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Outstanding Alumni Honored During Homecoming

Clockwise from top left are Jack Quinn, Chris Sharpe, Joshua Bourne, Alison Mellage Campise, Carlton Sedgeley, Maggie Cox Land, Pete Avdoulos, and Sherilyn Sanborn. Not pictured: Glenn Pires and Don Snyder.

Clockwise from top left are Jack Quinn, Chris Sharpe, Joshua Bourne, Alison Mellage Campise, Carlton Sedgeley, Maggie Cox Land, Pete Avdoulos, and Sherilyn Sanborn. Not pictured: Glenn Pires and Don Snyder.

Distinguished Alumnus/Alumna Award

Carlton Sedgeley ’63

Carlton Sedgeley is the president and CEO of Royce Carlton, Inc., a speaker agency and management firm in New York City. For more than 45 years, the company has represented speakers from many disciplines and specialties, including world affairs, politics, business, economics, arts, culture, health and wellness, and science and technology. His partner in life and work is his wife, Lucille LePage, executive vice president of Royce Carlton. The Sedgeleys founded Royce Carlton, with a defined and transparent direction, which he hoped would not only make his company successful, but also would create changes within the industry. They created a “Uniform Lecture Contract” that recognized the rights of both the speaker and the customer. Royce Carlton still operates by these same fair and transparent ideals. In 2012, the Sedgeleys were inspired to create the Carlton and Lucille Sedgeley Endowed Fund, which supports the Arts and Humanities Speaker Series at Springfield College.

Distinguished Alumnus/Alumna Award

Glenn Pires ’80

In 2015, Glenn Pires joined the Chicago Bears as linebackers coach after seven seasons with the Atlanta Falcons. The 2015 season marks his 20th season overall in the NFL. Pires’ NFL coaching career began in 1996 with the Arizona Cardinals. Before joining the coaching staff for the Falcons, he coached linebackers from the Detroit Lions and Miami Dolphins. With the Falcons, Pires saw the team take the 2010 and 2012 NFC South Championship. He also served on the 2012 Pro Bowl coaching staff. Pires began his career at Melrose (Mass.) High School, where he served as the assistant football coach. In 1983, he took a position as a graduate assistant at Syracuse University, where he worked with linebackers and the offensive line, followed by a position as defensive line/linebackers coach at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. Pires headed back to Syracuse in 1989, where he took on the role of outside linebackers and defensive line coach.

Young Alumnus/Alumna Award

Joshua Bourne ’04

Joshua Bourne has served in the U.S. Marine Corps since 2002. He currently serves as a captain and security cooperation planner and communications officer. Since enlisting, he has served as a platoon commander, battalion and regimental communications officer, operations and assistant operations officer, and security cooperation planner. His tours of duty include Iraq in 2005-08, during which he served in combat operations in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom; 2008-11 on Marine special operations assignment; and in various countries in Africa in 2011-14, where he served in numerous roles including management of security assistance, maritime security, and state department liaison work in multiple embassies. Bourne has been awarded the Navy Commendation Medal twice.

The Tarbell Medallion

Margaret Cox Land ’58

Margaret Cox Land has given much of herself to Springfield College. She has served in numerous roles as a leader for alumni and, more specifically, the Class of 1958. Land served as a corporator for the Springfield College Board of Trustees from 1993-2000. In addition to her role with the Board, she is a past class agent, former Alumni Council Member, and has served on the Class of 1958 Reunion Committee for decades. Her roles have included developing the class newsletter and facilitating fundraising as co-chairperson. Land is a loyal contributor to Springfield College and a member of the David Allen Reed Society who says that her passion for the Humanics mission has remained strong throughout her life. She currently is a part-time clinical social worker at St. John’s Medical Center in Jackson, Wyo.

The Athletic Hall of Fame

Donald Snyder ’49

Donald Snyder is a legend at Farmingdale High School, where he spent 42 years as the head football coach, becoming one of the winningest coaches in New York State history. In four decades, he compiled an astonishing record of 237-93-9, for a winning percentage of .701. His teams had seven undefeated seasons, winning 15 conference championships, and were voted the top team in Nassau County six times. Snyder’s 1972 and 1978 teams were ranked sixth nationally and in 1978, his team didn’t allow a single point all season. The school’s football stadium and physical education complex bear his name and the county football coaches present a Don Snyder Award and Scholarship each year. In 1997, the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame started the Don Snyder Award for contributions to amateur football on Long Island.

