February 6, 2013 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 15 A project initiated by a school board trustee and former Midland Park High School athlete has blossomed into the reinstatement of the school’s athletic hall of fame. Next month, for the first time in many years, the hall will welcome seven new members. On March 23, seven new athletes will be inducted into the MPHS Athletic Hall of Fame. The honorees include Michael DeRuiter, 1962, a talented running back; Greg Michael, 1983, who led the 1982 boys’ soccer team to the state championship game; Hank Degenaars, 1983, who helped the boys’ basketball team play competitively in the school’s first appearance in the Bergen County Jamboree; Sarah Faber, 1985, who posted a 1,000-point career with the girls’ basketball team; Rob Fitzpatrick, 1986, a gifted catcher who was drafted by two major league baseball teams; and Kristy and Tracey Smith (1993, 1996), both of whom had 1,000 point basketball careers. These new honorees will be joined by the 13 original members of the hall, who were selected between 1970-82 by Adolph “Sonny” Santorine, the school’s first athletic director, who retired in 1984. Joe Scarpelli, inducted in 1970 as the first member of the hall, will be on hand, as will Dean Duchak, Jim Duchak, Jan Ottens Sr., Doug Gifford, Jeff Jasper, Peter Caugherty, Mike Healy, Rex Peters, Kurt Peters, Ed Outslay, and Frank Outslay. Jasper, the Pascack Valley girls basketball coach for the past 40 years, won his 900th career game last month. When Tim Thomas, a school trustee and 1983 MPHS graduate, was recruited by Boosters President John Mulligan and MPHS Principal Nick Capuano to organize the hall of fame over a year ago, none was aware that a hall of fame had already been in place in the 1970s, Thomas said, making the project more challenging. “It turned out to be a much larger undertaking, but we knew we had to recognize the guys already in. We had no records from Coach Santorine. Some had not been recognized at all,” Thomas said. “When Brian Farrell reached out to me and told me about the plan to reinstate the Midland Park Hall of Fame, I was happy for the high school’s athletic program. Coach Sonny Santorine was the entire athletic program in the early years of MPHS athletics. He started the hall of fame in 1970. It is a tribute to him and the past inductees to get this program back on track,” said Scarpelli, now a Wyckoff resident, who was honored for his contributions to the MPHS Football Team and his still unbroken records as a member of the school’s baseball team. He said he is looking forward to the induction ceremony, where he hopes to renew old friendships and meet the new members of the hall of fame. “Seeing the names of the past inductees brought back some great memories. Athletics at Midland Park were more than just opportunities to play team sports,” Scarpelli told Villadom TIMES last week. “We learned life lessons on the field as well. Midland Park should be proud of its past and present athletic programs.” Thomas, a former MPHS basketball star whose team in 1982-83 was the first in school history to play in the Bergen County Jamboree, was a natural to head the project after having raised $1,000 for the Boosters through his and his son’s sports banner project. As the senior Thomas tells it, he had asked the Booster Club for the banner commemorating his team’s achievements when the gym was refurbished in 2010 and the banners honoring the school’s top sports teams were replaced. When his son Jake asked what would happen to the remaining banners, it dawned on Thomas that other former athletes and coaches might be interested. The two Thomases set about contacting athletes and coaches, and have already sold about 20 banners. Sports hall of fame to be reinstated at high school Thomas said he willingly accepted the hall of fame responsibility, noting that he had heard stories of so many great MPHS athletes from his late father, Jerry Thomas, the school’s first head baseball coach. Jerry Thomas was named All Suburban Baseball Coach of the Year in 1962 and 1963, the years he helmed championship teams. Over the last year, Thomas and a committee that includes Mulligan, Capuano, Steve Ferro, former Athletic Director Mike Healy, current Athletic Director Pete Galasso, and board of education trustee Rich Formicola have written bylaws, formed a selection committee, and established a presence on Facebook. The bylaws and nomination forms for future inductees are available on the Midland Park school website, www.midlandparkschools.k12.nj.us/. The induction ceremony will be held at the Brick House in Wyckoff beginning at 7 p.m. Tickets are $65 per person. The event will begin with a social and will continue with dinner and the inductions. Checks made payable to The Midland Park Athletic Boosters Association may be mailed to Midland Park High School, 250 Prospect Street, Midland Park, NJ 07432. Attention: Tim Thomas. Checks may also be dropped off at the Baseball Card Store at 45 Prospect Street in Midland Park. For additional information, contact Thomas at (201) 4450902, (201) 925-4647, or lifeisgood4us@optonline.net. Plans now call for each athlete’s commemorative plaque to be hung in the halls of the high school. Ultimately, Thomas said, there will be a dedicated display case.