200 Memories Central

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – Welcome back to our celebration of 200 moments, memories, coaches and student-athletes from the history of Lycoming College athletics. In this 11th series of moments, we take a look at the greatest 3-point shooting season in school history, an Academic All-American and record-breaking cornerbacks and quarterbacks.

With no more ado, here are moments 101-110 in our series of 200:

101. Ed Langer, 1982-86 – When Ed Langer came to Lycoming College in 1982, the men’s basketball program was reeling from a 5-17 season. The forward quickly became a key part of the lineup, scoring 206 points as a rookie and leading the team to a three-win improvement. As a sophomore, though, as he solidified a spot in the starting lineup, Langer became a star. He averaged 15.9 points in his second year and helped the Warriors to the MAC North West division title. As a junior, he was even better, averaging 18.8 points and led the Warriors to one of the best seasons in school history. The team won 19 games and reached the NCAA Division III Tournament for the first time. As a senior, he averaged 21.3 points per game, helping the team to the conference playoffs for the third straight time. In all, Langer scored 1,582 career points, the fourth-most in school history. He earned three straight All-MAC honors, two NABC All-District honors and one ECAC Division III All-Star honor. He was inducted into the College’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 1991.

102. Larry Barretta, 1983-86 – A product of St. John Neumann in Philadelphia, Larry Baretta was a game-changing force at quarterback for the Warriors. A three-year starter for the Warriors, the mobile quarterback posted a 26-5 (.839) record as he practically rewrote the school’s record book. After playing in seven games as a backup as a freshman, he guided the team to an 8-2 record as a sophomore, rushing for 533 yards and 10 touchdowns. As a junior, Barretta was a force for the team, finishing with 23 touchdowns passing against nine interceptions while leading the Warriors to a perfect 10-0 record in the regular season. His running style helped him rack up 548 yards on the ground, helping him earn Honorable Mention Associated Press Little All-American honors. As a senior, he was even better. While leading the Warriors to an 8-2 mark, he passed for 2,097 yards, a then-school-record 25 touchdowns and he rushed for 778 yards and seven touchdowns. His 32 touchdowns responsible for still stand as a school record and his 2,875 yards of total offense not only set a school-record, but also led the NCAA Division III in 1986. He earned the MAC Player of the Year award and AP Little All-American status again and he was also named a Football News Second Team All-American for his efforts. The 1987 Tomahawk Award winner, Barretta left Lycoming holding school records in career total offense yards (7,431), total touchdowns responsible for (83), passing yards (5,413), passing touchdowns (59) and pass completions (368), although those records have since fallen. After playing a year of pro football as a tailback in Italy in 1988, Barretta went on to play three years in the Arena Football League, serving as a starter for Pittsburgh in 1990. His No. 2 was retired by the football program and he was inducted into the Lycoming College Athletics Hall of Fame in 1992.

103. Rusty Fricke, 1983-86 – Herberton Fricke, from Willow Grove, Pa., was different from any other kicker that Lycoming College ever had. He proved that as a sophomore, when he hit the only two 50-yard field goals in the College’s history, including a 56-yarder at Albright. A three-year starter, Fricke was not just one of the strongest-footed kickers in the program’s history, but also very accurate. His 95.3 point-after attempt percentage (101-of-106) is still the best in school history and his 29 field goals is second. Fricke earned First Team All-MAC honors twice and is the only player in school history to hit three field goals in five different games. As a senior, after hitting 8-of-12 field goals and connecting on 39 extra points, Fricke earned Honorable Mention Pizza Hut All-American honors. After his career at Lycoming, he went on to spend five years in the Arena Football League, spending three years in Pittsburgh and one each in Denver and Cincinnati. In Denver, Fricke became the first player in the league’s history to drill a 60-yard field goal, doing so in a 52-46 win over Columbus in 1991. What made it even more amazing is that Fricke posted the 60-yarder in the AFL, which uses goal posts just nine feet apart and 15 feet high – five feet higher than a normal goalpost. The 60-yard field goal stood as the longest in league history for 13 years and helped him earn the league’s Kicker of the Year award. He was inducted into the College’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 1994.

