradition establish by her predecessors. During her tenure as coach, Maloney consistently qualified for post season play, winning 8 CCC South league titles and taking 5 trips to the finals of the CIAC Class L State Championships. In 1989 and 1994, Maloney finished as runner-up and they won the state titles in ’87, ’88 and ’92. Joanne has had many of her players recognized for their playing. They have been selected to receive numerous all-league and all-state honors. Many of her players have gone on to play in college.  Joanne has been honored for her outstanding achievement in coaching as well. She was selected Connecticut High School Coaches Assoc. Volleyball Coach of the Year in 1995. In 1996 she received that National High School Coaches Assoc .District 1 Volleyball Coach of the Year and she was one of eight finalists for the NHCA coach of the year.

Joanne has excelled in her teaching career as well as her coaching career. She received the Meriden Exemplary Project Achievement Award in 2001; Meriden Project Excel’s Influential Teacher Recognition (1998-05); 1998 Nomination for “Who’s Who Among  America’s Teachers.”  In 2008 Joanne was hired as the Supervisor of Language Art (6-12) for the Meriden Public School System.

Joanne said she was most influenced by her grandmother, Freida Burhardt. A strong woman who encouraged Joanne to strive for excellence, a trait she in turn passed on to the young women she has coached.

Kris-Andra Pekar

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Kris was introduced to volleyball at St. Joseph High School in 1989. She was the only freshman member on the team that finished 21-1 and won a state championship. She was a three year starter during which time St. Joe’s accrued an amazing 63-2 record. Kris made a large contribution to that success. According to Coach George Green, Kris was the “perfect” player to coach in terms of attitude, coachability, and interaction with her teammates. Her athletic contributions were also undeniable. In her junior year, Kris’ strength and determination helped lead St. Joseph’s to an undefeated 22-0 season, a trip to the CIAC Class M state finals, and ultimately a state title. She was named to the all-area, all-conference and Hartford Courant All-State teams. As a senior, Kris’ accomplishments continued. She was selected captain of her team and led by example on and off the court. She helped St. Joe’s win a 2nd Class M State Championship and another undefeated season (22-0). Kris earned all-area, all-conference and Hartford Courant All-State honors again. She was also named the Connecticut Post Co-Athlete of the Year (with teammate Kristen McCarthy), she was St. Joseph’s CIAC Scholar Athlete, and a McDonald’s Scholar Athlete. Kris played in the Connecticut High School Coaches Senior All-Star game, and in the Connecticut Nutmeg Games. While at St. Joe’s Kris also played basketball and softball for four years. She was all-conference her senior year in both sports.

After graduation, Kris attended the University of Delaware. As a walk-on, she tried out for and made the volleyball team. She was red-shirted that first year and then went on to letter the next for years and earned a full scholarship. Kris’ love of the game continues today. She has played recreational volleyball since she left college. She even went pro. In 2003 Kris made her professional debut with the Washington DC Pro Women’s Volleyball Tour and won $17. She’s played USVBA club ball and in numerous doubles tournaments. In addition to her successes in volleyball, Kris is very proud of her participation in the Washington DC AIDS Ride in 2001. She biked over 300 miles from Raleigh, NC to Washington DC.

 

Bethany Collins Irwin

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Bethany attended Branford High School from 1980-84 and left a legacy that is remarkable. She was an academic and athletic standout excelling in volleyball, basketball and softball.  Though only a freshman, she found herself pressed into service on the varsity due to injuries to other players, and she helped Branford reach the state quarterfinals. Her sophomore year she became a starter and started to break school records.  During that season, 11th ranked Branford defeated #1 seed Foran High School in a major upset to win the CIAC Class M State Championship.  This was Branford’s first ever state title in a girls’ team sport. In her junior year Bethany participated in the US Junior Olympic Volleyball Championships. That year Branford won its first Housatonic League Championship and captured its second straight championship finishing with a perfect 21-0 season. Always a dominating force in the front row, Bethany showed her versatility by setting a school record for digs from the back row.  Her coach Toni Cartisano said of her “there have been tall volleyball players in the state before bury few have been as quick for their size and I’m not sure anyone tall has master every aspect of the game as she has.”  In her senior year Bethany was selected co-captain and with her poise and leadership she helped her younger teammates in a tough final stretch.  Branford captured its third state championship with a 3-0 sweep in the finals.  Bethany also collected numerous individual awards.  She was a three time All-State selection, three times Most Valuable Player, and a three time All-Housatonic League selection. Her stats and school records include most successful blocks (137); highest kink average (93%); most passes and highest average (1619/87%); most unreturned hits (632); most digs attempted (303 of 445/68%).  She also received Branford’s Sportsmanship, Leadership and Dedication award.

