Allegany County Athletic Association inducts 14 new members into County Sports Hall; Andover native, Pembroke hoops coach Matt Shay, Whitesville basketball phenom Falyn Lewis-Ellison among inductees

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OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE FROM COUNTY SPORTS HALL OF FAME

Allison Richter Austin – Fillmore’s Allison Richter Austin was one of the finest female athletes ever to hail from Allegany County.  She was a well-rounded competitor as described by her coach, Jon Beardsley. “Allison was one of the greatest three-sport female athletes in Fillmore history.  She was a fierce competitor who never needed outside motivation to rise to the occasion.  She brought it every time she competed.”

Allison’s career began early as she was selected to both the Allegany County and Expressway Conference Soccer All-Star teams as just an eighth-grader.  Her freshman and sophomore seasons continued this run of excellence on the playing fields.  She was twice selected  to the Olean Times Herald Big 30 Girls Soccer All-Star Team, with First Team selections to both the Allegany County Girls Soccer and Expressway Conference Girls Soccer All-Stars.  Her freshman year, she led the entire Big 30 in scoring.  As a freshman, Allison also played softball where she was named to the Allegany County and Expressway Conference All-Star Teams. 

Moving on to her junior and senior years, the awards were nonstop as she continued to excel on both the soccer and softball fields.  Her soccer achievements during that span included:  Olean Times Herald Big 30 Girls All-Stars (earning the Mary Neilon Award as Player of the Year), Allegany County and Expressway Conference Soccer All-Stars, and Allegany County Division I All-Stars.  Leading her team into the play-offs, she earned selection to the Section V All-Tournament Soccer Team, twice ending up as a member of the NYS Sportswriters’ Association All-Star Team.

Allison finished her high school career by dominating on the softball mound.  She was recognized as a member of the Allegany County All-Star Team, and she was selected to the Olean Times Herald Big 30 All-Star Team.  At the sectional and state level, she earned spots on the Birds Eye Section V Girls Soccer All-Star and All-Tournament Teams along with all-star honors from the NYS Sportswriters Association. 

By the end of her high school career she had achieved several notable accomplishments: 152 soccer goals and 57 assists, along with two perfect softball games and four no-hitters pitched.  By the time she graduated, she had been named to six NYS All-State Teams and eleven Allegany County All-Star Teams.

Kari Baker –  Kari Baker joins this Hall of Fame as she follows her father, Don, and sister, Kate, who were both inducted in 2011.

Kari was a well-rounded athlete who played both softball and soccer for Belmont Central School.  Each fall she dominated on the soccer field as she was selected to the Allegany County All-Star Team each year for four years.  She was truly an offensive force her senior year when she scored 46 goals in just that one season, which stood as a record in both Allegany and Steuben counties for many years. 

Not just a soccer player, she also played softball for three years and was a member of the Golden Bears’ cheerleading squad for another two years.

After graduation, Kari honorably served our country as she joined the United States Army where she was on active duty from 1993-2018.  At that point she retired after 23 years as a sergeant first class.  During that time, she was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan three times.  After she retired from the military, she became a certified dog trainer which has also included numerous service dogs.  She is currently the co-owner of her own dog-training and boarding business in North Carolina.

Wes Crowder – Wes Crowder played soccer and basketball at Houghton Academy from 1977-1981 and is considered one of the best multi-sport athletes of his time.  Though a mainstay at center fullback for three seasons on the soccer team, basketball was the sport where Wes achieved greater notoriety.

Possessing a strong determination to win and to win as a team, he led by example.  A strong rebounder, Wes had a knack for seeming to know where a rebound would be going.  Growing up playing on a backyard hoop that stood on a hillside, grabbing the rebound before it went down the hill was no doubt instrumental in developing this knack.  Though a strong rebounder, Wes, in his junior and senior years, was the offensive leader of the team averaging 20 points per game without the benefit of the 3-point shot.  At the close of his senior season, he was selected to the Allegany County Independent Schools All-Star Team.

