The Sachem Athletic Class of 2018 was inducted on December 15, 2018. More than 250 people attended the ceremony in the gymnasium lobby at Sachem High School North.
All induction capsules that were read during the event are posted below for all to enjoy and learn about this incredible group of Sachem alumni, coaches and supporters.
Mike Atkinson, Coach: Mike Atkinson has coached basketball at the high school, college and youth levels for almost thirty years. He was a teacher at Sachem from 1982 through 2010. From 1993-2002, Mike coached the Sachem girls’ basketball team to a 159-41 record and won six league titles, four Suffolk championships, and two Class A Long Island Championships in 1995 and 1999. In 1995, Mike coached Sachem to the New York State Class A Championship and was named New York State Coach of the Year. He was twice named Newsday Long Island Coach of the Year in 1995 and 1996. During the 1991-1992 season, Mike worked as assistant coach at the University of Kentucky under Hall of Fame Coach Rick Pitino. The Wildcats went 29-7, were SEC Tournament Champions and made the Final Eight of the NCAA Tournament. Kentucky’s season ended in a loss to Duke University in what many people call “the greatest college game ever” when Christian Laettner beat Kentucky with a buzzer beater. Mike has also served as a part-time scout for the Brooklyn Nets coached by his brother Kenny Atkinson. He was also head coach at Suffolk Community College, and an assistant at Stony Brook University.
Nicole Blackwell, Class of 1979: Nicole was a three-sport athlete in volleyball, basketball and the high jump at Sachem. Recruited to play hoops by legendary Sachem coach Risa Zander, Nicole developed a love of basketball that has lived on ever since. She also competed as a hunter/jumper in horseback riding. Nicole was a three-time selection in volleyball for the Empire State Games and earned a volleyball scholarship to Georgetown University, where she competed in the Big East and was named MVP of the Big East as a senior. She served as an assistant coach at Georgetown the year after graduating. Beach volleyball then became her game, competing on the AVP Tour at the highest level. Nicole was selected to represent the U.S. at the Huntsman Games in 2015, winning silver behind Germany. She has also coached the Solana Beach Volleyball Club, the La Jolla Volleyball Club and runs her own Summer Beach Camp in California. She’s a former elementary school teacher and works at La Jolla United Methodist Church Preschool out west.
Christine Bravy Phllips, Class of 1989: Christine was a two-sport athlete starring in soccer and softball. In soccer she was a member of Sachem’s 1987 undefeated Suffolk County championship team. In 1988 she was named the best offensive player of the Suffolk County championship and is Sachem’s all-time leading scorer with 43 career goals, 32 of which were scored in a single season, also a program record. On the softball diamond, Christine was all-conference and all-league in 1989. She went on to play both sports in college at LIU/Southampton from 1989 through 1993. Her soccer experiences led to a 1990 ECAC Championship, making All-Northeast Regional Team selection in 1992 and she was named a Division II First Team All-American in 1992 as well. Her college softball career was equally as rewarding as she was a member of the 1991 NYCAC Championship Team, Second Team Division II All-Region in 1993 and named LIU/Southampton’s Campus Athlete of the Year in 1993.
Joyce Brown, Class of 1971: Joyce Brown is one of the first female Sachem alumni to coach in the district. A three-sport athlete in volleyball, softball and cheerleading, she came back to her alma mater to teach physical education and coach from 1975 through 2004. At the collegiate level, Joyce also competed in the same three sports at Central College in Pella, Iowa. She coached swimming at Sachem from 1975 through 1985 and was a softball coach at the varsity and JV levels for 13 years from 1975 through 1988. She was asked by Sachem’s original Athletic Director Dave Rothenberg, to coach both sports. She was nominated for induction by Risa Zander because of her pioneering days of being a female coach when Title IX was really pushing for new programs and opportunities for female student-athletes. Joyce was also a Town of Brookhaven Lifeguard and American Red Cross Lifeguard Instructor.
Allison Cardlin Regulinski, Class of 1997: Allison Cardlin Regulinski is the best thrower in Sachem track and field history. She holds team records in the shotput, indoor shotput and discus. She also ran on several of the school’s fastest 4×200 indoor relay teams. The four-year varsity member and team captain was a part of eight league championships and four county championship teams between winter and spring track. She was all-league eight times, five-time all-county, and all-state as a senior, a league champion in the 4×200 and shotput, and won a large school county title in the shotput as a junior and senior. Among many tournaments she succeeded at were the Junior Nationals and Millrose Games. She was Sachem’s Scholar Athlete Award winner as a senior and also competed on the field hockey team for four years on varsity. At Dartmouth she ranks third all-time in the shot put, eighth in the hammer throw and seventh in the weight throw. She was First Team All-Ivy League two times, and Second Team All-Ivy Five Times. She was a member of the U.S. National Bobsled Team and trained at Lake Placid in 2003.
