The Hall Calls
April 24, 2008 09:31 PM | General
April 27, 2008
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Six outstanding contributors to Mountaineer athletics make up the 18th class of honorees in the West Virginia University Sports Hall of Fame, announced today by athletic director Ed Pastilong.
The 2008 class includes Eddie Bartrug, Bob Greshman, Roy Lester, Lowes Moore, Dr. Martin Pushkin and James Sottile.
Induction ceremonies will take place prior to the Rutgers football game on Oct. 4. This class brings the number of total inductees to 115.
 |
||
| Eddie Bartrug |
Eddie Bartrug
Eddie Bartrug saw varsity action at two positions as a member of the football team from 1928-30, earning three varsity letters. The punter and halfback was named one of the best punters from that era by head football coach and player, Ira Errett Rodgers.
The New Martinsville, W.Va., native helped the Mountaineers to a 17-10-3 record during his three years, including five shutouts in his first season. The 1928 team (8-2) defeated Pitt 9-6 for the first time in four years. Bartrug was crucial in the win, catching a 47-yard pass to set up the only WVU touchdown in the contest. Batrug also lettered in basketball.
Bartrug was named to the 1930-39 all-time team and the victory over Pitt was selected as one of the greatest victories from that decade.
In 1934, Bartrug married his wife, Jeannette, and had two children, Lea Anne and Edwin.
After his Mountaineer career, Bartrug taught math and was the head football coach at Mount Hope High (1932-39) and St. Albans High (1940-48). He then moved to Charleston and taught and coached at Charleston High (1949-54) before he became principal at Marmet Junior High (1955-72).
He was a member of the WVU Alumni Association Emeritus Club and served as president. Bartrug was also an officer for the Kanawha County Football Officials Association for 32 years.
After his retirement in 1973, Bartrug became a high school football and track official in Charleston. He enjoyed gardening and collecting stamps and coins. Bartrug died at age 87 on Feb. 7, 1996.
 |
||
| Bob Gresham |
Bob Gresham
A native of Yukon, W.Va., Bob Gresham was a three-year letterman and starting running back on the football team from 1968-70.
He set the school’s single-season rushing record of 1,155 yards in 1969, a record that stood for 24 years.
Gresham helped the Mountaineers to a 25-7 record, which included the 1969 Peach Bowl Championship.
For his Mountaineer career, he rushed for 2,181 yards on 417 carries with 18 touchdowns. At the time, his career rushing totals were a WVU record. Gresham also tallied nine 100-yard rushing performances, none better than his 173 yards on 33 carries in WVU’s 33-21 home victory over Richmond on Nov. 15, 1969. He also recorded 30 career receptions for 340 yards and three touchdowns, tallied 12 punt returns for 103 yards and amassed 588 kickoff return yards on 23 attempts.
He currently ranks 10th all-time on WVU’s career rushing and rushing touchdowns lists.
Gresham was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the eighth round of the 1971 National Football League (NFL) draft. He played six seasons with three different NFL teams: Saints, Houston Oilers and New York Jets. As a pro, he started as a rookie and shared the Saints’ outstanding rookie award in 1971, leading the team in rushing with 383 yards and six touchdowns. He also led the team with 381 rushing yards and three touchdowns in 1972. As a Saint, he earned four offensive player of the week honors.
Gresham joined the Oilers in 1973 and led the team in rushing with 400 yards and two touchdowns. He joined the Jets in 1975 and ran for 190 yards over two seasons, sharing the same backfield with Joe Namath. For his NFL career, Gresham played in 75 contests, recording 1,360 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Upon his retirement from the NFL, Gresham became an assistant football coach/teaching assistant at Garinger High in Charlotte, N.C., for two years from 1977-78.
Since 1978, he has served as the recreation center director/facility manager for the Mecklenburg County Parks & Recreation Department in Charlotte. He has also been involved in numerous community service initiatives such as Special Olympics, Habitat for Humanity, Muscular Dystrophy Association and the Right Moves for Youth Program, to name a few.
Gresham earned his bachelor’s of science degree in physical education from West Virginia University in 1972. He has been married to Joyce Sloan Gresham for 36 years, and the couple has three children: Robert Gresham Jr., Lakeisha Gresham Githae and Jerrick Gresham. The couple also has three grandchildren: Robert Gresham III, McKenna Gresham and Brayden Githae.
 |
||
| E. Roy Lester |
E. Roy Lester
E. Roy Lester, a native of Spencer, W.Va., was a three-sport letterman in football, basketball and baseball from 1946-49.
One of the few three-sport lettermen, he served as a center on the basketball team, played 21 games and scored 27 points in his career. Lester also was an end for the Mountaineers’ 1949 Sun Bowl team under the direction of head coach Dudley S. DeGroot. Throughout his career on the football team, he had 16 receptions for 259 yards and two touchdowns. As an outfielder for the baseball team, Lester lettered from 1947-49. In his final two seasons, Lester collected 53 hits and held a .339 batting average.
After graduating from WVU with a degree in political science, Lester went on to play for the Philadelphia Eagles’ farm team, the Paterson Panthers, in New Jersey in 1949. In 1950, he began his coaching career with a two-year stint at Walton High, in Walton, W.Va., and then moved to Allegany High in Cumberland, Md.
From 1958-68, Lester was head coach at Richard Montgomery High, in Rockville, Md., where he posted an impressive 86-10-1 record. At the completion of his final season in 1968, he held a record of 25-consecutive victories.
