The Town of Camillus/West Genesee Athletic Hall of Fame inducted a particularly humble second class Saturday May 2, a group that also included the first couple to be included. Nearly every honoree that addressed the audience Saturday passed the credit for their success to family, friends, spouses, teachers and coaches. Harry Curley, inducted for his decades with the Camillus Youth Hockey Association, thanked his wife Carol. “It would not have been possible without my lovely wife, Carol. She never wavered once,” Curley said. Not even when a visitor atwoke the house up at 2 a.m. by banging on the piano, Curley laughed. Longtime West Genesee boy’s lacrosse assistant coach Bob Deegan continued the theme with many thanks to the community, lax head coach Mike Messere, and his wife Susan. “She did the job of two people for a whole lot of years,” Deegan said.
This year the committee selected a couple for recognition not for their personal triumphs as athletes or coaches, but for their dedication on the sidelines for helping other groups achieve greatness. “If I were charged with starting a community from day one, I’d build a community around these people,” Tom Kehoskie said in presenting Rose Maire and George Surace with their induction plaque. While they are asking, “why not?” they are rolling up their sleeves to get to work, Kehoskie said of the couple. Plaques denoting the 2009 class will be installed in the Camillus Municipal Building.
2009 Camillus/West Genesee Athletic Hall of Fame Inductees
Harry Curley
Bob Deegan
Frank Dipino
Dan Hunt
Beth Stewart
Rose Marie and George Surace
1945-46 Boys Basketball Champions (James Lingyak, Leonard McManus, Edward J. O’Hara, Donald F. Rosenberg, Fred Siddall, Jack Whelan)