Why children are getting and what UB is - University at Buffalo

From left: Larry Gergley (EdB ’64), Bill Bilowus
(EdM ’69 & EdB ’65), Paula Listrani Starwald
(EdM ’03, BA ’01 & BA ’01), Ron Brandt (EdB
’72 & BS ’72), Mike Rielly, Ronald Balter (BA
’80), Mike Groh (BS ’78) and Gayle Terwilliger
Michalak (EdB ’62).
True Blue
setting for
Hall of Famers
Three former student athletes
and a longtime athletic
trainer were inducted
into the Dr. and Mrs.
Edmond J. Gicewicz
Family UB Athletics Hall of
Fame October 17 as part of
True Blue Weekend.
In his first varsity season
as a UB wrestler, Ron
Brandt, EdB ’72 & BS
’72, of Grayson, GA,
compiled an overall record
of 34-1-1 and was 20-0-1
in dual matches. A year
later, he posted a 20-2
mark overall, was 17-1 in
dual matches and finished
third in the NCAA Eastern
Regional Championships,
which earned him a berth
in the NCAA championships.
Baseball player Mike
Groh, BS ’78, of Buffalo,
primarily played second
base and batted .464
his senior year, finishing
among the top 10 in
batting average in NCAA
Division I play. Upon
graduation, he held nine
UB records: five career
marks and four singleseason
records. Groh was
inducted into the Western
New York Baseball Hall of
Fame in 2001.
Paula Listrani Starwald,
EdM ’03, BA ’01 &
BA ’01, of Hilton, NY, was
a three-time, first-team
all-MAC soccer player at
forward; in midfield she
was selected first-team
all–Northeast Region in
1999; and a second- and
third-teamer in other
years. She was team captain
in 1999 and 2000, and
first team all-MAC Academic
in 1998. Starwald is
the career leader in goals,
assists and points.
Mike Rielly of North
Tonawanda, NY, served as
UB’s head athletic trainer
for nearly 26 years. Rielly
served with distinction,
while putting his athletes’
health and welfare at the
forefront.
Also recognized were
Gayle Terwilliger
Michalak, EdB ’62, of
Gainesville, FL, who received
the Pioneer Award;
and Bill Bilowus, EdM
’69 & EdB ’65, of East
Aurora, NY, and Larry
Gergley, EdB ’64, of
Orlando, FL, who received
distinguished alumni
awards. The Russell J.
Gugino Award went to
Ronald Balter, BA ’80,
of Brooklyn, NY.
City Mattress was lead
sponsor of this event.
aired on seemingly every sports highlight show.
By earning 40 percent of a nationwide vote as
“play of the week,” Roosevelt’s grab earned UB
$5,000 for its general scholarship fund as the
Pontiac Game Changing Performance of the Week.
As a result, the play will be among the 13 weekly
winners for the $100,000 award at season’s end.
men’s soccer
Zeroes make heroes
“Desperately seeking scoring” might have been
the tagline for a frustrated opposition during a
remarkable run by the men’s soccer team this fall.
For more than two weeks, junior goalkeeper
Bobby Shuttleworth and the UB Bulls men’s soccer
team shut out the opposition, beginning in the
84th minute of a 2-1 loss at Michigan on September
14. They rolled through six wins and a tie
until Niagara broke through in the first half of an
October 5 draw.
The defense was equally outstanding in the
streak. Senior defender Dan Gwyther’s superlative
play on the backline, for instance, proved a boon
for head coach John Astudillo and the entire team.
Capping a successful 12-4-4 season, six soccer
Bulls have been named to the All–Mid American
Conference (MAC) teams. Gwyther was named to
the MAC first team along with junior midfielder
Alex Marrello. Shuttleworth was named to the
All-MAC second team, as were senior midfielder
Dominic Oppong, junior forward Dan Bulley and
junior defender Steffen Thoresen.
t r a c k & f i e l d /
women’s basketball
Athletes under a (cold) spell
Long Beach, CA, is a place so balmy that waterskiing
and sailing are year-round options.
So when junior Jessica Cooper—a long- and
triple-jumper on the UB track and field squad—
first arrived in Buffalo from her Long Beach home,
she discovered a climate strikingly different from
her own, one that calls for new training methods.
Cooper says her training at UB usually takes
place indoors when the cold weather arrives,
“versus back home maybe two weeks out of our
training season we would go inside.”
Jessica Fortman of the women’s basketball
team also was accustomed to warmer weather. The
sophomore forward from Ashland, KY, says the
snow—more so than temperature—changed her
training methods. “When you’re coming inside,
trying to get warmed up [for practice] takes a lot
longer,” she says.
Compiled by Nick Mendola, BA ’05
Go to
www.buffalobulls.com
for updates
on all team
schedules and
news, and for
information
on purchasing
tickets.
www.alumni.buffalo.edu UBTODAY Winter 2009 11