Brian KattenJohn Biddiscombe, in his 37th year at Wesleyan and 24th as its athletics director, will be one of 12 individuals along with one team inducted into the Middletown Sports Hall of Fame on Jan 26. Biddiscombe came to Wesleyan in 1974 as a three-sport coach of football, wrestling and track and field. He was head coach of wrestling from 1974 to 1989 with a won-loss record of 128-85-3, and in 1984 the team won the New England championship. He was voted New England wrestling coach of the year in 1984 and 1989, and was inducted into the New England Collegiate…
Patti Klecha-Porter, who has directed the field hockey team at Wesleyan since her arrival in Middletown in 1985, was inducted into the Connecticut Lacrosse Hall of Fame on Nov. 13, for her long-time service as a lacrosse umpire. Klecha-Porter was one of eight individual enshrined during a ceremony in Southington, Conn. Klecha-Porter graduated from Ithaca College in 1981. As a student athlete at Ithaca, she was captain and MVP of both the field hockey and lacrosse teams. After graduating she continued playing field hockey at the U.S. Hockey level as well as club lacrosse for Hampshire New England. Klecha-Porter was…
Wesleyan inducted the fifth class into its Athletics Hall of Fame during a ceremony Nov. 5 as part of the university’s Homecoming/Family Weekend activities. The addition of five individuals and one team will bring the total in Wesleyan’s Athletics Hall of Fame to 30 individuals and five teams. (more…)
When asked about his strongest football memory from his playing days at Wesleyan, Sandy Herzlich ’81 came up with a 20-7 win at Amherst in 1979. “We beat Amherst up there in just a great game,” Sandy recounted. “Kosty [defensive coordinator Peter Kostacopoulos] put in a wild game plan and we were shuttling personnel in and out, and it worked. I remember that as being a very satisfying win.” Head Coach Bill Macdermott called it “one of the best defensive games I’ve ever seen Wesleyan play.” Mac was in his ninth season at the helm. Sandy’s memory of his first…
Olivia DrakeAfter 37 years at Wesleyan, John Biddiscombe, director of athletics and chair of the Physical Education Department, is retiring at the end of this academic year. Biddiscombe came to Wesleyan in 1974 as a three-sport coach of football, wrestling, and track and field. He was head coach of wrestling from 1974 to 1989 with a won-loss record of 128-85-3, and in 1984 the team won the New England championship. He was voted New England wrestling coach of the year in 1984 and 1989, and was inducted into the New England Collegiate Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2004. As director of athletics,…
Jeff McDonald, an assistant football coach at Wesleyan, will have a trio of instructional DVDs and an article produced by American Football Monthly (AFM) magazine, one of the premier trade magazines for football coaches in the United States. The article will appear in the August issue of the magazine and will be accompanied by online promotional samplings of the instructional DVDs, each of which will run approximately one hour. McDonald flew to Florida in June to help prepare the DVDs. In each he presents instruction on different techniques and defenses, including defensive schemes, unique approaches to eight-man defensive fronts, and…
Approximately 115 students from the Woodside Intermediate School in Cromwell joined Wesleyan student-athletes from the men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s ice hockey, football, softball, women’s tennis and wrestling teams and the rugby club for an hour in the Bacon Field House for “recess.” Three play stations were set up, allowing groups of third- to fifth-graders from Woodside to interact with the Wesleyan students in kickball, capture the flag, red light/green light and basketball. The Wesleyan football team, through an arrangement between assistant coach Jeff McDonald and Woodside principal Bo Ryan, who met during their college years in the…
Kate Mullen, who recently completed her 19th year in charge of the Wesleyan University women's basketball team, was inducted into the Connecticut Women's Basketball Hall of Fame at its 24th annual induction ceremony April 13. Coach Mullen was honored as one of seven inductees. She was the only individual inducted as a college coach. Two others were honored as high school players, one as a high school coach, one as a college player, one as a referee and another in the honorary area. Hired as an adjunct assistant professor of physical education at Wesleyan in 1992, Mullen guided her teams to nine consecutive winning…
Gale Lackey, in her 33rd year of coaching at Wesleyan, and her 26th season at the helm of the women's volleyball Cardinals, will be inducted into the Connecticut Women's Volleyball Hall of Fame during its 13th annual induction ceremony Tuesday, Nov. 23. The ceremony will take place at the Aqua Turf Country Club in Southington, Conn. In total, six individuals will be enshrined this year, bringing the total in the CWVHOF up to 80. Coach Lackey will become one of only six who are inducted as college coaches. Others this year are being added to the Hall of Fame in the…
The softball team claimed a NESCAC tournament title and automatic bid to the NCAA championship May 14. Recovering from a disappointing 5-2 loss to Bowdoin in a potential title game, the Cardinals came back to trounce Bowdoin 10-1. Wesleyan softball, coached by Jen Lane, adjunct associate professor of physical education, joins the 2005 men's soccer team and 2009 men's lacrosse team as NESCAC titlists. The Cardinals will play Kean University of New Jersey in the NCAA first-round game May 14 at Rhode Island College (R.I.C.). (more…)
The Wesleyan baseball diamond on Andrus Field was named in honor of Jim Dresser ’63, P’93 during a ceremony May 1. Six generations of Dresser’s family has coached, played, or watched games on “Dresser Diamond.” Baseball began at Wesleyan – and on this ground – in 1865. Two years earlier, Dresser’s great-grandfather, James Cooke Van Benschoten, arrived at Wesleyan to teach classics, which he did for almost 40 years. He named the team “the Agallians.” (more…)