Hall of Fame Class of 2013 Inductees
Stephen Bateman, 1978
Steve played football (his favorite sport), basketball and baseball at WHS. He was co-captain of the football team his senior year, finishing with a 6-3 record. During his junior year the team finished with a 7-1 record.
He was selected to the Colonial Council All Star team as a wide receiver in both his junior and senior year. In addition, he was selected to the All City and All Metroland teams either as a wide receiver or defensive back in his senior year.
Steve was a member of the varsity basketball team. In his junior year, the Cannoneers won the Colonial Council Championship, coached by WHS Hall of Fame member Joe Hogan. In his senior year, Steve was selected as the best defensive player. Steve was also the captain of the varsity baseball team and was selected team MVP in 1978.
Steve received the Jerry Connors Memorial Award and was selected as Male Athlete of the Year in 1978.
Following high school, Steve received an associate’s degree from Dean Jr. College, where he played football. He then earned his bachelor’s degree in graphic design/fine arts from the New York Institute of Technology. After working in Manhattan for a fashion advertising firm, he returned to the area and spent the next 20 years working as an executive customer service rep in the printing business for Quad Graphics and Hamilton Printing. For the past five years he has worked at Greenwood Contracting Inc., in Watervliet.
Steve and his wife, Lisa, have been married for 29 years and are building a new home in Waterford. They have a son, Keith, currently a physical education teacher in the Troy City School District and an assistant coach for Troy junior varsity football; and a daughter, Stephanie, who is enrolled in the School of Nursing at Samaritan Hospital.
Ryan Boisvert, 2002
Ryan played football, basketball and baseball at WHS. He was co-captain of the 2001 football team, which finished with a 9-1 record. The team was Capital Conference Champions and lost in the Sectional Class C title game. He was a two-year starter at wide receiver/linebacker.
Ryan was selected to the Times Union 1st team All Area wide receiver, Troy Record 2nd team All Area linebacker, Schenectady Gazette 2nd team All Area linebacker and 3rd team All State linebacker Class C. He had 751 receiving yards in his career (fourth best in school history).
Ryan was a three-year starter and captain of the varsity basketball team that finished 13-7 and won the Class B Sectional Championship.
He averaged 15.6 points per game and 8.4 rebounds per game, and was selected the MVP of the Class CC Tournament. He was selected to the Colonial Council 1st team All Star and the Troy Record 2nd team All City. In addition, he was selected in 2002 as the Capital Region News 13 Scholar Athlete.
He was a three-year varsity baseball player, co-captain in his senior year and had a 2.92 ERA as a pitcher and .417 batting average.WHS won the Colonial Council Championship in 2001 and 2002. He was 1st team Colonial Council All Star and Times Union 3rd team All Area utility man.
Ryan was selected as Male Athlete of the Year in his junior and senior year and is the only WHS student athlete to receive this award twice.
He received a degree in sports management from SUNY Cortland where he played football and received a masters degree in Educational Administration from the State University at Albany.
Ryan lives in Watervliet and is a firefighter/EMT with the Watervliet Fire Department and Assistant Equipment Manager for the Athletic Department at U Albany.
Orlando DiBacco, 1987
Orlie was a three-year varsity player in soccer, basketball and baseball at WHS.
In basketball, he was a starting guard his junior and senior years. In his junior year, the Cannoneers tied for first place in the Colonial Council and lost in the finals of the Class CC-C title game. Orlie was named to the Colonial Council All-Star team and to the Troy Record All Area 3rd team. He averaged 14 points per game and the team finished with a 20-4 record.
In his senior year, he was a co-captain and led the team to a 21-3 record. Orlie was leading scorer, averaging 19.3 points per game, 7.8 assists per game and 3.2 shots per game. He was a unanimous MVP of the Colonial Council. He led all scorers in the Council, averaging 20.3 points per game and leading the team to the Colonial Council Championship, the Class CC Section 2 Championship and to the finals of the Class CC-C sectional game. He was also selected to the 1st team All City and 1st team Small School All Area by the Troy Record.
Orlie was a three-year starter at second base on the varsity baseball team that was 52-6 during his sophomore and junior years, including the 1985 baseball team that won the NYS Class C Championship–the first state championship in school history. He batted .361 that year and .434 in his senior year, when he was the co-captain, All City second baseman-1st team as the Cannoneers captured the Colonial Council Championship.
