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University of Massachusets Athletics
UMass Hall of Fame Class Named
 |  Since founding the UMass Ski programs, Bill MacConnell led the teams to 30 divisional titles (18 men and 12 women). |
July 7, 2003
Massachusetts' only NCAA individual national champion, three former two-sport standouts, its first-ever All-American in men's soccer and one of its longest serving head coaches comprise the UMass Athletic Hall of Fame's Class of 2003.
The Hall's seventh class includes two-sport stars Ned Larkin (Class of 1959, basketball and baseball), Ed McAleney (Class of 1976, football and track) and Laura O'Neil (Class of 1981, field hockey and lacrosse), along with gymnast Tammy Marshall (Class of 1993), soccer's Granville Pruyne (Class of 1933) and longtime men's and women's ski coach Bill MacConnell (Class of 1943). In all, 46 nominations were received for consideration this year.
The Class of 2003 is scheduled to be honored on the UMass campus in early January. The Hall of Fame was resurrected in 1996 following a 15-year period of dormancy, and today boasts 67 members.
Larkin (B.B.A., School of Management, 1959) was a star guard on the basketball squad and a shortstop on the baseball team between 1957 and 1959. He earned first team All-Yankee Conference honors as a senior in 1958-59 and honorable mention recognition as a sophomore.
He scored 870 career points and pulled down 441 rebounds in 83 career outings as a member of the Minuteman basketball team, and graduated as the second all-time leading scorer in school history. Larkin led UMass in scoring as a senior with 13.5 ppg, was third as a junior (9.4 ppg) and second as a sophomore (12.9 ppg). He was selected to play in the Hall of Fame All-Star game following his senior season which pitted New England's finest against Boston's best.
On the diamond, Larkin served as captain of the baseball team in 1959. He earned the 1958-59 Samuel S. Crossman Two Sport Award, the 1959 E. Joseph Thompson Memorial MVP Trophy and was a first team All-Yankee Conference pick as a senior in 1959.
Larkin is one of two athletes in UMass history (the other is UMass Hall of Famer Joe DiSarcina) to earn the E. Joseph Thompson MVP award in baseball and the Samuel S. Crossman trophy as the school's top two-sport standout in the same season. He was also selected as the Collegian's top UMass athlete for the 1958-59 academic year.
After graduation, he played basketball for the Hazleton (Pa.) entry in the Eastern Basketball League and was also signed by the Cleveland Indians following his senior year. A native of Belmont, Mass., he currently resides in Laverne, Calif., and is an Operations Manager for Floorgraphics Inc.
Marshall (B.S. Sport Management, 1993) remains the only student-athlete in school history to claim an NCAA individual championship in any sport, as she won the 1992 NCAA vault title with a score of 9.8125 and claimed 1993 NCAA floor exercise championship with a perfect 10 on the event.
A five-time Atlantic 10 champion, she won the all-around in 1990 (37.800), the balance beam (9.700) and all-around (38.300) in 1991 and the vault (9.900) and balance beam (9.800) in 1993. Marshall is also a three-time NCAA Northeast Regional champion, winning the vault in 1990 (9.650), the floor exercise in 1992 (9.900) and the all-around in 1993 (38.225).
One of only two gymnasts in school history to ever score a perfect 10 in any event, Marshall earned GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-America honors in 1993. She went on to earn a silver medal on floor exercise at the 1993 World University Games. Marshall was named the Atlantic 10's Outstanding Freshman Gymnast in 1990, its Outstanding Senior Gymnast in 1993, and earned All-Atlantic 10 Conference honors during each of her four years in Amherst. She was named to the Atlantic 10's 25th anniversary unit and still holds the school record on floor exercise (10.000), while ranking second all time on vault (9.900), third in the all-around (39.250) and eighth on balance beam (9.850).
Marshall, named the A-10's Female Student-Athlete of the Year for the 1992-93 academic year, currently coaches at Infinity Gymnastics in Greenlawn, N.Y.
MacConnell (B.S., Forestry, 1943) founded the school's men's and women's ski programs, leading the Minutemen from 1961 through 2001, and the women's program from its inception in 1976 through the 2001 campaign. All-told, his teams captured 30 divisional titles, 18 men's and 12 women's, and today, he still assists both programs as an assistant to Head Coach Igor Vanovac.
The early years of the men's program were highlighted by second-place division and league finishes in both 1966 and 1967. From 1968 through 1986, a span of 18 straight seasons, MacConnell's program won its division every year, and since 1986, it has been either second or third each year. One of his top pupils was William Schaffer, who finished sixth at the NCAA Championship in the giant slalom.
