Ten join honored athletes at Pine Plains Sports Wall of Fame

PINE PLAINS — It was a sporting evening last week as four student athletes, two coaches, two community members and two teams were honored as 2009’s inductees to the Pine Plains Sports Wall of Fame in a ceremony held last Friday, Nov. 20, in the Stissing Mountain Middle/High School auditorium.

Former district teacher and coach Bill Brewer acted as master of ceremonies for the evening, as inductees were introduced with video presentations and then honored with trophies. This is the third annual Wall of Fame induction ceremony.

Sarah Lima, student president of the Varsity Club, told the audience gathered that it was an honor to be in the same room as the inductees. The goal for herself and other student athletes is to one day be in the inductees’ seats, she said.

The inductees, in the order they were presented, are as follows:

• Kenneth Hinsch, class of 1947 was honored for his years as a softball player and for his work on the varsity basketball team, when the Plainsmen (as they were once called) tallied 28 consecutive wins over the course of the 1945-46 season.

• Class of 2004 inductee Corinna Hengen was a star of the track and field team, winning first overall in state competitions in pole vault competitions as a sophomore. She finished 13th in national competition in 2004.

•Martha McCauley Imperato, class of 1947, was honored for her work with the Bomber Booster Club.

“If there was a way to raise funds, the Booster Club would try it,� Brewer said about the club when Imperato was a member and treasurer.

• Harold Walter Shook, class of 1954, was a star quarterback for Pine Plains as well as a vital member of the basketball squad. He was named to county teams for both sports.

• Class of 1974 Brita McCauley Donovan was inducted as “one of the greatest female athletes ever to grace the Pine Plains school,� as Brewer recalled. Her high jump school record lasted 33 years, and she was the first female athlete to compete in cross-country for the school.

• Robert Stevenson was and still is a coach with many hats, leading pretty much every sport the school had to offer at one point or another. Perhaps his most successful coaching tenure was with the girls softball team, which won 56 consecutive games between 1983 and 1985 and were New York state champions.

• The first team of two teams to be inducted, the 1953-54 varsity basketball team, coached by 2007 Wall of Fame inductee Les Barton, went 17-0 during regular season play and was the first team ever to win the Class C sectional title after having moved from Class D the year before.

• Current Athletic Director Michael Kohut was honored for his years of coaching the baseball team. He coached his teams to 12 league championships, two sectional titles and one intersectional title. He was named Conference Coach of the Year eight times, and never had a losing season.

“He is amongst the greatest who ever stepped on to a playing field in Pine Plains,� Brewer said.

• The 2002 varsity baseball team was the second team inducted in 2009. They reached the pinnacle of success that year as state champions. Coach Phil Amelio was awarded with a signed baseball from New York Yankees relief pitcher Mariano Rivera reading, “To Coach Phil.�

• Posthumously, John David Soracco was given special recognition for his contributions both as a coach, one of the catalysts for the Sports Wall of Fame and as a sports journalist for the Register Herald, covering Pine Plains athletics for more than 25 years. Soracco died in 2004.

The ceremony closed with a rousing rendition of the school’s song. Inductees were then escorted to the actual wall of fame, located outside of the Stissing Mountain auditorium, where their plaques have been permanently installed.

Current Millerton resident and member of the of the 1953-54 varsity basketball team Ellwood Dietter said that he learned many things as a Pine Plains athlete, and will always remember his time on the basketball and baseball teams.

“I think it’s a real honor,� he said of his induction. “I’m glad to have been a part of that.