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Eight Athletes Inducted Into Fordham’s Hall of Fame
BY BERNIE BEGLANE
It has been almost 67 years since Ralph St. Pierre received his undergraduate degree from Fordham University.
A distinction indeed for the native of upstate Glens Falls.
But there is more to his claim for fame at the Jesuit Fathers’ school in the Rose Hill section of the Bronx.
As the lead-off man on the 1600-meter relay team in 1939, he teamed with Wesley Wallace, Frank Slater and George Leary to shatter the National AAU indoor record.
That same year the foursome set two more marks. The first was a world record in the one-mile relay at Dartmouth College and the second was a track record for the same event at Boston Garden.
And while both of them have been surpassed since, St. Pierre, now 90 years of age, still has claims to fame.
The prostate cancer survivor, who now wears a pacemaker, also established two Fordham records in the long jump in 1939 that still stand today.
Indoors he cleared 23 feet, 1 inch and outdoors 24-1.875.
Little wonder that he was inducted into Fordham University’s Athletic Hall of Fame last Sunday at Rose Hill Gym during halftime of the Rams’ basketball game against Rhode Island.
Joining Ralph was Paul Smith, Jr., Class of 1993, who set three individual freestyle swimming records that still stand today.
They are 4:31.35 in the 500 freestyle, 9:21.80 in the 1000 freestyle, and 15:32.76 in the 1650 freestyle.
In 1991-92, the Rams went undefeated in earning the Patriot League championship.
Samantha Smith, 1999, was another inductee based on her rowing talent that led the school to three Atlantic 10 Conference titles.
Bob Kingsbury, who graduates in May, represents the baseball team. Over his three-year career he compiled a .352 batting average.
He played for Greece in the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
Kingsbury’s wife, Erin a 2004 graduate, was a member of the softball team.
Matt Albiani ’94, as a freshman, was a member of the rowing squad which dominated the prestigious Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia.
Damon Lopez ’91, a three-year letter winner in basketball; John Pieracini ’98, a linebacker who was a three-time second-team all-Patriot League choice, and Vincent Porricelli, head athletic trainer since 1999, completed the inductees.
“Once I enrolled at Fordham,” explained St. Pierre, who now uses a walker to navigate, “I led the team in scoring in all of our meets.
“After I graduated I remained in competition and won three Adirondack AAU long jump titles. I was 28 when I earned the gold medal in the third one.”
Just as it took a long time before receiving recognition from Fordham, the same can be said about Ralph’s earlier honors.
It was not until 1988 that St. Pierre was inducted into the Glens Falls Heritage Hall of Fame.
And it took another 11 years for him to receive membership in the Glens Falls High School Hall of Fame.
Paul Smith, a native of Alabama who now resides in Clover, S.C., also was honored.
He won the 1650-yard freestyle in both 1991 and ’92 in the Patriot League championship. In the latter year he also was No. 1 in the 500 freestyle.
The Patriot League, in 2001, named him in the all-decade team.
Samantha Smith, as a freshman, was a walk on to the varsity and helped the open weight four to the Atlantic 10 crown and a second-place finish in the Dad Vail.
Samantha, who graduated from John S. Burke Catholic H.S., Middletown, N.Y., went on to become an attorney and currently resides in Anchorage, Alaska.
Kingsbury’s .352 batting average for his three years is the eighth best in Fordham history. He also set a school record and tied an NCAA mark with eight stolen bases in a game against Wagner College in 2001.
That same season he established another mark with nine RBIs against LIU-C.W. Post.
Albiani, from Winchester, MA, was a member of the only Fordham crew to make it to the grand finals in the lightweight eight at the IRA national championships.
Lopez finished his basketball career with 1,101 points, No. 21 on the school’s all-time list.
He received tryouts with the Portland Trailblazers and Denver Nuggets before playing professionally in Croatia, Spain, Venezuela, Portugal, Iceland and Turkey.
Now Damon is a counselor for the Jewish Board and Family Children Services.
Pieracini wound up with a Fordham career record of 385 tackles. He also was a three-time (1995-6-7) Patriot League second team selection.
Porricelli is a Manhattan College and Columbia University graduate where he received his physical therapy certification.
He has been on the training staff since 1982 after being at Lehman College.
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