Rockland County Sports Hall of Fame to honor team 2022 inductees

2022-08-13 01:00:38 By : Ms. coco Pan

The Rockland County Sports Hall of Fame is recognizing three of its newly inducted teams on Saturday at its annual Hall of Fame night at Clover Stadium, before the New York Boulders play the Trois Rivieres Aigles.

The Hall will be honoring the 1991-92 Suffern ice hockey state champions, the 1972 New City Little League World Series-bound baseball team and the 1954 Tappan Zee cross-country team, which won the first state title in Rockland history. The event is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Saturday.

Tickets cost $50 per person and includes a dinner buffet. They can be purchased by calling 845-364-0009 or online by clicking here.

A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Suffern Mat Club, which was founded in 2010 to promote youth wrestling. Proceeds will be in honor of Bob Veltidi, a longtime coach, advocate and Rockland County Sports Hall of Fame member who died in 2021.

Here's more on the three historic teams:

Tickets: 2022 Rockland County Sports Hall of Fame night at Clover Stadium

Veltidi: All-Rockland football player and Hall of Famer recalled for love of coaching

Rockland County: Seven individuals inducted to Rockland County Sports Hall of Fame as part of 2022 class

After travelling to Oslo, Norway and winning the Jar Tournament early in the season, the Mounties returned to New York and finished a dominant campaign. They outscored Section 1 opponents, 113-12. Suffern defeated Clarkstown South, 8-2, to win the Section 1 title, then went on to win their first of three state championships. The Mounties rallied to defeat Massena in the state finals, 4-3, in overtime. Rob Stevens scored a last-minute goal, off assists by Tom Lofberg and Dan White, to tie the game at the end of regulation. Stevens followed up with the game-winner in overtime. Since then, the Mounties remain a Section 1 ice hockey powerhouse, and they won state titles again in 2012 and 2022.

It was unimaginable then, but for one summer, a team of 12-year olds became celebrities and heroes of Rockland County during their historic run to the Little League World Series. The 1972 New City team was the first to ever represent Rockland in Williamsport. After navigating its way through district, interdistrict and sectional play, New City defeated Rotterdam and Vestal to emerge as state champs. In the regional tournament, it shut out Manchester, New Hampshire in the finals, 5-0, to punch its ticket to the Little League World Series. An unfavorable draw had New City face Taiwan to start, where it lost 9-0 to the eventual champion, but New City rebounded with wins over Spain and Canada to take fifth. New City finished 14-1 overall and even got a trip to the White House.

Tappan Zee had dominated at a local level, winning seven straight county titles during the 1950s, but a state title would be difficult, considering there were only two classifications back then and Tappan Zee wasn't one of the bigger Class B schools. Regardless, this Tappan Zee team made school and county history, becoming the first Rockland squad to capture a state championship. The Dutchmen won a Section 9 title in dominant fashion, then at Schenectady's Central Park for the state title, they won the Class B state crown after edging Garden City by scoring finishes from Eugene Martin (first-place, individual champ), Joe D'Innocenzo (sixth), Harry McGillicuddy (17th), Hugh Sullivan (26th) and Dennis Martin (42nd).

Follow Eugene Rapay on Twitter at @erapay5 and on Instagram at @byeugenerapay.