Of the three members of the Sachem family who will be inducted into the Suffolk County Sports Hall of Fame in May, former longtime Sachem girls basketball coach Risa Zander was the only one able to attend the official press conference announcing all inductees.
At a formal gathering at Patchogue’s Westlake Inn on Friday morning, Zander was joined by a handful of other inductees and spoke briefly about what it means to join this exclusive group.
Jeff Ruland, currently in-season coaching men’s basketball at the University of the District of Columbia, and Nicole Kaczmarski, who recently moved upstate to Scarsdale for her career in nursing, were unable to attend the gathering.
“Nicole is very excited about the honor and was ecstatic when she found out,” said Sachem Athletic Director Pete Blieberg, who spoke on behalf of Kaczmarski at the press conference. “She’s looking forward to the ceremony.”
Former Sachem wrestling coach Jack Mahoney, a fellow hall of fame inductee, was on-hand for Paul Brodmerkel, a former teammate of his at Lindenhurst High School, where Brodmerkel was the longtime head wrestling coach. Mahoney nominated Brodmerkel for induction.
Joining the three Sachem affiliated inductees and Brodmerkel are a number of interesting individuals with diverse sports backgrounds. Among them are brothers John and Mike Tice, who starred at Central Islip High School in football before having successful careers in college and the NFL. John was at the press conference, while Mike, who was most recently the offensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears, was not.
John Papanek, who graduated from Patchogue-Medford, was a senior editor at Sports Illustrated and ESPN, Jim Mahoney was a longtime successful basketball coach at Copiague High School and John Klein was a three-sport athlete at East Islip High School and played briefly in the NFL.
“I can remember the Tice brothers playing at C.I., Jeffrey [Ruland] was in the junior high when I was there and I got to watch him grow up to the player he was, and then I remember little Nicole [Kaczmarski] coming to the gym and play and I had her in class,” Zander said. “I don’t know if I’m feeling very old or just nostalgic seeing all these people. It’s a great honor, a great thrill and I have to say it’s a pretty special day for Sachem.”
This year’s induction ceremony will take place on Friday, May 10 at the Long Island Sheraton Hotel in Hauppauge, N.Y.
“On behalf of the Sachem School District we want to thank the Suffolk County Sports Hall of Fame for nominating our people from Sachem for induction,” Blieberg said. “People from Sachem will be out in droves on the night of 10th. We can guarantee that.”
2013 Suffolk County Sports Hall of Fame Inductees
- Paul Brodmerkel, Lindenhurst wrestling coach
- Nicole Kaczmarski, Sachem basketball player
- John Klein, East Islip alum, played in NFL
- Jim Mahoney, Copiague basketball coach
- John Papanek, Pat-Med alum, former Sr. Editor at ESPN and Sports Illustrated
- Jeff Ruland, Sachem basketball player, played in NBA
- John Tice, Central Islip alum, played in NFL
- Mike Tice, Central Islip alum, played in NFL
- Risa Zander, Sachem basketball coach
-Words by Chris R. Vaccaro