Under his leadership, the women's team captured 11 consecutive division titles from 1976 through 1986. Since that 10-year run, UMass added another division crown in 1991 and has finished among the top three in its division eight times. In 2003, the Minutewomen captured the USCSA national championship for the first time ever.
He served as a professor in the UMass Forestry and Wildlife department from 1948 until his retirement in 1998, and still serves the department on a post retirement appointment. MacConnell has donated some $300,000 as of 2003 to the University's Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.
McAleney (B.S., Forestry, 1976) was a four-year letter winner for Dick MacPherson's football team and a member of two Yankee Conference championship football teams (1972, 1974 co-champions). He served as team captain in both 1974 and 1975.
A three-time first team All-Yankee Conference selection and three-time All- New England (1972-73, 75) selection at defensive end, McAleney earned first team All-America honors as a senior in 1975. He was a member of UMass' 1972 team that defeated Boston College, 28-7, and beat California Davis, 35-14, in the Boardwalk Bowl. The Boardwalk Bowl marked UMass' first postseason win.
One of six former UMass players named to the Yankee Conference's All-Time 50th Anniversary Team in 1996, McAleney also earned three letters in track and field, performing in both the shot put and the discus. He placed fourth in the Yankee Conference shot put in 1973 in both indoor and outdoor track.
Chosen in the eighth round of the NFL draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers, McAleney played for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League (CFL) from 1977-83. An All-Western Conference selection in 1979 and the CFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1981, McAleney was the Stampeders Most Valuable Player in 1979, and again in both 1981-82. He also played in the USFL from 1984-85.
McAleney founded "Kids to Kamp" charity in Calgary in 1979. "Kids to Kamp" was funded by matching donations from local businesses after quarterback sacks. All proceeds went to summer camp fees for patients at Alberta's Crippled Children's Hospital. Inducted into the Maine State Hall of Fame in 1991, he and his wife, Jeanie, own and operate a landscape business in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.
O'Neil (B.S., Recreation and Park Administration, 1981) was a standout field hockey and lacrosse player for the Minutewomen from 1977 through 1980 and earned a total of six letters. She garnered first team All-America honors as a senior in both sports.
In field hockey, she still ranks among the school's all-time leaders in career points (87, sixth-tie), goals (34, eighth tie) and assists (19, ninth) and single-season points (57 in 1979, fourth), goals (20 in 1979, seventh-tie) and assists (17 in 1979, sixth). At the time of her graduation O'Neil ranked first in single-season assists and second in career points, single-season points, single-season goals and third in career assists.
The captain of UMass' 1979 field hockey team that finished fourth nationally, she led the Minutewomen to a 44-15-6 record in her three years as a member and a pair of fourth-place finishes at the AIAW national tournament.
Named defensive MVP of the 1979 AIAW Lacrosse National Championship, O'Neil helped the Minutewomen to a 48-5-2 three-year record, including USWLA semifinal appearance (1978) a USWLA runner-up appearance (1979) and an AIAW semifinal appearance (1980). She went on to participate in the 1979 National Sports Festival in field hockey, and was a member of the United States Lacrosse Team in 1980 and 1981.
O'Neil's father, Jack, captained the School of Stockbridge's 1951 basketball team, and her mother, Jeanne, was a cheerleader at UMass and graduated in 1953. Her sister, Kathy, is also a 1976 UMass graduate and was a member of both the field hockey and lacrosse teams. O'Neil currently works as a web developer.
Pruyne (B.S. Chemistry, 1933) is the first UMass men's soccer player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. He was Massachusetts' first All-American selection in the sport, having earned recognition for his play as a forward for Coach Lawrence Briggs' team in 1932.
A member of Massachuetts' first three soccer teams in 1930, 1931 and 1932, Pruyne helped the Aggies to an 11-5-1 record. He was also a two-year letterwinner in track (1932 and 1933), captaining the UMass team in 1933. Pruyne, now retired, splits his time between homes in the Berkshires and Florida.
The nine member Hall of Fame Committee includes: Hall of Fame member Dick Bresciani, V.P. Public Relations, Boston Red Sox; Atty. George "Trigger" Burke, Hall of Fame Member; Bob Goodhue, UMass President's Office; Peter Lewenberg, Former University Trustee; Ian McCaw, UMass Athletic Director; James Mulcahy, Co-Founder Varsity "M" Club; John Nitardy, Associate Athletic Director for Development; Elaine Sortino, Associate Athletic Director for Sports Programs and Student Services and Bill Strickland, Associate Athletic Director for External Affairs.
Nominations are now being accepted for the Class of 2004. Click here for nominating procedures and criteria.