All-New York State and one of the top 100 scholastic basketball players in the country (as was Ahrens); and also was a New York Daily News All-Star.

In the era before Albertus joined the Rockland Public School Athletic League (PSAL), the Falcons traveled all over the metropolitan region to play quality opponents. Despite a demanding schedule, the 1968 team posted a 16-2 record, with both losses coming by two points. It was also was the first Class B team ever to play in the Large School Eastern New York Catholic

Tournament (the Big Eight Classic). With Samoylo leading the way, that ‘68 squad also defeated Clarkstown, at that time the cream of the crop among Rockland public schools. Coincidentally, the 1968 Falcon team was recently inducted into the Albertus Magnus High School Hall of Fame.

The 1967 team was no slouch either, charting a 14-4 record including a victory over PSAL champion Spring Valley. Samoylo made first-team All-County that season as well, and averaged between 15 and 20 points per game both his junior and senior years.

Samoylo then went on to play for Georgia Tech, an NCAA Division I program. In his freshman year, at a tournament in Florida, he scored 50 points for the Yellow Jackets’ freshman team, a school record that still stands. By midway through his junior year, he was the starting guard on the varsity, thanks to the confidence entrusted in him by new coach Butch Clifton. Samoylo averaged 71Ú2 points a game for a team that went 23-9 and advanced to the championship game of the National Invitation Tournament before bowing to North Carolina. In those days, a berth in the NIT was highly coveted because only 16 to 20 teams qualified for the NCAA Tournament.

Although Georgia Tech was not nearly as successful the following year, Samoylo made a name for himself by averaging a team-leading 15.4 points per game, which included a 26-point effort against archrival Georgia. He also led the team in assists and was team captain and MVP.

After graduating from Georgia Tech with a degree in management, Samoylo worked for a year at a textile firm in Columbus, Ga., before obtaining a master’s degree in education from Iona College. He then pursued a religious calling by entering the Benedictine Monastery in the Worcester, Mass., archdiocese and spending six years there. However, he left before final vows.

Samoylo’s career path then took him to the educational field, where he spent the next 14 years. He served as an in-school suspension counselor at Clarkstown North High School for almost 14 years, and coached junior high school basketball in the Clarkstown Central School District for about nine years. Concurrent with that role, he also assisted Tom Collins with the Albertus Magnus varsity basketball team for about seven years before serving a four-year stint as the Falcons’ junior varsity basketball coach. He also had a turn as varsity golf coach at Albertus. In the fall of 1994, Samoylo followed a strong religious conviction and entered the seminary.

He spent the next seven years training to enter the priesthood - two years of “pre-theology,” or philosophy; one year of “spirituality,” or novitiate period; and four years of theology at St. Joseph’s Seminary-Dunwoodie in Yonkers. Samoylo was ordained a diocesan priest in May 2001 and currently serves the large, 2,700-family St. Augustine’s Parish in New City.

“As a priest, it’s very fulfilling,” Samoylo says of serving in the area where he grew up. “It’s not like I walked into a strange situation. It was familiar right away. I have parishioners who I worked with at Clarkstown North - teachers, retired teachers, secretaries, custodians, former students. It’s a really nice situation.”

Samoylo is a charter member of the Albertus Magnus High School Hall of Fame, having been inducted in 1994.

By the time he had concluded his three-year career on the Suffern varsity, the 6-foot-1, 175-pound attackman owned a fistful of Rockland County records, including career marks for points (194), goals (101) and assists (93). By his sophomore year in 1972, he had already refined the stick-handling, passing and shooting skills that would distinguish him from other elite players in the county. That year, he set Rockland records for goals in a game, six, and assists in a season, 42.

Each year brought another level of maturation and all-round development to Snider’s game. As a junior in 1973, he set the county record for points in a game with nine, and eclipsed his own mark for points in a season, raising the standard to 65. And in his senior year, 1974, Snider tied the record for assists in a game with six, and broke the season marks for assists (43 in league games, 74 overall) and points (67).