Sportsmanship was equally important to Wes.  He was an integral member of teams that were awarded the basketball officials’ Sportsmanship Award.  After high school, he attended Western Maryland College and then Spartan School of Aeronautics in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  He carried over the commitment to teamwork to his new career as an aircraft mechanic and inspector at Northrop Grumman Flight Test.  He emphasized to co-workers that whatever project was being completed with the airplane, the workers were like a basketball team.  They needed great individual performances working together as a team. The only way the plane would fly is if each one did their own task well and supported their teammates.

After living most of his life in the Northeast, Wes retired and moved to Florida.  Retirement life proved a bit too slow, and he now continues to work for a local airline.

Shannon Daugherty – Shannon Daugherty’s work ethic led to her success at Houghton Academy both on and off the field. 

She was primarily a two-sport athlete, playing varsity soccer and basketball from seventh grade through her senior year.  Shannon was instrumental in the success of each team, serving as their captain her sophomore through senior seasons while at the same time making runs in the Section V tournaments each year.  She concluded her high school career with a berth in the sectional title basketball game as a senior.  She also scored 1216 points during the course of her basketball career, third most points for a female athlete in Houghton Academy’s history. 

Shannon’s high school sports honors included recognition as a basketball and soccer Big 30 All-Star, a Co-MVP Allegany County Soccer Defense Award as well as inclusion on both the Hornell Spectator Great 8 Basketball First Team and Ronald McDonald Section V basketball team her senior year.  As a senior, she also received the Olean Times Herald’s Bob Davies-Lou Foy Memorial Scholar-Athlete Award.

While Shannon excelled athletically, she also made her mark at Houghton Academy as a scholar.  Her academic and leadership record is highlighted by her tenure as two-time class president, membership in the National Honor Society, and Valedictorian of the class of 2007.   

Shannon continued her scholastic and sporting success at Houghton College, where she graduated summa cum laude and participated in the East Meets West Honors Program, allowing her to travel to the Balkans after her freshman year.  A three-year starter in basketball at the collegiate level, she scored 772 points and tallied 289 rebounds, 255 assists (ranking seventh in the school’s history), and 114 steals.  She also led the team as one of its captains during her junior and senior seasons and was recognized as an NAIA All-America Scholar-Athlete. 

After working for a year at the Erie County Justice Center as a domestic violence advocate, Shannon made the first step toward her legal career by attending Brooklyn Law School, graduating summa cum laude and third in her class.  She currently works for the law firm Cohen & Gresser and maintains an active pro bono practice.  She lives with her husband Fran and daughter Thea in Westchester County, New York.

Taylor Kent Duncan – Taylor Kent Duncan is the epitome of a true scholar-athlete.  A 2011 graduate of Hinsdale Central, she excelled in three sports in high school while achieving success as a top-notch student.

Taylor played soccer and basketball, but her claim to fame was on the softball diamond.  Over the course of her soccer career, she was named to both the Allegany County and Cattaraugus County All-Star Teams.  Being selected to all-star teams in two different counties happened as Hinsdale moved out of the Cattaraugus County league and transitioned into the Allegany County league.  Twice she was named to the second team all-stars, and on two other occasions she made the first team squad.  During basketball season, she again earned all-star selection to the two different county teams and was chosen as the MVP for the Allegany County Division II All-Star Team.

Over the course of her softball career Taylor was picked to both Allegany and Cattaraugus County All-Star Teams, earning the MVP honor in Allegany County, and she was also an Olean Times Herald Big 30 All-Star.  At the sectional level, she won MVP recognition for Section V Class D2 as she led the team to the title her senior year.  A team captain, during her senior campaign she threw 142 strikeouts with a 1.23 ERA and hurled seven shutouts.  At the plate she batted .522 with ten doubles.

