Pictured from left to right are Red Bank Regional Athletic Hall of Fame Committee members Lou DeGeorge, Nick Pizzulli, Christina Emrich, Del Dal Pra, Bill Galatro, and Charles Taylor. The committee is currently seeking nominations to its inaugural class by May 1, 2017.
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
For the first time in its storied 100-year history, the Red Bank Regional High School District is establishing an Athletic Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame Committee will seek to induct individuals (including student athletes, and coaches) and teams who have made significant contributions to the school’s athletic program, with nominations accepted through May 1, 2017. The inaugural induction ceremony is scheduled to take place in October of 2017.
Alumni nominees need to have graduated over 10 years ago, and faculty nominees must be retired. Nominations, including posthumously nominated candidates, are welcome from former coaches, faculty, students and alumni, and can span the history of the old Red Bank High School and the present-day Red Bank Regional.
According to RBR athletic director Del Dal Pra, “This is a daunting undertaking…but we have a wonderful committee that has been enthusiastically working on this endeavor, doing research through our yearbooks and press archives.”
One of the committee members is Red Bank resident and retired high school coach Charles Taylor, a 1970 Red Bank alumnus, who played football, basketball and baseball and served as the captain of all three sports. He introduced the idea of establishing an athletic hall of fame at a recent board meeting, when several alumni were seeking some way of honoring their beloved coach.
Mr. Taylor states, “I was looking around the area and noticed that RBR was the only school that did not have an athletic hall of fame and thought this might be the perfect time to start one.”
Del Pra and Taylor are joined on the committee by Christina Emrich, RBR’s athletic trainer and RBR alumna. Other founding committee members include: Bill Galatro, Red Bank, class of 1967, who played football for Red Bank High School and is a retired educator and coach; Nick Pizzulli, Oceanport, a former RBR teacher, athletic director and coach; and Lou DeGeorge, Red Bank, a RBR retired Vice Principal and baseball coach. Mr. DeGeorge is also well known as a basketball official and umpire in the Shore Conference.
The new entity is distinct from the decade-old Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame, which is sponsored and operated by the RBR Buc Backer Education Foundation. The mission of the Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame is to honor notable past alumni for outstanding professional achievement as well as community service. The RBR Athletic Hall of Fame would pertain to athletic achievement in high school. as well as college and professional athletics. While nominations will be sought through May 1 for the upcoming year, the committee plans to celebrate the honorees with a dinner on the eve of the RBR football game versus Red Bank Catholic on October 28, 2017. The inductees will also be introduced in a half time ceremony at that game.
“The great thing is we have accumulated information to meet the people that know the stories of these athletes,” Del Pra observes. “For instance, we have an athlete playing for us now whose great-grandfather played for the original undefeated football team in 1922. Our goal is to create this for the next generation to continue.”
Those seeking to make nominations should contact Del Dal Pra at [email protected] or (732)842-8000, ext. 1-233.
