University of Massachusets Athletics
Six Inducted Into Hall of Fame
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Feb. 26, 2003
Dick Bresciani always dreamed about scoring a winning basket to defeat the UConn Huskies, or scoring a winning goal to give UMass its first NCAA hockey championship or of watching the Minutemen capture the College World Series.
But the former Massachusetts assistant sports information director will be the first to admit that he never accomplished any of these sports dreams.
"I cannot tell you about any of these accomplishments because they are all fantasies," said Bresciani in his 2002 Hall of Fame induction acceptance speech. "All of the other inductees here tonight excelled at the highest level of collegiate competition. I can only fantasize about what achievements you have."
While Bresciani was honored by the Hall of Fame for his efforts involved in supporting UMass athletics in the sports information office, establishing the Hall of Fame and initiating weekly luncheons, the other five members inducted into the Hall of Fame on Jan. 31 at the Campus Center Auditorium were honored for their athletic accomplishments.
Joining Bresciani as the class of 2002 were former men's basketball players Doug Grutchfield and Jim McCoy, soccer standout April Kater, two-sport star Brian McIver and the late Allyson Rioux, one of UMass' most decorated softball players.
Coming from the town of Hopedale, Mass., Bresciani participated in athletics through his high school years.
"It gave me the chance to play varsity sports and taste the thrills, the ecstasy of success, and the agony of failure of athletic competition," said Bresciani.
Those triumphs and failures in athletics ended for Bresciani when he graduated from high school, and he turned his efforts to reporting on sports when he came to the University of Massachusetts as a student. Bresciani covered UMass athletics for the student newspaper, the Massachusetts Daily Collegian, and tried his hand at radio for the student station, WMUA.
"It provided a different perspective of athletics," said Bresciani.
Bresciani's view of intercollegiate athletics widened even more during his sophomore year when a professor encouraged him to obtain a student assistant's position in the sports information office under its director, Dick Page.
"That really opened a door to opportunities that I never dreamed about," said Bresciani.
What started as a temporary position for Bresciani turned into a career journey. After he graduated from UMass, he was able to stay in the sports information office in a newly created position of an assistant sports information director, a title he held for 11 years.
Expanding his influence in the athletic department, Bresciani was also responsible for aiding former athletic director Warren McGuirk in establishing the UMass Athletic Hall of Fame in 1968, and he established weekly Varsity M Club Luncheons, which today have developed into the weekly UMass Sports Luncheons. Bresciani also purchased travel blazers and initiated the hanging of men's basketball postseason banners from the rafters of the Curry Hicks Cage.
During the summer months, Bresciani furthered his public relations experience when he worked as the director of public relations and statistics for the Cape Cod summer baseball league from 1967-71. He was acknowledged for his efforts in getting the league full NCAA accreditation and financial grants from Major League Baseball when he was inducted into the league's first Hall of Fame class in 2001.
After making his contributions to both the University of Massachusetts and the Cape Cod League, Bresciani received a position with the Boston Red Sox. He was hired in 1972 as the team's assistant public relations director, and continued to work his way up the ladder. In 1978 he was promoted to publicity director and named the public relations director in 1984 and the vice president in 1987. Bresciani was further promoted in 1996 to his current position of vice president of public affairs and club historian.
While Bresciani made his contributions to athletics off the field, fellow inductee Grutchfield has made an impact both on and off the court.
A basketball player at UMass from 1959-61, Grutchfield set 13 school records during his Massachusetts career. In 74 games, the North Quincy, Mass., native tallied a then-school record 1,257 points, a mark that currently ranks 15th on the UMass chart. His career scoring (17.0 ppg) and rebounding (10.6 ppg) averages rank eighth and seventh on the Minuteman career lists, respectively.
While Grutchfield's accomplishments are still present in the school's record books, he is quick to point out that the way he played basketball is very much in the past.
"You played only three years, your sophomore through your senior year. College teams played only 25 regular season games, and there was no three-point shot, although I wish there had been," Grutchfield, explained. "But most important, there was no beautiful Mullins Center. There was the Curry Hicks gymnasium."
Grutchfield didn't let the smaller Curry Hicks Cage inhibit his basketball abilities as he went on to receive second team All-Yankee Conference honors as a sophomore and was a first team selection as a junior and a senior. Grutchfield was also named to the first team All-ECAC in his final year at Massachusetts.
When his career at UMass ended in 1961, Grutchfield continued to be involved in athletics, only this time as a coach and administrator. He spent the first three years of his high school coaching career at Amherst Regional High School, where he won the first of his 21 conference championships, then moved on to Fitchburg High School. In all, his teams captured 21 conference titles, seven district championships and 588 victories.
Grutchfield credits his successes to the two men who coached him at UMass, Robert T. Curran and Matthew Zunic.
"For the last 40 years I have been a high school teacher, coach and athletic director," said Grutchfield, who also served as Fitchburg's athletic director and earned 1994 national high school athletic director of the year honors. "I would like to believe that my philosophy is a combination of these two coaches."
Almost 40 years after Grutchfield exited the UMass basketball program, McCoy entered it. A member of the Minuteman squad from 1988-92 under John Calipari, McCoy left Massachusetts as the school's all-time leading scorer with 2,374 points. A four-time All-Atlantic 10 and three-time All-District selection, McCoy still holds UMass records for points scored (2,374), field goals made (876) and attempted (2,013) and games started (121).