Bethany had a great basketball career.  She helped Branford to two 20-0 seasons and two consecutive CIAC Class L Championships (’83, ’84). She was an All-State selection in both her junior and senior  years and as a senior she was also chosen as a Converse All-American and a Parade All-American.

Sought after by no less than 200 schools, Bethany chose to attend Penn State University.  She also played basketball and earned a degree in Education.  Her athletic accomplishments continued.  She scored over 1,000 points (1,186), was top 10 rebounder (857) and atop 10 blocked shots (92).  After graduation, she taught fifth grade and coached girls’ basketball in Bellafonte, PA for three years.  She then went back to the  Penn St.  community and a new high school girls’ team; she has been there 14 years.

Bethany married Rob Irwin in ’95 and her family includes stepchildren Kate, Kristen, Robbie and their young offspring Parick and Kyla.  Bethany is a member of the New England, Branford and Connecticut Basketball Halls of Fame.

 

Julie Bradley

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Julie Bradley has been involved in athletics for most of her life, as a participant, coach, teacher, and official.  She attended Southern Connecticut State College from 1962-66 and play some volleyball there. After graduation she started teaching Physical Education first in North Haven (66-68), then Willimantic (68-70) and then at East Connecticut State University from 1970-74.  Julie’s girls came along in ’74 and ’76 so she took time off to “mother”. When she returned to the field she worked at the Williams School in New London where she taught, coached and was assistant athletic director for 17 years.  She taught for a total of 25 years, grades K-college until retiring in 2005.  Julie has coached track and field, basketball, field hockey and softball.

Julie got involved with officiating volleyball in the early ‘70s. Under the tutelage of her mentors Barbara Startup and Tony Aretakis she has become a much sought after official.  She is called on to work high school games during regular season and tournament play.  Julie has also been called on to help train new officials on many occasions.  After retiring from coaching and teaching, Julie got re-certified to officiate volleyball and is back doing high school and recreational matches.  Although much has changed since she left the game in the 80’s, she loves every minute of officiating and finds it very challenging and rewarding.  In addition to volleyball, she has also officiated softball, soccer, basketball and field hockey.

Julie is still an active athlete, participating and competing on the state and national levels in basketball, racquetball, badminton and track and field.  She has participated in three National Senior Olympics.  She won silver in the 1500m in 2001, silver in basketball and badminton singles and a bronze in badminton doubles in 2005.  This July she competed in the 2007 games and won a silver medal in the 60-64 badminton doubles and placed fourth in the badminton singles and 5th in 3-on-3 basketball.

Julie has been married to her high school sweetheart Barry for 41 years; they have two married daughter Keebyn and Kyndra and two granddaughters Annabelle and Jorja.

Katie Nichols Henry

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Growing up in mystic, Connecticut, with a big push from her father Art, Kim followed the footsteps of her older sister Kate. Kim had the opportunity to jump into the sport at a younger age and participate in several volleyball junior programs and elite camps. Like big sis, Kim found her strengths as a setter. During her high school years at Fitch, Kim was three sport letter winner but always favored volleyball. She was the starting setter during her career at Fitch putting strong stats on the board for both assists and aces. In 1990, her senior year, Kim led the team as captain and setter throughout the season, and into a final match as a high school player. Coached by Mark Sullivan, the 1990 team participated in their first ever state final championship. Although they took a tough loss, Kim demonstrated her love for the sport and team, and along with co-captain Anna Hauptmann, was named to the 1st team Allstate. She also led her team that year in assists, aces and was named Most Valuable Player. Her high school accomplishments earned her both academic and athletic scholarships to several colleges and Kim ultimately attended Springfield College.

Springfield competed at the Div. II level, part of a strong NE-10 Conference. The highlight of her freshman year was the match between Springfield and ECSU where she got to compete against her big Sister Kate and their dad was overjoyed to see them both play. Soon she found her leadership spot as a setter and was named captain both junior and senior year. In 1993, her junior year, Kim had 1,127 assists, led the team with 69 aces, was named to the Tom Hay all-tournament team, as well as MVP of the Tom Hay tournament. In 1994, her senior year, the team had strong performances throughout the season. Once again, Kim led the team with 1185 assists. For her career, Kim had 3033 total assists putting her third for career assists at Springfield. Her other achievements senior year include: East Stroudsburg all tourney team, NE10 Conference team All-Star, MVP of the Northeast Conference tournament, AVCA Division II Northeast region All-Star team, Division II national playoff participant, NE 10 Player of the Week, Springfield College Maroon Club Athlete of the Week, the CDC scholar athlete and the District 1 Academic All American.

Her first year of college, Kim took on the position of head coach for the Western New England men’s volleyball team as a newly developed program. After her first year, she relocated for work to her current residence on Cape Cod where she then played with her sister Kate in doubles beach volleyball tournaments for several years.

