Rockland County Track Hall of Fame to Induct Seven

Mike Colangelo, an integral part of perhaps the greatest all-time cross country team in the county at Albertus Magnus, and omnipresent long-time official Fred Adler—himself a former competitor—headline a seven-member class that will be formally inducted into the Rockland County Track and Field Hall of Fame Saturday evening.

Also being inducted at the event starting at 6 p.m. at the Minisceongo Golf Club in Pomona are racewalker Dave McGovern, Clarkstown North, Class of 1983; Juliet Brown Demeritte, one of Rockland’s foremost sprinters, Ramapo, Class of 1995; Dana Dougan Hollar, Suffern, Class of 1988, who starred at Penn State; and Suffern pole-vault teammates Marvin Miller (Suffern, Class of 1954) and Preston Pulis (Suffern, Class of 1955), a dynamic one-two punch in the steel-pole era.

Colangelo, an all-Ivy League selection in his freshman year at Princeton before an injury cut short his career, transferred to Albertus Magnus after three years at Ramapo High School. The move was ushered in by the threat of an austerity budget in the East Ramapo School District, which would have eliminated all sports.

Running for Coach Dick Weis, who later spent 25 years developing a nationally-ranked program at Oklahoma State, Colangelo won the 1974 New York State cross country title, and led the undefeated Falcons to the State and Eastern States team championship. That team, ranked No. 2 in the nation behind famed York HS of Elmhurst, IL, included Jamie Kempton of Nanuet, John McNiff of Tappan, Pat Chambers, of Allendale, NJ, Kevin Leonard, of Chatham, NJ, and George Buckheit and Bryan Kelly, both of whom now live in northern Virginia.

“I’d have to say the Albertus Magnus season, my senior year, was the best,” offered Colangelo, a successful businessman in the tourism industry with homes in Manhattan and Ridgewood, NJ. “That was a great team with a great coach. We felt invincible. At Ramapo, I ran for Coach (Jim) Pollard. I was very fortunate to have two great coaches. They really took an interest in their athletes, they were unselfish, would do anything for you. For them, it wasn’t just a 9-to-5 job. They went above and beyond.”

Colangelo, who is able to run recreationally—“I can’t train every day, and you must do that to be competitive,” he said—will have members of his family in attendance on Saturday, including his wife, Junko, his mom, Ninfa, his son Gino, a daughter Nina, and three brothers.

Adler, who officiated at the 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta, and who remains, at 75, astoundingly active in many roles in track and field, is perhaps as determined as any inductee to enjoy himself at the dinner.

“Oh, yes, I’m going to enjoy it; I’m going to have fun—unless my daughter gets up there and rips me up too much in the introduction. She’s done that before,” Adler said, his glee readily apparent even over phone lines.

The Haverstraw High grad, Class of 1953, captained the tennis team, played on the basketball team, medaled in two events at the county meet on the track team, and also played basketball, volleyball and ran track at Oswego College. Despite this athletic background, Adler, a Stony Point resident, is honored to be honored especially for his work as an official.

“Of course it’s an honor,” Adler said. “After you do something for a long time, and people want to honor you, it has to be an honor.”

Adler will be rooted on by a large contingent of supporters, although he has no idea just how many.

His wife of 50 years, Giovanna—a native of Venice, Italy, whom he met in Vicenza, Italy, during his time in the Army—will be in the audience, along with a granddaughter, Casandra Duitz of Suffern, an eighth-grader who is running on the varsity.

“She’ll be there,” Adler said proudly. “And my daughter Giulia, a Felix Festa teacher, my grandson Trevor Duitz, a sixth-grader, my son Timothy, and my daughter’s husband Maury will be there, too.”

Timothy, of Mount Ivy, ran track and played football at North Rockland, and plays hockey in an adult league at West Point.

“He’s 46 and still playing,” enthused Adler the Elder, who also shows little sign of slowing down.

“I just sent out the assignments to all the officials for the sectional meets; I coordinate the meets, and I’m working a USATF club meet in July at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island—it goes on and on, it never stops,” said Adler, barely pausing. “I guess I do have a lot on the plate, but I enjoy all the events, and probably have done most of them. I always did the decathlon for people going to the Empire State Games—10 events! I love it.”

Adler’s officiating career started serendipitously, well before he retired as a shop teacher at Felix Festa.

“I competed … all of a sudden my daughter got into it,” remembers Adler. “Then, all of a sudden, someone put a watch in my hand and I was an official. I haven’t stopped since.”

Tickets at $55 per person are available for the event, set to start at 6 p.m. at Minisceongo Golf Club in Pomona. Contact Tappan Zee graduate Bill Dailey at 845-323-0976 for further information, or wcd106@optonline.net.

Other Hall of Fame Inductees

• Dave McGovern: Now living on Long Island, he is the county’s greatest racewalker, and the only track athlete in U.S. history to qualify for seven straight Olympic Trials over the course of 24 years. McGovern is a 14-time national champion at distances ranging from 10k to 40k, representing the U.S. at 20 international competitions.
• Juliet Brown Demeritte: A three-time state champion at 200, 300 and 400 meters, and a 16-time county champ who later ran on four NCAA national championship relays at St. Augustine’s College in Raleigh, NC.
• Dana Dougan Hollar; She was a 14-time county champ, 12-time Section 1 champ, and eight-time state qualifier winner. Hollar swept the 1,500 and 3,000 at the county outdoor meet three straight years, and starred at Penn State.
• Marvin Miller: He shared a state title in the pole vault with teammate Preston Pulis in 1953, and finished second in the state in 1954 with a vault of 12 feet. He was only the second Rockland vaulter to scale that height, and had a record 15 jumps of more than 11 feet. He won three sectional titles, and was fifth in the state in the high jump in 1954, clearing 5 feet 11 inches.
• Preston Pulis: Shared the state title with teammate Marvin Miller in 1953, and was a three-time sectional champ, and two-time county titleholder. He also ran on Suffern’s sectional champion 880-yard relay in 1952.

Prelude

The Rockland County Track & Field Championships will be contested on Friday, on the eve of the Hall of Fame gala, at Clarkstown North High School. This year’s Hall of Fame honorees will be recognized during a brief ceremony at 6:30 p.m.