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Basketball Team Tours Spain; Competes with Professional Teams
About two years ago, men’s basketball Head Coach Rick Ferry started planning a 10-day tour of Spain for his team. During August 2007, Ferry guided 14 of his players on an adventure that included stops in Madrid, Barcelona and the beaches of Marbella, located on the Spanish Riviera. They also toured Toledo, a walled city which dates back to 190 BC, and the Alhambra, a castle built in the 9th century. The Lions played four exhibition games against professional Spanish basketball teams. The team played hard against some tough competition, including Real Madrid, 2007 Spanish champions in their league. “We played a lot more physically than most of the teams, so they called more fouls on us than we are used to,” said forward Tom Murphy ’08. “They also called travels differently. We definitely improved by learning to adjust our playing to their rules.” In addition to the educational benefits of experiencing a foreign culture, practicing Spanish and seeing the historic sights, the players grew closer as a team, Ferry said. “When you travel, you hit some road blocks and you have to be flexible and depend on each other,” said Ferry. “For several of the players, this was their first plane ride. They were amazed by how much they learned by leaving their familiar environment.” This trip was the second for Ferry, who guided the Lions on a tour of Ireland
and England in 2004. He
will soon choose what “The best part of the trip was interacting with a foreign culture and dealing with the language barrier,” said forward Albert Medoro ’08. “It was very cool to put a sentence together in Spanish and for someone to understand what I was saying.” |
Three Alumni Inducted into Hall of Fame 1966-1967 Baseball Teams Honored
Ryan Ditze ’96, Wendy Frese-Irwin ’77 and David Kurzinsky, D.D.S. ’77 were inducted into the Albright Athletic Hall of Fame during Homecoming Weekend in October. The 1966-1967 baseball teams were also honored. Ditze ranks third on Albright’s career record list for football in receptions (238), receiving yards (3,357), and receiving touchdowns (32). His 20 touchdowns in 1996 are the most in school history, and his 94 receptions for 1,262 yards that season are the second-highest single-season total in school history. Ditze earned All-American honors and was named Albright’s Outstanding Senior Male Athlete in 1996. He played one year of professional ball with the Hildesheim Invaders of the European Football League, and currently teaches in Phillipsburg (NJ) School District where he also serves as the head men’s basketball coach and assistant football coach. Frese-Irwin earned 12 varsity letters in her four years at Albright; four in field hockey, four in basketball and four in tennis. In field hockey, Frese-Irwin led Albright in scoring in 1973 and 1974, and was a First-Team All-Lehigh Valley Field Hockey Association selection. On the basketball court she was Albright’s leading scorer in 1973 and 1974, and served as team captain in 1977. Frese-Irwin was inducted into the North Penn-Souderton Area Sports Hall of Fame in 2003. She is a home economics teacher in the Lampeter-Strasburg (Pa.) School District. Kurzinsky earned First-Team All-MAC as a center in 1974, ’75 and ’76. In 1975 and ’76 he was also honored as the First-Team All-ECAC center. Kurzinsky helped pave the way for Albright to reach the NCAA Division III national playoffs in his junior and senior years. He was inducted into the Northern Anthracite Chapter of the Pennsylvania State Hall of Fame. Kurzinsky is a dentist in private practice in the Shenandoah, Pa., area. The 1996-1967 baseball teams, under the leadership of head coach John Potsklan, won the only back-to-back baseball titles in school history. |
Breaking Ground on the New Albright College Science Center As this issue of The Reporter went to press, the College was days away from breaking ground on the new Albright College Science Center. Read about the ground-breaking and plans for the building in the winter issue, or visit the Albright web site at www.albright.edu. |
