During the Homecoming Weekend festivities last weekend, two Brookers were inducted into the Stony Brook School Interscholastic Athletic Hall of Fame. Here is the text from the ceremony, delivered by Director of Advancement, Dan Hickey ’04.
It is now my honor to preside over the 28th induction ceremony of the Stony Brook School Athletic Hall of Fame.
Today, we welcome two new members into an exclusive club that represents the very best student-athletes from the 101-year history of Blue & White Athletics. This summer, members of our Hall of Fame voted on a list of 11 nominees, and our two new inductees received the highest number of votes.
Our first inductee today is Marc Conti, Class of 1988.
In a crowded history of Blue & White runners that includes names like Robin Lingle, Peter Randall, Mark & Andy Whitney, and Ray Camano, Marc carved out a memorable legacy of his own. He was the leader of the cross country and track teams during his time as a Shrike and provided a capstone to one of the most dominant decades of Blue & White history. During the 1980s, the boys’ cross country and track teams won 22 League and Suffolk County Championships. Marc’s teams won 10 of those as he made an impact on the program from the very beginning.
As a freshman, he made the Penn Relays 4×400 team which placed 3rd. He was the leadoff man as a sophomore, then anchored his final two teams at Penn, becoming the only Brooker to run in four different Penn Relays. In his senior season, Marc tore around the Franklin Field track in 51 seconds flat, one of the fastest Penn Relays legs in Stony Brook history, to cap a 3:27.2 team effort–the 3rd fastest time in Stony Brook Penn Relays history, a tradition that dates back to 1927. It remains the fastest time we’ve run there since.
Marc also raced to individual Suffolk County and Conference titles in cross country and the County title in the 800 meters in a blazing 1:55. That same year, he took the bronze in the half-mile at the Eastern States Championships. And his legacy remains relevant to our program as his 4×800 relay team, which included Rich Wittman, Paul Roberts, and Andy Hoffman, still holds the school record of 8:18.5.
His accolades earned him four Class Night performance awards and a pair of Swanson Superior Performance awards in 1987 and 1988, but our pride in him as a Brooker should extend beyond his times and trophies. I always endeavor to include coaches’ memories in my remarks. I certainly wish I could ask your head coach, and mine, Robin Lingle, for his recollections about you. In the absence of those, I asked my father, Mike Hickey, who served as Marc’s assistant track coach, to share some thoughts. He said, “Marc had his father’s speed and his mother’s determination. He was a powerful runner and a gutsy finisher who gave every ounce of effort in every race.”
I asked Marc to think back on his time at Stony Brook, and here is what he shared: “The one thing that stands out to me the most is the Godly men who coached me on and off the track. Men like Marvin Goldberg, Robin Lingle, and Michael Hickey. They were used by God to mold and shape me, teaching me integrity, humility, discipline, and prayer.
They were interested in me as a whole person: body, soul, and spirit. They believed in me; they valued me and pushed me beyond the limitations I placed on myself–a living example of how God feels about me. Their impact on me was life-changing, and much of the success I have today is because of the sacrifices that they made for me and what they have poured into me.
I still hear Robin Lingle’s voice cheering me on within the athletic field of life.”
Marc ran with grace and courage, and in such a way that his God, his family, and his school can always be proud of.
Please join me in honoring Marc Conti.
Our next recipient, Don Liotine, Class of 2013, joins his sister Donna, Class of 2011, in the Hall of Fame as only the third brother-sister tandem. Donna’s sensational soccer career cast quite a shadow, but Don built a special place in Stony Brook lore all his own. He was one heck of a baseball player. He won the Baseball Performance Award three times at Class Night.
But in the time I have, I should probably stop talking about baseball in order to give appropriate space to perhaps the finest football career in the 93-year history of the program. We could spend the better part of today talking about his accomplishments, so it may be better just to list them:
- 3x First Team All-Conference
- 3x Team MVP & Swanson Superior Performance Trophy
- 262 rushing yards vs. Greenport (2nd in school history)
- Two 1,000-yard rushing seasons
- 5 school records, including:
- Rushing touchdowns in a game: 6
- Rushing touchdowns in a season: 33
- Rushing yards in a game: 340
- Rushing yards in a season: 1,666
- Rushing yards in a career: 3,718
Those are just some of the stats, and as impressive as they are, they don’t adequately sum up what Don meant to Stony Brook Athletics. So, I asked Kris Ryan, Don’s head coach for his final three years at The Brook, to put his impact into context.
“Donnie was a talented player, but what put him above the typical high school athlete was an indomitable will to be successful, to not give up. That will was also focused and creative, allowing him to do anything he set his mind to.”
Coach Ryan then told me a story that encapsulated this trait. “It was Donnie’s sophomore year, and we were losing to somebody but playing hard. I was standing near Donnie when one of the referees came over and told Donnie how much he respected him and the boys for playing hard. Donnie thanked him and then told him he was going to return the following kickoff for a touchdown, which he did on the very next play.”
“As an athlete and a person, Donnie saw possibility, and did what it took to make it happen.”
Coach Ryan then shared a second memory that stood out to him. It came from Donnie’s junior season, in a Friday night match-up at Southampton, and fell on the 33rd birthday of Rachel Ryan, Coach Ryan’s wife. A 40-12 Bear victory was a welcome present, but what made the evening even more special was Donnie’s prediction before the game. He told Mrs. Ryan that he was going to score 33 points in her honor. Well, Don did not score 33 points that day. He scored 38, rushed for 340 yards and six touchdowns–both school records–accounting for an astonishing 22.7 yards per carry in one of the finest offensive performances in Long Island football history.
I gave Don the difficult task of summing up such a storied career, asking him what stood out from his five years as a Bear. He did not talk about stats, or records, or memorable performances. He talked about his relationship with Coach Ryan who, in his words, was the first man, aside from his father, that he put his trust and faith in, saying, “I knew that if I worked to live up to his standard for me, I would get to the next level.”
Don also looked back at the grit and underdog mentality he took away from Stony Brook Football, recalling two winless seasons early in his career and a pair of injuries. “SBS taught me to channel doubt into energy to keep moving forward.”
It’s a trait he carried with him to Stony Brook University, where he began his career as an unheralded walk-on and lost his first two years to season-ending injuries. Many would have thrown in the towel. Don persevered, finishing his time at SBU with:
- 2,826 career rushing yards (4th in SBU history)
- 23 career rushing touchdowns (4th in SBU history)
- 4,077 career all-purpose yards (4th in SBU history)
And recognitions that included 1st Team All-Conference, FCS Academic All-Star, and Team Offensive MVP.
A lot can be said about him and his career, but I can sum it up in one simple phrase: Do not count out Don Liotine.
Please join me in honoring Don Liotine.
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