Second Hall of Fame Class announced at LIU

Long Island University's department of athletics recently announced the names of the 11 former athletes, administrators and coaches who were selected for the school's second Hall of Fame class.

The members were chosen from a committee comprised of current and former administrators. The induction is slated for halftime of the LIU men's basketball game against Mount St. Mary's College on February 10 at Schwartz Athletic Center in downtown Brooklyn.

Herbert Raubenheimer (deceased), who single-handedly developed the athletics program in 1927, will be inducted. He was the school's first athletics director and men's basketball coach and led the team to a 24-22-2 mark from 1928-30.

Roy Rubin, who coached the men's basketball program back to national prominence, will also be inducted. He guided LIU to a ledger of 174-94 from 1961-72. In his tenure, the Blackbirds won three Tri-State League championships, were selected to three NCAA College Division Tournaments, captured two Eastern Regional championships, appeared in two NCAA Tournaments, won three ECAC Division II titles and received a bid to the NIT in 1968.

Men's basketball players Irv Torgoff (deceased) and Albie Grant will be among those inducted.

Torgoff, one of New York City's top collegiate players in the late 1930's, helped the Blackbirds to a 75-8 record from 1936-39. An All-American as a senior in 1938-39 under Hall of Fame head coach Clair F. Bee, he led the team to an undefeated season (24-0) and its first NIT championship. He would later be selected to Madison Square Garden's All-Decade Team.

Grant will be enshrined along with Rubin, his former coach. A member of the men's basketball team from 1963-66, the 6'4" Grant registered 1,403 points (10th all-time) and 975 rebounds (second all-time). He remains the only player in school history to average more than 20.0 points and 10.0 rebounds in his career. The Blackbirds went 52-20 in his three years on the team and he won the prestigious Haggerty Award as the metropolitan area's top player in 1966.

Two former members of the men's soccer team, Joseph Machnik and Richard Chinapoo, will also be inducted.

Machnik began his career at LIU in 1961 as one of the nation's top goalkeepers. He went on to become head coach of the team from 1966-68 and guided the Blackbirds to a 37-8-2 mark. He led LIU to the NCAA championship game in 1966 and to the semifinal game in 1967. A great innovator, he would later help to develop the rules for indoor soccer.

Chinapoo was the only four-time All-American in any sport in school history. From 1978-81 he tallied 55 goals and helped the Blackbirds to a 51-13-8 ledger, including three conference championships. He went on to play professionally with the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League.

George Kalafatis (deceased) helped the Blackbirds to consecutive conference baseball titles in 1963 and 1964. A two-time all-Metropolitan selection, he batted a school-record .533 in 1963 in leading the team to a 15-1-2 mark. Kalafatis, who also played basketball under Rubin, was drafted by the Detroit Tigers.

Ted Childs, who served LIU in several capacities in his 19-year tenure, will also be inducted. The first athletics trainer in the school's history, Childs started the first program for disabled students at the downtown Brooklyn Campus. He would later become a trainer for the New York Jets and the Btitleimore Colts.

Three female athletes - Clair Isicson-Merle, Kim Cori and Maria Vago will be inducted.

Isicson-Merle was the first female athlete in LIU history. A student at LIU from 1939-42, she held the world record in the 50-meter dash and captured AAU National Championships in the 50 and 100-meter dashes. She was coached and sponsored by Clair F. Bee.

Cori graduated in 1986 as the program's all-time leader in nearly every offensive category. She had a career batting average of .356 from 1983-86 and helped LIU to a record of 64-47. She finished sixth in the nation with a .435 batting average in 1984 and ranked in the top five in the nation in stolen bases in each of her last three seasons.

Vago, the youngest of the 22 members in the LIU Hall of Fame, was the most dominant tennis player in Northeast Conference history. From 1992-94 she won three consecutive NEC 'A' Flight singles championships and did not lose a set in the process. She also went undefeated in team match play all three years and was the NEC's Women's Tennis and Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 1994.

"Our second Hall of Fame class shows how strong and prominent the tradition of LIU athletics is," said fourth-year director of athletics John Suarez. "Our committee had a difficult time narrowing the field down to 11 inductees with the amount of legendary athletes and coaches this University has produced, but I think this will rival our great inaugural class of last year."

At halftime of the Feb. 10 game, the inductees will receive a replica plaque of what will be displayed on the Wall of Fame, located in Founders Hall adjacent to Schwartz Athletic Center.

Following the game, there will be a ceremony held in the Luntey Commons, also adjacent to Schwartz Center, where each inductee will be invited to speak.