Hall of Fame Member Bios 2002

View: Alphabetical List - Members by Induction Class - Biographies

Fred Vanderslice
Fred Vanderslice, now the Superintendent of the Camden County Educational Services Commission, is best remembered in Collingswood as the person who started both the high school and community soccer programs. A graduate of Audubon High School, where he participated in track and cross country, his soccer career began in college at Morehead State University in 1965. While teaching fifth grade at the Zane-North School, playing club soccer and helping to form a community soccer league in Westville, Fred agreed to start a Collingswood High soccer club that played a JV schedule in 1968. The following year, the high school team began play in the 17-team South Jersey Soccer Association. Realizing that a feeder system was necessary to keep pace with the other schools, Vanderslice started the Collingswood Community Soccer League with four teams that played on Saturdays in the Knight Park. That program has grown and flourished in the years since and now involves hundreds of boys and girls in grassroots soccer play. Under Fred’s leadership, the high school team steadily improved and he developed such outstanding players as goalies Joe Falana and Jim Birchmeier, as well as Mark Stewart and Serry Tobia. The best season record for the Colls was 5-5-5 in 1975. Vanderslice left teaching and coaching to take a position in school administration in 1978. That fall the Panthers won the Colonial Conference championship.

George Kennedy
Recipient of this year’s Community Service Award is George H. Kennedy, a long-time Collingswood business owner and resident who has never been too busy for the youth of the borough. A native Philadelphian, he saw action in both Europe and Asia as a sergeant in the Army during World War II. Kennedy came to Collingswood in 1950 to found Kenmac Flowers with long time partner Joe McBride, a business he still helps out with 52 years later. He also joined the Collingswood Lions Club in 1950 (and is an active member) and was asked to manage the Lions team in the formative Collingswood Babe Ruth baseball program. For the next 25 years, he managed the Lions team and was instrumental in the growth of the Babe Ruth League program. He was also chosen to serve as manager and coach of several all-star teams. Kennedy is past president of the Collingswood business Association and the Lions Club. He also served as chairperson of the Collingswood Juvenile Conference Committee for five years. George Kennedy is a well-respected and much-admired man who has devoted much of his adult lifetime to serving others in his adopted community of Collingswood.

Al Neu
It is doubtful that any individual has been closer to alumni affairs of Collingswood high School than Al Neu, this year’s recipient of the Meritorious Service Award. A 1939 graduate, he participated in music and drama during his high school days. When returning from military service in 1946, he became the presiding officer of the Collingswood Alumni Association. Although his title has never been official, he has continued in the post for over a half-century. Al has also been a leader of the Collingswood Old Grads and Breakfast Club spinoffs. Over the years, Neu has written, directed and produced a number of musicals which have raised funds for the school. He has been an active member of the Executive Committee of the Collingswood High Athletic Hall of Fame. His wife, Thelma, a Merchantville grad, has supported him in his many activities for fund-raising and generally assisting alumni ventures. Al Neu knows everybody!

Fred Boehm
One of the few lineman to start for three years in the Skeets Irvine football era, Boehm started for three years, including playing on championship teams in 1940 and 1942. He was named All-Group 4 guard in his senior year. He was honored by his teammates by being named captain of the unbeaten, untied 1942 squad. His leadership was a quality greatly respected by coaches and players. In the spring of 1945, Cpl. Fred Boehm, fighting with the United States Marines on the island of Okinawa, lost a foot in combat. He now resides in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.

Irvin “Zabo” Koszewski
“Zabo” was a three-year football letterman at guard, playing on the championship teams of 1940 and 1942. As a sophomore, he saw considerable action and in his last two years played the opposite guard position from Fred Boehm. Noted for his ferocious charge, he was named All-South Jersey in 1942. He also performed on the swimming team and was a point-getter in track and field in the weight events. Although wrestling was not yet an interscholastic sport at Collingswood, he did participate in the school’s first unofficial team, coached by Cliff Rubicam. An early devotee of weightlifting, Koszewski became “Mr. New Jersey” and “Mr. Abdomen” and played roles in several Hollywood movies. He lives in Santa Monica, California.

