University of Massachusets Athletics
Hall Of Fame Inductions Set For This Weekend
 |  Jim McCoy is one of six new inductees into the UMass Athletic Hall of Fame. |
Jan. 31, 2003
AMHERST, Mass. - Five of the finest student-athletes the University of Massachusetts has ever produced and one of its top athletic administrators will be inducted this weekend into the UMass Athletic Hall of Fame, presented by George "Trigger" Burke. The sixth class UMass has honored since the Hall of Fame's resurrection after a 15-year dormant period, brings to 61 the number of individuals who have been enshrined.
The Class of 2002 will be honored at a dinner in Amherst tonight, and will be officially inducted into the Hall of Fame at halftime of tomorrow's UMass-Fordham men's basketball game, which starts at 2 p.m. in the Mullins Center.
Chosen by the Hall of Fame Selection Committee last May, the Class of 2002 features Dick Bresciani (administrator), Doug Grutchfield (basketball), April Kater (soccer), Jim McCoy (basketball), Brian McIver (water polo, swimming) and Allyson Rioux (softball).
Dick Bresciani's association with UMass athletics dates to his undergraduate days in Amherst, when he worked in the school's sports information office for CoSIDA Hall of Famer Dick Page and covered the Redmen for the Massachusetts Daily Collegian.
After graduation, the Hopedale, Mass., native spent 11 years as UMass' first assistant sports information director, working with each of the school's athletic teams. In 1968, he and former athletic director Warren McGuirk established the UMass Athletic Hall of Fame, honoring greats Harold "Kid" Gore and multi-sport star Lou Bush in the first class. Bresciani is also credited with establishing the weekly Varsity M Club Luncheons (the forerunner of today's popular UMass Sports Luncheons), purchasing travel blazers with a Varsity M patch for the football players to wear on road trips and hanging banners from the Curry Hicks Cage rafters to recognize the men's basketball team's postseason appearances.
Bresciani was on a nine-month contract with the athletic department, so he spent the summers from 1967-71 as director of public relations and statistics for the Cape Cod summer baseball league. During his time on the Cape, the league received full NCAA accreditation and subsequent financial grants from Major League Baseball. Bresciani was recognized for his efforts by being inducted into the first Cape Cod League Hall of Fame class on January 20, 2001.
From UMass, the popular Bresciani was called up to the Major Leagues and was hired in May of 1972 by the Boston Red Sox as the team's assistant public relations director. He was promoted to publicity director in 1978 and public relations director in June of 1984, before being selected vice president in 1987. In November of 1996, Bresciani was elevated into his current post as the Red Sox's vice president of public affairs and club historian.
Doug Grutchfield was a three-year letterman for coaches Robert T. Curran and Matthew Zunic, and set 13 school records during his career from 1959-61. He tallied a then-school record 1,257 points in just 74 games for the Maroon and White, a figure that currently ranks as the 15th-best mark in school history. Grutchfield earned second team All-Yankee Conference honors as a sophomore in 1958-59, then earned unanimous first team recognition in his final two seasons while also being named first team All-ECAC.
He still ranks among UMass' all-time leaders in scoring, scoring average (17.0 ppg, eighth), field goals attempted (1,207, ninth) and rebound average (10.6 rpg, seventh). His 782 rebounds was a school record at the time of his graduation, and sits just outside the all-time UMass top 10 today.
A 1961 UMass graduate and a native of North Quincy, Mass., Grutchfield was one of the Commonwealth's most successful high school basketball coaches ever, and recently retired as the Athletic Director at Fitchburg (Mass.) High School. He began his high school coaching career at Amherst Regional High School, where he won the first of his 21 career conference championships in 1963-64. All-told, his teams won 588 games at Amherst and Fitchburg, 21 league titles and seven district championships. As an administrator, Grutchfield was named the 1994 National High School Athletic Director of the Year.
Three-time NSCAA All-America (1988, 1989, 1990) midfielder April Kater earned the 1990 Hermann Trophy, given annually to the nation's top female collegiate soccer player. A four-year letterwinner for the Minutewoman soccer team from 1987-90, she was a three-time All-New England selection who earned 1987 Soccer America Freshman of the Year honors, then garnered first team All-America awards in each of her final three seasons.
Kater is tied for first on UMass' all-time list for game-winning goals scored (12), tied for fourth in goals scored (35), fifth on UMass' all-time points list (92), seventh on the shots chart (179) and tied for eighth in assists (22). At the time of her graduation, her points, goals and game-winning goals marks all stood as school records.
The Minutewomen fashioned a 56-14-7 mark with Kater on the team, posting a school record 20 wins during her freshman (1987) season. UMass advanced to the NCAA Tournament three times during her career, finishing second in 1987 and advancing to the quarterfinals in 1988 and 1989. Kater captained the team as a junior and senior, and twice earned adidas first team academic All-America honors. She also played in the 1989 and 1990 Olympic Sports Festivals.
