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Mets legendary player and announcer Keith Hernandez, three-time NBA champion Danny Green and WFAN radio personality Gregg Giannotti were among the 24 new inductees honored Thursday by the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame.
This year’s Hall of Fame’s annual induction ceremony — held at Flowerfield in St. James — drew a record crowd, Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame President and Executive Director Chris Vaccaro said.
The Hall of Fame committee honored a wide range of athletes, coaches and other people who have left their mark on athletics in Suffolk County.
Hernandez, a clutch-hitting and Gold Glove fielding first-baseman on the 1986 World Series champion Mets, has lived in Sag Harbor for decades. He commutes to his job at SNY as a broadcast analyst on Mets games. The franchise retired his No. 17 in 2022.
Giannotti of Sayville is a Bellport High School graduate who co-hosts the Boomer & Gio show with Boomer Esiason on WFAN Sports Radio. Danny Green is a North Babylon native who played 15 seasons in the NBA.
Below are some photos from the event, taken by Jo Art Photography and provided by the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame.
Listed below are the other inductees:
Bryan Collins: Sayville resident; college football coach at Post and Stony Brook. He is being awarded posthumously.
Dave Cohen: Commack High School alum who was Hofstra’s last head football coach. He has served as an assistant coach with several other college football programs and is currently the assistant head coach at Wake Forest.
Jim and Barbara Cromarty: Islip and Riverhead race track owners.
Dr. Anthony Donatelli: A Deer Park native who has been a doctor dedicated to sports medicine.
Sonny Feinman: Islip youth sports advocate and leader.
Leo Fishel: The Babylon native was the first Jewish pitcher in MLB history in 1899.
Sean Frazier: Harborfields alumnus who has been a longtime college athletic director. He is currently the athletic director at Northern Ilinois.
Howard Gershberg: A Bayport native who coached East Islip varsity baseball before excelling as St. John’s pitching coach and then in the Anaheim Angels’ minor league system.
Louis Gregory: Sachem High School alumnus who has worked as a sports agent and manager, and is a U.S. Customs & Border Protection veteran
Sue Johnson: Walt Whitman High School alumna who was an All-Ivy hoops player at Yale before embarking on a decades-long NCAA Division I coaching career at Yale, Princeton, Boston College and New Hampshire. She now serves as the athletic director at Concord Academy in Concord, Massachusetts.
Bob Kersch: Veteran Section XI official with more than a half-century of service.
Alyssa Leonard: A Bay Shore native, Leonard was an All-American lacrosse player who won two NCAA championship in college and played professional lacrosse.
Ann Liguori: Renowned radio and TV sports talk show host, golf correspondent and author.
Bob Panariello: Longtime Bay Shore athletic director and National Wrestling Hall of Fame inductee.
Dr. Frank Segretto: Doctor dedicated to sports medicine.
Brian Spallina: Rocky Point native is a lacrosse legend. He is in the Professional Lacrosse League Hall of Fame.
Vera Truhlar: Longtime Connetquot women’s gymnastics coach.
Chris Wingert: Babylon native and former professional Major League Soccer player who is the head of International Football at Roc Nation.
Donald Yorie: Director of Suffolk County Police Department Police Athletic League.
Photos: Jo Art Photography
