USCAA Announces Hall of Fame Class of 2024
On May 23rd, the United States Collegiate Athletic Association Hall of Fame Committee announced on a five-member class that will be inducted at the 2024 USCAA Convention on June 2nd in Pittsburgh.
The USCAA’s sixth annual Sports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies will take place on June 2nd at 6:30 p.m. with a dinner and induction ceremony at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Hotel at Station Square.
"We are excited to have the opportunity to honor this year's inductees." says USCAA Chief Operating Officer, BJ Bertges. "The National Convention is one of my favorite events each year and to be able to honor our former student-athletes, coaches and meritorious contributors is very special. This ceremony not only recognizes and celebrates our inductees but serves as a reminder of where the Association has grown from and those who have made significant contributions along the way. In many ways, it serves as our motivation to continue to provide opportunities for our members and student-athletes to succeed at the highest level".
Former student-athlete honorees this year are: Andrea Watkins (Penn State Lehigh Valley), Kevin Carr (Vermont Tech) and Jessica Monzyk (Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Science)
Staff member honorees this year are: Dale Plummer (Williamson College of the Trades) and Andy Kirschner (Penn State Beaver)
Andrea Watkins – Penn State Lehigh Valley
Watkins went to Emmaus High School and played three years of Varsity basketball there graduating in 2014 and then made her transition to Penn State Lehigh Valley, where she played four years under Lorie Khalil.
During her time there she was awarded PSUAC newcomer of the year, First Team All-Conference, PSUAC player of the year, and USCAA player of the year. She is also the leading scorer at Penn State Lehigh Valley with over 1,500 points where she was a main cog in multiple PSUAC playoff games and a USCAA semifinal game.
Graduating in 2018 with a Bachelors in Rehabilitation and Human Resources, she decided to get into coaching and joined Khalil’s staff at Penn State Lehigh Valley the following yea where they won the PSUAC title in her first year.
Watkins decided to go back to school at DeSales University to get her Masters in Education and is currently a third grade teacher in the Allentown School District.
Dale Plummer – Williamson College of the Trades
A graduate from Collingswood High School in New Jersey where he was a standout tennis player, Dale Plummer went on to become their top tennis player on the Widener University Men’s Tennis team, where he as a three-time team captain and left with the school record for wins with 44.
After graduating from Widener with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, he was hired immediately by his alma mater to be the Widener University’s Tennis Administrator/Men’s Tennis Coach. Over the next 3 ½ years, he oversaw the school’s most successful stretch in school history, with the school going 33-22 and setting a school record for wins with 17 in 1988. He also was the voice of Widener University football for WDNR for 11 years.
Following his time at Widener, Plummer was hired as the Director of Athletics at Williamson College of the Trades, a position he has held for the past 35 years.
Prior to his arrival at Williamson, none of the college’s six varsity sports were in a league, conference or national organization. Those six teams combined to go 14-68-1 the year prior to his arrival.
Since his arrival, Williamson has won 26 league championships, had 25 conference Player of the Year award winners, has had 301 All-Conference players, 88 USCAA, NJCAA and NCWA All-Americans, 259 Academic All-Americans and All-Academic team members. The school’s men’s basketball team won the USCAA Division II national championship in 2008, 09 and lost in the finals in 2010. The school’s lacrosse team was the 2012 NJCAA Academic Team of the Year, while the 2023 lacrosse team was named the NCLL Division II Team of the Year. Williamson teams have played for a national championship six times, winning two of those national championship games.
In 2004, Plummer was awarded the Leadership award by the Southeastern Chester County Leadership and Prayer Breakfast in recognition of his “dedicated service to providing leadership and developing leadership and moral character in the lives of others.”
In 2015, he was inducted into the Collingswood High School Athletic Hall of Fame for his exploits in tennis and basketball during his high school career.
For the past 11 summers, Plummer has been part of a church Missions team that distributes compact water filter kits to villagers in Kenya who are dying each day due to a lack of clean water. In 2022, he was awarded the NJCAA Region 19 Champions of Character Humanitarian award for his work in Kenya, as well as for his work in feeding the hungry and homeless, and helping men stuck in addiction in Chester, PA through an organization called CityTeam, where he is a member of the Board of Directors.
