The Norwich University Athletic Hall of Fame is a showcase of what can be accomplished and highlights the importance of Norwich athletics, according to Tony Mariano, the director of athletics.
“The Hall of Fame is important for current and future students of Norwich so that they can look at individuals in it and hope to attain the same accomplishments,” he said.
According to Mariano, the Athletic Hall of Fame formally began in 1983 when the director of athletics at the time, Joe Sabol, decided the university needed an official place to recognize extraordinary athletes. Before Sabol, Director of Athletics Bob Priestley honored accomplished athletes by putting their pictures up in Plumley Armory.
“The year the Hall of Fame was created all of the informal members from years prior were inducted, totaling about 30 people,” Mariano said. Since its official start in 1983 there have been more than 200 individuals inducted and 18 teams.
The selection committee, made up of six individuals, five of whom are members of the Hall of Fame, take their job seriously, according to Mariano. “They are responsible for the review of nominations and the ultimate selection,” Mariano said.
According to the Norwich athletics website, there are four different types of Hall of Fame membership: regular, honorary, team and distinguished alumni letter winner.
Regular and distinguished alumni letter winner membership is for individuals who graduated from Norwich and distinguished themselves by outstanding athletic participation. An honorary membership is for individuals who did not necessarily graduate from NU, but who made outstanding contributions to either the athletic program or to the student-athletes.
The nominations come from a variety of sources, according to Mariano. “They come from alumni, they can come from coaches, they can come from anybody associated with the institution, like a faculty member for example,” he said.
According to Mariano, when selecting individuals the committee looks for those who had a great athletic career at Norwich, which can be defined in a number of ways.
“We might have a guy that graduated in the 50s or 60s, and back then there weren’t a lot of awards like we have today,” Mariano said. “So we really depend a lot on alums from that era; people who would have known that individual to tell us what his or her accomplishments were.”
The selection committee tries not to get caught up on evaluating someone just by the number of individual awards they might have. “We look at their accomplishments and what they have done while they were here but we also look at what they’ve done after they have left,” Mariano said. “We really look at the whole person.”
“The bylaws allow us to induct up to six individuals, one honorary, and no more than two distinguished alumni letter winners,” Mariano said. “So that could be a total of nine individuals and then we usually have at least one team.”
According to Mariano the selection committee receives between 50 and 60 applications each year. “We begin the review process in February and complete it in May,” Mariano said.
“Individuals or teams will be eligible for selection anytime after their 10th anniversary of their graduation or team participation,” according to the website. If one is nominated but not chosen they will automatically be re-nominated or withdrawn by the selection committee each year.
“The individual (honoree) will get a plaque and also their picture and nameplate to be displayed in the Hall of Fame room,” Mariano said. “There is also a notebook in the Hall of Fame room with the programs from each induction ceremony that gives a bio for each individual.”
The Hall of Fame is located on the street level of Andrews Hall. It is open for viewing to anyone who wishes to see it, but because of the recent re-modeling of Andrews it is not yet complete. “We’re still in the process of revamping it but it should be completed soon,” Mariano said.
The most recent induction ceremony was held over Alumni Weekend and the names of the individuals chosen will soon be available on the Norwich athletics website, according to Mariano.