A World War I veteran and Alabama native, Ziel started his colorful coaching career at Oswego in 1921 and retired in 1957.

A semi-professional baseball player and member of the National Basketball Hall of Fame, Ziel is also remembered for organizing one of the first night
football games in the country. He coached all three sports at Oswego and remained a fixture long after retirement.

“He was my second father,” remembers John Canale ’47, M ’50, a SUNY Oswego Athletic Hall of Famer who played basketball and baseball under Ziel. “He made me — out of my sports and academics — what I never would have become without him.”

Ziel was known around campus and town as a character: humorous and outspoken with an intense coaching style.

“He was an excellent teacher,” Canale says. “You may be his friend when the game is not on, but once that game is on, he was a taskmaster.

“Even though he would be very abrupt and caustic in a way, he always taught a lesson,” Canale says.

While he was respected as a coach, Ziel’s teams were not known as powerhouses. The physical education professor’s campus reputation was built largely on his classroom charisma.

Students dedicated the 1956 Ontarian to Ziel, an “athlete, soldier, coach, teacher and generous friend.”

He passed away in 1987.

Ziel was honored posthumously as a charter member of the inaugural SUNY Oswego Athletic Hall of Fame class of 2001 and the gym in Laker Hall is named in his honor.

Michael Snell ’87, the former men’s ice hockey team captain, established the mark for the most goals in a single season. He ranks third on the men’s ice hockey all-time scoring list with 263 points and played two years of professional hockey in Germany.

Barry Dillon ’85 was one of the college’s all-time great baseball pitchers, holding the record for career wins with 37.

Former Oswego State women’s basketball player Eileen Sommers ’83, the single-season scoring record holder with 264 points, was the first SUNY Oswego woman to score 1,000 points.

The 10th Oswego State Athletic Hall of Fame class included, back row, from left: James Hauptfleisch ’77, Barry Dillon ’85, Michael Snell ’87 and Dick Johnson. Pictured front row, from left, are: Charles Wiltse ’63, M ’69; Robert Zabronsky ’82; and Eileen Sommers ’83.

Former Laker soccer player Robert Zabronsky ’82 made the All-SUNY Athletic Conference first team each year he played. As a member of the Maccabiah team, he has represented the United States in Mexico, Venezuela, Chile, Israel and Germany.

James Hauptfleisch ’77 was the SUNYAC individual wrestling champion in 1975 as well as state heavyweight champ in 1975 and 1977, the same year he was named an All-American.

Charles Wiltse ’63, M ’69 was recognized for his accomplishments in and commitment to cross country and track. He served as coach for cross country and track in the Baldwinsville Central School District from 1963 to 1984.

Dick Johnson was the first inductee ever who did not play sports for the college. He was recognized for his role in co-founding the Blue Line Club, whose members ardently support the Oswego men’s ice hockey team while fostering college and community
spirit. He was also the Blue Line Club’s first president.

— Alma Hildago ’11

“Coach Nitardy racked up 503 career wins at Oswego State and he was our mentor, leader and role model,” Ted said.

Three baseball greats got together this summer. From left are Ted Grinnell ’60, Coach Emeritus Walter Nitardy and Fred Parrow ’60.

“Ted was an outstanding right-handed pitcher and I was one of those notoriously wild and wacky lefthanders,” said Fred. “We had a talented team in the late ’50s.

“Coach Nitardy always placed an emphasis on playing to win, playing fair and maintaining a focus on our studies,” Fred reflected. Nitardy was a strong influence on the two men, who went on to take his winning advice and create successful careers.

The work ethic he practiced under Coach Nitardy stood Fred in good stead at Shell Oil as he beat out Ivy Leaguers on his way up the career ladder to a top position in the oil company. His 36 years at Shell, which began with a letter he wrote as an Oswego senior, would take him from Albany to Worcester, Mass., and from Seattle to Houston.

“Coach Nitardy was one great person. We all looked up to him and he always was there to help,” said Ted, who went on to a 33-year career in teaching technology education. During six years in the Sodus district, the Oswego Baseball Hall of Famer coached baseball, and while at Horseheads for 27 years, he spent some time coaching soccer.

The years melted away when the three finally reunited this past summer. “We came together as old friends with a common Oswego State bond that allowed us to make a new memory that will always remain fresh in our minds,” concluded Fred.

— Michele Reed

Here’s a look at spring 2010 athletics at Oswego.

Outdoor Track and Field

The outdoor track and field squads consistently established new personal bests over the course of the year, while also rewriting some school records and collecting additional honors. Kyle Dudzinski ’12 established a new school mark in the javelin with a distance of 163 feet, 11 inches (49.96 meters) after breaking the record in back-to-back weeks. AJ Carapella ’10 also had a strong outdoor season when he won the 100- and 200-meter dashes at the Hamilton Invitational followed by a first-place result in the 200 at the University of Rochester Invite.The Laker men’s 4×100 meter relay, consisting of Carapella, Dudzinski, Geoff Kobuszewski ’10 and Kevin Leonard ’12, posted a time of 43.82 to place 12th at the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships after qualifying at the SUNY Athletic Conference Championships with a seventh-place finish.