In addition to his duties as Director of Athletics, Plummer also teaches Thermodynamics and Technical Math at the college, as well as runs the college’s athletics web page. He also leads a weekly Bible study for the college’s student-athletes for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, something he has done for the past 34 years.
Outside of Williamson, he is on the Boards of CityTeam, the Rocky Run YMCA, and the USCAA and is chairman of the Bethlehem Church Missions committee, where he also leads a weekly Bible study for adults. His wife Debbie is a two-time PA State gymnastics champion and runs the college’s football merchandise sales. His son Ryan, who was a featured presenter at last year’s USCAA national convention, is the Director of Esports at Indiana Wesleyan University, while his daughter Laura is a mental health therapist in Pottstown, PA.
Kevin Carr – Vermont Tech
Carr grew up in Westminster, Maryland where his love of basketball began when he was seven years old, watching his dad and older brother play. Basketball ran in Kevin's family. His older brother, Ryan, was a two-time high school Player of the Year. His dad, Mark, was a Hall of Famer at Eastern Nazarene College and a 2500-point scorer. His uncle, Ron Bradley, was also a Hall of Famer at Eastern Nazarene College and a 2600-point scorer who went on to coach at Maryland, Radford, and Clemson. Kevin's passion and confidence really blossomed as a kid attending his uncle's basketball camps at Radford University every year.
He was always the smallest player on his team by far, and it started to become concerning by the time he reached high school. As a freshman at Westminster High School, he stood just 5 feet tall and weighed a whopping 115 pounds. But that didn't stop him from being effective on the court and even making varsity as a sophomore. Despite his small stature, he was always one of the best shooters, ball handlers, and defenders on his team.
In his junior year, he stood just 5 foot 5 and averaged 14 points per game for the Owls, which earned him All-County and All-Conference honors. As a senior, he finally started to grow a little bit and reached 5 foot 9. He led the Owls to a 17-7 record, averaging 17 points per game and earning First Team All-County and First Team All-Conference honors.
In 2008-2009, Kevin decided to follow in his family's footsteps and go to their alma mater, Eastern Nazarene College, in Quincy, Massachusetts. As a freshman, he had finally hit his growth spurt and stood 6'2". As a freshman at ENC, Kevin averaged 13 points per game in the conference and shot 48% from three-point range. However, after a frustrating freshman year at ENC, Kevin decided to transfer to Vermont Tech.
In 2009-2010, Kevin transferred to Vermont Tech and was welcomed with open arms by Head Coach John Dyer. Kevin spent three years at VTC and loved every second of it where he led the Vermont Tech Knights to the USCAA tournament his junior and senior year, and his senior year led the team to its first conference championship in Coach Dyer's tenure. He was a two-time Yankee Small Conference Player of the Year and three-time USCAA All-American. Carr finished his career with 2555 career points and has the record for points and three-point field goals in VTC history and ranks among the best in USCAA history for 3pt field goals made. He averaged more than 20 points a game all three years at VTC and was tasked most games with guarding the opposing team's best player. During his three years at VTC he also was a team leader in steals and amongst the top in the USCAA as well.
Kevin graduated from Vermont Tech in 2013 with a bachelor's degree in Business Technology and Management.
He continued his basketball career after college and toured around the world with the world-famous Harlem Globetrotters, playing for the Washington Generals. He is one of the longest-tenured players in its 72-year history. He played for 11 years, traveling to every state in the United States, traveling to over 30 countries, and playing in the world's most famous arenas, including Madison Square Garden, Staples Center, and The 02 in Paris.
Carr was always in the top three for four-point percentage (40-foot shots), where he regularly shot 50%. He even had one performance where he hit 15 four-pointers.
The last couple of years with the Generals, Carr was tasked in a leadership role to routinely, through his showmanship, excite the crowds into a frenzy throughout the contests and fire up the crowds.
Jessica Monzyk – Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.
Monzyk was born and raised in Lockport New York, daughter of Michael and Maryann Monzyk. She was always a hard working student athlete, running both cross country as well as indoor/outdoor track and field. She graduated salutatorian of her high school class and decided to attend Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences to pursue a Doctorate of Pharmacy, where she was excited to discover that her running career would continue.
Her collegiate career was marked with school records and accolades including being a four-time Hudson Valley Conference champion in cross country as well as earning USCAA Second Team All-American honors as a freshman year followed by three straight First Team All-American honors. Her academic success continued as well, achieving a spot in the Rho Chi National Honor Society and eventually graduating Summa Cum Laude in 2019.