Clarence “Sonny” Carson
One of the finest athletes of his 1940s era, Carson won three letters in baseball and two each in football and basketball. He was the regular shortstop for three seasons, a two-year starter at quarterback, and a standout guard on two strong hoops units. Sonny was blessed with both exceptional ability and great insight into playing all the sports he loved. Some athletes are leaders; Carson was, and it showed in the way he took charge while playing a leadership position in each of the three sports – football quarterback, baseball shortstop, and basketball guard. Unfortunately, the gifted athlete could not carry on his great promise, because he was killed in 1945 in a vehicular accident. He was in military service at the time.

Walter Blankley
Walt Blankley was one of the best basketball players of the all-too-brief Jack McCloskey era of the early 1950s. A three year performer, Blankley came into his own as captain and floor leader of the outstanding 1952-53 squad, which also featured fellow senior Bob Seitz and junior Hall of Famers-to-be Bucky Waters and Al Ferner. All four would go on to distinguished college careers. That Colls team produced an 18-6 record, won the South Jersey Group 4 championship and made it to the state tournament semi-finals before losing a close contest to Thomas Jefferson of Elizabeth. Blankley, an excellent student as well, went on to Princeton University and had the honor of captaining that team in his senior year. He has also achieved great success in the business arena and is married to charter Colls High Hall of Famer Rosemary Deniken.

John Hannigan
One of the best Colls High athletes produced by Oaklyn, John Hannigan was a versatile star in football, basketball and baseball on top squads during the late 1950s. A strong-legged placekicker, he was one of the stalwarts of the undefeated Golden Eleven team in ’58, primarily excelling as a linebacker/defensive back. Hannigan was a key contributor as sixth man on the 17-7 basketball team, valued for his rebounding and tough defense. In baseball, he was a power-hitting outfielder who later starred in independent leagues. He joined classmate, teammate and fellow Hall-of-Famer Dave Crossan to play football at the University of Maryland, where he again stood out as a placekicker.

Spencer Van Maussner
Van Maussner, class of 1960, was a three-year letterman in football, wrestling and golf. In football, he was one of the few underclassmen to letter on the undefeated Golden eleven squad of 1958. He started at guard as a senior and was one of the few experienced hands and bright lights of the ’59 grid team. Maussner achieved much success in wrestling. He was second in Districts in his junior year, then put it all together his senior year. He was a Christmas Tournament winner, and also won both District and South Jersey championships. He also placed third in the State tournament and had the distinction of being one of the leaders of collingswood’s first undefeated wrestling squad. Maussner began his lifelong interest in golf at an early age. He played three years of golf at Colls High and was the team’s number one player in both his junior and senior years. A very successful businessman, Van Maussner has been an outstanding supporter of Collingswood High athletics, including both the Hall of Fame and wrestling programs.

Susan Davidson MacBride
Susan Davidson MacBride, class of 1967, was a three-sport standout in field hockey, basketball and lacrosse. She lettered in all three sports twice and won the Gold medal as the “Most Athletic” girl at the end of her senior year. Her greatest individual accomplishment was leading all South jersey scorers in her senior year of hockey, when her Colls team won the Colonial Conference title. She was the Most Valuable Player and captained that team.

Stan Caccia
Stan Caccia of the class of 1971 was a three-sport star (football, basketball and track) who earned nine letters and received the Howard T. Irvine Award as the outstanding athlete in his graduating class. A standout running back on the gridiron, Caccia earned first team All-Colonial Conference honors for all three varsity seasons. He was co-captain of a team that won the South Jersey Group 3 championship and was selected to the first team on both the All-Group 3 and All-South Jersey teams. A three-year letterman in basketball as well, Caccia played on a Colls team that won the South Jersey Group 3 championship. He was a second-team All-Conference performer in his senior year. Caccia co-captained the track team in both his junior and senior years. He was an All-Colonial Conference second-team selection as a junior and first-teamer as a senior and was honorable mention All-South Jersey as well.

