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Six Clarkson athletic standouts to be inducted into 'Hall of Fame' his fall

Posted 7/17/12

POTSDAM -- Six former Golden Knight athletic standouts and a long-time benefactor will be inducted into the Clarkson University Athletic Hall of Fame this fall. Clarkson will honor Barney Adams …

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Six Clarkson athletic standouts to be inducted into 'Hall of Fame' his fall

Posted

POTSDAM -- Six former Golden Knight athletic standouts and a long-time benefactor will be inducted into the Clarkson University Athletic Hall of Fame this fall.

Clarkson will honor Barney Adams ‘62, Mark Bissonette ‘81, Bill Blackwood ‘78, Linda Bondellio ‘03, Craig Conroy ‘95, Tom Hurley ‘66 and Frank Rotunno ‘56. Ceremonies for the eighth induction class into the Clarkson Athletic Hall of Fame will take place on Saturday, October 20.

Barney Adams

Adams attended Clarkson on an athletic scholarship in the late 1950s, early 1960s, participating in golf, basketball and soccer for the Golden Knights, but he really made his mark in the sports world after graduating in 1962 with a Business Management (BBA) degree. A native of Syracuse, N.Y., he is the founder of Adams Golf <http://www.adamsgolf.com/> , inventor of the Tight Lies fairway wood – one of the best-selling golf clubs in history, holder of several patents on golf products, and author of The WOW Factor.

Mark Bissonette

Bissonette was an all-star for the Golden Knights’ soccer teams in the late 1970s and 1980. The Massena, N.Y. native is listed among Clarkson’s all-time leading scorers with 95 points on 37 goals and 21 assists in 57 career games from 1977-80, and established several school records. Bissonette was a 1980 All-America, three-time All-NYS all-star and was twice named ICAC MVP (1979 and 1980).

An All-Star defenseman for Clarkson Hockey in the mid-1970s, Blackwood is the Golden Knights' all-time leading scorer from the blueline. Honored on ECAC

Bill Blackwood

Hockey’s All-Time Top 50 Team, the Copper Cliff, Ont. native tallied 169 points on 52 goals and 117 assists in 123 games from 1974-78. He was twice named an All-America (1977, 78) and was a three-time ECAC All-Star along with being recognized on the 1970s ECAC Hockey All-Decade First Team. Blackwood helped to lead the Green and Gold to the 1977 ECAC regular-season championship as the top scoring defenseman in the conference during the 1976-77 campaign with 71 points, including 54 assists through 34 games.

Among the most prolific players in the history of Clarkson Women’s Basketball, Bondellio earned numerous honors at the University both on the

Linda Bondellio

court and in the classroom. She was a two-time Kodak All-American and was named a NYSWCAA Scholar Athlete and CoSIDA Academic All-American in her senior season of 2002-03 with a double major in Physical Therapy/Business. A native of Watertown, N.Y., Bondellio ranks as Clarkson’s all-time leading rebounder with 900 and second all-time leading scorer with 1,564 points. She holds the school record for highest scoring (15.64 ppg) and rebounding (9.00 rpg) averages along with free throws made (384). A three-time Upstate Collegiate Athletic Conference (UCAA) All-Star, Bondellio was honor as conference Rookie of the Year in 1999-2000.

Craig Conroy

One of the all-time fan favorites in the long, rich tradition of Clarkson Hockey, Potsdam, N.Y. native Conroy helped to lead the Golden Knights to some of their best seasons ever during the 1990s, and then went on to a lengthy and illustrious career in the NHL. Conroy ranks as one of the Green and Gold’s all-time leading scorers with 167 career points (63-104) in 140 games from 1990-94. He was the 1994 Hobey Baker Award Runner-up and All-America in his senior campaign. After playing on Clarkson teams which posted four consecutive 20+-win seasons, made three NCAA Tournaments and captured one ECAC regular-season championship and two conference tournament titles, Conroy moved to the NHL where he skates in 1,009 games during his 16-year (1994-2011) career. He recorded 542 points (182-360), playing for Montreal, St. Louis, Calgary and Los Angeles.

A member of Clarkson Hockey’s 100-point club by averaging over 1.40

Tom Hurley

points per game, Hurley was a top center for head coach Len Ceglarski’s teams in the mid-1960s scoring 104 points on 42 goals and 62 assists in 74 career games. As a senior assistant captain in 1965-66, he helped to lead the Knights to a 24-3 overall record, Clarkson’s first ECAC Tournament title and a runner-up showing in the NCAA Championship game. He was named to the postseason all-tournament first-teams in both the ECAC and NCAA. A Massena, N.Y. native, Hurley became Clarkson’s first Olympian when he skated for the United States in the 1968 games in Grenoble, France. Hurley was also an excellent baseball player for the Knights.

Rotunno ‘56 has been a generous supporter of Clarkson and the University’s Athletic Department since graduating with a degree in business

Frank Rotunno

administration. As an undergrad, he was the founder of Clarkson’s Barbell Club, the University’s first student fitness organization. Rotunno played a leading role in the funding of the current Fitness Center and was very instrumental in the construction of Cheel Arena and Campus Center. He pursued a very successful marketing career with Marathon Corporation, Potlatch Forest, and Constellation-Hygeia. In 1970, Rotunno established United Sales Concepts, a sales organization for manufacturers of food service disposables. His credits at Clarkson include service as vice president and president of the Clarkson Alumni Association; a volunteer for admissions, career services and institutional advancement; and three terms on the Clarkson Board of Trustees. Rotunno is a Clarkson Trustee Emeritus.

The Clarkson Athletic Hall of Fame was established at the University to recognize those individuals, who either through participation, support, or interest, have made outstanding contributions to Clarkson Athletics, and who have helped bring recognition, honor and distinction to the University.

Fifty-seven members have been previously inducted, beginning with the inaugural class, consisting of 15 individuals, in the fall of 1992. Five more Clarkson athletic standouts were honored in 1995, nine more former Golden Knight all-stars were inducted in 2004, and nine more were honored in 2005. The Class of 2007 saw six more former Clarkson greats join the illustrious group and eight more were inducted in 2008. In 2010, five more joined Clarkson’s Athletic Hall of Fame.