RJ Degenfelder, Class of 1995: As a junior, RJ was the top ranked goalie in Suffolk County with a goals against average of 3.69 and a 75.42 save percentage. He was named Suffolk County Rookie of the Year and was locked in for what would be a historic senior season in 1995. RJ was the backbone for Sachem’s Long Island championship and state runner-up team. He was Team MVP, All-American, Suffolk County championship game MVP, New York State championship Defensive MVP, Suffolk’s top ranked goalie and one of the top 10 ranked lacrosse players on Long Island. In college at C.W. Post, RJ was one of the top goaltenders in the nation. He was a two-time First Team Division II All-American and two-time Division II Goaltender of the Year. As a senior in 2001 he was Division II Player of the Year and C.W. Post’s Male Athlete of the Year. He was also a finalist for the Tewaaraton Award as the nation’s top player, an honor won by his former Sachem teammate and fellow hall of famer, Doug Shanahan. He later served as a coach at Post for four seasons, coached the Junior LI Lizards and Team 91 travel teams for four years and was a member of Team Germany at the 2006 Lacrosse World Championships.
Mike Fabian, Class of 1970: Mike was a three-sport athlete at Sachem and the recipient of the Richard Van Norr Award as the district’s top athlete as a senior. He played football, basketball and baseball. On the gridiron he was a two-year starter, all-conference and a team captain. In basketball he was a three-year starter, all-conference, a team captain and led Sachem in points, rebounds and assists as a senior. In baseball he was a two-year starter. Making football his primary college sport, Mike went on to become a four-year starter at Susquehanna University. During his sophomore season Mike set a single season record with 10 interceptions. He was named all-conference three seasons, All-Lutheran, and honorable mention small college All American. Mike was also a sprinter on the Susquehanna track team his junior year earning a medal in the quarter mile relay at the conference championships. For his efforts he was also inducted to the Susquehanna Sports Hall of Fame and was selected as one of the best 100 football players at Susquehanna in their first 100 years of football. Several professional football teams contacted Mike during his playing years and he was invited to try out with the Jets. Mike taught at Sachem for 10 years and coached football, basketball and baseball for six of those years. After teaching, Mike went into business and was recently the recipient of Hockey Hall of Famer Pat LaFontaine’s Companions in Courage foundation “Man of the Year” award for community service. Mike was very active coaching his three children’s teams and he now enjoys spectating his seven grandkids. Mike and his wife Diane, also a Sachem graduate, are thankful for their many Sachem experiences that helped shape their lives. His brother James and sister Patti are both inductees of the Sachem Athletic Hall of Fame.
Keri Farley, Class of 1991: A three-sport athlete at Sachem, Keri excelled in basketball, volleyball and soccer. In basketball she was a three-year starter during one of the program’s best stretches: 59-7 overall and 34 straight wins to be exact. They were county finalists twice and won three league titles. She was a three-time all-county and two-time all-Long Island selection and graduated as Sachem’s third all-time leading scorer, second in steals, third in assists, fifth in rebounds, and sixth in blocked shots. In volleyball she was a three-year starter, two-time all-county and Team MVP as a junior. In soccer she was a three-year varsity player and Most Improved Player as a senior. Her basketball career at Cornell was remarkable. A three-year starter and three-time All-Ivy League selection, Keri was named to the Ivy League Silver Anniversary Honor Roll as one of the best in 25 years of women sports in the Ivy. Her NCAA record of nine consecutive three-pointers in a game stood until 2017. She was the Ivy League scoring champion and ranks in the top 10 at Cornell and in the Ivy League in many statistical categories to this day. Following college, she was a member of the U.S. National Handball Team from 1995 through 2003 and played in the 1999 and 2003 Pan American Games. She went on to receive her JD from Emory University School of Law and joined the FBI as a Special Agent in 2004, currently serving as the Section Chief of the Counter Terrorism Division. Her brother Michael is also an inductee of the Sachem Athletic Hall of Fame.
