High school athletics history taught by those who lived it

The community has honored 12 individuals that made a significant impact on Allentown High School (AHS)'s athletic programs.

Inductees stand near the new Allentown High School Athletic Hall of Fame, located adjacent to the school's gymnasium during an unveiling and induction ceremony Oct. 3. During an unveiling of the school's new Athletic Hall of Fame and induction ceremony held near the school's gymnasium on Oct. 3, Athletic Director Brian Irwin, Principal Chris Nagy, Superintendent of Schools Dick Fitzpatrick and other school and community representatives thanked the collaboration of many people who helped bring the hall of fame vision to life and the inductees for their support of AHS athletics.

"I am confident that today's induction will help our students and community to appreciate our athletic history and it will establish a proud Redbird tradition for future years," Irwin said.

The first inductions consisted of 10 former students, one former coach and one special contributor.

Chester "Chet" Sodovy, Class of 1946, played football (quarterback and team captain), basketball (team captain) and baseball (pitcher, infielder and team captain) all four years of high school. He also played as an unpaid team member (pitcher) of the Allentown Royals semi-pro baseball team and an unpaid team member (pitcher) of a Trenton-area semi-pro baseball team (pitcher). Having a 17-year-old high school student on a semi-pro team was a rarity at that time when these teams served as the door into the minor league farm system. Sodovy also won the high school's 1946 Best Male Athlete Award.

AHS did not officially offer interscholastic athletics until a few years after Sadovy graduated, but he has been remembered as one of the most talented athletes to ever walk through the school's halls. His love for sports and ability to organize his classmates enabled Allentown to have an intramural athletic program.

Thomas Fields, Class of 1957, earned 10 varsity letters, playing football, basketball, and baseball all four years of high school. He served as team captain of the football and basketball teams in 1956 and the basketball and baseball teams in 1957.

His championships and honors at AHS include averaging 98 yards per football game and 4.8 yards per carry in 1956. He also made 65 percent of all team tackles that year. In basketball, he won the Blue Ribbon Award (Nutshell Player of the Month) in 1956. In baseball, he had a .457 batting average and won the Blue Ribbon Award in 1955. In 1956-57, he won the Steve Scheiker Outstanding Athlete of the Year Award. He also tried out for the minor league Oriels, Phillies, and Cardinals teams while in high school.

Fields said his noteworthy life experiences after high school were marrying his high school sweetheart, Joyce, and having three children. He also coached the New Egypt Elks Pop Warner and Little League teams and served as chairman of the New Egypt Youth Athletic Committee for many years.

Richard Fields, Class of 1962, also has a place in the hall of fame. He also played football, basketball and baseball all four years of school. He served as football and basketball captain in 1961 and basketball captain in 1962. In football, he was part of the 1961 All Delaware Valley and All Suburban Teams. In basketball, he averaged 16 points per game. In baseball, he had a .428 batting average and pitched a no hitter.

Fields said his noteworthy experiences after high school included marrying his wife, Judy, and raising three boys. He also takes pride in having beaten his brother and uncle in a few horseshoe championships, gardening, hunting, and coaching his sons in baseball and football.

Yvonne Tirado VanHise, Class of 1973, played field hockey (captain in 1972) and softball all four years of high school. She also cheered for two years, played volleyball for one year, and was in the Girls Athletic Association (Pre-Title IX) for three years.

In softball, VanHise set the batting average record at .511 in 1971. She was also named the team's Most Valuable Player (MVP) and the school's outstanding female athlete in 1973.

She married her high school sweetheart, Wayne, in 1977, and graduated from Trenton State College in 1978. The couple has four children. VanHise said another noteworthy experience for her after high school was "being hired as an educator at AHS, the institution that promoted teamwork and demanded a strong work ethic, which became the foundation for successful life experiences that followed."

Michael Yorke, Class of 1982, played football and baseball all four years of high school and basketball for two years. In 1981, he was a member of the All State, All Shore, and All Greater Trenton Area first teams, as well as the team captain and MVP of the All County, All Division team. He was the first AHS athlete to play in the All- Shore Football Classic, and AHS Athlete of the Year in 1982.

In baseball, he served as the team captain and co-most valuable player in 1982. He also received the U.S. Army Award for Athletic Excellence and was an Allentown Lions Club Honoree for Athletics. His 49 receptions and 749 yards receiving were both school records.

Yorke is proud to have served as the head coach for the Colts Neck High School baseball team since 1999. His team was the Shore Conference champion in 2007, and division champion in 2007 and 2008. He also served as head baseball coach at AHS in 1992 and head football coach 1990-91. Yorke coached a student that made it to the major leagues and another that made it to the National Football League and played in the Super Bowl.

Mary Smith Jones, Class of 1987, played basketball and participated in track and field all four years of high school. She was the first female student to score 1,000 points and holds the records for scoring over 1,300 points in one high school basketball career, scoring the most (38) points in a game, making the most (12-15 per game) block shots, and the most rebounds (25-30 per game). She also holds the record for high jump (5 feet 4 inches in 1984) and long jump (17 feet 2 inches in 1984).

She played basketball in Mercer County Community College 1988-89, and was an All American Basketball Player 1988-89. When she transferred to Cheyney University in 1989 with a partial scholarship, she was nominated as the No. 1 rebounder in the country in 1989. She also played professional basketball in Switzerland in 1994.

Over the years, Jones has worked with various youth basketball camps, coached high school girls basketball, served as assistant coach of the AHS freshman girls basketball team in 1991, and coached the Burlington County Institute of Technology (BCIT) basketball team 2000-05. She also coached the high school and BCIT crosscountry teams.