Today, Kim resides in Sandwich, with her husband Mike, also an athlete from Springfield College to whom she has been married for the past 21 years. They are raising two beautiful girls, Sydney and Sammi who already like to pepper mom on the beaches of the cape and are quite the little athletes themselves. Kim still follows volleyball closely enjoying watching the Olympic indoor and beach teams, her alma maters, and most recently her niece Allie who played for the past four years at Eastern Connecticut State following in her mom Kate’s footsteps.

Pat Ryan

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Pat’s love of the game of volleyball began 30 years ago. He started playing volleyball in 1976, the fall of his senior year in high school in Northampton, MA.  There was no boys’ volleyball team, so in 1975 two boys went out for the girls’ volleyball team.  By his senior year there were actually six boys on the formerly all-girls team.

There were very few opportunities for boys to play volleyball back then and Pat subsequently played club volleyball at UMass/Amherst with his presenter, Steve Geryk.  He played college club volleyball for three years and was named to the All New England team each year and he was selected Player of the Year twice.  After finishing his collegiate club career, Pat started playing with adult teams in New England regional championships (as recently as 2006).  At the US National Championships his teams have placed as high as 3rd (highest ever for a New England team). He was named an Open Division All American four times and was also selected the 30 and over Player of the Year. One of the most memorable highlights of pat’s career was when he played on the USA Select Team at the Pacific Ocean Games in Columbia, South America in 1995 and winning a gold medal.

In 1996 Pat’s friend Steve Geryk convinced him to take the assistant coach position for the Glastonbury High School boys’ team and then to fill in with the girls’ team in the fall of the same year.  That was it… he was hooked on coaching.  In 1999 at the urging of some of his high school players and parents, Pat founded Husky Junior Volleyball Club.  Initially there were only six teams , but it has grown to be the largest USA Volleyball Junior Olympic Club in New England with 30 girls teams and three boys teams.

Pat could not pick just one person who was most influential to his volleyball career. There would be Don Matus (his high school coach) who introduced him to the sport; Dave Castanon (New England regional commissioner for USA Volleyball now) the captain/coach of Pat’s first high level team; and Steve Geryk who brought him into coaching.

Tamu Cooper-Santos

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Tamu (Cooper) Santos was born and raised in New Haven. She entered Hillhouse High School in 1989 and played volleyball for four years. Her senior year she was named co-captain of the team. Tamu was selected to be on the All-District team and received the Hillhouse Intimidator Award.  Also that year, Hillhouse qualified for the CIAC state tournament, but was eliminated in a 5 set match against Hand High School.

Tamu also participated in basketball, track and softball at Hillhouse. She received the New Haven Register Defensive player of the year award her senior year and was a Register Athlete of the Week. She also led the team to the semifinals in the Class L state championship.  Tamu was a member of the state championship Class LL track team her senior year competing in the high jump. She graduated with honors in 1993 and received a full athletic scholarship to Temple University. Tamu was captain of Temple’s team her junior and senior years. An All-American volleyball player, she ranked as high as number two in the nation in hitting efficiency her junior year. As a junior, she also tried out for the Olympic volleyball team making it to the final cut. During her senior year she led Temple to win their first Atlantic Ten Championship. She also led them to their first NCAA tournament appearance.

Upon graduation from Temple in 1998 with a B.A. in Speech, Language and Hearing, Tamu turned pro in volleyball and played all over Europe.  The tour competed in Germany, Italy, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. While competing, Tamu pursued a certificationin Sign Language studies. Upon returning to the US she played a season of basketball for the Community College of Philadelphia. There she was selected Most Valuable Player of the Wattignies Volleyball Club in Lille, France.  She ranked in the Top five in hitting for the Professional “A” French League.  At the end of the season, she signed to return, but later was forced to forfeit and end her professional career due to a knee injury.  Tamu has coached at Bob Bertucci Volleyball Camps and clinics since 1996 for ages 5 to adult.  In 2004 she ran her own camp for Career High School girls’ volleyball team. Most recently, Tamu played in the EBA (Eastern Basketball Alliance) semi pro league for two seasons (2004-5).

In March 2007 Tamu was inducted into the HIllhouse High School Hall of Fame.

She has worked as a speech therapist for the past seven years and is currently pursuing a Masters level certification in the field.  In 2001 Tamu married Ngloa Santos. They have a son, Namumba, and a daughter, Nzinga.

 

Betsy J. Gilmartin

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Betsy has been involved with volleyball for almost 40 years. She has participated in every possible aspect of the game: officiating, playing, coaching, committee member and administrator. When Betsy attended high school there were few if any opportunities for girls to play scholastic sports. So girls had to look for other places to play and that meant recreational leagues. Being a good athlete who wanted to play, Betsy looked and found her outlet at the Meriden Girls’ Club where she played basketball and softball. In fact, her basketball team won the New England championship one year.

