1988 Radio Hall Of Fame Inductee

Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame rewards nine for their work

The stay was supposed to last 30 days.

Brian Elwell was sent down from Tulsa of the Central Hockey League to the Syracuse Blazers of the Eastern Hockey League in 1969 to rehab from a separated shoulder. Two days before Elwell, a Montreal native, was scheduled to leave the Blazers, he tore up his ankle.

Forty-two years later, Elwell still hasn’t gone anywhere. Friday, he was forever linked to the city with one of its highest sporting honors.

Elwell was announced as one of nine new entrants into the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame. One bum wheel turned him to a life centered around helping his new home.

“As soon as I left Montreal, I think I really liked the size of this city more than a big city,” said Elwell, 68. “I knew I wanted to stay here after I spent a couple of summers here.”

Elwell decided he wasn’t going to make the NHL, stuck around three more years to play for the Blazers and then ran the team as general manager. He made the city his full-time home, and two decades later he was the driving force behind bringing the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL to town.

He has also been a member of the Syracuse Sports Committee and currently oversees facility operations at Alliance Bank Stadium.

“I like people,” Elwell said of his efforts. “Somehow, I ended up being captain of the teams I played for. I enjoyed the leadership role.”

This year’s class, the 25th in the history of the hall, brings its total membership to 190. The inductees will be officially installed at a dinner at Drumlins on Oct. 17.

Here’s a look at the other new members:

He has been an assistant basketball coach under SU’s Jim Boeheim since 1976. His 35 years as a Division I assistant is the longest active streak in college, one that he hopes to extend whenever fellow assistant Mike Hopkins takes over for Boeheim.

“I’d like to help Mike Hopkins, help him get off on the right foot,” Fine said.

On being elected to the hall: "It's a tremendous honor to be recognized by the people in my community. But you don't do it (coach) for the accolades. You do it because you like what you're doing. We've been fortunate to have great kids.''

» More on Bernie Fine

Gedney lettered in football, basketball and lacrosse at Liverpool, and was a member of the 1987 Warriors football team that finished No. 1 in the state.

Orange inductees at Hall of Fame : Sports : CNYcentral.com

SYRACUSE - Syracuse University men's basketball associate head coach Bernie Fine, former Syracuse football players Chris Gedney and John Cherundolo and Orange women's basketball player Sue Ludwig are four of the members of this year's induction into the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame.

Fine, a native of Brooklyn, graduated from Syracuse University in 1967. He coached basketball and football at Lincoln Junior High. He became the junior varsity coach at Henninger High. After three years, he became Henninger's varsity basketball coach. In 1976, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim made Fine part of his first coaching staff. Fine owns the longest active streak of consecutive seasons at one school among assistant coaches in the NCAA's Division I.

Gedney, a senior associate athletics director at Syracuse, is 1993 Syracuse University graduate and a four-year football letterwinner. A 1992 consensus All-American tight end, Gedney set school records for receptions by a tight end in a season (34 in 1992) and career (91). He was a member of Orange teams that played in the Peach Bowl, Aloha Bowl, Hall of Fame Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl and was named to the SU All-Century Football Team.

Cherundolo, who was an honorable mention All-American offensive tackle and a third-team Academic All-American, lettered for the Orange from 1967 through 1969. He earned his B.A. from SU's College of Arts & Sciences in 1970, his M.P.A. from SU's Maxwell School of Citizenship in 1972 and graduated from the Syracuse University College of Law in 1973. Following his senior year, he earned invitations to play in the North South All-Star Game and the Hula Bowl. In 1993 he was honored as a Syracuse University LetterWinner of Distinction.

Ludwig helped lead the SU women's basketball team to the 1985 and 1988 NCAA Tournaments. She is one of only two players in Syracuse history to play in two NCAA Tournaments. She was named first-team All-BIG EAST her senior year and second-team All-BIG EAST her junior year. The Whitehall, Pa. native ender her career with 1,214 points, 529 assists and 254 steals. Ludwig won her 400th game as the head coach at Westhill H.S. last season.

The four SU greats will inducted during a ceremony on Oct. 17 at Drumlins Country Club with Solvay native Al Romano who played football at the University of Pittsburgh; former Sacred Heart High standout Gene Fisch; former University of Notre Dame president Rev. Theodore Hesburgh and Central Square/Syracuse University track star Katy Schilly-Laetsch.

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