A quarter-century after the Staten Island Sports Hall of Fame founding fathers – decked out in formal dress for the occasion – introduced its first group of Olympians, All-Americans, big-leaguers and local legends, only the dress code has been relaxed.
The Hall will welcome its newly-elected Class of 2019 – boxing all-timer Tony Canzoneri; baseball stars Herb White and Anthony Varvaro; standard-bearing coaches Walt Hameline and Tony Rafaniello; and sportswriter Harvey Araton – in formal induction ceremonies April 4 at the CYO-MIV Rec Center in Pleasant Plains.
As part of the silver anniversary celebration, the Hall will present its first-ever Staten Island Icon award to the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
Admission to the ceremonies and the Hall of Fame Room is free.
The new class comes bearing its own legacy of national and world championships, all-time lists and assorted halls of fame, and will swell the roster of inductees to 154 individuals and five teams or groups.
White and Varvaro – a battery for the ages – could serve as bookmarks for the evolution of modern baseball in the old neighborhood.
The New York World-Telegram named White, a catcher who hit .365, .420 and .553 at Tottenville High School, the city’s high school MVP in 1935, and he hit as high as .348 over six seasons in the New York Yankee farm system. Then the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and he spent six years in the military during World War II.
With his best baseball behind him, and Yogi Berra ensconced behind the plate in the Bronx, White came home to a career on the Fire Department, coached the Wagner College baseball team, and served as an inspiration for Island players and coaches long before he was named to the Staten Island Advance All-Century Team.
Like White, Varvaro first gained attention in high school, with a no-hit, 15-strikeout game for Curtis in the 2001 city playoffs; and he was a third-team All-American and two-time Big East pitcher at St. John’s, where he remains among the all-time leaders in wins and strikeouts.
Injuries plagued Varvaro’s pro career at beginning and end; but in the decade in-between, he appeared in 166 big-league games, helped push the Atlanta Braves to an N.L. East title in 2013, and averaged a strikeout-an-inning over 11 major and minor-league seasons.
Walt Hameline, just 29 when he was named Wagner College’s football coach, guided the Seahawks to the 1987 NCAA Division III national championship, as well as a Lambert Cup, five ECAC titles, two Northeast Conference championships, and the school’s first and only PCS playoff victory.
When he retired from coaching in 2014, Hameline’s 223 victories put him in the top 50 in college football history, fifth among FCS coaches. The 2012 FCS National Coach of the Year is a member of the New Jersey Sportswriters’ Hall of Fame.
Tony Canzoneri, who moved from New Orleans to Staten Island as a teen-ager, was a five-time world champion – winning titles as a featherweight, lightweight and junior-welterweight – and one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in his prime, which coincided with the height of boxing’s popularity.
Fighting as often as three or four times a month through the 1930s, Canzoneri defeated 13 world champions on his way to a 141-24-10 record that propelled him into the World Boxing Hall of Fame, the International Boxing Hall of Fame, and the Ring Magazine Hall of Fame.
Tony Rafaniello won 511 games – almost 200 more than the next highest total among Staten Island high school basketball coaches – over 38 seasons at Monsignor Farrell, New Dorp and Moore Catholic.
Rafaniello, whose teams won five Staten Island High School League championships – two at Farrell, and three more at New Dorp – was the chief architect behind the creation of the Staten Island High School League Tournament, annually the highlight of the Island sports calendar.
Harvey Araton covered some of those games, amid a wide range of local, New York, national and international sports – including 10 Olympics – in a 40-year career as a sportswriter and columnist at the Staten Island Advance, New York Post, Daily News and New York Times.
A Pulitzer Prize nominee, he’s the author of eight books including Driving Mr. Yogi and When the Garden Was Eden, the basis for an ESPN “30 for 30” feature, and the 2017 recipient of the Curt Gowdy Award for excellence in sports journalism, presented by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