John Horst, Coach: John Horst began teaching and coaching at Sachem in 1975 and impacted thousands of students’ lives in track and field, cross country and basketball for parts of five decades until his retirement in 2016. Overall, Coach Horst coached for 65 individual seasons at Sachem, compiling a record of 201-62-1 across multiple levels and teams from middle school to varsity, at Seneca, Samoset, Sachem East and Sachem North, in both girls and boy’s sports. The former Division I track athlete at Middle Tennessee State, has won more than 20 Coach of the Year honors, has been an integral part in many local sports camps from organizations like SYAG to serving as director of Long Island Sports Camps at Southampton College for 20 years. Outside of Sachem, Horst was an assistant women’s basketball coach at Adelphi for two years, and at Stony Brook University for five years, as well as the girls’ varsity basketball coach at Center Moriches for five years, and a women’s basketball referee in the America East Conference for two years. He had the pleasure of coaching 76 All-County athletes, 126 all-league athletes and more than 300 scholar-athletes at Sachem, plus eight league, five division, and three county championship teams. We don’t put quotes on our plaques, but Coach Horst wants to note that he demanded excellence from himself so he could demand excellence from his athletes and build young people of character, not characters.
Jason Kraft, Class of 1992: Jason Kraft is one the very best wrestlers in Sachem history. He is one of just a handful of Sachem wrestlers to win two Suffolk County titles, and reached the pinnacle in 1992 when he won the 155-pound New York State title and was named Most Outstanding Wrestler of the state tournament. He was also an All-American and placed third at high school nationals as a senior. He graduated high school with an 86-4-1 record. It was then on to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he put together an incredible resume and was 107-50, ranking No. 7 in program wins. He was a BIG 12 runner-up in 1994 and a BIG 12 Champion in 1995, as well as a four-time NCAA nationals’ qualifier. In freestyle, Kraft was a Cadet World Team Member in 1990, Junior U.S. World Team Runner-Up in 1992, U.S. Olympic Training Center Resident from 1997 through 1999 and placed sixth at the U.S. World Team Freestyle Trails in 1999. He currently lives and flew in from in Fresno, California where he owns and operates Dethrone Mixed Martial Arts. For the past five years he has focused on coaching and mentoring kids on his club wrestling team, which competes regionally and nationally at the toughest youth wrestling tournaments in the country.
Wayne Padula, Class of 1968: Wayne Padula was a three-sport athlete at Sachem, lettering in football, track and gymnastics and later served Sachem as a teacher and coach from 1973 to 2005. He was accepted to Northeastern on a football scholarship for his undergraduate experience and later received his masters from Stony Brook. At Sachem he was a physical education teacher and excelled as a gymnastics coach. Along with fellow Sachem Athletic Hall of Fame inductee Ken Freidheim, they built a dynasty as Sachem was recognized as one of the best boy’s gymnastics programs in the state and one of the best in the country for decades. He coached teams that won five league titles, seven county titles, and were ranked No. 1 in the state five times. He was selected as a coach for the All-American Elite High School Gymnastics Team for the 2002-2003 season. Here is another very unique note about Coach Padula … as the gymnastics coach at Seneca Junior High School as well, he coached undefeated teams for 20 years.
Mike Parisi, Class of 2001: Mike Parisi is just one of two Sachem alumni to pitch in the Major Leagues. Considering there have been more than 60,000 alumni to graduate from the district, that’s pretty incredible. At Sachem he was a three-year varsity player and as a senior was a team captain, all-league and a second team All-Suffolk Life selection. He had the unique experience of throwing a four-hitter and struck out nine in a 13-1 victory over Longwood on April 20, 2001, which was career win No. 400 for legendary Sachem baseball coach and fellow Sachem Hall of Famer, Bill Batewell. He also led Sachem to a 2-1 Suffolk County quarterfinal win over East Islip as a senior. At Manhattan College he finished his career setting a program record with 272 strikeouts, and ranked third in wins with 14. He was selected in the ninth round of the 2004 Major League Baseball Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals and made his dream come true when he pitched in the big leagues in 2008, pitching a total of 12 games, including two starts, for the Cardinals. He later pitched in the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers’ organizations, as well as making the 2011 Atlantic League All-Star team as a member of our local Long Island Ducks independent league team. He now lives in Trumbull, Connecticut, works as a physical education teacher in Greenwich, Connecticut and is the lead baseball instructor at the Greenwich YWCA, working with youth baseball and softball players.
