Five former greats were inducted into the Westfield State University Athletics Hall of Fame to kick off the 2013 Alumni Weekend.
The Class of 2013 includes Robert Bogan ’87, football; Diana Cares ’00, cross country/track; David Kaczenski ’83, track and field; Nanci (Mahoney) Salvidio ’73, field hockey/softball/basketball; and Josue Zamora ’02, football.
Robert Bogan ’87
Robert Bogan ’87 was an outstanding wide receiver and kick returner during the early years of the Westfield State football program in the 1980s.
Bogan held 21 school records at the time of his graduation. A big-time playmaker with excellent speed, size and hands, he still holds school records for most yards per reception in a game, season and career. His name is also in the school records for kickoffs returned for touchdowns in a season (two) and longest kickoff return (96 yards).
Bogan was a two-time all-conference selection and a three-time Westfield State offensive MVP. His talents were noticed by professional scouts, as he was invited to tryouts by the New York Giants, New England Patriots and Toronto Argonauts.
A team captain and business management major, Bogan continues to possess leadership skills as president of the Borden & Remington Corporation and property manager of the Iron Works Complex, a 30-acre industrial park, both in Fall River. An alumnus of Bridgton (Maine) Academy, Bogan has been a Bridgton trustee since 2007 and the board’s chairman for the past two years.
Diana Cares ’00
Diana Cares ’00 led the pack as the number one distance runner for the Westfield State championship cross country and track and field teams.
Cares was a three-time Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) champion in leading the Owls to four consecutive cross country championships from 1996 to 1999. She also claimed eight conference distance titles as the Owls captured three consecutive MASCAC outdoor track championships. She was selected outstanding meet performer at the 1999 MASCAC championships.
Cares won the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) New England Division III 5,000 meter run championship in 2000, and earned All-New England honors twice, finishing second in the 10,000 meter run in 1999 and 2000. Cares capped her outstanding collegiate cross country career by earning All-New England honors her senior year.
She has continued her passion for cross country and track and field. The Northborough resident coaches the Whitcomb Middle School cross country and track and field teams in the Marlborough public schools, where she is employed full time as a paraeducator for moderate and severe special needs students. She has officiated high school and college cross country and track meets in central Massachusetts for the past four years.
David Kaczenski ’83
David Kaczenski ’83 was an All-American javelin thrower and a three-time national qualifier for the Westfield State track and field teams in the early 1980s.
Kaczenski earned All-America honors when he placed fifth during his senior year at the 1983 NCAA Division III national championships. He narrowly missed earning All-America honors by placing ninth at the 1982 national championships.
Kaczenzki was a two-time MASCAC champion and earned All-New England honors in each of his three years at Westfield State, including runner-up finishes in 1981 and 1982. He holds the school record with a throw of 224 feet, 11 inches and previously held the MASCAC championship meet record.
Kaczenski has been the executive director for seven years of the Massachusetts Rural Water Association in Northfield, a federally funded nonprofit that assists water and wastewater systems in Massachusetts towns of 10,000 or fewer residents. He was a wastewater specialist for 20 years prior to being named the executive director.
Nanci (Mahoney) Salvidio ’73
Nanci (Mahoney) Salvidio ’73 has been a trailblazer in the emergence and popularity of women’s sports at Westfield State and in Western Massachusetts as a player, coach and official.
Salvidio was an outstanding multi-sport athlete during the formative years of the Westfield State women’s intercollegiate sports program more than 40 years ago, a few years prior to the passage of the landmark Title IX legislation in 1972. The three-sport standout was the field hockey team’s most valuable player and leading scorer, an aggressive power forward in basketball and pitched and played first base in softball. Her field hockey talents were renowned, as she played for an elite club team at Smith College on weekends.
Skills honed on the playing fields translated to leadership roles upon graduation from Westfield State and have sustained her throughout a long career in athletics and education.
As a coach and an official, Salvidio started the first indoor and outdoor soccer leagues for women in Westfield and coached youth and adult soccer and softball teams. She refereed softball, basketball and field hockey games in Western Massachusetts, helping to break the male dominated officiating in girls’ and women’s sports.
Salvidio has an accomplished professional career as well. She currently serves as Westfield State’s associate vice president of Alumni and Community Relations. Her tenure at Westfield State began in 1980 as a counselor/advisor in the Urban Education/Special Services Program, where she was instrumental in recruiting many outstanding student athletes who came through the program. From 1990 to 2005, she was the associate director of the Academic Achievement Center, helping to develop a campus-wide plan modeled after the Urban Education Program.
The energetic alumna maintains a commitment to service as an active volunteer and as a community member. She has coordinated numerous charity golf tournaments, including the Kristen D. Nolan golf classic that honored her niece and alumna Kristen Nolan ’95, who succumbed to cancer shortly after graduation. The event raised more than $400,000 for the Carole Fund to benefit other young people with cancer. In addition, Salvidio was recently selected as a director and second vice chair with the Greater Westfield Chamber of Commerce.
Josue Zamora ’02
Josue Zamora ’02 was a three-time All-American and New England player of the year in leading the dominating defenses of the 2001 and 2002 Westfield State championship football teams.
In his first of two football seasons, Zamora’s impact was remarkable. He was a Hewlett Packard first team All-American, a d3football.com third team All-American, the New England Writers Gold Helmet player of the year, the Gridiron Club of Boston defensive player of the year and the New England Football Conference (NEFC) unanimous selection as defensive player of the year.
Spearheaded by Zamora’s All-America efforts as linebacker, the Owls led the nation in total defense during their storybook 2001 season, when they posted the only undefeated regular season in school history and captured their first and only NEFC championship and NCAA Tournament berth.
The defense was even more dominating during Zamora’s senior season in 2002, when the Owls set many of the team defensive school records and again led the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III in total defense. Zamora was a third team All-American, an All-New England first team all-star and a unanimous repeat selection as the NEFC defensive player of the year.
Zamora has been a police officer for the past eight years at the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services in Middletown.