Orlie graduated from Utica College were he received a degree in therapeutic recreation. He played basketball and is ranked sixth on the all-time career assist record. He is employed by Albany Medical Center Hospital as a recreation therapist and lives in Ravena with his wife, Stephanie and their two children, Orlando and Grace.
Orlie was the head boys basketball coach at Bishop Maginn High School for two years before accepting the position as the boys basketball coach at Watervliet High School in 2011. As head coach,
Orlie has led the Cannoneers to the finals of the New York State Class B Championship games for the past two years—winning the 2013 championship.
William Gorman, 1972
Bill played soccer and baseball at WHS. He was a two-year starter on the varsity soccer team and a three-year starter on the varsity basketball team.
His favorite sport was basketball and he excelled at it. He was a starter on teams, that during his three years, won 46 games and lost 12, including a Colonial Council Championship his senior year. He averaged 17.5 points per game in his senior year and with his back court mate, John DiBiase (WHS Hall of Famer), 29.7 points per game to average 47.2 points per game.
He had a high of 36 points vs. Schalmont in his senior year and did not play the fourth quarter. He was the second leading scorer in the Colonial Council that year after leading scorer, John DiBiase. Bill was selected to the 1st team Colonial Council All Stars and to the Troy Record 1st team All City.
His high school coach in his junior and senior years was Joe Hogan, another member of the WHS Hall of Fame.
Following his graduation from WHS, Bill attended HVCC and took apprenticeship courses for Millright to prepare him for the world of welding, pipe fitting, mechanical and electrical repair. He has worked for 30 years in this field.
Today he lives in Watervliet and has been married to his wife, Donna for forty years. They have two sons Bill Jr. and Scott and a daughter, Gina. They also have two granddaughters, Kaila and Cecilia, and a daughter in-law Dannelle.
Richard Pastore, 1993
Rick played football and baseball at WHS. He was the starting quarterback during his junior and senior years on the varsity teams that were 11-0 in ‘91 and 9-1 in ‘92, part of the 36 game winning streak from 10/89 to 10/92 under WHS Hall of Fame coach Dan Reinfurt.
In ‘91, the Cannoneers won the Capital Conference, Section 2 Class C Championships, the Regional Championship Class C and the New York State Sportswriters Poll State Class C Champions.
Rick was selected to the 2nd team Colonial Conference All Stars as a quarterback in his junior year and 1st team quarterback in his senior year. He was also selected as WHS offensive player of the year in ‘92.
During his career at quarterback, he passed for 2003 yards (6th best) with 114 completions (9th best) and 28 touchdowns (4th best). His individual performances include 1136 yards passing in ‘92 (6th best) and 15 touchdowns in ‘92 (7th best) and passed for over 200 yards in a game three times
Rick was also a two-year starter on the varsity baseball team, coached by WHS Hall of Fame coach Tony Curro, where he was a pitcher and an outfielder on championship teams that won the Colonial Conference in his junior and senior years.
Rick went to Schenectady Community College where his major was in criminal justice. He then worked as a pharmacy technician and now works for the New York State Unified Court System in the Third Judicial District in Albany Today, Rick lives in Watervliet with his wife, Marybeth, and their 4-year-old son, Anthony.
Mark Ray, 1980
Mark was an outstanding bowler on the varsity team for four years. He is the first bowler to be inducted into the WHS Hall Of Fame. He was the captain of the varsity bowling team for three years.
He was the Times Record Bowler of the Year in 1980 and the Runner-up Bowler of the Year in 1979. He also was a member of the Times Record All Star team for three years: 1978, ‘79 and ‘80. He led all high school bowlers in the 1980 season with a 194 average and his 268 single and 683 triple were highs in the Colonial Council in 1980. WHS finished second in the Colonial Council to Cohoes in 1980.
Mark graduated from HVCC with an associates degree in computer science. He was one of the most accomplished bowlers in school history. He was a 1st team All-Mountain Valley Conference, 1st team All Region III and NJCAA 1st team All American in 1980. He coached at HVCC for 4 years,winning four conference championships and led HVCC to a third place finish at the 1988 Region III championships and a second place finish at the NJCAA. Mark was the first bowler to be inducted into the HVCC Hall of Fame in 2003.
In 2008, Mark was inducted in to the Schenectady USBC Bowling Association Hall of Fame. Previously, he was inducted into the Vitalo Classic Hall of Fame and posted a 228 average in 19 seasons. One of the few local bowlers to ever bowl back-to-back 299 games, he once averaged 245.69 in the Vitalo Classic. He finished seventh in the 1996 ABC Tournament in Salt Lake City. As of 2008, his impressive resume includes 57 career 300 games, 56 career 800 series 22-299s, 3-298s and 75-1000 series. His highest four game series is 1,136 and his top triple is 847.