Brandon Totten, Class of 1990, wrestled all four years of high school, played baseball for three, football and soccer for two, and ran track for one. In 1988-89 and 1989-90, he won MVP for wrestling, and qualified for states and the All Shore Conference. In 1989-90, he also played in the Shore Conference All Star Game and set the school record for career wins. He was voted most athletic by the senior class and earned Outstanding Male Athlete in 1990.

Totten married Erica Conti, Class of 1990 and All State gymnast, and they had twins on Aug. 30, 2004. After high school, he wrestled for Delaware Valley College where he was the 158-pound Division III Champion and All American in 1995 and 1996. In 2002, he became the head coach at Delaware Valley College and has been named the Mid-American Conference Wrestling Coach of the Year all of the past seven years. In 2002-03, he was the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Rookie Coach of the Year. He has coached 20 All Americans and two NCAA champions.

Jenny Boss Parsons, Class of 1994, earned 11 varsity letters, playing field hockey, basketball and softball all four years of high school. Named Female Athlete of the Year in 1994, she was also the MVP of the 1994 field hockey, basketball and softball teams. Her career pitching record at AHS is 65-13 with 624 strikeouts and 0.46 ERA. Her outstanding accomplishments include pitching for the Trenton State College softball team for four years and the 1996 Division III NCAA National Championship team. She has a career pitching record of 51-11 and an ERA of 1.55 with one no-hitter. She also made dean's list for six semesters.

One of her noteworthy memories after high school is "watching a high school softball game on TV and the winning pitcher was interviewed after the game and was asked who she hoped to be like one day and her answer was Jenny Boss."

Tiffany Fodera, Class of 1998, earned 11 varsity letters playing basketball, softball and field hockey all four years of high school. In field hockey she had 33 career goals and 24 career assists. In 1995, she was on the All Area Field Hockey First Team, All-Suburban Team, All-Monmouth Team, and All-Shore Conference "C" Team, In 1996, she was on the All Monmouth County Field Hockey Team, All Shore Field Hockey Second Team, All State Group II Team, All Suburban Team, and All Area Team and the Shore Conference Class B South Division champion team. In 1997, she was on the All Shore Field Hockey First Team and was named Outstanding Monmouth County player in the Sue Grant Memorial All Shore senior game as well as Shore Conference Field Hockey Player of the Year. She was also a member of the New Jersey State Champions, Central Jersey Group II Champions, New Jersey Group II State Champions, Shore Conference Class B South Division Champions, and Shore Conference Tournament Champions.

In softball, she was part of the 1995 and 1996 All Area and All Shore teams. Her noteworthy life experiences include playing field hockey in the Big Ten Conference and competing in the NCAA Division I Field Hockey Final Four in 1999. Other outstanding accomplishments include playing in the 2000 All Big Ten Team, the 2000 Field Hockey Regional All American Team, the 2001 All Big Ten Field Hockey First Team and the 2001 Field Hockey Regional All American Team.

Pamela Zukowski Ladu, Class of 1998, played field hockey and softball all four year of high school and basketball for two years. She was named the field hockey co- MVP and her team was the New Jersey State Champions, Central Jersey Group II Champions, New Jersey Group II State Champions, Shore Conference Class B South Division Champions, and Shore Conference Tournament Champions. She was First Team All State, All Monmouth County, All Conference, All Area, and ranked No. 4 in the state for goals scored in 1998. In softball, she was co-MVP in 1998.

Beyond the birth of her children, her outstanding accomplishments include attending Drexel University on a full scholarship for field hockey and making Time National All American in 2000 and 2001. She was also named one of the Top Athletes at Drexel by the Philly Sports Writers' Association in 2002 and holds the record at Drexel for single-season and career goals. She assisted the AHS varsity field hockey team 2003-07 and served as head field hockey coach for U16 for three years.

Coach Daniel M. Venet was inducted into the hall of fame for assisting with varsity football 1970-1981 and freshman boys' basketball in 1971, and coaching varsity baseball 1970-1992. He had 13 consecutive winning seasons in baseball and over 200 coaching victories. His team was the 1975 Delaware Valley Conference Champions.

Venet also served as the school's social studies teacher 1970-1997 and director of athletics 1978-2004. He founded the Colonial Valley Conference Sportsmanship Program and successfully petitioned for AHS athletic membership in both the Shore Conference and Colonial Valley Conference. He also expanded Allentown athletic programs by adding boys and girls soccer, boys and girls tennis, girls cross-country, boys and girls lacrosse, and middle school girls soccer. He also promoted and implemented the full-time athletic training position and program, introduced and instructed the American Sport Education Program coaches education and certification program, and served as the lead for the recent upgrades to athletic amenities at the school. He is a longtime football official and still officiates for all levels of high school and youth football games.

James Fisher, Millstone, is recognized in the hall of fame as a special contributor. He has donated lights for the stadium field; funded the renovation of the field house, which is dedicated to his parents; and donated helmets, a new sled for the lineman and other team gear. He also volunteers as a coach to assist the football program at all levels and has spent countless hours analyzing game film and scouting. Acoach for over 20 years, Fisher was honored in 2008 by the Delaware Chapter of the National Football Foundation with the Contribution to Amateur Football Award.

Nagy said those who dove into athletics years ago created ripples that left a lasting impression on AHS.

"Great achievements on and off the field of competition provide inspiration to our current students and acknowledge the value of leadership and role modeling for generations to come," Nagy said.

Fitzpatrick thanked the Hall of Fame Committee comprised of members Irwin, Nagy, Douglas Hunt, Howard Krieger Mary Ellen McCarthy, Louise San Nicola, Eric Schwartz and Michael Turner for their efforts.

"I thank the committee for bringing honor to folks who brought honor to our district," Fitzpatrick said.