ESU Announces 36th Annual Athletic Hall of Fame Class

September 4, 2013

EAST STROUDSBURG – East Stroudsburg University will induct six individuals and its 1981-82 through 1983-84 men’s gymnastics team as the 36th class to enter the Athletic Hall of Fame on Saturday, November 2 as part of Homecoming Weekend activities.

Individuals selected for induction are football quarterback Steve Mummaw ’72, wrestling All-America Jim Vargo ’80, All-America field hockey goalkeeper Dawn Strunk ’93 M’02, All-America football linebacker Kevin Nagle ’00 M’04, standout sprinter Cheryl Griffin Birmingham ’01 and All-America soccer defender Sean Stewart ’03.

The 1983 and 1984 men’s gymnastics teams won the NCAA Division II championship, and the 1982 team was national runner-up under head coach Bruno Klaus.

The Hall of Fame class will be inducted in a ceremony in the Keystone Room, located in ESU’s Center for Hospitality Management in the center of campus. The day will begin with a brunch at 8:30 a.m., preceded by registration at 8 a.m. The inductees will also be recognized during the Warriors’ home football game vs. Lock Haven which kicks off at 3:05 p.m.

Tickets for the brunch, induction ceremony and football game are $30 for adults or $15 for children by contacting Cara Bell, Assistant to the Athletic Director, at (570) 422-3578 or cbell11@esu.edu.

Below is information on this year’s inductees:

Steve Mummaw ’72

Mummaw, a two-year starter at quarterback, was an All-PSAC East first team selection as a junior and team MVP as a senior, guiding the Warriors to a pair of winning seasons, going 5-4 in 1970 and 6-3 in 1971. He set a school record for completions which still stands in the first game of the 1970 season, going 38-for-57 in a 27-16 loss at Division I Lafayette.

Mummaw, who was a backup to Hall of Famer Bill Dukett ’70 in 1969, passed for 3,059 yards and 31 touchdowns over his two years. He threw for 1,671 yards and tied Dukett’s record with 19 touchdown passes in his first season as a starter, including a record five touchdowns against Kutztown. As a senior, he threw for 1,388 yards and 12 touchdowns while also scoring four on the ground. His career completion percentage of 53.5 was a school record at the time and still ranks fourth in the Warriors’ record book.

Mummaw is entering his 15th year as Athletic Director at his alma mater, Hempfield High School, which has won 16 state championships during his tenure, including boys and girls volleyball, boys and girls soccer and track and field. He began his career at Hempfield as an athletic trainer and Health and Physical Education teacher in 1988. He has also taught in the Blue Mountain School District and Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport, and was a graduate assistant coach for the Warriors in 1973 and 1974. He resides in Lancaster with his wife, Sandy Evans Mummaw ’77 M’83. They are the parents of a son, Stephen, who passed away in 2005.

Jim Vargo ’80

Vargo was a four-time NCAA Division I qualifier on the wrestling mat for ESU. He was a four-time EIWA placewinner, a three-time finalist and the 1979 EIWA champion at 167 pounds. He was also a four-time PSAC finalist and the 167-pound champion, also in 1979.

He graduated with the school record of 104 wins, currently third all-time and one of three grapplers with 100 career wins for the Warriors. He is fourth on ESU’s career dual wins list with 57, compiling an overall record of 104-22-2 (.820) and a dual record of 57-7-1 (.885) over four seasons. He was named ESU’s outstanding wrestler in 1980 and was named the Outstanding Wrestler of the ESU Open in 1979.

Originally from Danville, Pa., Vargo graduated from ESU with a degree in Physical Education and served four years in the U.S. Army as a telecommunications specialist, gaining an honorable discharge in 1985. He currently works in the information technology field for the federal government in Washington, D.C. Vargo resides in Stafford, Virginia with his wife Amy and children Joseph and Emma. He is a volunteer wrestling coach at Colonial Forge High School, one of the top programs in the state.