104. Meg Altenderfer, 1982-86 – Meg Altenderfer left a legacy as the best diver in the Lycoming College women’s swim team’s history. A four-year letterwinner, the Reading, Pa., native set school records in one-meter required, one-meter optional and three-meter optional diving and placed in one- and three-meter diving at the Middle Atlantic Conference Championships in all four of her seasons. She took first in the one-meter category as a junior and took second in three-meter diving as a sophomore. She finished third as a freshman and a senior in one-meter diving. After her junior year, the eight-time dean’s list member became the first female at Lycoming to earn CoSIDA Academic All-American honors. One of two juniors on the team, she repeated the honor as a senior, earning first team honors on the at-large team for the second time. Out of the pool, Altenderfer was a member of the Phi Kappa Phi national honor society and the Gamma Delta Sigma sorority and a writer for the student newspaper, The Lycoming Ledger. The mass communication and art major also designed a new College logo that was used in the late ’80s. There was little doubt that she has left a large impact on the College, and that impact was recognized when she won the Pocahontas Award as the College’s best female athlete and the Chieftain Award, for leaving the largest impact on the community, in 1986. She was inducted into the College’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 1991.

105. Jeff Jones, 1985-89 – No one benefitted from the NCAA rule change to add the 3-point shot during the 1986-87 season more than Lycoming College’s Jeff Jones. A 6-0, 180-pound guard from Northern Lehigh High School, Jones averaged just 4.6 points in 1985-86 with no 3-point line. As a sophomore, with the line installed and a starting slot in the lineup, his scoring average jumped to 14.1 points per game and he canned 42 treys. He exploded the next year, though, leading the NCAA Division III in 3-point field goals made per game (4.2), hitting a school-record 97 treys, and averaging 18.2 points per game. Amazingly, he hit a school-record 52.7 percent of his treys that year. He was just as good as a senior, averaging 20.0 points per game while earning NABC Second Team All-District honors and drilling 78 more treys. The First Team All-MAC honoree wrapped up his career with 1,324 career points and 232 3-pointers, as he won the 1989 Tomahawk Award as the College’s top male athlete. Jones still ranks fifth all-time in Division III in 3-point field goal percentage (.492) and 25^th in 3-point field goals made per game at 3.27. Still active in the game, Jones is currently the head varsity boys’ basketball coach at Whitehall High School.       He was inducted into the College’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 1996.

106. Bill Byham, 1988-92 – If you turned on the radio and heard a Lycoming College football game between the 1960s and the 2000s, more than likely, the voice you heard belonged to Bill Byham. A Bloomsburg University graduate, Byham developed an interest in the Warriors while working at WWPA radio in South Williamsport. The school helped install a phone line in the stadium and in the gym, and Byham began broadcasting football and basketball games and he even tried wrestling, although he admittedly didn’t know much about the sport. After retiring from the South Williamsport Area High School in 1984, he began a third career when he became the school’s sports information director, serving in the role from 1987-92. He publicized some historic moments at the school, including the football team’s run to the Division III title game in 1990. Even after retiring from the sports information office, he continued to work on radio broadcasts for the school. A local media icon, Byham has also worked in the press box at the Little League World Series since 1959. In 2002, during his 44th Little League World Series, the press box section at the Little League Volunteer Stadium was named in his honor.

107. 1987-88 NCAA Tournament Team – Having won just 11 games in the previous three seasons, the Lycoming College women’s basketball team got a major facelift from third-year head coach Kim Rockey in 1987-88. Rockey reloaded the Warriors with three hot-shooting players who averaged 37.3 of the team’s 71.4 points per game. Transfers Robyn Hannan and Kim Wood changed the dynamic of the team, giving it a solid inside-out game. With Adrienne Aiken, a freshman from Hollidaysburg, Pa., added in, the team had a completely reworked offense. Returners Kristin Friel, Karen Ramm, Colleeen McCallus and Lonna Zook gave the squad solid scoring depth. The team beat perennial regional powers Scranton, 61-56, and Elizabethtown, 60-54, for the first time in the 10-year history of the program. By ending the year with 10 wins in their last 11 games, the Warriors clinched a playoff slot for the first time in school history and a 64-57 win at Scranton in the first round helped it reach the Middle Atlantic Conference finals. Even though it lost to Elizabethtown in the finals, the Warriors still earned the school’s first bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs. Ironically, the team lost in the first round to Franklin & Marshall, which featured Christen Ditzler, who became the Warriors’ head coach just five years later. Wood and Hannan each earned First Team All-MAC honors, as Hannan was named the team MVP after averaging 13.4 points and 11.0 rebounds per game. Wood led the team with 114 assists and 74 steals and added 11.8 points per game while Aiken, who left the school as its all-time leading scorer, added 12.1 points per game as a rookie. Aiken was named to the College’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 1996.

