RHS Athletic Hall of Fame
Members of the Ridgewood High School Athletic Hall of Fame are those that have made a lasting impact on the school’s sports program as either student players, coaches, or supporters. Often the student players have continued to influence their chosen sports after high school by ongoing participation in athletics.
Frank Mozeleski, 2006 Inductee
A coaching legend who spent 27 years as a teacher/coach at Ridgewood, Mozeleski’s football teams compiled a 92-44 record over 16 years, racking up three undefeated seasons (the 1957 campaign had a tie), and the longest winning streak in the school’s gridiron history (20-0-1) from 1955 through the first two games of 1958.
The Maroons won five Northern Bergen Interscholastic League titles (1950, 1951, 1956, 1957 and 1958) and Ridgewood was the Bergen County champion in 1956. His teams scored 2,689 points while allowing the opposition only 1,459, registered 38 shutouts and produced a number of All-County, All-State and All-League players. He also guided the basketball team to 97 victories, a Bergen County Jamboree title in 1963-64 and the Northern New Jersey Interscholastic League crown in 1960-61. And he coached golf for eight years, the last one a state champion in a 15-2 season.
He had 15 years of coaching experience under his belt when he was hired in 1943 to coach baseball at Ridgewood. He never handled a diamond squad, but his football, basketball and golf teams helped fill the school trophy cases. Gene Links, one of his All-County and All-State players in the 1944 and 1945 grid campaigns, was inducted into the Ridgewood Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004. The other, the late Dr. Mario (The Mole) Ferraro, is in this year’s induction class. Mr. Moz, as he was forever respectfully known to all his athletes, died at age 75 in 1986 in Clearwater, Fla., where he spent the last 15 years of his life.
Download: 2006 Banquet Book!
2022
Patti Auger, Eric Benedict, Eunae Jo, Peter McGinley, Karla Mixon, Clair Nowakowski, 1983 Softball Team, Joe Pedone, Julia Rappa
2020
Carlos Peay, Louis Edward “Eddie” Peay, Kelly Conheeney, Samantha Cermack, Chris Rae, Chelsea Steinberg, Mark Strittmatter, Andrew Clarke, Jim Dee, Phil Ross Sr.
2018
2016
Maureen Greico, Larry Coyle, Jacob Brown, Richard Bennett, Toshiko D’Elia
2014
John Marshall, Jim Bruni, Mark Romeo, Jean Hughes, Chris Van Note, Nancy Hogan, RHS Football Team 1913, Don Taylor, Rachel Grygiel, John Cerf, Paul Tornatore, Michele Marangi, RHS Boys’ Lacrosse 1990-92
2012
Craig Halyard, Tom Flatt, Tricia Pappalardo, Mike Henderson, Kandie Latham, Leigh Jester, Tom Dusel, Roger Sweeney, Linda Zabielski, Patty Capasso, Dennis Sullivan, Nick & Dottie Capasso, Track and Field (Bain-Daley-Oliver Era)
2010
Primo “Duke” DeRochi, Debbie Paul, George Monro, Bill Dunne, Amy Lyons, James Sullivan, Michael Culver, Keith O’Connor, Josh Kauke, Patti Mileski, Mary Ellen Mileski
2008
Kitty Batterson, Henry Blauvelt, Frank L. Bradley, Jr., Lucia Cancelmo, Chris DuFlocq, Renee DuFlon, RHS Girls’ Basketball 1922-1923, Harry Grundy, Jim Jones, Joe LeMay, Jen McDermott, Shannon McGarrigle, Tony Napier, Margaret Niemann, Vince Robertiello (Jamie Roberts), Damian Ross, Mike Springer
2006
Mario Ferraro, Paul Ferraro, Don Haldane, Wendy Hartwig, Tom Hopper, Bob Keino, Frank Mozeleski, Tim Mullen, Jenna Rogers, Donna O’Connell, Carin Cone, Charles Yennie
2004
Paul Arrigoni, Pete Campbell, Doug Cook, Becky Deetz, Otis Grendler, Jodi Hartwig, Gene Links, Debbie O’Connell, Aimee McGuire, Walt Perdue, Tom Simos, Kazbek Tambi, Jack Van Yperen, Bob Whitaker, Margaret Scutro