Hall of Fame
A two-sport star in baseball and basketball, Bob Piela was equally adept at fielding hot shot ground balls on the baseball diamond as he was finding the open man on the hardwood. "Piels," as he was affectionately called, not only worked magic with his glove, or his bare hand if the situation called for it, but also once led the Seahawks in batting. In one game against Fordham in his sophomore year, he had nine assists and two putouts. That year, he paced the Seahawks at the plate with a .338 average. Primarily a third baseman throughout his career, longtime Wagner head coach and Hall of Fame meber Herb Sutter, seeking to take advantage of Piel's rifle of a right arm, used him as a pitcher on occasion. As a junior in 1955, he earned victories over Kings Point and Moravian, helping Wagner fashion a 14-5 record. A senior co-captain of the 1955-56 team, the Lodi, NJ native lettered all four years in baseball. A few months prior, the unsung Piela was a "coach-on-the-floor" point guard whose precise, needle-threading passes helped spark the Seahawks to a 20-3 record in 1955-56, the first 20-win season in school history. That season, Wagner became the first hoops team in school history to post a win at Manhattan College and also defeated local power CCNY. Active on campus throughout his years at Wagner, Piela was chaplain of the Block W Club and in 1955-56, served as Vice President of his senior class. He remained active in Wagner affairs for many years following his graduation and for several years was the oldest alum to participate in the annual alumni baseball game. He and his wife Lorraine have two children; Caren and Rob and one grandchild.
