1959 Men's Soccer (2018) - Hall of Fame - Fredonia State University Athletics

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Hall of Fame

1959 Men's Soccer

Class
Induction

2018
Sport(s)

Team of Distinction

1959 Mens Soccer / Team of Distinction — Men's Soccer had its first season at Fredonia State in 1959. Members of that team were enshrined as Fredonia State's first Team of Distinction at the 2018 Hall of Fame dinner. The team had been previously honored at the 1989 dinner.

The 1959 team finished with a 2-3 record, but it actually had its genesis during the 1958 school year when a call to arms was issued for all young men on campus interested in trying out for a new sport. The school wanted a fall sport -- there was already basketball during the winter, and baseball and golf in the spring -- and the thought of adding football was kicked around before school officials decided to add soccer.

Nearly 30 men reported for drills, overseen by a relatively new faculty member who had recently coached a successful high school team in Hammond, N.Y., by the name of Pat Damore. Before the team could be approved by college administrators, Coach Damore had to submit a proposed budget. He estimated the cost to start the team at $1,334.80, with a cost each subsequent year at just over $500. That included travel and meals.The following fall, 16 men were invited back to campus for pre-season drills at their own expense. An additional six men were added to the roster for the opening match vs. Buffalo State, which was held October 3, 1959, here on campus -- a 3-1 Fredonia State win.

A parade through the village preceded the game with speeches by Athletic Director Joe Keyser and College President Dr. Harry Porter. It’s unclear from news accounts whether the reason for the parade was held to honor the start of a new team or whether it was the annual Freshman Parade, which would be followed by the traditional burning of freshmen green beanies at a bonfire later that night. There were 382 freshmen on campus in the fall of 1959 was noted in one news story as the “largest entering class to date.”

Hall of Fame members from the 1959 team are Tim Gallineau, Pete Criscione, Ed Koenig, and Pat Damore.

(Above) from left, front: Ed Koenig, Bob Buonamici, Peter Criscione, Otto Thomas, Tim Gallineau, Joe Jordetto, Ron Baker, Lou Gugino, and John Hales; middle: Art Peters, John Richmond, Brian Titus, Rich Mangino, Bill Cooper, Bob Hurley, Wes Wood, John Sherwood, and Gerald Coon; back: Don Christopherson, Bill Marvin, Del Hall, David Dean, Bob Carlson, Mike McCarthy, and Head Coach Pat Damore.

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