108. Rick Bealer, 1987-90 - A 6-2, 196-pound defensive back, Rick Bealer terrorized Lycoming’s opponents for four years. More than 20 years after he last walked off the field, Bealer still holds the Division III record with 58 punt returns in 1989. He posted 566 yards on those returns, an average of 9.8 per return. As impressively, his 28 regular-season interceptions are second in NCAA Division III history, and if his three career postseason picks are included, he has 31 picks. The West Point, Pa., native posted nine picks as a sophomore to earn Second Team Pizza Hut All-American honors. He posted nine more as a junior to earn consensus All-American honors, being placed on the Associated Press Little All-American, Kodak Small College and Pizza Hut First Teams while helping the Warriors to the NCAA Division III playoffs for the first time since 1985. He also earned the school’s Sol “Woody” Wolfe Award after the season. As a senior, he posted eight picks while helping the Warriors reach the NCAA Division III finals, as he picked up consensus All-American honors for a second time. He is still the only three-time All-American in the football program’s history. The four-time All-MAC selection was inducted into the College’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001.

109. 1990 National Runners-Up - After reaching the quarterfinals of the 1989 NCAA Division III Tournament, the 1990 Lycoming football team wasn’t about to surprise anyone. They didn’t, until one of the greatest upsets in school history in the semifinals of the NCAA Championships. After dominating Washington & Jefferson, 24-0, on the road in the quarterfinals, the Warriors headed to Hempstead, N.Y., to face Hofstra. The team faced challenges before they even got to New York, as the Flying Dutchmen played on an artificial turf field. Head coach Frank Girardi made a call to Penn State and the Nittany Lion football program donated their turf shoes to the Warriors for the game. Wearing the Lions’ shoes, First Team All-MAC defensive end Joe Emrick notched three sacks and MAC Player of the Year Ed Dougherty tossed for two touchdowns and 220 yards in the 20-10 win over the Flying Dutchmen, who began a reclassification process to take them to Division I the next year. The Warriors, who featured 14 All-MAC selections and All-Americans Dougherty, linebacker Bill Small, defensive back Rick Bealer and center Joe Gillepsie, were dominant all season long en route to the championship game. Just one team, Widener, came within 10 points of them, as they posted their first undefeated regular season since 1985. The championship game was perhaps the most memorable in the history of the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, as the Warriors fell to Allegheny, 21-14, in overtime. The Warriors built a 14-0 lead by halftime, but the Gators fought back to tie the game with less than three minutes left. The Warriors got the ball to the 25-yard line on their final drive, but a 42-yard field goal as time expired fell short. In overtime, the Gators scored on their first possession to secure the title in the only overtime game in the history of the Division III title game. Amazingly, the team reached the championship game without All-American running back Troy Erdman, who was injured after the fourth game. Cory Sheridan filled in, though, running for 670 yards and Dougherty passed for 22 scores.

110. Ed Dougherty, 1990 – “Doc” was the first Lycoming College quarterback to start as a freshman, and for good reason, as he earned three All-American honors in his career. In his four years, the Philadelphia, Pa., native racked up a career record of 39-7, including a regular-season record of 34-4. After passing for more than 3,000 yards and 30 touchdowns in his first two years, including picking up Honorable Mention Pizza Hut All-American honors as a sophomore, he never lost a regular season game again, reeling off 18 straight wins to cap his career. Dougherty was at the helm during three straight playoff runs, including the run to the national title game in 1990. In his last win in 1991, he led the Warriors on a 76-yard drive, tossing a 15-yard touchdown pass to Cory Sheridan with 50 seconds left to give the team an 18-16 NCAA playoff win over Washington & Jefferson. As a junior, he won his first of two straight MAC Player of the Year awards while passing for 2,706 yards and 22 touchdowns. He set a school-record with 226 completions and earned Honorable Mention Champion USA All-American honors. As a senior, he passed for 2,642 records and completed 57.6 percent of his passes while earning Third Team Champion USA All-American honors. Twenty years after the end of his career, Dougherty still holds no less than nine school career and single-season records, including the career records for completions (720), passing yards (8,850) and touchdowns responsible for (95). Dougherty was inducted into the College’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 1997.

We hope you enjoyed our 11th look at 200 Memories. Stay tuned on Friday, Jan. 20, as moments 111-120 will be released, with moments capturing the period from 1990-1994, including the last individual national champion in the Budd Whitehill era, the starts of the careers of two of the longest tenured coaches in school history and the emergence of the men’s soccer program as a force in the Freedom Conference.

As always, if you feel we missed an event or two that can be deemed a memorable moment or a memorable student-athlete, please share them. Tell us why they are special and any information you may have about that moment or person by contacting Sports Information Director Joe Guistina at guistina@lycoming.edu. Special addendums with your feedback will be released following the conclusion of the list in 2012.