 In the classroom, she was class president for five years and also a member of the band, yearbook committee, and National Honor Society.  Taylor was the class Valedictorian and earned selection to the Big 30 Academic All-Star Team and was chosen as a Big 30 Scholar-Athlete.  During both her junior and senior years, she was enrolled in the prestigious New Visions Health Professions Program.

Moving on to college at Elmira, Taylor played varsity softball and JV basketball for a short time.  Continuing with her graduate work at Western Carolina University, she earned a degree as a Doctor of Physical Therapy and as a Board-Certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialist.

Falyn Lewis-Ellison Kosa – Whitesville’s Falyn Lewis-Ellison Kosa compiled a tremendous high school resume full of individual and team stats that helped propel her teams to numerous championships.

Falyn excelled in both soccer and basketball, but she also played four years of softball for the Blue Jays.  As a four-year starter on the diamond, she helped lead the team to two Allegany County League championships.

She was also a standout during basketball season, earning two selections to the Allegany County All-Star Teams and earning MVP honors one time.  In addition, she made the Olean Times Herald Big 30 All-Stars once.  Her senior year she led the team to the Section V Class D2 title game and was selected to the All-Tournament Team that season.  For her career, she scored 1176 points with 544 rebounds, 258 assists, and 421 steals.

Falyn began her varsity soccer career as an eighth grader.  By the time she graduated, the team had reached the sectional semi-finals three times and won the title her sophomore year.  During her five years on the team, she was selected to the Allegany County Division II All-Stars four times and was twice named MVP as the team won the county championship three times.  She made the Olean Times Herald Big 30 All-Stars twice, and at the state level she was picked for the New York State Class D All-State Team her senior year.  Over the course of her career, the team had a magnificent record of 63-23-5 while she helped the cause by scoring 63 goals and 37 assists.

After graduation, Falyn played collegiate soccer at Alfred State for three years and SUNY Oswego one season.  She was a four-year starting defender at those two schools.  She also played one year of basketball at Alfred where she was a starting guard.

Doug McEnroe – Doug McEnroe is remembered as one of the finest athletes in the history of Wellsville Central School.  A three-sport athlete playing football, basketball, and track for the Lions for four years, he was a respected athlete and leader.

Doug still holds a remarkable school long jump mark of 21 feet, 5 ¼ inches that he set his junior year.  That jump remains unbroken to this day.  He was renowned for his prowess in both the long jump and the 440-yard dash, but he also excelled in the 880-yard dash, capturing a Section V title in that event.

His junior year, he was honored as one of the eleven athletes selected for the inaugural Olean Times Herald Big 30 Track and Field All-Star Team, a testament to his exemplary career in that sport.  A leader both on and off the field, he served as captain of the basketball and track teams.

His track success continued at the collegiate level, as he won several prestigious meets and enjoyed an outstanding career, and also where he recorded an impressive long jump performance of 22’ 8” at one meet.  Doug’s leadership skills carried over to the collegiate level where he was also chosen captain of the track team.  To punctuate his career, he earned a sportsmanship award for his outstanding character on and off the track.

Mark Moyer – Mark Moyer, a 1976 graduate of Wellsville Central School, was a stand-out three-sport athlete for the Lions.  He played football and basketball for the school, but it was on the baseball diamond where he really excelled.  He pitched a no-hitter at one stage of his career, and he showed his leadership skills with a two-year tenure as captain of that team.

After high school Mark continued his involvement in sports by serving as a local softball umpire.  He functioned as a rules’ interpreter and board member for the STSOA from 1993-2015.  Recently he has worked as a coach and member of the board of directors for the Southern Tier Lightning softball organization.  He also officiated local high school basketball as a member of IAABO Board #50.

Outside the field of sports, Mark is involved in the local community, and as a result of his hard work and dedication, he received the Scio Memorial Library Community Service Award for his efforts from 2012-2022.

Aaron Ortiz – A gifted athlete both on the basketball court and the track, Aaron Ortiz blazed his way to a fantastic athletic career for the Cuba-Rushford Rebels. 