Men’s Tennis

Tom Loughrey ’11

Despite being outmatched in most of their contests, the 12-member men’s tennis team demonstrated a true passion for the game through hard work and perseverance over the season’s obstacles. Their opponents
included the likes of Oneonta, Elmira, Rochester Institute of Technology,
Onondaga Community College, Roberts Wesleyan and St. John Fisher. Jeff
McGovern ’11 posted the best singles record on the team with a mark of 2-3 with victories against Elmira and OCC.

Softball

The Laker softball team battled through the spring season, posting a 5-29 overall record with non-conference wins over Lasell during spring break, Nazareth in dramatic walk-off fashion, and Utica after being shut out of the first game in the doubleheader.

Britanny Carbacio '12

Oswego closed out the 2010 season by sweeping Potsdam in a doubleheader, including a five-inning, 10-2 victory, in the final weekend of the semester.

The young squad that featured 13 sophomores and freshmen including Marie Steding ’13, who batted .429, and Sue Schoff ’13, who recorded a .319 batting average. Steding also led the pitching staff, which consisted entirely of freshmen, in wins (4), ERA (5.33), and strikeouts (45).

Women’s Lacrosse

Liz Conrad '12

The SUNY Oswego women’s lacrosse team found that South Athletic Field was a welcome place for the Lakers to compete as they had a mark of 5-3 at home en route to an overall record of 7-10. One of the season’s highlights came during a three-game stretch when the Lakers scored 20 or more goals in each contest. In the final game of the streak, Oswego State established a new single-game scoring record with 28 goals and 45 points in a 28-3 victory over Cazenovia as Marisa Audley ’10, Kristen Darcy ’12, Amanda Hecox ’12 and Maria Martusewicz ’11.

Defender Liz Conrad ’12 was voted Second Team All-SUNYAC by the league coaches, as she paced the squad with 21 caused turnovers and 37 groundballs.

Men’s Lacrosse

Andy Lever '12

The Laker lacrosse team remained in the thick of the SUNYAC playoff race until the very end of the spring season, but came up just short as parity was exhibited among all of the conference squads before posting an overall mark of 6-10. One of the many highlights from the year came when Oswego battled from behind to defeat Utica 10-9 in a thriller under the lights, marking the first time since 2003 that the Lakers knocked off the Pioneers. A second come-from-behind victory came at home with the Lakers fighting back to defeat Brockport 11-9.

Goalie Judd Robinson ’10 finished the season with 183 saves to close out his career with 697 saves, ranking second in program history just behind Scott Moody ’95, who amassed 728 career stops. Transfer student Andy Lever ’12 fueled the Laker offense with 43 points on 23 goals and 20 assists.

The season also marked the end of an era as head coach Dan Witmer ’82 stepped down from his position following the college’s decision to elevate the position to full-time status. During Witmer’s 28-year career as a part-time head coach, the Lakers appeared in six ECAC tournaments, winning the championship in 1996 and finishing second in 1994 and 1997. His teams also won three Empire Lacrosse League titles (1994, 1995, 1996), and were ranked among the nation’s top 20 teams in both 1994 and 1996.

Baseball

Mike Tarnowski '13

After getting off to a slow start, the Oswego baseball team closed out its spring break trip with a six-game winning streak to jumpstart another 20-win season. The Lakers put together a second run midway through the season, winning five out of seven games in April, as Oswego went on to record seven doubleheader sweeps en route to an overall record of 20-16. The offense scored 10 or more runs in 11 games during the season.

Leading the way at the plate for the Lakers was Rafael Cordero ’11, who tallied a .355 batting average with a team-leading 29 RBI. Andy Salvatore ’10 paced the pitching staff with a 3.28 ERA, five complete games, and 32 strikeouts.

— Adele Burk,
Sports Information Director

Standing waist-deep in rushing waters, Capt. Robert Burke ’05 patiently threads his tackle.

His rod tightly tucked under his arm, he pinches the line to tie the fly.

Amid the shimmering waters, he clutches the reel and casts. The metronome motion scrapes the fly gently on the water. The line moves in gentle loops and waves.

Here in this natural sanctuary, Burke’s head runs as clear as the water. For him and his fellow soldiers, it’s a place to heal, hope and think.

Standing on the cold, dark streets of a village near Hawijah, Iraq, then-1st Lt. Robert Burke carefully leads his platoon.

His rifle tightly tucked under his arm, he clutches the trigger
as he steps closer to inspect a residence. The weapon protects him from enemy insurgents who might be waiting inside.

Capt. Robert Burke '05 on patrol in Iraq.

