Rockland Sports Hall of Fame to Induct Eight (By Jamie Kempton)

Eight individuals of athletic distinction will be honored at the 51st anniversary Rockland County Sports Hall of Fame induction gala on Sunday, April 14 at the Paramount Country Club in New City. The reception hour kicks off the festivities at 1 p.m., followed by the ceremony at 2 p.m.

The induction roster features Jean Cary, former coach of Pearl River High School girls’ soccer and softball; Jim Eschen, Suffern class of 1967; Scott Finlay, NYack class of 1974; Kurt Lundgren, Nanuet class of 1979; Mike Schroer, Clarkstown South class of 1992; Dana Williams, Spring Valley class of 1993; Kelvin Smith Jr., North Rockland class of 2002; and Pete Scheibner, recipient of the Joseph Holland Lifetime Achievement Award.

Cary retired in 1996 with the most career victories among Rockland County coaches in girls’ soccer (224) and softball (293). She led Pearl River to nine Sectional championships and was a pioneer in the development of girls’ sports in Rockland.

Eschen was an All-County basketball and baseball player for Suffern who played 10 seasons in pro baseball for the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals organizations. He also managed in the Mets minor league system for two years.

Finlay was an All-America lacrosse midfielder at Nyack who set the County record for career goals. He was a two-time Division I All-America attackman at Army whose school record for career goals stood for 35 years.

Lundgren, a right-handed pitcher, was Rockland Player of the Year in 1979 and led Nanuet to two Section 9 titles and one Rockland co-championship. He was Eastern Collegiate Pitcher of the Year at Columbia, and pitched in the Mets minor league system for five years.

Schroer, a half-miler in track and field, won the national scholastic indoor 800-meter championship in 1992 and had six runner-up finishes indoors and outdoors at the New York State meet. He was an eight-time Division I All-America at Georgetown and clocked the fastest 800 meters by any Rocklander (1:46.54).

Williams was a two-time All-County basketball player and is the only female 1,000- point scorer in Spring Valley school history. She scored 1,398 career points at Bridgeport and steered the team to two appearances in the NCAA Division II national tournament.

Smith was a football linebacker and fullback who earned Rockland and Section 9 Player of the Year honors in 2001 and was runner-up for NYS Player of the Year. He was an All-Big East linebacker at Syracuse and played four seasons in the National Football League for the Miami Dolphins, Carolina Panthers and Dallas Cowboys.

Scheibner is the longest-serving chairman of the Rockland County Sports Hall of Fame, having held the position since 1997, and is a 36-year member of the group’s Board of Directors. At Rockland Community College, he was an All-Conference tennis player who paced the squad to the Mid Hudson Conference team title.

Tickets for the induction dinner are $85. For further information, contact ticket chairman

Pete Castellano at riverviewmall@aol.com or 201-390-3245, or visit the Hall of Fame website at www.rcshf.org .