Vargo was one of three collegiate athletes in his family. His brother Joe was a three-year varsity football player at Penn State, and his brother Tom was an NAIA wrestling runner-up at Bloomsburg.

Dawn Strunk ’93 M’02

Strunk was selected to the College Field Hockey Coaches’ Association Division II All-America first team at goalkeeper as a senior in 1993 as part of her career as a two-sport athlete. She was a three-year starting goalkeeper in field hockey and three-year letterwinner in lacrosse, playing goalkeeper as a sophomore in 1991 and in the field her final two seasons.

In field hockey, Strunk was the backstop for teams that won 31 games over three seasons, advanced to the PSAC Tournament in 1991 and took the 1993 ECAC championship. She ranks second at ESU in career saves (599) and fourth in shutouts (15) and minutes played (4159). She set a school record with 224 saves as a sophomore, which currently ranks second overall, and was named to the All-PSAC first team. She allowed just 1.15 goals per game and had seven shutouts and a .889 save percentage in her All-America season in 1993. Strunk scored 20 goals and had seven assists in her lacrosse career.

After graduation, Strunk has held several coaching positions, including head field hockey and lacrosse coach at Montclair State from 1998-01, head lacrosse coach at LIU-Brooklyn from 2002-04, and head lacrosse coach and assistant field hockey coach at Bloomsburg from 2004-06. She began her coaching career as lacrosse and field hockey coach at UC-Santa Barbara, then was a recruiting coordinator for both sports at Mercyhurst before assisting ESU head field hockey and lacrosse coach Sandy Miller as a graduate assistant.

She completed her Master’s degree in Health and Physical Education from ESU in 2002, and has also worked as a personal trainer and sports performance coach in Martinsville, New Jersey, and Villanova and Hazleton, Pennsylvania. She is a native of Pottstown and currently resides in Wilkes-Barre.

Kevin Nagle ’00 M’04

Nagle, a two-time PSAC East Defensive Player of the Year, was named to the Associated Press Little All-America first team and Daktronics All-America first team as a senior in 2000. He was a four-time All-PSAC East first team selection at linebacker, one of four Warriors to earn four straight first-team nods along with linebacker Jeff Johnson ’79 (1975-78), kicker Mark Brubaker (2002-05) and quarterback Jimmy Terwilliger ’07 (2003-06).

Nagle led ESU in tackles each year from 1997 to 2000 and ranks second in school history with 477 career tackles while adding 47 tackles for a loss and 16.5 sacks. He had 90 tackles as a freshman, 139 (12 for loss) as a sophomore, 123 (13 for loss) as a junior and 125 (16 for a loss, 8 sacks) as a senior. His 139 tackles as a sophomore in 1998 are third-most in school history. He had double-figure tackles in 20 consecutive games during his career.

He was named to Don Hansen’s Football Gazette All-America team as a junior and senior, was a three-time All-ECAC selection, and was selected to compete in the Cactus Bowl following his senior season.

Nagle began his professional career in camp with the Washington Redskins prior to the 2001 season, then played seven years in the Arena Football League, beginning with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers in AF2. In the AFL, he helped the Orlando Predators advance to the Arena Bowl in 2006 and also played for the Nashville Kats and Colorado Crush.

A graduate of Pleasant Valley High School, Nagle coached the Bears’ linebackers for four seasons (2009-12) under head coach Jimmy Terwilliger ’07. He coached an All-MVC linebacker during each season, including a first team All-State selection in 2012. He is the owner/operator of Beltzville Standup Paddle, which specializes in personal training, standup paddle fitness, lessons and ecotourism in Beltzville State Park.

Cheryl Griffin Birmingham ’01

Birmingham was named ESU’s Female Senior Athlete of the Year and Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2001, graduating with 10 school records – five which still stand more than a decade later. Her career was highlighted by a trip to the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships as a junior, becoming the first ESU men’s or women’s sprinter to compete at the NCAA Championships. She was also an Academic All-America as a senior.