As he approaches the house, there’s a bright flash of gunfire followed by darkness and the distinct sound of a Black Hawk helicopter rotor beating the wind.

Burke had been shot in the arm, leg and torso. Another bullet had blown the chinstrap of his helmet off his face. He
was immediately flown to Germany and then to Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

“Am I going to be able to pick up a bat again?” the Laker infielder remembers thinking on that medevac flight in February 2008. “Would I be able to pick up a glove and play catch with my [kid] in the future?

“Am I going to be able to do my job again?”

‘OK, I’m alive. What do I do next?’

It would take two and a half weeks for Burke to start walking again and some six months before he was released from the Warrior Clinic at Walter Reed.

 

Capt. Robert Burke ’05 shows his catch during a Project Healing Waters outing on Maine’s Rapid River in 2008. Burke started a Fort Drum Healing Waters chapter in 2009.

Those were pretty dark times for Burke, who had always been an athlete and was anxious to return to the military.

The first thing I realize is “OK, I’m alive. What do I do next?” says Burke. He knew he wanted to marry his fiancée and continue his Army career, but beyond that, he felt limited in what he could do.

His mood changed when he met a fellow soldier at Walter Reed. A survivor of a roadside bomb explosion, he had died and been revived several times on the operating table.

“What are you doing this weekend?” the soldier posed to Burke. That was his introduction to Project Healing Waters, a national organization that promotes fly fishing as therapy for wounded servicemen and women. It was also a new beginning for Burke.

“This was something that gave me a little hope that if I can do this, I can do anything,” he says. “[Fishing is] quiet. You get a lot of time to think, a lot of time to wonder. It can help you connect to the thought process of the way you were.”

A call to service

Oswego sophomore Rob Burke was getting ready to head to class — a 100-level meteorology course, he remembers — when the World Trade Center was attacked by terrorists Sept. 11, 2001. It made an immediate impact.

 

Burke played baseball for the Lakers.

“I was considering quitting school and enlisting,” says Burke. “I think I had the overall goal of doing some type of service, military or civil. That kind of service molds somebody. It makes somebody a better person.”

His father, who had dropped out of college to enlist in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, convinced him otherwise. So, Burke earned his public justice degree and played out his collegiate career in baseball.

But Burke wasn’t interested in going pro as a ballplayer or a police officer.

His passion was in service. Volunteering in soup kitchens, in high school mentoring programs and abroad “spurred a feeling of doing service, doing something for the greater good,” says Burke, who was commissioned second lieutenant in the U.S. Army in May 2006 and deployed to Iraq as an infantry platoon leader.

For Burke, Healing Waters was another call to service — this time to his fellow soldiers. Oswego Dean of Students Emeritus Bob Rock got involved as a member of Trout Unlimited and today he participates in PHW outings and fly-tying classes.

“[Burke’s] work with Project Healing Waters is volunteer and he’s devoted himself to it,” says Rock. He’s seen the program change lives right before his eyes — soldiers who’ve had surgeries, amputations and mental trauma.

Walk, crawl, run

In the Army, soldiers are taught the mantra “walk, crawl and run.” In Project Healing Waters, the walk is practicing on the lawn, the crawl is casting on the pond and the run is getting into the river.

 

Burke, shown here in Iraq while sporting his Oswego cap, was seriously wounded by enemy gunfire in 2008.

“These are small personal victories,” Burke says. “Those small victories can create opportunity.

“That gives you confidence and builds your self-esteem,” he says.

Burke knew the Salmon River and other alluring waters of Central New York would be a perfect fit for a Healing Waters chapter at Fort Drum, so he set out to make it happen.

Now he was the one hanging out on the lawn and making practice casts in an effort to draw curious Fort Drum soldiers to the program, which has chapters coast to coast.

“It was great seeing guys get out there,” says Burke, who got the Fort Drum chapter off the ground in 2009. In addition to the personal solace, there was plenty of social interaction – Vietnam veterans conversing with Iraq vets, Gulf War soldiers casting with those returning from Afghanistan.

The chapter’s first Salmon River outing in September 2009 drew four soldiers. There are about 15 active members of the Fort Drum chapter. Burke plans to do more outings with multiple New York chapters this spring.

Last call

Burke is proud of his role in creating the Fort Drum Healing Waters chapter and while the program has been essential to his own recovery, he still heard one more calling.

 

Burke, shown casting on the Salmon River in 2008, credits Project Healing Waters with changing his outlook on life after he was injured in the line of duty.

“For me, I felt like I didn’t complete my military service,” says Burke, who has been stationed in the Kunduz Province of Afghanistan since March. “This deployment was an opportunity to complete my healing.”

He wants to settle down in Cicero, where he lives with his wife, Catherine Maloney Burke ’05. Of course, he wants to do more fishing.

And someday, thanks to those healing waters, he will be able to play that game of catch with his future son or daughter.

Also: Alumna Cares for Wounded Warriors