NEC Interviews at 2012 Basketball Writers Association Banquet

New York, NY- Wagner College Athletic Director Walt Hameline received a 2012 Distinguished Service Award from the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association (MBWA) which was presented on Thursday evening, April 26 at the 79th annual NIT/MBWA All-Met Haggerty Awards Dinner at the Westchester Marriott in Tarrytown, NY.
 
Distinguished Service Awards are presented by the MBWA, the oldest such awards program in the country, to individuals who have made significant contributions to college basketball. The dinner was attended by several hundred Division I, II and III student-athletes, coaches and administrators from across the metropolitan area.
 
"I have had the privilege of knowing Walt since I came to Wagner a decade and a half ago, and he has always been, in my opinion, one of the very best representatives of our college community, and one of the finest men I've had the pleasure to know,” said Richard Guarasci, president of Wagner College. “He has my congratulations and the best wishes of all of us here at Wagner. This award is richly deserved,"
 
Now in his 31^st season as Wagner athletic director, Hameline has enjoyed a long and proud association with metropolitan area basketball and the NIT. For more than two decades, he was one of five metro area athletic directors, along with his peers at NYU, Fordham, Manhattan and St. John's, who helped comprise the Metropolitan Intercollegiate Basketball Association (MIBA), along with NIT Executive Director Jack Powers and the sitting ECAC Commissioner.
 
MIBA, of which Hameline was a past president, selected teams for both pre-season and post-season NIT's while direction other functions such as the annual NIT All-Star Summer Tour.
 
Hameline had the honor of being introduced by esteemed sportswriter Jim O'Connell, who has been the national college basketball writer for The Associated Press since 1987, 10 years after he joined the wire service. O'Connell has covered more than 2,000 games, including every Final Four since 1979, as well as six Olympics, four World Championships and two Pan Am Games.
 
“The dean of area athletic directors, Walt is an emotional man to say the least. He's one of those people who always seemed to be going somewhere in a hurry but he was headed there with a smile on his face,” said O'Connell.
 
 “Accept when he puts on the eye black and becomes a football coach,” O'Connell quipped.
 
“I am truly honored to be receiving this award from an organization that I hold in such high esteem,” said Hameline. “It is quite humbling to receive an award that has previously gone to such a group of outstanding colleagues who have achieved so much in their careers.
“I've been fortunate to be involved in college athletics all these years,” he added.  “I appreciate this award and know I speak for everyone in this room in saying that we're awfully lucky to be doing what we're doing.”
 
In addition to his duties as athletic director, Hameline will enter his 32^nd season as Seahawk head football coach in 2012 with a career record of 204-122-2 (.624) and led the 1987 Seahawks to the Division III National Championship. During his enduring and successful career, Hameline has positively impacted the lives of countless student-athletes while overseeing a dramatic upgrade in the Seahawks' athletic programs, scholarship offerings and facilities. He has also been a key developer of the Northeast Conference and is a past president of the league.
 
A 1975 graduate of Brockport (NY) State with a B.S. in physical education and a Masters in education from Albany (N.Y.) State, Hameline and his wife Debbie reside in Colts Neck, NJ with his wife, Debbie, and the couple are the proud parents of daughters  Kristen and Kelly.
 
Hameline is one of three Athletic directors who will receive 2012 Distinguished Service Awards from the Met Basketball Writers Association, along with Bob Byrnes of Manhattan and Ray Rankis of Baruch.
 
Previous recipients of the MBWA Distinguished Service Award:
 
2011    Joel Blumberg, Tim Higgins, Bob Wolff
2010    Gene Doris, Jim Haney
2009    Mike Granelli, Steve Smith
2007    Chris Monasch, Larry Schiner, Tom Lopes
2006:   Nick Macarchuk, Dianne Nolan
2005:   Ray Amalbert, Cal Ramsey
2004:   Bill Stein
2003:   Edgar Cartotto, Mickey Crowley, Brad Tracy
2002:   Richie Regan, Jim Lennon
2001:   Carol Blazejowski, Burt Beagle
2000:   Lou Rossini, John “Doc” Johnson, J.B. Buono
1999:   Rich Ensor, Bill Steinman
1998:   Mike Tranghese
1997:   Bernie Beglane, Bob Mulcahy
1996:   Pete Carril, Paul Munick, Jack Powers:
1995:   Bob Gesslein, Jack Kaiser, Paul Lizzo, Dan Quilty
1994:   Ralph Arietta, Butch van Breda Kolff
 
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