BHS/BUHS Athletic Hall of Fame 2020

Welcome to the inaugural induction ceremony for the BHS/BUHS Athletic Hall of Fame. This is an historic occasion as there will only be one inaugural class to this hall of fame. To those of you being inducted tonight, congratulations. You represent the choice of the BHS/BUHS Athletic Community through the nomination process and the selection committee. You should be honored with this distinction. Other classes will follow. The class of 2021 has already been chosen and its induction ceremony will be in April of 2022.  

 

We have people here this evening representing athletes who have since passed away but left a lasting athletic legacy to our community.  We also honor inductees who are with us here tonight.

MEMBER LIST

Dana Zelenakas

1965 Colonel State Championship Football Team

Coach Darrell Sawyer

Jan Carlson

David McGinn

Ernie Johnson

Coach Andrew Natowich

Peter Faridoni

Heather Pancake

Ray Smith

Joe Shield

Grady Vigneau

Girls’ Varsity Teams

Barb Barrett

 

PRESS RELEASE  

The Brattleboro Union High School Athletic Hall  of Fame (officially the BHS/BUHS Athletic Hall of  Fame) announces its creation and the induction of  its inaugural class at a banquet at Post 5 American  Legion at 6:00 PM September 25, 2021.  

Listed here are the members of the inaugural  Class of 2020. All have gone through an official  nominating process which culminated in their  selection by the Hall of Fame Committee.

 

Dana Zelenakas 

Dana Zelenakas graduated from Brattleboro  

in 1966. He was an All-State selection from  

the State Championship Colonel football  

team in 1965. A member of the Eastern Ski  

Jumping team from 1965 to 1968 and the  

US Ski Team from 1968 to 1972, Zelenakas  

had the opportunity to compete in many  

prestigious competitions. During the 1968  

Olympic tryouts, he finished in 9th place  

at Lake Placid, NY and in 7th place at Iron  

Mountain, MI. As a member of the US Ski  

team, in 1969, he competed in Lahti, Finland  

and at the Finnish Ski Week and during the 1970 season, in Plancia,  Yugoslavia and the Holmenkollen (Holmenkollbakken) in Oslo,  Norway. After a 4th place finish in the 1972 Olympic Tryouts, Dana was  named to the US Olympic team that competed in Sapporo, Japan. In  1984 he won 1st place in the Masters Division at Lake Placid.  

1965 Brattleboro Colonel Football Team  

The 1965  

Brattleboro  

Colonel  

Football  

Team was  

the highest  

scoring team  

in Vermont  

history and  

finished the  

season as the undefeated Division I champion. Scoring a total of 68  touchdowns (with only 22 coming from inside the ten-yard line) the  team averaged 55 points per game while grinding out 2,505 yards on  the ground, 849 yards through the air, and 372 yards on punt and kick off returns for a total of 3,726 yards – 206 yards more than three miles.  Their point total for the season of 445 bested the old Vermont record  set by Ollie Dunlop’s 1959 BFA team of 302 points. Not to be outdone,  the first team Defensive unit gave up only two touchdowns all season,  and yielded only a total of 32 points, or 4 pts per game.

 

Coach Darrell R. Sawyer 

During his fourteen years as the head  

football coach for Brattleboro Union High  

School, he led the Colonels to one Division  

1 Vermont State Championship in 1973, and  

to a runner-up finish in 1978. He finished his  

illustrious head football coaching career with  

an impressive 70 percent winning record.  

Between 1970 and 1981, he coached in  

eight Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl games  

before serving as the Vermont athletic  

director and in 1999 received the National  

Football Foundation and College Hall of  

Fame Amateur Football award. In 2009, Sawyer was inducted into the  Vermont Principals Association Hall of Fame. 

Jan Carlson  

Jan proved herself to be one of the top  

track and field athletes ever to compete at  

Brattleboro Union High School, amassing  

13 individual Indoor and Outdoor Vermont  

State Track Championships. In her senior  

year, she earned four state championship  

titles in the 100 and 200 meter dashes, the  

triple jump and pole vault, with four titles  

being the most any one person can win.  

