Tom Riker, Bill Chamberlain to be inducted into Nassau County High School Athletics Hall of Fame
Tom Riker of the Knicks in a game versus the Chicago Bulls on Nov. 2, 1974. Credit: Getty Images/Rogers Photo Archive
Tom Riker and Bill Chamberlain spent their basketball careers as adversaries on the court. Next week they will be colleagues when both are inducted into the Nassau County High School Athletics Hall of Fame.
Each was the star of a powerhouse basketball program, Riker at St. Dominic and Chamberlain at Long Island Lutheran. Their teams would meet several times in college when Riker starred for South Carolina and Chamberlain for North Carolina. And both would be selected in the 1972 NBA Draft.
Riker was the first-round pick of the Knicks and signed with them. Chamberlain was the third-round pick for Golden State, but instead signed with the ABA Memphis Tams.
They are two of the 25 standouts in the Hall of Fame’s ninth class, which will be enshrined at the Sept. 25 induction ceremony at Crest Hollow County Club.
“This is a huge honor, especially when you consider the population of Nassau County and the number of quality athletes it has produced,” Ricker said in a telephone interview from his home in Virginia. “There were a lot of great basketball players at the time. We played Bill’s team at Long Island Lutheran twice and they beat us both times.”
Also among the inductees will be Thomas Catal, who set a then-Island record with 31 pitching victories for St. Agnes and played in the Atlanta organization.
“When they told me I was going in, I thought of my father and how happy he would have been,” Catal said in a phone interview from his home in Cooperstown. “He passed away 10 years ago, but he was such a proponent of me playing baseball. I envision him looking down and saying ‘I knew it.’”
The class includes other athletes who shone in high school and went on to do great things.
Crystal Dunn helped South Side win two state girls soccer championships, was on two U.S. Olympic teams and played professional soccer. Stuart Hershon starred in football at Long Beach and Harvard before going to medical school and ultimately becoming the Yankees team doctor. Emily Menges was a standout girls soccer player at Garden City and was a starter when the Portland Thorns won the 2017 NWSL championship. Island Trees’ gymnast Marshall Avener won three state high school all-around championships and became a member of the 1976 U.S. Olympic team. Canute Curtis of Farmingdale and Richard Ohnberger of East Meadow were high school football stars who went on to play in the NFL.
And those are only a few of the exceptional athletes, coaches, trainers and administrators in this years Hall class.
“For the athletes who were the greatest in high school sports, this is Nassau County’s highest honor,” said Pat Pizzarelli, executive director of Section VIII, the body that governs Nassau County sports. “And once again, we are honoring the best of the best. It’s a terrific class.”
Tickets are still available for the Hall of Fame induction ceremony and cocktail hour and can be purchased through the website for Section VIII at www.secviii.org.
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.