With Snider as the linchpin, Suffern captured three straight Rockland Public School Athletic League titles in 1972, 1973 and 1974—the last one a co-championship with Nyack—as well as three Section 9 (Rockland, Orange, Ulster, Sullivan counties) championships. Those banners were part of a Mountie streak of five PSAL and seven Section 9 crowns in succession.

Snider also a two-year varsity standout on the Suffern basketball team. In the 1972-73 season, he played on the Mounties’ Section 9 title team that defeated Newburgh in the finals of the Cross Class (AA vs. A) championship. The following season, he was a key contributor to a Suffern team that reached the Section 9 tournament semifinals.

At the University of Virginia, perennially ranked in the top 10 in Division I, Snider certified his status as the centerpiece of the offense. In his four-year varsity career, he set school records for points in a career, 209 (65 goals, 144 assists), and career assists, and was ninth on the career list in goals when he graduated. Today he remains second in school history in career assists and fifth in career points.

Although he was a prolific scorer himself, Snider’s forte was getting teammates the ball in position to score. He led the nation in assists per game (4.7) and points per game (7.1) as a junior in 1977. He still holds the school record for assists per game and points per game for both season and career.

At one time, Snider held school records for assists in a game, 8; points in a game, 10; points in a season, 64; assists in a season, 42; assists per-game average, career, 3.3; and points per-game average, career, 4.9. He still holds the latter two records. He was ranked first, third, fourth and 12th nationally in assists and also ranked in the top 12 twice in points.

All told, Snider led Virginia in scoring and assists all four years, led the Atlantic Coast Conference in assists for three years—1975 (when the Cavaliers won the ACC title), 1976 and 1977—and led the ACC in scoring two years. The team captain his senior year, Snider was named to the All-America team in 1976, ’77 and ’78, as well as All-ACC in 1977 and ’78.

Within the ACC, Snider wound up his career second all-time in scoring and assists, and still remains third in career assists and 11th in career scoring in the conference. He capped his career by being selected to play in the North-South All-Star Game in 1978. Snider also made the ACC Academic Honor Roll his senior year.

Snider’s supremacy on the lacrosse field earned him several post-season awards. After his junior season, he was bestowed the Dr. A Voshell Award as outstanding team player. In 1978, he garnered both the Harry Gaver Memorial Award, for outstanding leadership, and was honored as the 1978 outstanding male athlete, for all sports, at the University of Virginia.

He is also a member of three other halls of fame: Suffern High School; Hudson Valley lacrosse; and state of Virginia lacrosse.

Snider, 45, is a partner in a landscape architecture firm in Seattle. He also maintains a fervent interest in the sport at which he excelled. Snider is the president of the Washington state boys lacrosse league; coaches a middle school lacrosse team; and runs a summer youth lacrosse league for boys ages 11 to 17.

Still a participant as well as a coach and administrator, Snider has played on an open team that has won the Pacific Northwest Lacrosse Association championship the past eight years. This summer he intends to play in the grand masters division (age 45 or older) of the World Lacrosse Championships in Perth, Australia.

Snider and his wife of 20 years, Jacqueline, have three children: Drew, 14; Catherine, 11; and Will, 6.

After a highly successful high school career at our Lady of Lourdes High School in Poughkeepsie, where he was an All County football and baseball selection, John Sottile entered Wagner College in Staten Island, New York. He was the starting centerfielder in the late 60’s for the Seahawks in the highly competitive Division I Met Conference against such perennial powerhouses as St. John’s, Seton Hall, NYU, LIU, Fordham, and Manhattan. In 1970 he began his teaching and coaching career in the North Rockland School District. Throughout his tenure at North Rockland John coached at all levels of football and baseball.

