The Suffolk County Sports Hall of Fame will once again have a Sachem contingent at this year’s induction ceremony. Alums Doug Shanahan and Tom Sabatelle, as well as former interim administrator Nick Schroeder, are among the inductees announced this week by the hall’s selection committee.
Sabatelle graduated from Sachem in 1960 as one of its original top athletes. He was the inaugural winner of the Richard Van Norr Award in 1960 as the district’s top male athlete. Sabatelle was a three-sport athlete who played soccer, and basketball and ran track.
After spending four years at Ithaca College, Sabatelle was one of the first Sachem alums to come back and work in the school district as an educator. He was a physical education teacher at Sagamore and Seneca before serving as the district’s Director of Health, Physical Education and Athletics. He worked at Sachem for 34 years until his retirement in 1998.
Shanahan graduated from Sachem in 1997 as one of the top two-sport athletes in Sachem history. His No. 26 lacrosse number was retired two years ago at Sachem and at Hofstra Unviersity where he was named the inaugural winner of the Tewaraaton Trophy Winner as the top college lacrosse player in the nation.
A quarterback on the football team at Sachem, he was also a defensive back at Hofstra and signed a contract with the New York Jets, playing in training camp with the club before being cut just prior to the regular season. He won gold with Team USA at the lacrosse world championships and was a champion in Major League Lacrosse where he played for a handful of teams during his professional career, including his hometown Long Island Lizards.
Shanahan is also a member of the Hofstra Athletics Hall of Fame, and will be inducted to the Long Island Metro Lacrosse Hall of Fame this year as well.
Schroeder spent a good portion of his professional career in the Smithtown School District, but had a number of interim roles in Sachem, including principal and athletic director.
This marks five inductees with ties to Sachem into the Suffolk Hall over the last two years, including the 2013 inductions of Nicole Kaczmarski, Risa Zander and Jeff Ruland. Including this upcoming induction, Sachem has had 13 inductees ranging from coaches, administrators and athletes.
2014 Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame Inductees
- Steve Borbet, track and field coach, Bay Shore High School
- Fred Cambria, former Major League Baseball player
- Ed Cinelli, Executive Director, Section XI, Suffolk Athletics
- Scott Craig, head boys lacrosse coach, West Islip High School
- Bill Edwards, head softball coach, Hofstra University
- James Metzger, philanthropist and former lacrosse player at Half Hollow Hills and Hofstra
- Tom Sabatelle, former athletic director, Sachem High School
- Nick Schroeder, former athletic director, coach and administrator
- Doug Shanahan, former lacrosse player at Sachem, Hofstra, MLL and Team USA
Suffolk County Sports Hall of Fame Inductees from Sachem
- John “Jumbo” Elliott (football player), 1993
- Joe Cipp Jr. (football coach), 1996
- David S. Rothenberg (administrator), 1996
- Neal Heaton (baseball player), 1997
- Diane Nelson (equestrian), 2000
- Fred Fusaro (football coach), 2003
- Jack Mahoney (wrestling coach), 2004
- Bill Batewell (baseball coach), 2010
- Risa Zander (basketball coach), 2013
- Jeff Ruland (basketball player), 2013
- Nicole Kaczmarski (basketball player), 2013
- Tom Sabatelle (administrator/athlete), 2014
- Doug Shanahan (lacrosse player), 2014
- Nick Schroeder (interim administrator), 2014
-Words by Chris R. Vaccaro