Five new members were inducted into the University Athletic Hall of Fame at the 21st ceremony on September 30, 2016.
The induction class includes golfer Kevin Piecuch ’89, women’s swimmer Vanessa Morton ’06, softball and women’s basketball player and longtime coach Cheryl Condon ’79, track and field athlete Ken Bakstran ’95, and longtime athletic administrator Mickey Curtis.
Piecuch, an East Longmeadow resident, is currently the head golf professional at the Country Club of Greenfield (CCG). As a student athlete, he was a two-time National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) qualifier and a New England Intercollegiate Golf Association (NEIGA) All-New England selection, as well as three-time All-District choice. Professionally, he has had a 23-year career as a golf professional, serving at CCG since 1992. He is a past president of the Western Massachusetts Professional Golf Association (PGA) chapter and holds the course record at CCG with a 61.
Condon was a standout student athlete in both softball and basketball for the Owls, pitching the softball team to the 1978 Massachusetts Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (MAIAW) title. She has had a long and successful tenure as the head women’s softball coach at Elms College in Chicopee, where her teams have made four NCAA tournament appearances, and she is an eight-time conference coach of the year while winning more than 400 games in her coaching career. She has previously been inducted into the Rockland High School Hall of Fame, the Massasoit Community College Hall of Fame, and the Elms College Hall of Fame.
Morton, a Wellfleet native, is one of the most successful swimmers in school history, setting school records in five swimming events and winning a New England Intercollegiate Swimming and Diving Association (NEISDA) New England championship in the 100 freestyle in 2006. She was a 10-time all-New England performer in freestyle, backstroke, and individual medley events.
Bakstran, a native of Ashland who now lives in Framingham, won four Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) individual titles and was a member of six title-winning relay units while at Westfield State. Primarily a 400-meter runner, she won three New England Division III titles in that event and was part of a 4 x 400 relay group that set an Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III Indoor meet record time of 3:18.56.
A Punxsutawney, Pa., native, Curtis served for 27 years as sports information director and an associate athletics director at Westfield State. He has been a member of the Hall of Fame committee since its inception and was a key organizer of the Hall of Fame induction dinner for many years. He helped launch the professional career of numerous interns and student workers and coordinated team schedules, maintained data, records and archives, and managed events for the University’s 21 varsity intercollegiate programs.
