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Just over 35 years after capturing the Suffolk County championship, Patchogue-Medford’s 1988 football team will be inducted into the district’s Hall of Fame.
Ten other individuals or groups, including members of the girls basketball program who played from 1927-1932, will be honored during the district’s seventh annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony on May 3. Numerous other alumni and coaches, together with a Patchogue business owner and the Patchogue-Medford Fathers Club For Sports will be honored.
Patchogue-Medford’s football team put together an historic run through the playoffs in the fall of 1988, which culminated in a classic 15-14 win over East Islip in the Suffolk County championship. Led by Suffolk Coach of the Year Robert Reifsnyder, the Raiders featured All-American defensive lineman Mark Zumpol, who that fall earned the Zellner Award, given to the Suffolk’s most outstanding lineman.
Local business owners John Peragine, who operates Donatina Neapolitan Pizza Cafe and co-owned PerraBell in Patchogue, and John Giannott, who owns Porter’s in Bellport, were members of the 1988 team.
The story of PeraBell Food Bar in Patchogue
Their Pat-Med classmate and fellow local restaurateur Scottie Campbell is also among the Hall of Fame honorees. The district will additionally honor Mark Miller, owner of Patchogue’s Harbor Crab, for his involvement with the district.
The district will also induct Raider football player, Derric Rossy, who played defensive end at Boston College and later became a professional boxer, into its Hall of Fame. Rossy graduated from Pat-Med in 1998.
The other Hall of Fame inductees are longtime Pat-Med coaches and teachers Bill And Jeri Clendennen and students Abigail Pastor Cotler (Class of 1973), John “Harry” Kellers (Class of 1942), and Nicolas Sanchez (Class of 1999). Pat-Med student-athlete James Gerardi, who has battled a debilitating illness, will receive the Sean Patrick Dixon Hall of Fame Raider Courage Award.
The induction ceremony and dinner is Friday, May 3, at Patchogue-Medford High School, NAVY (SEAL) LT Michael P. Murphy Campus. Dinner is scheduled for 5 p.m., followed by the induction ceremony at 6:45 p.m.
Top photo: A framed photo collage honoring the 1988 Patchogue-Medford football team hangs outside the gym and auditorium in Patchogue-Medford High School (Facebook).
