Geneseo inducted its newest class into the Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday Sept. 28. Four former student-athletes, two volleyball teams and a Geneseo “legend” were all honored in the College Union Ballroom. The four women that received awards were basketball player P.J. (McTigue)Murdie ‘99, cross-country and track and field runner Jennifer (Rettke) Sprague ‘03, volleyball player Lisa (McKenzie) Jackson ‘97 and volleyball player Amanda (McKenzie)Bagley ‘03. Jackson and Bagley were, separately, members of the volleyball teams being honored.
“It’s always nice when we can invite alumni back to campus and recognize their accomplishments while they were student-athletes,” Assistant Director of Athletics and head of the selection committee George Gagnier said of the event.
The selection committee consists of a wide variety of members from Gagnier, Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Mike Mooney as well as a range of staff, alumni and community members.
This year’s “Legends of the Blue Knights” recipient was Allen Galbraith. This award is not for student-athletes but to “recognize people who make an impact [beyond being a spectator],” Gagnier said.
A farmer from nearby York, N.Y., Galbraith has been attending Geneseo’s athletic events for 12 years.
“He knows as much or more about what goes on in Geneseo athletics as just about anybody,” Gagnier said.
Galbraith’s favorite sports to attend are basketball, softball, hockey and volleyball, which he “rarely, if ever, misses,” according to Gagnier. He also is known for bringing the teams souvenirs during the season “just because.”
“We wanted to recognize some of the things he had done for the program by making him a ‘legend,’” Gagnier said.
The committee decided to change the eligibility requirement from five years post-graduation to 10 years. Mooney was happy about this decision, saying that he found the honorees to be much more grateful of the award than those only half a decade out from graduation.
“They had their families there, their young children, so it gave them an opportunity to kind of look back and reflect a little,” he said.