Monzyk’s first job was a Staff Pharmacist at Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown, NY before accepting her current position as a Clinical Staff Pharmacist with University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in the central PA region. In this role, she works on an interdisciplinary medicine team to provide excellent patient centered care through medication order verification, supervision of sterile compounding, and transitions of care counseling.
She still enjoys running with three marathons under her belt and big aspirations of one day qualifying for the Boston Marathon. When I am not running or working, you can usually find her hanging out with friends, reading a good book, taking my dog on adventures, or planning her next vacation.
Andy Kirschner – Penn State Beaver
Head Coach Andy Kirschner is the Athletic Director at Penn State Beaver and is in his twenty-first season with the softball team. After going 1-14 in his first season with the team, Kirschner has led the Lady Lions to prominence in both the PSUAC and USCAA.
Kirschner boasts a career record of 410-369 while qualifying for the USCAA National Softball Tournament in eleven of the last fifteen seasons.
In the 2023 season the team made waves in Myrtle Beach during Spring Training. They came back with a record of 6-1 which helped get them to an overall record of 20-17 and a PSUAC record of 9-9. The Lady Lions once again made conference playoffs but missed the National Tournament mark.
With things back on track after the COVID-19 pandemic the team tried their best to put up a fight. They went 14-14 overall and 12-6 in conference. The team made it to playoffs once again but had an early departure after two losses to Penn State DuBois and Penn State Brandywine.
The 2021 season was tough for Beaver after only getting to play other PSUAC schools. Though they had a winning record of 16-11 they were unable to secure a spot in the National Tournament due to an early departure in the PSUAC Tournament when they played Penn State New Kensington.
After leaving Myrtle Beach Spring Training in a hurry went COVID-19 hit, the team was struggling with a 1-5 record. After not being able to finish the season they looked to improve for future seasons to come.
After arriving home from spring training one game above .500 (2019), Kirschner and his team set the tone for their season going on a seven-game win streak to nearly close out March. Dropping four of five immediately following that streak, the Lady Lions got back on pace and won eight straight games to start the month of April and went on to finish the second half of the season 16-3 securing them the top spot in the west heading into the PSUAC post-season tournament, marking their fourth straight appearance. Despite an early departure from the PSUAC tournament, the team secured the #4 seed in the USCAA Small College World Series, their highest seed in recent years, where they also struggled, losing their first two games.
Coming off one of his best years (2019) as the head softball coach, Kirschner was named Coach of the Year in both the PSUAC and the USCAA. In 2019, Kirschner led his team to an overall record of 29-11 in the regular season and a conference record of 17-4. In the nation, the team led in at bats (1145), hits (401), RBI's (286) and stolen bases (114). The team was also in the top 5 in runs (308), doubles (72) and triples (17).
In addition to his accolades on the field, Kirschner was also awarded with the Scannell Award (2019), named for Robert J. Scannell. It recognizes an administrator, faculty, staff member or coach who has served commonwealth campus athletic programs with distinction.
During his tenure, Kirschner has coached one USCAA Academic All-American, 80+ PSUAC Academic All-Conference performers, 43 PSUAC All-Conference players, 20 PSUAC Honorable Mention All-Conference players, 12 USCAA All-Americans and 10 USCAA Honorable Mention All-Americans. In addition, he has coached four PSUAC Players of the Year (Ashley Watkins – 2x, Lindsey Scialdone, Vanessa Jackson), five PSUAC Pitchers of the Year (Kayla Chambers, Korey Freyermuth - 2x and Vanessa Jackson - 2x) and two PSUAC Newcomers of the Year (Vanessa Jackson, Taylor Johnson). He has also been named the PSUAC Coach of the Year four times (2009, 2011, 2012, 2019) as well as the USCAA Garth Pleasant Athletic Director of the Year Award in June 2011. Additionally, he was honored by the Beaver County Hall of Fame in 2013.
Kirschner has held a variety of positions in the Athletic Department and has also assisted with the men's basketball program for four years. He was head coach of the Beaver campus women's volleyball team for two years as well.
Kirschner earned a master's degree in teaching and curriculum from Penn State in 2007 and a bachelor's degree in elementary education from Edinboro University in 2002.