Hall of Fame Member Bios 2004
View: Alphabetical List
- Members by Induction Class
- Biographies
Betty Shuster
Betty Shuster, a member of the Hall of Fame Committee, is being
presented with the Meritorious Services Award for an adult lifetime
of service to high school athletics as a coach, official and administrator.
She is a 1963 Colls High graduate and won a total of nine varsity
letters in four sports: field hockey, basketball, tennis and softball.
Betty captained the hockey team in her senior year. She went to
Trenton State College (now the College of New Jersey) and played
hockey, basketball and softball there. Betty then began a career
of teaching and coaching at four Camden Diocesan high schools. She
was a basketball coach at Gloucester Catholic, basketball and softball
coach at Paul VI, then coached hockey and golf and served as athletic
director at St. James High. When the diocese closed St. James, Betty
moved on to her present position at Sacred Heart in Vineland, where
she started the field hockey program and she also coaches golf.
Shuster is also a highly-respected official. She has officiated
basketball games for over 25 years and officiated hockey games at
both the scholastic and collegiate levels before coaching that sport.
Chuck Roney
Charles “Chuck” Roney, class of 1968, is the first Hall
of Fame inductee in the Coaching category who has not been a Colls
High coach. He did enjoy playing ports at Collingswood, including
four years of lettering in both baseball and wrestling and two years
of football. However, he is a self-proclaimed “average athlete
at best” who simply “loved the competition and the camaraderie
of being part of an athletic team.” Roney has achieved an
outstanding record as a high school baseball coach over 29-year
career, including 25 years as a head coach. He is one of the few
300-game winners in South Jersey annals, posting a 312-206 record
at four high schools: Cherokee, Haddon Township, Pennsville and
Eastern, plus a winning mark during one years as head coach at Glassboro
State (Rowan University). He produced many championship teams and
was honored as “Coach of the Year” by the Courier-Post
in 1992, Inquirer in 1994 and NFHS New Jersey Baseball Coach of
the Year in 2001. He has also been chosen “Teacher of the
Year” as teacher of molecular biology. Roney was also founding
board member of the South Jersey Baseball Hall of Fame and past
president of both the South Jersey Baseball Coaches Association
and the New Jersey Coaches Hall of Fame Committee. He is a graduate
of Taylor University and holds a master’s degree in exercise
physiology from Temple. He has brought great honor to Collingswood
High by virtue of his teaching and coaching service to youth at
other regional schools.
Dan Trainer
Dan Trainer never played a varsity sports at Collingswood High,
but over the years he has coached dozens of boys who have made their
marks in Panther athletics. Soon after graduation in 1958, Dan began
helping to coach in the Collingswood Little League program. That
began a 42-year (and counting) career with Foster’s (now Foster-Warne)
major league team, all but the first few years as manager. During
that period, his teams won many championships and one of those in
recent years became the first Collingswood Little League squad to
go undefeated for the entire season. Trainer also got involved when
the junior wrestling program was launched. He has served 29 years
as junior wrestling coach and 18 years as treasurer of the Collingswood
Varsity Club. The junior program and Varsity Club have provided
the foundation and support for Collingswood High’s success
on the mats. Dan even found time to serve as an assistant football
coach. In all three youth sports, Trainer has helped to install
the fundamentals of the games, as well as the sportsmanship and
competitive spirit that his charges take into high school sports.
He has truly provided service to the community of Collingswood throughout
his adult lifetime.
Edgar Warren
Skeets Irvine arrived in Collingswood and the brightest star in
his first three seasons was Edger “Eggs” Warren. Collingswood
won its first gridiron title in 1920 and was co-champion with Woodbury
in 1921. Warren captained both those title teams. There were no
All-South Jersey teams selected at the time, but the Newark News
placed Warren on its second All-State team, a rare honor for a South
Jersey player. In 1921, Eggs threw touchdown passes to Bob Wilkens
and Howdey Roberts to enable the Colls to beat Camden 14-13. It
was the first victory over Camden. The write-ups of the day called
him big, fast, strong and deceptive runner and a ferocious linebacker.
Game story after game story had his name in the first paragraph.
Eggs Warren dominated his era.
