A crowd of nearly 300 gathered at Pines Manor in Edison on Sunday for the 27th annual New Jersey Scholastic Coaches Association Hall of Fame awards event, which was held in cooperation with the NJSIAA.
A total of 48 coaches were honored, including the 20 who were inducted into the NJSCA Hall of Fame. The others were presented National Federation coaching awards.
The Coaches Hall of Fame has a long history. Its roots date to 1961, when the New Jersey Interscholastic Coaches Association honored all football coaches with undefeated seasons.
In 1964, the NJICA honored coaches from all sports, past or present, who had been nominated from their county by their peers.
Then, in 1983, the honor award program was renamed as the NJICA “Hall of Fame” and included all past honorees.
In 1995, the New Jersey Scholastic Coaches Association assumed sponsorship of the Hall of Fame, for all head varsity coaches in the public and non-public NJSIAA member schools.
The following individuals comprised this year’s class, which brings the all-time number of honorees to 1,852:
Chris Caserta, Ramsey HS
Shaun Cherewich, Westfield HS
Marvin Fenstermacher*, Somerville HS
Joe Freeman*, Westfield HS
John “Doc” Gantz*, Irvington HS Vicky Gillen, Toms River North HS Tony Giordano, Asbury Park HS Frank Guadagnino, Fair Lawn HS Joe Haemmerle, Bergen Catholic HS Kevin Harper, Middlesex HS
William Hartney, New Milford HS Mike Kearney, Donovan Catholic HS Bruce Keogh, Wayne Hills HS
Christopher Levin, Bridgewater-Raritan HS
Chet Parlavecchio, Passaic Valley HS / Bloomfield HS Tony Picaro, Linden HS
Nancy Saggio, Union Catholic Regional HS Dr. Eric Schwartz, Washington Twp. HS Chris Sheppard, Williamstown HS
Mike Suk, Randolph HS
*Posthumous award