Today, Mark lives with his wife, Sharon, in Latham and is a technology specialist with the New York State Education Department.
Jodi Rysedorph, 1986
Jodi played three varsity sports at WHS, soccer (9th), tennis (12th), basketball (8-12).
She was the first 8th grader to play on the girls’ varsity basketball team. She became a starter in her sophomore year when the girls’ team won the Colonial Council Championship with a record of 17-1.
In her junior year, she was selected to the Colonial Council All Stars- 2nd team and the Lady Cannoneers finished second in the Colonial Council. Their record that year was 17-3. In her senior year she was Captain and MVP of the basketball team and selected to the 1st team on the Colonial Council All Stars. The girls’ team lost to Keveny in the Class C-CC finals and finished with a record of 16-5.
Jodi was selected to the Troy Record All City 1st team and 3rd team All Area. Jodi’s coach at WHS was Hall of Famer Gus Haita. She ended up as one of the most prolific rebounders in school history. Jodi was selected as the “Female Athlete of the Year” in 1986 at WHS.
In addition, she was selected as the Watervliet Elks “Teenager of the Year” in 1986.
Jodi attended Oneonta State where she received a degree in general studies. She played basketball and is #2 in block shots in a game-8 in 1989 and in 1987 had a total of 87 blocked shots in a season.
Jodi lives in Albany and is employed by the Watervliet Police Department. She is the first female police officer in that position in the City.
Glenn Westfall, Coach/Athletic Director
Glenn graduated from Hudson High School and Suny Cortland. He then taught at Livingston Manor Central School from 1974–1978. Glenn began his teaching and coaching career at WHS in 1978.
He was a mathematics teacher and mathematics chairperson (2005–2007). During his 29 year tenure he also coached boys’ modified soccer, junior varsity soccer, varsity soccer, junior varsity baseball, girls’ varsity and junior varsity volleyball, boys’ tennis, boys’ bowling, cheerleading advisor and boys’ junior varsity basketball.
He coached the boys’ junior varsity basketball team for 29 years and had a record of 403-159, including numerous Colonial Council Championship teams and two undefeated seasons.
Glenn was the Athletic Director from 1989–2007 at WHS. He received the NYS Athletic Administrators Association Award in 2001. He was the Colonial Council President from 1994–1998 and the Capital Football Conference Vice President/Secretary from 1999–2003. He also served on various committees within the Section 2 Athletic Council, including the Section 2 Executive Committee and the NYPHSAA Executive Committee from 2004–2011.
Following his retirement from the Watervliet School District, Glenn taught at The Albany Academies from 2007–2012. Presently, he is teaching at The Pine School in Hobe Sound, Florida where he lives with his wife, Christine. They have three children, Lauren, Glenn and Lindsey Murphy [Nick] and their granddaughter, Courtney.
Class of 1985 Baseball Team
The 1985 Baseball Team was the first team in WHS history to win a New York State Championship and currently the best baseball team in school history.
The team finished with a record of 28-2, which included 21 consecutive victories to end the season. They won the Colonial Council, Section 2 Class C and Class C Regional Championships on their way to the State Championship.
The team was led by co-captains Frank LaBelle and Ed Markham, the only seniors, plus eight juniors and seven sophomores. All nine starters hit over .300 and three hit over .400, including Frank LaBelle (.452); Lyle Darmetko (.412); and Don Harrington (.412).
The pitching staff was outstanding all year led by LaBelle (11-1), Jeff DiNuzzo (6-0), Lyle Darmetko (5-0), and Don Harrington (5-1). Frank Labelle was named the MVP in the State Championship Tournament. He pitched a 3-hitter in the semi-final game versus Tioga, had three hits and one RBI. In the championship game he was 4 for 4 with three runs scored and three RBI’s.
The team was led by Coach Tony Curro and his assistant Davis Fay through this remarkable journey. Tony finished his career after 12 seasons with a 234-78 record, won eight Colonial Council Championships, six Section 2 Championships, three regional Championships and two State Championships in 1985 and 1991.
Currently there are seven members of this team who are in the WHS Hall of Fame: Lyle Darmetko, Orlando DiBacco, Jeff DiNuzzo, Brian Fruscio, Frank LaBelle, Victor Pascarella, Peter Strand and coach Tony Curro.
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