February 11, 2004
Snow, Bruno and others make news
By TOM WILLIAMS
Sports Columnist
Ocean City High School graduate Diane Snow will be inducted into the South Jersey Basketball Hall of
Fame next Wednesday. The ceremonies will take place at the Clarion Hotel & Conference Center in
Cherry Hill.
Snow becomes the fourth former OCHS player to be inducted, joining Ken Leary, Stephanie Vanderslice
and Ed Paone. Three Raider coaches – Dixie Howell, Pat Dougherty and Jack Boyd – are also South
Jersey Hall of Famers.
It was Dougherty who first recognized Snow as the type of player who could make things happen for four
years. She was right.
Snow led the team in scoring her freshmen year with 17 points a game and also led in steals and assists.
That team won 11 straight games and finished 14-1. Her 255 points that year is still a school record for
points by a freshman.
The next year Snow put up similar numbers for a team that went 15-2. As a junior she averaged nearly 18
a game for an 18-1 team while continuing to lead in steals and assists. During her senior year, Snow
averaged 21.1 points on a 20-1 team, the first of six straight 20-win seasons for the Raiders.
She finished her career with 1,308 points, a solid goal for future Ocean City players. Snow graduated as
the second highest scorer in Cape-Atlantic League history. She made 44 percent of her shots during 71
games as a starter (overall record: 66-5) and had 477 steals and 367 assists. She still holds the school
career record for steals some 19 years later.
When she graduated, Snow held 28 of Ocean City's 37 school records in girls basketball. She was a
two-time selection to the All-South Jersey first team and a four-time All-Cape-Atlantic League choice. She
also was a three-time All-CAL selection in softball and played varsity tennis.
Snow attended East Stroudsburg and Glassboro State. She later became head coach at both Absegami
and Egg Harbor Township high schools. She was selected to the Ocean City Sports Hall of Fame in 1994.
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Ocean City coach John Bruno has been named an assistant coach on the South All Star Team in the New
Jersey Scholastic Coaches Association’s North-South Basketball All Star Game.
Bruno will join Brian Golub of Freehold Township as assistants to Ron Powell of Cherokee, who will be
head coach of the South Team.
The game will be played as part of a doubleheader with the statewide girls all stars on Saturday, Mar. 27
at the brand new Ritacco Center on the campus of Toms River High School North. The Ritacco Center will
host the majority of the NJSIAA state finals this year.
Bruno attended a player selection meeting on Monday and will meet with the players and their parents on
Feb. 29. There will also be practice sessions prior to the game on Mar. 27.
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Mike Lombardi, who spent his first three years of high school at Ocean City before transferring to Valley
Forge Military Academy, has taken over the duties of general manager with the Oakland Raiders.
Lombardi started his football career with UNLV before moving into the NFL. He was part of the great teams
in San Francisco and worked in player evaluation with the Cleveland Browns and Philadelphia Eagles. He
also spent a year on the CBS-TV studio show, helping to fill segments during pre-game and halftime.
Last fall, Lombardi was inducted into the Valley Forge Military Hall of Fame.
Lombardi becomes the second former CAL player to rise to that level in the NFL. Former Holy Spirit player
Terry Bradway, who lives in Linwood, is general manager of the New York Jets.
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Catie LaRue, who was one of the key figures in OCHS girls basketball the past three years, left Long
Island University, where she had earned a basketball scholarship, before the season started.
LaRue, an all-conference player for the Raiders, has been attending classes at Richard Stockton College
since the fall. If she decides to play next season at Stockton, she will have four years of eligibility
remaining.
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