Sherilyn K. Sanborn ’77

Sherilyn Sanborn was a standout three-sport athlete at Springfield College as a four-year starter in field hockey, basketball, and softball. Sanborn lit up the scoreboard in her four years on the women’s basketball team. In her sophomore and junior years, she ranked second on the team in scoring, averaging 11.9 points per game in the 1974-75 season and 11.6 points per game in 1975-76. In her four years as catcher on the softball team, Springfield had a combined record of 53-7. In 1975, Sanborn led the team in RBIs (20), tied for first in runs scored with 24, second on the squad in batting average and walks (10), and third on the team in hits (18). That year, the team posted a perfect 12-0 record behind Sanborn, who hit .428 on the season. In 1977, Springfield tallied 16 wins, while Sanborn led the team in triples (2) and was second in RBIs (13) and hits (18). As a member of the field hockey program, Sanborn was selected to the national field hockey team. The Springfield Union News, now The Republican, also named her as one of the Western Massachusetts Athletes of the Century in 2001.

Jack Quinn ’80

Jack Quinn is one of the greatest players to pass through the storied Springfield College football program. 
A three-year football player, Quinn served as a team captain during the 1979 season. Quinn was named a Division II Kodak Coaches All-American twice in his career and a Division II Associated Press Little All-American in 1978. He also was named first team All-Eastern College Athletic Conference, first team All-New England College Division by the United Press, first team combined divisions All-New England 
by the Associated Press, two-time Springfield College defensive MVP, Springfield College team MVP in 1978, and Junior Athlete of the Year in 
1978. He also was honored as the Chevrolet Player of the Game for the regionally televised game against American International College in 1979. After his storied career at Springfield College, Quinn returned as a graduate assistant coach from 1980-82. During that time, he was invited to the Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots 
training camps.

Peter J. Avdoulos ’85

Peter Avdoulos is regarded as one of the top Division III diving coaches in the nation. Currently in his 30th season as the diving coach for both the men’s and women’s programs at Springfield College, Avdoulos was a standout diver as an undergraduate. He received the Charles Batterman Award as the top New England performer during a four-year period, and also represented Springfield at the national level. In 2014, Avdoulos was named the New England Men’s and Women’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Men’s and Women’s Diving Coach of the Year, marking the third-consecutive year he has swept both honors and the fifth time he has done so in his career. He has been named the NEWMAC Men’s Diving Coach of the Year 12 times, including each of the last seven seasons, and the Women’s Diving Coach of the Year six times. At the national level, Avdoulos has been honored as the NCAA Division III Women’s Coach of the Year four times since 1996 and as the NCAA Division III Men’s Coach of the Year in 2005.

Alison M. Mellage Campise ’03

Alison Mellage Campise is one of the finest divers in the history of the Springfield College diving program. Campise holds the school record on the one-meter board with a score of 442.50 for 10 dives, a record she set in 2001. An eight-time All-American, crowned the NCAA National Champion on the three-meter board in 2001, Campise excelled in the pool and in the classroom, garnering Academic All-American honors. At the conference level, Campise was a three-time NEWMAC Champion and earned the conference’s Diver of the Year award in 2001. Since her days at Springfield College, Campise has been teaching health and physical education. In 2005, she was named the New Jersey High School Gymnastics Coach of the Year and coached the first female diver at North Brunswick Township High School to win the New Jersey State Championship.

Christopher C. Sharpe ’08

Chris Sharpe is one of the most decorated athletes in the history of Springfield College football and lacrosse, named Springfield College Two-sport Male Athlete of the Year three times during his career. On the football field, Sharpe was a four-year starter at quarterback and was named the top player in the nation as the NCAA Division III Player of the Year in 2006. That year, Sharpe was featured live on ESPN with Desmond Howard after scoring six touchdowns in a game against St. John Fisher College. His recognitions include second team Associated Press Little All-American and a D3Football.com and Football Gazette Honorable Mention All-American. Sharpe was first team Division II-Division III All-New England and received the Gold Helmet Award as the New England Player of the Year. He was named to the New England Football Writers all-region team. Sharpe also was the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston Player of the Year, the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Co-Player of the Year, was named to the ECAC All-East team, and was the Empire 8 Offensive Player of the Year. As a four-year member of the men’s lacrosse team, he was named Pilgrim League Player of the Year in 2008, was a team captain and earned All-ECAC and All-New England honors. After his days with the Pride, Sharpe played professional football in Finland.

More about these individuals is available at springfieldcollegepride.com and springfield.edu.