After a remarkable coaching career at the high school level, Lester was hired as head coach at Maryland in 1969 and served in that capacity for three years. He also served as assistant coach with the Terrapins for three seasons.
Lester resides in Gaithersburg, Md. He has four children: three boys, Roy Jr., Chris and Tommy, and one girl, Amy.
 |
||
| Lowes Moore |
Lowes Moore
Known as one of the most entertaining players to ever set foot on the Coliseum floor, Lowes Moore dazzled the crowd as a basketball player from 1977-80.
The Mt. Vernon, N.Y., native is only one of 11 Mountaineers to score more than 1,600 career points. As a standout guard, Moore scored 20 points or more 37 times, which ranks sixth in school history.
Perhaps his most stunning performance came on Jan. 25, 1978, when he scored a career-high 40 points on 12-of-25 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds against a Notre Dame squad that would eventually make it to the Final Four.
As a sophomore, Moore averaged 21.3 points per game, while shooting an impressive 48.7 percent from the floor. He earned Eastern 8 all-conference first-team honors twice in his career, and twice made the Eastern 8 all-tournament team.
Moore also finished 10th in the country in field goals made with 237 during his outstanding sophomore season. His skills were noticed throughout the country as he was recognized as an Associated Press honorable mention All-American in 1978, and would repeat the feat during his junior year.
In head coach Gale Catlett’s first season (1979), Moore had four 30-point games, topping out with a 34-point effort against Virginia Tech on Jan. 10. Having earned many all-conference honors, he was also a Sporting News honorable mention All-American.
The 6-1, 170-pound guard went on to average 16.4 points per game in his senior year and was selected in the third round of the NBA draft by the New Jersey Nets.
Moore is a member of the 1976-85 all-time team at WVU, and helped lead the revitalization of Mountaineer basketball that would follow throughout the 1980s.
He continues to reside in Mount Vernon and is an active contributor to that city’s Boys and Girls Club. Moore has been married for 25 years to his wife, Patrice. They have four children: Michelle (22), Shireyll (20), Lowes III (15) and Isiah (12).
 |
||
| Martin Pushkin |
Dr. Martin Pushkin
Dr. Martin Pushkin coached the WVU track and field and cross country teams from 1981-2001 and saw 23 of his athletes earn All-America honors 35 times at his alma mater.
A two-time NCAA District II women’s track coach of the year, he guided WVU to its first men’s and women’s Atlantic 10 indoor and outdoor track titles (1991 indoor; 1993 indoor and outdoor). Over the course of 20 years, he led his cross country teams to three NCAA appearances while also winning IC4A and District II championships. He was named the A-10 track coach of the year three times and the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Region coach of the year in 1983, 1995 and 1999.
Pushkin had some significant individual achievements under his watch. Former Mountaineer track star James Jett became the first WVU track athlete to win an Olympic Gold Medal in 1992. Pushkin had two individual national champions, Pat Itanyi and Kate Vermeulen, and was responsible for the first female cross country All-American, Charity Wachera. In his athletic career at WVU in the early 1960s, Pushkin was captain of the track team and the first team captain on the soccer team in WVU history.
Before returning to his alma mater, the Charleston, W.Va., native was the head coach at Virginia Tech from 1964-76 before coaching at Northern Illinois until 1980.
A former president of the IC4A conference, Pushkin was active in helping create the WVU Sports Hall of Fame in 1991. He was inducted into the WVU Physical Education Hall of Fame in 2002.
Pushkin is married to Ann, a retired professor who teaches on a part-time basis at the WVU College Business and Economics, and they have two children, Katherine and Richard.
 |
||
| Jim Sottile |
James M. Sottile
James M. Sottile was a standout forward for the basketball team from 1951-53.
A native of Bristol, Pa., he helped WVU enjoy one of its best three-year spans in school history.
Sottile’s fine career was highlighted by his senior season in 1952-53, when he led WVU with 19.3 points per game and averaged six rebounds as the Mountaineers went 19-7.
With Sottile in the starting lineup, WVU posted a 60-20 record. In his junior season, he only played in 13 games because of a severe collarbone injury. He was sorely missed as the Mountaineers fell to Duke, 90-88, in the conference tournament semifinals at Raleigh, N.C.
Sottile’s importance to the team was clearly evident as he was named team captain in his senior season and started all 26 games. He was named All-America honorable mention in 1953 and made the all-Southern Conference first team.
The 6-1, 178-pound forward also made the Tri-State Area first team in 1953 and ranked 19th in the country in scoring with 501 points. After his superb senior season, Sottile was drafted by the Rochester Royals (now the Sacramento Kings) in 1953. He then played semi-professional basketball for the Sunbury Mercury.
Sottile also excelled academically while at WVU. He was the senior class president in 1953 and was a member of the Sigma Nu social fraternity. He also gained membership into several honorary organizations, including Mountain, Sphinx, Sigma Nu and Fi Batar Cappar fraternities.
He currently resides in Levittown, Pa., and took his knowledge and experience to the classroom as he taught grades seven through 12 for 36 years at Bristol High. Sottile earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education and health from WVU in 1953 and received a master’s degree from WVU in 1956.
While getting his master’s degree, Sottile served as a graduate assistant and helped coach Jerry West on the WVU freshman team in 1956-57. Sottile and his wife, the former Jeanette Modzik of Morgantown, will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in May. They have four children: Anita Giampietro, Jim Jr., Derek and David. Sottile also has three grandchildren: Natalie and Allison Giampietro and Heather Sottile.