Upon graduating from UMass in 1991 with a sport management degree, Kater began her coaching career as a graduate assistant coach at West Virginia Wesleyan University in 1991 and 1992. She returned to her alma mater as an assistant coach under Jim Rudy in 1993 and 1994, before being named the head women's soccer coach at Syracuse University. Kater started that program from scratch and has guided the Orangewomen to a 79-49-7 seven-year record, two NCAA Tournament appearances and six winning seasons.
Jim McCoy was a cornerstone in the rebirth of the UMass basketball fortunes under coach John Calipari, and finished his standout career as the school's all-time leading scorer with 2,374 points. A four-year letterman for Calipari, the sharp-shooting McCoy was a four-time All-Atlantic 10 selection and three-time All-District performer.
The Pittsburgh, Pa., product earned All-Freshman and third team All-Conference honors as a rookie in 1988-89, then picked up first team honors in his final three seasons as a Minuteman. McCoy was the first Minuteman ever to earn first team All-Atlantic 10 recognition. He was also named to the A-10 All-Tournament team as a sophomore and senior.
McCoy still holds UMass career marks for points scored (2,374), field goals made (876) and attempted (2,013) and games started (121). He ranks among UMass' all-time leaders in scoring average (18.8 ppg, third), free throws made (575, second) and attempted (810, second), steals (141, sixth), games played (126, tie-fifth) and minutes played (4,180, second).
The only player in school history to record four 500-point scoring seasons, McCoy owns three of the top 10 one-year scoring totals in school history. He scored 20 or more points 57 times in his 126-game career, a UMass record, and recorded a school-best 116 double-figure scoring games. He also had eight, 30-point scoring outbursts with a high of 35 points against Saint Joseph's in 1989. McCoy graduated from UMass in 1997, and currently resides in Boston where he works for Citizens Bank.
Brian McIver is one of the most decorated swimmers in school history, having captured 10 New England individual crowns and a pair of Eastern Intercollegiate titles. In addition, he was also a member of 10 Massachusetts relay teams that captured New England titles during his career, and set three individual school records, one of which still stands today.
He earned four letters as a member of the UMass swim team from 1987 through 1990, and captured New England individual titles in the 100-yard free (46.17) in 1987, 50-yard free (21.21), 100-yard free (45.90), 200-yard free (1:40.79) in 1988, 50-yard free (20.95), 200-yard free and 100-yard free (45.28) in 1989 and 50-yard free (21.00), 100-yard free (44.72) and 200-yard free (1:38.53) in 1990. McIver also captured 1990 Eastern Intercollegiate crowns in the 50 and 100 freestyle events.
McIver is the only UMass swimmer to ever win an Eastern Collegiate title and was a four-time team MVP. The 20 New England titles (10 individual and 10 relay) are the most-ever won by an individual in the 70-plus year history of the New England Intercollegiate Swimming Championships. He also captured the 1990 Moriarty Award given to the senior who scores the most points at the Eastern Collegiate Swimming Championships.
Also a four-year letterman for the UMass water polo team from 1987-90, McIver earned All-New England honors in 1989 and 1990, and still holds the school single-game steals record of six in a game against Harvard on Sept. 19, 1989. A native of Medford, Mass., and a 1990 UMass graduate (sport management), he currently lives in Oakland, Calif., where he works in private business.
Allyson Rioux earned second team All-America honors in 1983 as a shortstop for coach Elaine Sortino. A two-time All-New England shortstop (1981 and 1983), Rioux earned All-Atlantic 10 honors as a senior in 1984, when the Minutewomen won a then-school-record 29 games. As a senior captain, she hit a team-high .372, while also leading the team in doubles (six), home runs (three) and RBI (30), while ranking second in walks (15). She hit .301 as a junior in 1983 with 10 RBI and six doubles, did not play as a sophomore in 1982 due to a broken ankle and hit .282 as a freshman in 1981 with six RBI.
A native of Stamford, Conn., Rioux ranks among UMass' all-time leaders in slugging percentage (.452, 10th), on-base percentage (.410, seventh) and walks (51, 10th). For her career, she hit .328, with 87 hits, 46 RBI and 59 runs scored, as the Minutewomen posted then-school record win totals in both her junior (28) and senior (29) seasons.
Rioux, who graduated from UMass in 1984 with a communications degree, played 10 seasons with the Raybestos Brakettes, helping the team to 10 American Softball Association Tournament appearances and five ASA national championships at second base. She earned six ASA All-America awards (three first team, three second team), and received both the Most Valuable Player of the 1985 ASA National Championship and the Erv Lind Award as the outstanding defensive player in the championship game (1.000 fielding percentage / 36 chances and no errors).
A member of United States' silver-medal winning team at the 1983 Pan American Games, Rioux won the Pan American Games batting title with a .549 average. A two-time World Games participant who earned All-Tournament and All-World honors in 1986, Rioux died of a brain tumor at age 27.