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These are the people, in alphabetical order, who have made Tipoff Weekend and the Girls Basketball Shootout successful events. Kathy & Ralph Bagnato, are our official trainers. Both are licensed athletic trainers. Kathy is currently the trainer at Pleasantville High School. Ralph spends a lot of his time with their twins. They not only are on hand to treat injuries during the game, they also work to prevent injuries by taping the players ankles and making sure there is plenty of water and sports drinks available. Kathy also spends a lot of her time straightening out John Pierantozzi. Bill Becker handles our transportation and delivery needs as well as helping out with media relations. Bill transports our sound system with his Just 4 Wheels truck and picks up food from DiOrio's in Somers Point, Atlantic City Sub Shops, Domino's Pizza, Damon's Clubhouse and other locations. As an additional service, Bill usually samples the food to assure quality before delivering it to the hospitality staff. Bob Derbyshire is a veteran public address announcer. His voice has been heard at the Cape-Atlantic League playoffs, the Battle by the Bay, Atlantic City Seagulls games and NJSIAA state championship games. A former star player himself at Atlantic City High School, it is not true that Bob held the ladder for Dr. James Naismith when he nailed up the first basket. Joe Fussner IV is our computer stats operator. He is responsible for inputting the statistics as the game progresses and producing a printed box score at the end. He has performed similar duties with the Prime Events HoopStats Service for the NJSIAA, Cape-Atlantic League, Atlantic City Seagulls, Battle by the Bay and Boardwalk Classic in Wildwood. Joe is a St. Augustine Prep and Monmouth University grad who is working as a police officer. He spends his spare time watching SportsCenter. Old Joe Fussner is the head women's basketball coach at Richard Stockton College. As such, he no longer has an official position with our events. But his advice is respected and he still holds the staff record for pancakes consumed. Jim Handshaw is our scoreboard and clock operator. He is responsible for keeping the official time and making sure that the score displayed on the board matches with the score in the official book. A teacher at Egg Harbor Township where he also operates the scoreboard at Eagles' home games, Handshaw is building a scoreboard in his back yard. Leon "Big Daddy" Hart handles the main entrance to the building, stamping hands, selling programs and answering questions about the event. He has a great deal of experience in directing building security and has worked security with the Rolling Stones. A singer himself, the recently-married Hart performed for 14 years with The Young Entertainers. He spends his spare time watching the WWF. Amy Mason is our computer spotter and stats operator. She has experience at both calling out the stats to the computer operator and operating the system herself. A former player at Egg Harbor Township who scored 24 points in the Girls Shootout. Amy is a student at Drexel University where she lives the life of Felicity. Her goal is to strike out Joe Fussner on three pitches. Steve Parker is our communications specialist and media coordinator. He helps assure that the members of the working press have the information they need and can communicate their stories to their papers or radio stations. He was a Hall of Fame athlete himself at Mainland Regional and a successful coach. Steve is an avid golfer who still plays ice hockey and is part of the Sports Team at "98.7-The Coast". John Pierantozzi coordinates our game officials. A Hall of Fame official himself, John is former rules interpreter and currently president of his IAABO chapter and has worked numerous state championship games. He teaches at Vineland High School where he also coaches the championship golf team. He is recognized as one of New Jersey's finest connoiseurs of Italian food. Harry Sachs runs the scorer's table. He is responsible for keeping the official scorebook, coordinating with the scoreboard operator and keeping the public address announcer calm and relaxed. A former coach and athlete himself, Harry is part of the faculty at Egg Harbor Township High School, directing an award-winning program that integrates students with the work force. He also spends a lot of time lending his keys. Karen Shutz is our utility player. The former basketball star at Egg Harbor Township and Iona handles many different tasks at our events. She is also helping to develop some programs for junior high girls at the Shootout. Karen's goal is to beat Leon Hart one-on-one. Lorraine Shutz is responsible for our hospitality. Together with Barbara Paul and the rest of her staff, she coordinates all of the food and drink in both The John Pierantozzi VIP Hospitality Room and the hospitality for players in the Egg Harbor Township cafeteria. An employee of the EHT school system, Lorriane spent four years traveling throughout New York and New England. Dennis Smith brings excitement to our games. His voice is the one you hear introducing the starting lineups and letting you know "that's a threeeeee-pointer". Dennis has done a lot of public address announcing at Holy Spirit High School, Cherry Hill East, Bishop Eustace Prep and other South Jersey venues. He is part of the radio Sports Team at "98.7-The Coast" and occassionally paints his face orange and black at Flyers games. Tom Williams is our operations manager. He is responsible for selecting the teams and creating the pairings. He also deals with sponsors and advertisers, makes information available to the media and supervises our Web presence. Tom has been New Jersey's Sportscaster of the Year four times, including 2000. He broadcasts with the Sports Team on "98.7-The Coast" and writes for a chain of South Jersey papers. Pete Yard is our graphic artist, responsible for the design of our logos, the pages in our official program book, our badges and signs. He is also a writer, having published two books, and a photographer. Pete is an Oakcrest graduate who enjoys traveling and adding to his James Bond and Andy Griffith collections. |