Joe Bowman
As a sophomore, Joe Bowman ’55 was a top jayvee player and
saw a bit of varsity action on the championship team of 1952-53
that’s also being honored tonight. He went on to star the
next two seasons, being selected team Most Valuable Player as a
senior. That year he was chosen the Group Four “Player of
the Year.” He was known for his quickness and slashing drives
to the basket. Bowman also ran on the track team. His biggest scholastic
thrill was beating Camden. He attended the University of Pennsylvania,
where he was elected captain as a senior and played under his former
high school coach, Jack McCloskey. Bowman graduated from the Wharton
School of Business and then attended law school. Currently he is
a business executive in Southern California.
Pat Roney Miller
Despite recurring hip and later back problems, Pat Roney Miller
’59 was a standout basketball and tennis player at Colls High.
A memorable moment for her was making the basketball team as a freshman
after a year of walking on crutches. She was a four-year letterman
who captained the team and was the leading scorer with a 17 ppg
average in her senior year. Pat was also a four-year letter winner
in tennis and played first singles as both a junior and senior.
She captained that team as a senior as well. Pat played a year of
hockey before focusing on the other two sports. At Beaver College,
she was an outstanding basketball player. There was no tennis team
there at the time so she switched back to hockey and was a solid
performer despite her lack of high school experience.
Jerry Cabnet
Jerry Cabnet, on the basis of his record, was the best boys tennis
player ever to wear the Blue and Gold. He was 39-1 in scholastic
competition from 1961-63. His only loss came in his sophomore year
when he played at #2 singles behind his late brother Lou, also an
outstanding player. Moving up to first singles, he was undefeated
in his junior and senior years and won every scholastic competition
open to him. His steady baseline game was more than a match for
every frustrated opponent. In those days, coach Chet Ollinger entered
his Colls High team in a Saturday league with the Philadelphia-area
country club teams featuring many of the best players in the Delaware
Valley. Led by the Cabnets, Collingswood won the league championship
in 1961 and Lou and Jerry captained the doubles title. Jerry started
at college at Temple, then served in the Army at Okinawa. Then,
in his mid-20s, he completed his college degree at Rutgers-Camden
and was once again a dominant tennis player at first singles.
Carolyn ‘Lynne’ Bartsch and Karin Bartsch Read
Twins Carolyn “Lynne” Bartsch and Karin Bartsch Read
of the class of 1967 are being inducted into the Hall of Fame in
the same year, since they played the same three sports and their
accomplishments were almost identical. Both were three-year letterman
in tennis, hockey and basketball and they were part of a great class
which won championships in just about every boys’ and girls’
sport in their senior year. Karin played second singles to her twin’s
first singles in tennis. She and Lynne played important roles on
the hockey and basketball teams that won Colonial Conference titles
when they were seniors. Karin scored the highest number of hockey
goals, playing right wing, and she was MVP of the basketball team
in her senior year. She was also awarded the Silver Medal as outstanding
athlete in her class. Lynne captained the tennis team, played first
singles and received the MVP award in that sport. She was also a
high scorer on the basketball team and was a defensive bulwark of
the hockey team from her fullback position. Together, the Bartsch
girls proved double trouble for opposing players on the tennis courts,
basketball gyms and hockey fields.
Patrice Wright Dennison
Patrice Dennison follows older brothers Rick and Tim Wright into
the Colls Hall of Fame. She graduated in 1970 after earning nine
varsity letters, three each in hockey, basketball and lacrosse.
She also had the distinction of playing on Colonial Conference championship
teams in all three sports, as well as an undefeated lacrosse team
in her sophomore year. Patrice was a first team All-Colonial Conference
basketball team selection in her senior year. She also captained
the Colls hoopsters that year. She was a second team All-Conference
pick and shared the team MCP award in hockey, and Collingswood won
the conference title in that sport in both her sophomore and senior
years. Patrice received the Howard “Skeets” Irvine Award
as outstanding female athlete in the class of 1970.
John McShay
John McShay ’78 was perhaps the best cross-country and track
miler produced by Collingswood in the second half of the 20th century.
In cross-country, he was first team All-Conference and All-South
Jersey Group 3 in both his junior and senior years, and All-South
Jersey as a senior. That year, he was unbeaten in dual meets and
was individual champion in the Colonial Conference and Camden County
Championship Meets, placing second in the South Jersey Championships.
John earned similar honors in track and his greatest achievement
was winning the New Jersey State Indoor Mile Championship. In his
senior year, he was the first-place finisher in the Colonial Conference,
Camden County and South Jersey Group 3 Meets. Collingswood won the
Colonial team title, edging Haddon Township by one point as McShay
passed the best Hawk runner at the finish line. McShay ran the mile
anchor leg on the Collingswood distance medley relay team that placed
first in both the Woodbury and South Jersey Relays. That foursome
set a school record that still stands.
