FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
S-119-07-08
Monday, May 5, 2008

Elizabethtown College to Induct Six Alumni into Ira R. Herr Athletics Hall of Fame

ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. --- Elizabethtown College will induct six new members into its Ira R. Herr Athletics Hall of Fame on Saturday night during the Blue Jay Athletics Alumni Reunion banquet. The dinner will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the Event Space in Brossman Commons.

This year's inductees are Richard R. (Dick) Stine '56, a member of the men's basketball and men's soccer teams, Melvin F. (Mel) Longenecker '56, a member of the men's soccer, men's tennis and men's basketball teams, William S. (Bill) Doherty '67, a member of the men's cross country team, Douglas M. (Doug) Peters '86, a member of the men's soccer team, Kimberly B. (Kim) Hampson '94, a member of the softball team, and Amy Bender McGroarty '98, a member of the women's soccer team.

In addition, former baseball and men's soccer coach Dr. Owen L. Wright will receive the Joseph A. Whitmore Outstanding Service to Student Athletes Award, and Lois K. Herr '62 will be the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award.

Stine, a native of Red Lion, Pa. and a 1952 graduate of Red Lion High School, was a four-year letterwinner in men's basketball and a two-year letterwinner in men's soccer. He served as the captain of the 1955-56 men's basketball team that finished with a record of 18-6.

After earning his degree in business administration in 1956, Stine worked in a variety of management positions with data and information companies in the Baltimore-Washington area and northern California. He currently resides in Orlando, Fla. with his wife, Andrea, and he has two daughters.

Longenecker, a native of Harrisburg, Pa. and a 1952 graduate of Susquehanna Township High School, won three varsity letters in men's soccer, men's tennis and men's basketball, and was a co-captain of the men's soccer team as a senior. In 1953, he helped the Blue Jays upset NCAA-bound Lebanon Valley College 77-74 in basketball, and played in the first night soccer game in program history in 1955 at Elizabethtown High School.

After graduating with a degree in business administration in 1956, Longenecker worked in management for a chain of drug stores for 21 years before entering state government. He was the special assistant to the Secretary of Public Welfare for 4 1/2 years, and then served as the special assistant to the Attorney General for seven years.

An avid tennis player, Longenecker won several Banana Open tournaments in the south and was a member of a number of championship basketball teams in the Harrisburg area, including the YMCA Industrial League. Now retired, he resides in Harrisburg with his wife, Barbara, and they have three children.

Doherty, a native of Newtown, Pa. and a 1963 graduate of Council Rock High School, was a member of Elizabethtown's first Middle Atlantic Conference championship team in men's cross country in 1965. He finished seventh at the conference meet in 1965 and tenth in 1966, and competed at the NCAA championships both years.

He earned a bachelor's degree in psychology in 1967, and after earning a degree in mechanical design, Doherty worked for 20 years for various United States defense contractors and research and development firms. Since 1994, he has been employed by the U.S. Postal Service, and currently works in mail automation at the Lancaster branch.

Doherty has continued to run, participating in the Boston Marathon in 1978 and 2005 and placing fourth in his age group in the Miami Half Marathon in January. He and his wife, Patricia '00, reside in Lancaster and have two children.

Peters, a native of Berkeley Heights, N.J. and a 1982 graduate of Oratory Prep School, was a four-year letterwinner and senior captain of the men's soccer team. The Blue Jays qualified for the NCAA Division III tournament in each of his four seasons, and he was a three-time All-Conference selection who finished his career with 31 goals and 24 assists.

In his senior season of 1985, the Blue Jays were ranked as high as third in the national poll, and he was named team Most Valuable Player, All-Region and third team All-America.

He graduated in 1986 with a degree in business administration, and has been employed by MetLife for the past 18 years, currently as National Director of Distribution Partnerships. He and his wife, Susan '86, reside in Flemington, N.J. with their three children.

Hampson, a native of Bridgewater, N.J. and a 1990 graduate of Bridgewater East High School, was a four-year letterwinner and two-year co-captain for the softball team. A catcher, she holds the single-season program records for runs scored (37) and stolen bases (28) and is the program's career leader in triples (16), walks (58), runs scored (96) and stolen bases (52).

She was a two-time All-Conference selection and was named All-Region in both 1993 and 1994. In 1994, Hampson was a third-team CoSIDA Academic All-American. Later, she served as a volunteer assistant coach for the Blue Jays from 1998 to 2000.

After earning a degree in business administration in 1994, she went on to add a masters of science degree in sport management from Georgia Southern University in 1996. Currently, she is employed by ViaSat, Inc. as marketing communications manager.

Bender McGroarty, a native of Woodstown, N.J. and a 1994 graduate of Woodstown High School, was a four-year letterwinner for the women's soccer team. A defender, she earned All-America honors in 1997 as the Blue Jays finished 19-4-3 and hosted the NCAA Division III Final Four, and was a two-time All-Middle Atlantic Region selection. She was also a three-time first-team All-Conference selection and finished her career with eight goals and 11 assists.

The winner of the women's Distinguished Student-Athlete Award as a senior, Bender McGroarty earned a bachelor's degree in elementary and early childhood education in 1998. She is a first-grade teacher in the Upper Pittsgrove School and resides in Mullica Hill, N.J. with her husband, Jamie, and their two children.

Wright is the recipient of the the Joseph A. Whitmore Outstanding Service to Student-Athletes Award, which recognizes a member of the Elizabethtown College community who has consistently gone above and beyond the call of duty to touch the lives of Blue Jay student-athletes. 

A 1958 Bridgewater College graduate, he joined Elizabethtown College in 1961 as assistant professor of physical education and head soccer and baseball coach. In 21 seasons, his teams compiled a 234-90-26 overall record and won nine Middle Atlantic Conference championships, including six straight from 1962-67. Wright guided the Blue Jays to seven appearances in the NCAA Atlantic Coast Regionals and three tournament championships, along with seven NCAA berths and a third-place finish in the 1976 Division III playoffs. In baseball, the Blue Jays won 258 games and four MAC titles and reached the NCAA Mideast Regional tournament in 1983.

In 1983, Wright continued his coaching career at the University of LaVerne, winning 347 games in baseball and the 1995 NCAA Division III championship, along with 105 wins and two conference titles in men's soccer.

A 1991 inductee into the Ira R. Herr Athletics Hall of Fame, Wright retired from coaching in 1998 and now resides in Cottage Grove, Oregon.

Herr, the daughter of former director of athletics and Hall of Fame namesake Ira R. Herr, is the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award, which recognizes Blue Jay student-athletes who, subsequent to graduation, have distinguished themselves above others in making significant professional and/or volunteer contributions to society. 

After graduating from Elizabethtown with a bachelor's degree in 1962, she earned a master's degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1963 and an MBA from Fordham University in 1974. She spent 26 years in an executive role for Bell Laboratories, AT&T and NYNEX, and since 1993 she has worked for Elizabethtown College in a variety of positions, currently as Scholar-in-Residence.

Herr is the chair of the Lancaster County Planning Commission and a member of the boards of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania State Board of Barber Examiners, Elizabethtown College, Lancaster Farmland Trust, the Women's Alliance, the Chicago and New York City chapters of the Society for Technical Communication, and the Veteran Feminists of America. She was also twice a Democratic candidate for the 16th Congressional District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Currently, Herr is working on Dear Coach: Letters Home from World War II, which tells the story of her father and his athletes, who wrote him over 200 letters when they left college to serve in World War II. She resides in Elizabethtown.

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