In 1991 John was appointed to the position as the head baseball coach at North Rockland High School. He held that position for 14 years. During his career as the head coach at North Rockland he amassed a record of 281 wins, with only 78 losses. Along the way John won 8 league championships, 6 Section 1 Championships, 5 Capital Region Championships and 3 NEW YORK STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS. He was the League IB Coach of the Year 7 times and NYS Section One Coach of the Year in ’93 and ’94. The Journal News selected John as the Rockland County Coach of the Year 8 times and he was honored as the New York State “Coach of the Year” in 1992, 1993, and North Rockland

After a highly successful high school career at our Lady of Lourdes High School in Poughkeepsie, where he was an All County football and baseball selection, John Sottile entered Wagner College in Staten Island, New York. He was the starting centerfielder in the late 60’s for the Seahawks in the highly competitive Division I Met Conference against such perennial powerhouses as St. John’s, Seton Hall, NYU, LIU, Fordham, and Manhattan. In 1970 he began his teaching and coaching career in the North Rockland School District. Throughout his tenure at North Rockland John coached at all levels of football and baseball.

In 1991 John was appointed to the position as the head baseball coach at North Rockland High School. He held that position for 14 years. During his career as the head coach at North Rockland he amassed a record of 281 wins, with only 78 losses. Along the way John won 8 league championships, 6 Section 1 Championships, 5 Capital Region Championships and 3 NEW YORK STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS. He was the League IB Coach of the Year 7 times and NYS Section One Coach of the Year in ’93 and ’94. The Journal News selected John as the Rockland County Coach of the Year 8 times and he was honored as the New York State “Coach of the Year” in 1992, 1993, and 1994. Also in 1994 John was voted as the American Baseball Coaches Association “Coach of the Year” as well as the National High School Baseball Coaches Association, “Coach of the Year”. In 2000, his North Rockland High team was invited to participate in the Upper Deck Classic, a tournament in Anaheim, California for the top teams in the nation. His teams were ranked in the top 25 in the nation on three separate occasions, finishing as high as 16th in 1994. Many of his players have gone onto play in college and seven have been drafted by Major League teams.

John also coached for Diamond Pros New York, a private organization that sends travel baseball teams all over the world. He has taken teams to Italy and competed in tournaments in Rivabella, winning several times. In 2001 John took an All-Rockland County team to the Torneo Estate competing against 6 Italian teams and a strong entry from California. In classic fashion this team won an unprecedented 5th title. He is currently the director of the Federazione Italiano Baseball and Softball All Star Camp in Rivabella, Italy. This year two of John’s campers were members of the Italian team that made it to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa. It was the first time an Italian team made it that far.

John and his wife Mandy live in Stony Point and have four children: David, 36, was a baseball coach in Arlington and is now a Principal in the Irvington School District; Gina, 34, is a personal trainer and a member of the F.D.R. High School Sports Hall of Fame; Joe, 31, is a teacher at North Rockland and coaches the Farley Middle School baseball team; and Gina, 19, is a second year student at R.C.C..

After a two year hiatus, John returned to coaching in 2007, as an assistant at the St. Thomas Aquinas College in Sparkill. In his second year at St. Thomas, the team won its first ever league championship, was seeded first in the conference 2009 ROCKLAND COUNTY SPORTS HALL OF FAME most wins in a season

This year John decided to help his son Joe coach the middle school baseball team. John continues to work at baseball camps and gives private hitting and pitching lessons.

GIBBY SWEET
Where to begin with the athletic exploits of William Gibson "Gibby" Sweet? His state wrestling championship? His blistering quarter-mile speed in track? His All-America statues in collegiate wrestling? His three county team titles an 87-10 record as a wrestling coach? His founding of three scholarship programs as well as his high school's hall of fame?

The resume is long and accomplishmnets varied for Sweet, a 1968 Pearl river High alumnus. Possessed of a decathalete's muscular build, a competitive athletic temperament and the rugged good looksof the actor he later became, Sweet was the Pirates real-life Frank merriwell - the All-American boy.

In wrestling, Sweet won two Rockland County crowns and two Section 9 ttles.After placin fourth in the state tournament at 168 pounds as a junior, Sweet captured the state title at the same weight his senior year. He posted a 20-1 record and was named the Journal News Wrestler of the Year.