For her success as a student-athlete, she  

received the Diedrich Stolte Cup, awarded to  

the most outstanding female athlete of the BUHS Class of 2006. As a  collegian, she won both 100 and 200 meter NCAA Regionals and the  NCAA championship title in the 100-meter dash. In 2010, she won the  100-meter dash championship at the New England Inter-Collegiate  

Amateur Athletic Association meet. She was a 3-time America East  All Conference Indoor athlete and Outdoor Track & Field athlete for all  four years.

 

David McGinn 

David quarterbacked the Colonels to a SVL  

championship and received a Special Team  

Award for his punting. In basketball, David  

led the SVL in scoring, averaging 21 points  

per game with a four-year total of 1,048  

points – the third all-time scoring leader  

at BUHS. David led his team to a State  

Championship pitching and winning all four  

play-off games and allowing only 1 earned  

run in 26 innings. At graduation he was  

awarded the Arthur James Monroe Cup that  

is awarded to one who best attains a balance with scholarship and  athletics. He attended the University of Vermont playing baseball and  received the Sunderland Award presented to a student athlete who  has demonstrated a high level of athletic achievement, qualities of  character and leadership. 

Ernie Johnson  

A 1942 graduate of Brattleboro High School,  

Ernie Johnson had a tremendous baseball  

career. As a high school senior he went  

6-3 on the mound, including a 20 strikeout  

game and three straight one-hit shutouts. In  

addition, he led his team in hitting, batting  

.409. He signed a professional contract with  

the Boston Braves the summer after high  

school and went on to have a solid nine 

year career in the Major Leagues, including  

helping the Milwaukee Braves defeat the  

New York Yankees in the 1957 World Series.  

After his playing days, Ernie became a renowned TV broadcaster and  executive for the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves.

 

Coach Andrew Natowich 

Coach Natowich served as the Brattleboro  

football coach from 1945-1965. During  

those 21 seasons, his teams compiled 113  

wins and were crowned state champions in  

1950, 1953, 1957 and 1965. Also a baseball  

coach, his teams enjoyed equal success  

on the baseball diamonds, reaching the  

state championship games six times, with  

titles in 1951, 1956 and 1961. His teams  

also reached the 1957, 1958 and 1960  

finals. Coach Natowich was inducted into  

the College of Holy Cross Hall of Fame in 1985 and the Vermont  Principals Association Hall of Fame in 2015. Beyond starting the  town’s Little League Baseball league and American Legion team, he  also contributed by building athletic fields, including the Small Fry  and Little League fields, the BUHS Baseball & Football fields, and  fields at Living Memorial Park and Fort Dummer. Natowich was also  instrumental in the resurfacing of Art Freeman Track and the efforts to light Natowich Field. 

Peter Faridoni  

Peter was an acclaimed three-sport athlete,  

and lettered eleven times while participating  

in football, basketball and baseball. Chosen  

as a 2nd team all-state quarterback as a  

sophomore, Peter was named to the 1st team  

as he helped lead the 1950 team to the state  

championship. In basketball, he was voted  

the most outstanding player in the Southern  

Vermont League, finishing second in scoring  

as a sophomore, and first in both his junior  

and senior seasons, in which he was named  

to the all-tournament and was chosen to play in the North-South All  Star basketball game in Murray KY. In baseball, he set a Stolte Field  pitching record for one game, recording 27 strikeouts through 12 1/3  innings pitched, with 20 strikeouts coming in the first nine innings.

 

Heather Pancake 

During her time at BUHS, Heather  

participated and lettered in three varsity  

sports, soccer, basketball, and track and  

field. During her senior year, she earned  

individual state championships in the 300  

meter hurdles and heptathlon and in the  

Vermont Meet of Champions added crowns  

in the 100 meter hurdles and javelin. In the  

New England Championship, Heather won  

the javelin and still holds BUHS records in the 100 meter hurdles and  heptathlon. In college, she was a two-time NCAA Division 3 Champion  in the Heptathlon (1999 and 2000) and was named an All-American  in the 100-meter-high hurdles. Her success extended to basketball,  where she was a four-year starter, participated in the Division 3  playoffs and finished her career scoring 944 points with 692 rebounds.  She was recognized by the College Conference of Wisconsin and  Illinois and made the All-Conference Team. 

Ray Smith  

Ray is arguably the finest running  

back in state history, evidenced  

by his selection to the Vermont  

All-State team for each of his  

three varsity seasons, an honor  

never before bestowed upon a  

sophomore, and was named to  

the Vermont Shrine Football team.  