It should come as no surprise that when Betsy arrived at Southern Connecticut State College in 1964 she tried out for every team she could. Possessing excellent athletic ability, a positive attitude and tremendous desire she not only played basketball and softball but she also made the field hockey and track teams in spite of her lack of experience in the sports. Betsy also played on Southern’s first volleyball team in her senior year.

Betsy’s brief college experience in volleyball set her on quite a journey. From 1969- 1972 she continued playing volleyball on the Connecticut Clippers US Volleyball Association team along with other CTWVHF members John Joyce, Debbie Chin and Linda Hamm. The Clippers were very successful and qualified to compete in four national tournaments (Knoxville, Birmingham, Salt Lake City and Honolulu). They were also instrumental in introducing “power volleyball” to our area providing numerous clinics to high school and college players and coaches.

In 1968 that she was hired to teach physical education and coach at North Haven High School. She tried her hand at officiating volleyball for a couple of years and then turned to coaching. She coached the North Haven volleyball team from 1970- 1972. Then in 1979 she served as assistant volleyball coach at Central Connecticut State University. Betsy was hired at Mercy High School in Middletown in 1983, serving as PE teacher, coach and athletic director. In 1984 she returned to coaching starting Mercy’s volleyball program. During her 10 year tenure as coach, Mercy qualified for state tournament play six times and advanced to the semifinals one year.

Betsy also served volleyball in leadership roles other than coaching. From 1987- 1996 she served on the CIAC volleyball committee. She was volleyball chairman of the Connecticut High School Coaches’ Association from 1987- 1993. Betsy is a founder and cochairman of the Senior All-Star game. She has been the chairman of the Southern Connecticut Conference Volleyball Coaches since 1994 and she is a founding member of the Connecticut Scholastic Woman’s Volleyball Hall of Fame.

Fred Colosimo

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Fred has been involved with the sport of volleyball for 27 years. He started the volleyball program at Ellington High School in 1979. Back in those early days of emerging girls’ athletics there was no assistant coach and Fred ran both the JV and varsity programs himself for 10 years. The girls were forced to wear old boys’ basketball shorts and strap type shirts. In spite of these hardships, Fred developed Ellington into one of the top volleyball programs in the state. His 25 year record is 299-176. Under Fred’s leadership Ellington won 7 conference championship, they qualified for the CIAC state tournament 18 times, reached the semifinals three times and were state runner-up once. Fred coached many outstanding players in his career. Eighteen of his former players went on to play in college and at least 15 have been involved as coaches ensuring that his legacy in volleyball will continue. In 1999 Fred was honored by the Connecticut High School Coaches Association as the Volleyball Coach of the Year.

Fred has also been active on the organizational level of volleyball. He served on the CIAC state committee for nine years and as a chairperson of the State Volleyball Association for six years. Along with John Fontana, Fred initiated the first, and has been responsible for all subsequent, volleyball all- state awards and banquets. He was involved with the first Connecticut Volleyball Senior All-Star game selection committee and he also selected as coach one year.

During the last 15 years Fred has been a volleyball official for the Connecticut Volleyball Board of Officials (CBVO) working high school girls’ and boys’ games as well as prep schools. For the past two years he has officiated at the Baystate Games, has coached and officiated at the Connecticut Nutmeg Games. He has also officiated at both the Special Olympics and Unified Games. Fred currently is chairperson of the CBVO. He is also involved with adult volleyball leagues in town trying to increase community awareness of the skill, recreation and fun of the game.

Hartford Courant: Colosimo Evolves Into An Expert

Josie Weymann

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Josie’s volleyball career begins at Darien High School in 1994. An excellent athlete, under the guidance of Coach Laurie LaRusso, she developed and improved her volleyball skills to become one of the top players in the state. Josie’s personal achievements are considerable. She was a four-year starter selected as team captain in both her junior and senior years. She also earned many league honors. Showing great promise early in her career, she was a FCIAC honorable mention as a freshman. She made first-team all-FCIAC in 1996, ‘97, and ’98. She was also the states most viable player in ‘96 and ‘98. Josie was on the Bridgeport Post All-Star team in 1996, ’97, and ‘98 and she was the team’s most valuable player in 1998.

Josie and her teammates also amassed an impressive record. Darien won the FCIAC championship from 1995- 1998. They were CIAC state champions in 1995, 96, and 98 and were ranked number one in Connecticut each of those years. In fact during the four years that Josie played at Darien, the team lost only one match.

Josie attended Duke University after graduation and continue to play volleyball. She was a four-year starter there playing defensive specialist/libero. Josie was selected all-ACC first-team in 2001 and second team in 2002. Also in 2002 she was chosen team captain and became a member of the 1000 Dig Club.

Josie graduated in 2002 and became Academic Support Center Supervisor at American School in Tokyo, Japan (2003-2004). She traveled Southeast Asia that summer and went to work at MD Sport. Currently Josie works for Urban Outfitters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.