She was a three-time ECAC indoor champion, winning the 55m dash as a senior and 200m as a junior and senior. She also won three ECAC indoor relay titles, capturing the 4x200m as a freshman and senior and the 4x400m as a senior. At the PSAC outdoor championships, she helped the Warriors to titles in the 4x400m relay as a junior and senior. She was a three-time PSAC runner-up, including the 100m dash as a senior, where she was second to the eventual national champion.

She set school records in the indoor 55m, 60m, 200m, 4×200 and 4×400 relays, and outdoor records in the 100m, 200m, 4×100, 4×200 and 4×400 relays. She still holds records in the indoor 55m (7.13), indoor 200m (24.94), indoor 4×200 relay, outdoor 200m (24.59) and outdoor 4×400 relay.

A native of Walden, N.Y. and a graduate of Valley Central High School, Birmingham has taught English for 10 years, beginning at Monroe Township (N.J.) for two years and continuing at Henry E. Lackey High School in Charles County (Md.) for the last eight years. She was recently promoted to Pupil Personnel Worker at Lackey High School. Birmingham was also a track and field coach for the first four years of her teaching career. She and her husband, Peter, were married in 2005 and are the parents of three children – twin boys Griffin and Matthew (5) and daughter Carly (2).

Sean Stewart ’03

Stewart was a two-time NSCAA All-America at center back for the Warriors, earning first team honors as a senior in 2002 and second team status as a junior. He was a four-time All-PSAC first team selection and a four-time All-Region selection, including three times on the first team. He was named ESU’s Male Senior Athlete of the Year in 2003 and was a PSAC Fall Top 10 selection in 2002.

Stewart led the Warriors to four straight PSAC championships from 1999-02, part of a stretch of seven straight titles from 1997 to 2003 under Hall of Fame head coach Jerry Sheska ’68 M’81. He was named MVP of the 1999 PSAC championship game as a freshman, a 3-0 win over Lock Haven. He helped ESU reach the NCAA Division II Final Four as a sophomore, earning a spot on the All-Tournament team, and the national quarterfinals as a senior to highlight four NCAA Tournament appearances. He was also voted the outstanding defensive player for the Kiwanis Soccer Classic three times in his career.

ESU was 69-13-5 for a .821 winning percentage over his four seasons, allowing just 78 goals in 87 games.

Stewart, affectionately known as “Dunga”, is a native of St. Elizabeth, Jamaica, where he started scholastically at Munro College before arriving at ESU. He resides in Toronto, Ontario where he is an accountant for Arcturus Realty, a subsidiary of SNC-Lavalin Group, Inc. He graduated from ESU in 2003 with degrees in Economics and Business Management, and obtained his MBA in Finance from Nyack College in 2007. He and his wife, Venice, are the parents of a four-year old daughter, Allyana, and a one-year old son, Aljermaine.

1981-82 through 83-84 Men’s Gymnastics

The Warriors, coached by Bruno Klaus, were the NCAA Division II champions in 1983 and 1984 after finishing as the national runner-up during the 1982 season.

The teams featured 12 athletes who earned All-America honors over the three seasons, including four who earned national championships in Franklin Winstead ’83 in the floor exercise in 1982, Alan Emerick ’84 in the high bar in 1983, Jeff Clements ’84 in the floor exercise in 1984, and Joao Luiz Ribeiro ’85 in the all-around, parallel bars and high bar in 1984.

ESU’s 1983 national championship was the school’s first NCAA team title in any sport as they edged three-time NCAA champion, Wisconsin-Oshkosh, by less than a point – 258.65 to 257.85. The meet was held at the University of California-Davis and was shown to a nationwide audience by the fledgling ESPN cable television network.

In 1984, the Warriors captured their second straight NCAA title with a school-record 270.80 points – a margin of more than 24 points over runner-up Cortland State.

Greg Knowlden, Sports Information Director
gknowlden@esu.edu
http://www.esuwarriors.com/

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