His successes extended to the  

track oval, where Ray won State  

Championships in the 100 and  

220 yard sprints as a sophomore and anchored the 4x 100-yard relay  team. His dominance continued as a junior. In the spring of 1965, his  life was lost in a motorcycle accident while on the way to school.

 

Joe Shield 

A 1980 graduate and Co-Captain on the  

1980 Vermont Shrine Football team, Joe  

transitioned from BUHS to Worcester  

Academy where he was inducted  

into the Worcester Academy Athletic  

Hall of Fame as both a football and  

baseball player. Next, at Trinity College,  

Joe excelled by setting many season  

and career records, including 476  

completions in 845 attempts for 6,646 yards and 52 touchdowns. His  season high marks of 163 completions, 264 attempts, 2,186 yards and  19 TD passes endured as Trinity records for 15 years. In 1983 he was  named the Division 2/3 New England Collegiate Football Offensive  Player of the Year. A Co-Captain for both the football and baseball  teams, Joe was inducted into Trinity’s inaugural Hall of Fame class. His  successes led to an eleventh round selection in the NFL draft pick by  the Green Bay Packers, of which he was a member of the active roster  during 1985 and 1986 seasons. 

Grady Vigneau  

A 1973 graduate from BUHS, Grady  

Vigneau excelled as a student-athlete  

in both baseball and football. He played  

on the winning Vermont squad in the  

1973 Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl Game.  

As a senior, he was awarded the Arthur J  

Monroe Cup given by the class of 1901 for  

successful participation in major sports and  

academics and also received a Sherman  

Award. Vigneau continued his football  

career at the University of New Hampshire where he excelled as an  offensive tackle in football. A team captain, he was named a 1977  college football All-American and Academic All-American and later  earned induction into the University of New Hampshire Athletic Hall of  Fame. Grady turned down NFL offers to enter the coaching profession,  coaching for 8 years at Boston University and at the University of New  Hampshire before returning to graduate school and earning an MBA  from Columbia University.

 

Girls’ Varsity Teams – Special Recognition  

This recognition is made to celebrate the history of girls’ sports  teams earning their place in the gyms and on the playing fields at  BUHS. There is no single student-athlete, coach, administrator,  or supporter to whom credit is attributed. The 1967-68 Girls Field  Hockey & Basketball teams were the first official Girls’ Varsity Teams  at Brattleboro Union High School. The Girls Athletic Association was  initiated in 1953, then came of age in the 1960’s. Girls asked for more  competitive sports opportunities including use of gyms & playing  fields, appealing to fellow students, parents, physical education  teachers, school principals, the superintendent & school board. In  1966 extramural Field Hockey and Basketball for girls were added  with an eye to becoming varsity level in the following season. In the  1967-68 school year BUHS officially sanctioned these two teams to  play at the varsity level, Brattleboro preceded the mandate of the 1972  Federal Title IX Education Amendments.

 

Barb Barrett 

Barb was an accomplished three-sport athlete, graduating from BUHS in 1984. As a field hockey captain, Barrett scored 19 goals in her senior season, a record which stood for 20 years, and earned all-state  

recognition. As a basketball team captain and three-year letter winner, she became the school’s first female 1,000-point scorer  

and helped lead the team to the school’s only state championship. Named the team’s MVP in both 1982 and 1984, and chosen to represent Vermont in the Alhambra  

Basketball Classic, Barb also earned  

the status of Carnation Prep All-American and Honorable Mention  Converse All-American in 1984. As a captain of the softball team,  she was a four-year letter winner; MVP as a senior and a member of  the 1983 state championship team. During her four-year career, Barb  struck out only one time while leading the Colonel teams to a record of  59-11. After high school, Barb was talented enough to continue playing  both basketball and softball at Assumption College. In basketball, she  was the first Assumption player to score 300 points in a season (doing  so three times), averaged 15.1 points per game, led the Northeast-10  Conference in three-point accuracy (.488) and finished her career as  the second leading scorer in school history, amassing 1,142 points, to  go along with 241 assists and 173 steals. She was named the team’s  MVP during her senior season. A four-time MVP and first-team all-star  shortstop, Barb was the first softball player with 200 hits in Division II  history, was the school’s career batting leader, team MVP for all four of  her years and was twice named Northeast-10 Player of the Year.