EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Rutgers women’s basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer and Maria Lisa Pepe, the first girl to play Little League baseball in New Jersey, are among this year’s inductees into the Sports Hall of Fame of New Jersey.
The Hall of Fame, a nonprofit organization operated in conjunction with the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, honors amateur and professional athletes who have resided in New Jersey or have a significant connection to the Garden State.
In addition to Stringer and Pepe, this year’s inductees include:
_Former Notre Dame and NBA basketball star Kelly Tripucka from Bloomfield.
_The late Edward Patrick “Mickey “Walker, a 1920s-era welterweight boxing champion known as “The Toy Bulldog. “He was a native of Elizabeth.
_The late Clarence Oscar “Clary “Anderson, highly successful football and baseball coach at Montclair High School from 1946-1968.
_Dave Robinson of Moorestown, who starred at linebacker for Penn State and the Green Bay Packers 1960s Super Bowl teams.
_Mike Rozier of Camden, the 1983 Heisman Trophy winner as a Nebraska running back. He played professionally in the USFL and NFL.
_The late Eugene Grabowski, a Kearny High School graduate who played for the U.S. national soccer team in the 1950s and in the 1960 Olympics.
_Henry Wittenberg of Jersey City, who won a gold medal in wrestling at the 1948 Olympics.
Stringer’s Rutgers teams have won 203 games in 10 years, and she led the team to the Elite Eight this past season.
Pepe played three games in the Hoboken Little League in 1972 before the organization’s national headquarters ruled her ineligible. The ensuing controversy attracted national attention and eventually led to an end to such discrimination.
The honorees will be formally inducted on Oct. 1.
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