Dominic Mariani
Dom Mariani Class of 1980 was an outstanding football player at
Colls High during the years 1978-80. He was a star back on both
sides of the ball, gaining All-Colonial Conference honors and being
named to the All-South Jersey team as a defensive back. Mariani
saved his best for last. Collingswood had not scored against Sterling
for five years prior to that 1979 game. Then Dominic intercepted
a pass and made 12 unassisted tackles to lead the Colls to a 48-6
rout. Dom went on to receive a degree in biology from Rutgers-Camden
and the degree of doctor of chiropractic medicine from Palmer College
of Chiropractic. Her is a practicing doctor of chiropractic medicine
in South Jersey.
Doreen Slimm Deal
Collingswood High School has only offered gymnastics for a few years
in its long history of athletics. Diminutive Doreen Slimm Deal ’81
took full advantage of the opportunity provided her. Known for her
fast twist, super flipping and fearless vaulting, she was a three-time
All-Conference and All-South Jersey selection. Doreen led coach
Nancy Tolstoy’s team to participate in sectional competition
and qualify for the state tournament. She was also vault champ in
the Canada Classic while in high school. Doreen went on to an excellent
gymnastics career at the University of West Virginia, where she
was an All-East selection, placed second in the regional championships
and gained All-American honors as well. Doreen placed 38th in the
all-around national competition against the best gymnast of the
U.S. She has also coached gymnastics for 12 years at Cherry Hill
High School East and also coached at the private Cherry Hill Academy.
1952-53 Boys Basketball Team
Jack McCloskey’s coaching debut at Collingswood bordered on
the spectacular as his team won the South Jersey Group 4 title,
the second in school history. Among the teams defeated on the way
to the crown were Trenton and Atlantic City, two schools which had
dominated court play in the area. The Irvine Gymnasium had just
opened in 1952 and capacity crowds regularly saluted one of the
greatest teams in school history. The starting team consisted of
Captain Walt Blankley, Bucky Waters, Alan Ferner, Bob Seitz, and
Pete Celani. Jack Reinert and Ed Kurkian were among others who saw
action. And there was a jayvee standout, Joe Bowman (also honored
here tonight), who in 1959 would become McCloskey’s captain
at Penn. The unit produced three college captains. Besides Bowman,
Blankley captained Princeton and Ferne led LaSalle. Waters starred
at North Carolina State, coached at Duke and can still be heard
today as an analyst for college games. Seitz, at 6’9”,
was one of the first giants who possessed true basketball skills.
He was a teammate of Waters at N.C. State, but tragically died while
still a young man. McClosky went on to become head coach at Penn
and Wake Forest before embarking on a long career as a coach and
executive in the NBA.
William K. Dickey
Bill Dickey, third recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award,
has practiced law in Collingswood for 55 years and distinguished
himself by being elected to five terms in the State General Assembly.
There he rose to serve as both Minority and Majority Leader, Speaker
and, on two occasions, as acting Governor. Dickey suffered an eye
injury at 16 which exempted him from active military service, but
after graduating from Collingswood High in 1939 he did serve in
the U.S. Coast Guard Reserves and also helped the war effort by
working the midnight shift at New York Shipyard. Since his father
had suffered a disabling stroke, Bill was then the sole support
of his family. While working at night, he attended and graduated
from the College of South Jersey (now Rutgers-Camden) in 1941 and
the South Jersey Law School in 1944. Several years later, while
a practicing lawyer, he earned a B.A. degree from the University
of Pennsylvania. Dickey was elected president of the New Jersey
Jaycees and served eight years as a municipal judge in Collingswood
and two other communities. During that period, he was appointed
chairman of the State Supreme Court’s Municipal Court Committee
and was also the secretary of the Camden County Legal Aid Society.
He was president of the Collingswood Republican Club for 16 years
and was three times a delegate to the Republican National Convention.
After retiring from the Assembly, Dickey served with distinction
for 11 years as commissioner of the Delaware River Port Authority,
including two years as chairman. He has been an active leader in
many community organizations, including the Salvation Army, Better
Business Bureau, South Jersey Chamber of Commerce, South Jersey
Development Council and the Lions Club. Dickey has performed a great
deal of pro bono work for these and other organizations over the
years, and is admired and respected for his integrity, humility
and kindness to others.
|