Those honors, along with top 10 standing in scoring average (18.8 ppg), free throws made (575) and attempted (810), steals (141) games played (126) and minutes played (4,180), made McCoy think highly of his collegiate experiences.
"Representing the University of Massachusetts, playing basketball, provided me with the best memories an athlete could ever hope for," said McCoy, who led the Minutemen to a 30-5 record, their first-ever Atlantic 10 regular season and tournament titles and the school's first NCAA Tournament berth in some 30 years as a senior in 1991-92.
Kater echoed McCoy's sentiments. A standout soccer player at UMass from 1987-90, she earned NSCAA All-America honors in 1988, 1989 and 1990, and was named the nation's best soccer player in 1990 when she received the Hermann Trophy.
Yet, as Kater explained, her Massachusetts career started years ago when she was first recruited by then-head coach Kalekeni Banda.
"It took me 10 years to learn how to pronounce his name. I almost didn't come to UMass because when he was recruiting me, I was scared of his name," Kater joked. "But I finally realized we were allowed to call him Banda."
After coaching her for just one year, Banda left UMass and Kater was forced to get acquainted with a new coach.
Luckily for her, she clicked with Banda's replacement, Jim Rudy, right away. In fact, she even got along with her new coach before he came to UMass, as Rudy's Central Florida team faced Kater's Minutewomen in the 1987 NCAA Tournament.
"The first thing he ever said to me was after the game, we won 2-1, he walked right up to me and he said 'We made a mistake,' and that's all he said and just walked away," recalled Kater. "I never knew what he meant. When I found out he was going to be my coach for three years, my No. 1 priority was to find out what that meant. I finally got up enough courage and I asked him and he said, 'well, it's simple. We made a mistake about you at UCF. And I said, 'That's right, I sent you a video, I sent you my resume. Why didn't you recruit me?' And he said, 'Because you were from New Jersey'."
Through her three years under Rudy's coaching, Kater proved to him that although she was from New Jersey, she could still play soccer. When she left Massachusetts, Kater was tied for first on the school's all-time list in game-winning goals scored (12), tied for fourth in goals scored (35), fifth in points (92), seventh in shots (179) and tied for eighth in assists (22).
Yet Kater wasn't ready to end her soccer career when she completed her eligibility. After she graduated from UMass in 1991 with a sport management degree, she received a position as a graduate assistant coach at West Virginia Wesleyan University. She coached there for two years and then returned to UMass as an assistant coach under Rudy in 1993 and 1994. After spending two years with her former head coach and mentor, Kater was hired as head coach at Syracuse, where she started that program from scratch. Through seven seasons with the Orangewomen, Kater has tallied a 79-49-7 record and made two NCAA Tournament appearances.
She credits all of her success to Rudy's tutelage.
"Every day as a coach, whether it's in the office or on the field, I always do something or I say something and I think, 'Gosh, J.R. taught me that'," Kater said. "He truly is one of the biggest impacts on my career, both as a player and as a coach."
Swimmer McIver can understand Kater's connection with her coach. McIver credits his success in the pool to his head coach, Russ Yarworth.
"He gave me opportunities that I didn't think were possible," McIver said of his former coach.
While performing for Yarworth, both as a swimmer and as a member of the water polo team, McIver captured 10 New England individual titles, two Eastern Intercollegiate titles, set three school records, and was given the 1990 Moriarty Award which was awarded to the senior who scores the most points at the Eastern Collegiate Swimming Championships.
In water polo, McIver received All-New England honors in 1989 and 1990, and still holds the UMass single-game steals record of six.
But when addressing the current class of the UMass Athletic Hall of Fame, as well as all of those in attendance, McIver credited Yarworth with not only coaching him to success in the pool, but also ensuring that he achieved his academic goals.
"It was a challenge for Russ and the rest of the athletic department to get me into (UMass), and once they got me here I think it was an even bigger challenge for them to keep me here," McIver joked.
While McIver was able to share a few laughs with those present at the Campus Center Auditorium, Francene Moavero shared a few tears.
Moavero and Denise Kinne accepted the Hall of Fame induction for their sister, Allyson Rioux, who passed away at the age of 27 of a brain tumor.
"This is difficult because I really feel my sister deserves to be up here tonight," said Moavero, who spoke on Rioux's behalf.
Rioux is ranked on UMass' all-time charts in slugging percentage (.452, 10th), on-base percentage (.410, seventh) and walks (51, 10th). When she concluded her career at UMass, Rioux recorded a .328 batting average, 87 hits, 46 RBI and 59 runs.
Moavero believes all of this success was because of her sister's strong work ethic.
"She worked hard to constantly better herself," said Moavero. "She never took her talent for granted."
Moavero recalled times growing up when she would hear the pounding of balls hitting the garage door when Rioux would practice bunting.
Rioux was rewarded for her efforts when she graduated from UMass in 1984 with a degree in communications, and was allowed to continue her softball career with the Raybestos Brakettes in the American Softball Association. She helped the team to 10 ASA tournament appearances and five national championships.
Rioux earned many accolades in the ASA including six ASA All-America awards, Most Valuable Player of the 1985 ASA National Championship and the Erv Lind Award as the outstanding defensive player in the championship game.
Away from the ASA, Rioux was also a member of the silver-medal team at the 1983 Pan American Games and also participated in the World Games.
Rioux's memory will be kept alive as her portrait hangs in the UMass Athletic Hall of Fame on the third floor of the Mullins Center, along with fellow 2002 inductees Bresciani, Grutchfield, Kater, McCoy and McIver.