Schools

Nominations Sought for Bonac Sports Hall of Fame

Deadline is March 29 for people to be considered for Class of 2013.

2012 may have been the inaugural year for the Bonac Sports Hall of Fame, but it is just as important to identify a strong pool of candidates for the Class of 2013.

Jim Nicoletti, the chairman of the board formed to establish the East Hampton High School hall of fame, said that for now the committee is planning on having an induction class and ceremony each year.

First, the nomination process must take place. The deadline is fast approaching on March 29.

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"Any people who have nominations packets who are not elected and inducted, their nominations stay active for 10 years, that's part of our by-laws," Nicoletti said. "We are looking for more names because we know that there's many people out there that are certainly worthy of consideration that we haven't gotten a nomination packet on."

Nominations have to come from the public. "The hall of fame committee doesn't generate them per se, although we can, but it's not incumbent upon the committee to come up with the nominees," Nicoletti said.

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The committee will then elect from the nominees and vote. There is no set number of inductees each year. "It could be as many 15, like we had last year, or it could be as few as 6 or 8," he said.

The inaugural ceremony drew over 400 people to the breakfast before the induction ceremony. Of the 15 inducted, 12 were former high school athletes — including professional baseball player Ross Gload and basketball legends (and brothers) Howard Wood and Kenny Woods, two were coaches, one was an honorary member — . Two teams were also inducted.

Nicoleti said it took a tremendous amount of work, particularly from Joe Vasile-Cozzo, the athletic director, who handled many of the administrative tasks, to put together the ceremony over Homecoming weekend in September.

Nicoletti said he felt, "We could never top the enthusiasm and response we had this year. But then I thought, at the same time, actually we'll have a whole different cast of characters. We'll also be able to have current members, people inducted this year, come and be recognized and be part of the ceremony."

The process this time around won't be quite as involved, though, since it's been done once already. "For now, we're thinking of doing it every year. Maybe as the pool of inductees shrinks a little bit," they'll scale back, he said.

If you have someone you'd like to nominate for the Bonac Hall of Fame, you have to fill out a nomination packet. They are available to download off the athletic page on the district's website or available at the East Hampton Library or the main office at the high school. Returned packets may be mailed to the high school, attention of Jim Nicoletti.

Though Nicoletti didn't want to throw out any possible names for the Class of 2013, he said, "We do certainly have some great nominations," he said.

Who do you want to see inducted this year? Tell us in the comments below. 

For a slideshow from last year's ceremony, click here.


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