Thursday, June 21, 2012: NYSPHSAA Hall of Fame to add seven in August

   Leading off today: Don Snyder, coach of the 1978 Farmingdale football team that finished the season unscored upon, is one of seven scholastic figures selected for induction into the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame on Aug. 1.

   Snyder finished with a 237-93-8 record in a 42-year career that included seven undefeated seasons. He also coached baseball, wrestling and track and field at various times from 1950 to '92. He is currently the chairman of the Section 5 Appeals Committee.

   Here are the other members of the hall's 10th class of honorees:

    • Richard Bader: Coached football, basketball and baseball at C-NS after overseeing the consolidation of athletic programs when Cicero and North Syracuse were merge din 1981. He went on to serve as president of the Onondaga League and Section 3.

    • Louis Giani: Spent 38 years directing Huntington's wrestlers to a 416-32 record, earning Suffolk County coach of the year recognition eight times. In 2002, he was voted National High School Coach of the Year and has been inducted into the New York and national halls of fame. His teams won 117 in-season tournaments and posted an 81-meet win streak in duals.

    • Anthony Luciano: Began a 35-year career at Hudson Falls in 1948, where he would also serve as AD, and coached football, basketball, track and cross country. His teams went 336-135 in basketball, playing in seven Section 2 finals. In track, he won 221 dual meets wins and 15 Northern Conference championships in 34 years. He served as secretary of Section 2 from 1957-1980 and has been on the sectional basketball committee since 1955. In 1983, President Ronald Reagan presented Luciano with the Private Sector Initiative Commendation in recognition of exemplary community service.

    • Gina Maher: A 37-year coach of the girls basketball team at Irvington with a 561-182 record, 10 Section 1 crowns and four NYSPHSAA championships. Her tennis teams won seven league titles and her track teams earned 11 league crowns. In 2007, the Irvington School District named the high school gym in her honor.

    • Dave Martens: He practically invented the art of game-day site management as the AD at Fairport after stints at Rushford and Brockport. He won sectional titles in boys basketball at Rushford and Brockport and then turned his focus to AD duties and spearheading Operation Target in Section 5. He was the first President of the New York State Athletic Administrators Association in 1981 and later held similar responsibilities in the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association.

    • Judith Salerno: In 1974, she became the first woman to chair the NYSPHSAA Modified Committee, a post she still holds. She also served as the Section 8 chair in girls volleyball, boys tennis and girls tennis at various times into the 1990s. Salerno was also on the coordinating committee of the influential Coalition of Women in Education Sports Symposium.

   Give us your best pitch: NYSSWA baseball editor Tom Vartanian is in the proverbial seventh inning of compiling the all-state baseball team for the just-completed season.

   If you have players you think are worthy of consideration and believe they may escaped notice of the local consultants who've helped compile rankings during the season, shoot Tom an e-mail.

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   Four statewide awards announced: Nick Ryan (boys track), Mary Cain (girls track), Kristen Brown (softball) and Alex Robinson (baseball) have been named New York athletes of the year by Gatorade in their respective sports.

   Ryan, a Fayetteville-Manlius junior, won the 1,600 meters with a meet-record time of 4:05.24 and captured the 3,200 in 9:03.81 at the recent NYSPHSAA championships. He snared Gatorade honors in cross country in the fall.

   Cain, a Bronxville sophomore, qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 800 meters, won the 1,500 at states and qualified for the World Junior Championships in the 1,500 with a sizzling 4:14.74 at this month’s USA Track and Field Junior Outdoor Championships.

   Robinson, a senior lefty at Hicksville's Holy Trinity, finished with an 8-0 mark and 109 strikeouts in 51 innings on the mound in helping the Titans to the CHSAA Long Island championship.

   Brown, a senior at MacArthur, hit 15 home runs and drove in 48 runs at the plate. She also went 8-3 as a pitcher.

   Shutting down: ESPN is shuttering its high school business unit, including its ESPNHS.com website, SportsBusiness Daily reported last week. The most notable effect would be the loss of the DyeStat.com site, the Holy Grail of scholastic track and cross country news in this country.

   Presumably, that franchise would revert to ownership and/or management by John and Donna Dye, who launched DyeStat in the 1990s, but I have not heard official word as of yet.

   As a whole, ESPN's decision more or less confirms that MaxPreps.com has become the 800-pound gorilla on the world of broad online high school sports coverage and content. Besides the websites, ESPN is closing two magazines and the event management service that staged high school games at Disney World. The mid-September shutdown will displace 75 employees.