Ellen Jeckot Leary
Ellen Jeckot was a standout three-sport athlete during a great era of girls’ athletics at Collingswood High. She lettered for three years each in field hockey, basketball and lacrosse, earned All-Conference honors in each of those sports and was a strong contributor toward her teams winning conference titles in all three sports – a total of five team championships in her three varsity years. The class of ’71 grad was a first-team All-Colonial Conference hockey choice in her junior year and a second-team pick in her senior season, when she also captained the team. Both those hockey squads won Colonial championships. In basketball, she was a first-team All-Colonial honoree as a senior and was the second highest scorer on the Colls team that won the Colonial Conference crown in 1970-71. She and the four other basketball starters were named co-MVPs that year. It was a similar story in lacrosse, then a comparatively new sport at Collingswood. Ellen was a first-team All-Conference performer in her senior year, when the Colls won both the Colonial Conference and Delaware Valley championships. She was one of five seniors named team MVP that year.

1957 Boys Cross Country Team
Collingswood had dropped the cross-country program in 1957, when a group of eager runners went to athletic director Bill Diemer and begged him to revive the sport at Collingswood. Deimer turned to a newcomer on the staff and asked fledgling wrestling coach Sam Coursen if he would oversee cross-country as well. All that inexperienced squad and coach could do was win the Group 4 championship in its first season, losing only one dual meet to Vineland, and re-establishing cross-country as part of the storied Colls athletic program. The ’57 harriers were led by co-captains Keyes Townsend and John Handling, who were also top middle and long-distance runners on the spring track team. Fellow senior Dennis Nugent usually finished early in the pack, while opponents saw double when senior twins Art and Al Bancroft sped by them. Depth and talent were provided by juniors Ed Craft, Bob Homan, Al Maussner, Jack Robertson, Elwood Zimmerman, John Maroldo, Al Elverson, and Ron Cook, along with sophomores Mike M osman, Dave pascal, Chris Sweer, Harry Young and Joe DeSantis. Coursen also learned that cross-country was a great conditioning sport for his wrestlers who didn’t play football in the fall.

Robert K. Scarborough
Bob Scarborough, a man who has never forgotten his Collingswood roots, is a worthy recipient of the school’s first Lifetime Achievement Award being presented tonight. A 1941 C.H.S. graduate, he married school sweetheart Olive Lafferty the following year and then served in the Army Air Corps, where he flew 19 missions over Germany as a B-17 pilot. Bob had always built things since childhood, so it was not surprising that the first house he built was completed in December, 1945. Bob and Olive still reside at that home near Collingswood high School, and raised sons Randy and Kevin there. Scarborough then founded the firm which gained him recognition as South Jersey’s premier home builder and a national reputation of quality. With the help of Collingswood friends Walt riley, Jack Sansom, Bill Feather and others, he built 15,000 homes under the name of Bob Scarborough, including the communities of Barclay Farm, Tenby Chase, Wexford Leas and others. Sons Randy and Kevin became active partners in the business and now have gone on to distinguished careers in building and development – randy with apartments, town houses, commercial buildings and marinas and Kevin as the builder of 3,000 homes. In all, the Scarborough family has completed over 18,000 houses, apartments, condos, marinas, waste water treatment plants, commercial buildings, industrial facilities and miles of pipelines. To accomplish this, the Scarborough firms have employed thousands of people, including some 300 Collingswood High graduates – many of whom (including this year’s Hall of Famer Van Maussner) have become successful businessmen in their own right. Bob has been a leader in the Home Builders League of South Jersey for many years, and for the past 35 years has been actively involved with the West Jersey (Virtua) Hospital Board of Trustees and the West Jersey Foundation. He has also served many years as chairman of the Knight Park Board of Trustees. With all his success, he has remained a down-to-earth guy who is a role model for our Collingswood High posterity.