On the hardwood, Aaron swept numerous awards at the local level during his four years, including his selection as the MVP for the IAABO Basketball Tournament.  By the end of his basketball career, he had earned numerous local honors as he was selected as the Allegany County D1 MVP and was twice honored to the Olean Times Herald Big 30 Boys All-Star Team.  For his accomplishments his senior campaign, he was honored as the Cuba-Rushford Basketball MVP.

Each spring, Aaron excelled on the track and field team where he competed in several different events.  At the time of his high school graduation, he held school records in four events:  200m, 1600m relay, long jump, and triple jump.  He earned local recognition by selection to the Expressway Conference All-Stars for two years, capped off as MVP his final season.  His senior year, he soared to the triple jump championship at both the Class C Section V and NYS Class C-D competitions.

Three times over his four-year high school career, Aaron was honored as the Cuba-Rushford Track MVP.

Cortney Sadler – Cortney Sadler was a well-rounded, exceptional athlete for the Friendship Eagles in the early 2000’s.  She was a leader on all three of the teams that she played on – soccer, basketball, and softball.  During her high school career, she was named to first team all-star squads on multiple occasions for those three sports, culminated by being named to the Olean Times Herald Big 30 Softball All-Star Team her senior season.

During both her junior and senior years, she was selected as the school’s MVP for the soccer, basketball, and softball squads.  Amazingly, when June rolled around, she was selected as the Friendship Female Athlete of the Year three different years.

After graduation, Cortney returned to her alma mater to integrate her playing experiences into helping coach at the high school level.  Over the course of her coaching career, she has served as the modified coach for girls soccer, basketball, and softball, as well as serving as the boys JV basketball coach for a short time.  To this day, she continues as the varsity assistant for the girls softball team.

Matt Shay – A 2004 graduate of Andover Central, Matt Shay parlayed his basketball experience and skills into a distinguished career coaching that sport.

Matt was a star three-sport standout for the Panthers as he played a number of seasons of varsity soccer, basketball, and baseball.  Over the course of his four-year career, he earned ten varsity letters.  A leader on the court, he was the captain of each of those three squads his senior campaign.  He earned Allegany County All-Star selection in soccer, basketball, and three times in baseball and was the basketball team’s co-MVP. 

After graduation Matt continued his athletic endeavors playing basketball at Houghton College for four years.  Eventually he was hired by Pembroke Central School as a Special Education Teacher.  Over the past ten years, he has served as the varsity boys basketball coach where he has captured four of the school’s seven league titles that they have ever won.  He has the highest winning percentage in the program’s history and has led his teams to their only two top sectional seeds.  On top of that, one of his teams set a school record with 23 victories.

Matt’s teams have made three trips to the sectional finals, winning one time.  They had the first undefeated, 20-0 regular season in school history.  He has been selected as both the Section V Class C Coach of the Year and the Genesee Region Coach of the Year three times.  His teams have finished the seasons with exceptional state Class C rankings on three occasions:  fifth in 2018, seventh in 2023, and seventeenth in 2024.  During this time he was fortunate to coach four all-state players as well as Pembroke’s all-time scorer and assists leaders.  At the conclusion of the 2018 season, he was selected as the coach for the Ronald McDonald Game.

In his spare time, Matt works for the Pembroke Youth Association Travel Basketball Program as its Commissioner and as the Director of the PYA Annual Fall and Youth Basketball Clinics.

Bill Sortore – Whenever the name “Bill Sortore” arises, it is automatically associated with tremendous success in coaching, no matter the level or the sport.

 Bill’s coaching career began at his alma mater, Bolivar Central, in the early 90’s when he coached the cross-country team to Section V championships on two occasions.  Earning a full-time teaching job at Wellsville, Bill continued with his coaching career for the Lions by instructing the following teams:  JV girls soccer, JV football, assistant varsity football, and modified and varsity track and field.