Ralph Pepe, Class of 1973: Ralph recently passed away after his battle with cancer. He was a special education teacher here at Sachem North for 33 years until his retirement in 2013. As a student-athlete he played football and lacrosse at Sachem and later played attack on the men’s lacrosse team at Dowling College from 1973 through 1977. He developed a deep love of lacrosse from his time at Sachem that was strong until the day he left us. He was the head men’s lacrosse coach at LIU Southampton from 1992 through 2004 and won ECAC titles in 1995 and 1997, earning a record of 75-51 in 13 seasons. He was also an assistant at Stony Brook University in 1985 when they won an ECAC title. Aside from coaching Sachem’s JV team in 1984 and freshman lacrosse teams from 1981 through 1983, Ralph also coached football at Kings Park and Harborfields and was the head lacrosse coach at Smithtown West and Westhampton and an assistant at Riverhead. His lacrosse camps and clinics on the east end of Long Island have become legendary and produced hundreds, if not thousands, of varsity and college talent. He was named Suffolk County Lacrosse Man of the Year in 2007 and 2015. Since his retirement in 2013, the special education staff at Sachem North has played the Ralph Pepe Turkey Bowl in his honor around Thanksgiving each year. To honor his legacy, the varsity football program wore No. 34 stickers on their helmets for half of the 2018 season. And I saved this for last, but hopefully it means the most, when this wall was being erected for the purpose of the Hall of Fame, Ralph actually helped shellac the wood and joked that would be the closest he would ever get to being on this wall.
Camille Fusco-Sabatelle, Class of 1970: Camille is the first administrative assistant to ever be inducted to the Sachem Hall of Fame. She worked in the office of athletics, health, and physical education as a senior stenographer for 34 years, and as all coaches and athletic directors can attest to, this is a key position that is the lifeline between student-athletes, parents, games, physicals, scheduling, records, officiating, rosters, awards programs, purchase orders and just about everything else associated with an athletic program. Remember that scheduling two high schools and four middle schools at the time consisted of scheduling nearly 3,000 contests per year, which Camille oversaw. She came full circle in Sachem because she began her schooling at Union Avenue in Holbrook as an elementary student and then retired from that same building in 2007 when it was still district office. For the last 11 years she has played in women’s’ golf leagues on Long Island and in Hilton Head, South Carolina and even has a hole-in-one to show for her efforts. She and her husband Tom, a fellow Sachem alum and longtime athletic director at Sachem, are now the only husband and wife duo inducted to the Sachem Hall of Fame.
Sergio Saccoccio, Class of 2002: Sergio Saccoccio was a three-year member of the varsity soccer program, captaining the team his senior season. Throughout his soccer career at Sachem, Sergio garnered recognition for All-League, All-Conference, All-County and All-Long Island honors. He was twice recognized as the team’s Defensive MVP, and set the school record for single season shutouts with 15. During his career, the teams won three league titles, county and Long Island championships, and were state finalists. Sergio was also a three-year member of the varsity lacrosse team, earning All-Division and All-County honors. At Northeastern University, Sergio continued his success and was recognized as the program’s first America East Rookie of the Year. He helped the team win its first conference tournament, and first NCAA Tournament bid. He had a college career that earned him honors on the All-Rookie Team, four-time All-Conference selection, two-time Regional All-American and two-time team MVP. Sergio capped a successful playing career by setting school records for saves and a top ten NCAA record for minutes played. After college, Sergio had the opportunity to play professionally for several teams in the United Soccer League and spent some time with the New England Revolution Reserves of Major League Soccer. After his playing career, he spent two years coaching at his alma mater before joining the staff at Boston College where he spent five seasons with the Eagles, helping the program reach a top four national ranking. Several players he coached later went on to play professionally, and were drafted into the MLS. Today he works in finance and lives in Massachusetts.
Mark Wojciechowski, Class of 1986: Mark, affectionally known as Woj to the Sachem family, is one of the all-time great players in the storied Sachem football program. But his ability extended far beyond the gridiron as he was a three-sport athlete and respected on the wrestling mat and as a discus thrower. He was a three-time All-County wrestler, and All-Conference in the discus as a senior. In 1986 he was named as the recipient of the Richard Van Norr Award, given to the top male student-athlete in Sachem. On the football field he was simply dominant, playing nose guard and offensive tackle, shining on both sides of the ball at a time when Sachem had an abundance of talent and players normally played either defense or offense, not both, unless you were on another level, like Woj. He was a member of two county finalist teams in 1984 and 1985 and had one of the most memorable senior seasons of any football player in Long Island history, being named All-League, All-County, All-Long Island, All-State and Honorable Mention All-American. He won the Hansen Award as the top football player in Suffolk County, and is still just one of a few linemen to ever win the honor since 1960. He was also named New York State Player of the Year. Recruited by Maryland, Syracuse, Villanova, Virginia, Rutgers, North Carolina, Temple and Holy Cross, he ultimately played at the University of Massachusetts before coming back to Sachem where he has been a teacher and coach for more than 20 years.