Transitioning to the collegiate level, Bill coached at SUNY Alfred, Alfred University, and Houghton University, usually serving as the track and field and/or cross-country coach.  At Alfred University, the cross-country team had just 14 runners (men and women) his first year.  The track team had just 18 competitors, but due to Bill’s influence, that soon increased to the mid-50’s, forcing the college to change from vans to charter buses while transporting the athletes.

For one season, Bill returned to Houghton University to help with the track team, but he soon went back to Alfred University where that school had undergone a shift in sports funding leading to construction of a new track and field complex and a fresh direction for the sport.  The plan is for Alfred to host its first-ever track and field meet in the spring of 2026.

Long-time Wellsville coach, Dean Giopulos, has had a long history coaching both against, and with, Bill.  He notes that their battles led to both of their programs rising to the challenge and reaching even greater heights. 

He describes Bill as the number one advocate for track and field in the Allegany County area.  Dean says of him, “To be a great coach, you have to be an excellent teacher and that is Bill Sortore.  Knowledgeable, patient, able to communicate his thoughts and ideas in a way that athletes could understand him, forever positive and encouraging, Bill had the trust and respect of his athletes.  To his credit, he measured his athletes’ success not just by the times they ran or the distances they jumped, threw, or vaulted; he measured success by their growth as students and as young men.  Bill Sortore is an excellent coach, a better educator, and an even finer man.”

David Spink –  David Spink, a 1978 graduate of Belfast, was a soccer stand-out who excelled at the high school level but also transitioned to the collegiate level where he continued to shine.

A two-time Allegany County Soccer All-Star his junior and senior campaigns, David led the team to consecutive Section V championships.  His leadership skills were exhibited by his selection as team captain his final year.

After graduation, David attended Baptist Bible College of Pennsylvania where he continued his soccer career.  He was named to the All-Conference Team his final three years in college and capped this off by his selection to the Second Team All-American Soccer Team.  The school finished as national champions for the Division II National Christian College Athletic Association in 1978 and 1979. 

 David also played on the basketball team, and two times he was selected to the All-Conference Team.  Upon graduation, he was honored with the Meade Armstrong Award for a multi-sport athlete as he played basketball, soccer, and track and field.  Based on his tremendous collegiate accomplishments, he was selected to the Baptist Bible College Athletic Hall of Honor in 2007.

Over the years, David has continued his athletic endeavors as he has competed in both full and half marathons.  In 2011, he was a member of the victorious Brazilian National Basketball Team for an International Basketball Tournament consisting of individuals between the ages of 50-55.  While living and working in Brazil as a missionary, he launched five national churches in the northeastern part of that country.  He was also the head coach of the women’s basketball team for two seasons and head coach for a military police academy for one year.

Ken Spink – Ken Spink joins his younger brother in the Allegany County Sports Hall of Fame as a result of his successful athletic careers in both high school and college.   

His senior year he helped lead the Belfast Bulldogs to the Section V basketball championship game where he was named to the All-Tournament Team.  On the baseball diamond, he was selected three times to the Allegany County All-Stars, and his senior year he won the county batting title.

But it was on the soccer field where Ken really made a name for himself.  Twice he was selected to the Allegany County All-Star Team.  His senior year he won the county scoring title and was selected as the Paul H. Vienna MVP for Allegany County while leading the team to the Section V Class D title.

After graduation, Ken attended Baptist Bible College and continued his soccer career for the next four years.  He was selected as an NCCAA Division I All-American and All-Conference First Team All-Star each of his four years.  He was also selected as the team’s MVP for three of those seasons.

In 1981, Ken graduated from Baptist Bible College with a Bachelor of Religious Education.  Since 1984, he has served as the Senior Pastor of the Berea Baptist Church in Berea, Ohio and has continued to serve on the Board of Baptist Mid-Missions since 1988.  He has served on a number of Baptist Church Association Boards and has traveled to speak in several states and 13 countries.  Additionally he has found time to author three books and edit four more titles.