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Abbey Athletics Hall Of Fame Inductees Announced

The Michael P. Reidy Athletics Hall of Fame exists to honor those athletes, coaches, administrators and special contributors whose accomplishments have brought recognition, distinction, excellence and honor to Belmont Abbey College.

The third class of the Michael P. Reidy Athletics Hall of Fame will be enshrined on Saturday, October 8, 2011 at Cramer Mountain Country Club. The 2011 inductees are: Carl Bell of Men’s Basketball (1972-75); Angela Placona-Congelli of Women’s Soccer (1996-99); and the tennis doubles team of Will Esser (‘95) and David Buerkle (‘96). The Athletics Hall of Fame is one of the many featured events during the College’s Homecoming weekend.  The reception will begin at 6:30 p.m. with dinner and inductions  at 7:30 p.m. The cost per ticket is $45. 

To register for the Athletics Hall of Fame or to view the Homecoming schedule & events, please CLICK HERE.

Carl Bell is the men’s basketball team’s all-time leading scorer with 2,201 career points and 1,030 rebounds. He averaged 19.4 points and 9.1 rebounds per game (113 games) during his four years. He was twice named to the NAIA all- district 26 team and was honorable mention All -American his sophomore and senior years. He set the school’s all-time single season scoring mark with 592 points as a senior, breaking his own record he set the year before.

Angela Placona-Congelli scored 52 goals and assisted on 29 others as she earned first-team all-conference honors her last three years, after earning second-team honors and conference freshman of the year recognition. She was a three-time all-region selection and earned All-American honors as a senior. She earned Belmont Abbey Female Athlete of the Year honors and on June 16, 2000, she was named the Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference Female Athlete of the Year.

The men’s tennis doubles team of Will Esser and David Buerkle finished the 1995 season ranked tenth nationally in NAIA, as the duo won the conference championship. Buerkle, from Lake Worth, Florida, was a four-year member of the tennis and cross country teams from 1993-1996. As a junior in 1995, he won the CIAC singles and doubles championships and was second-team NAIA All-American. Later that year, he and Esser finished tenth in the NAIA doubles championships after the pair entered the tournament unseeded. Esser was a member of the tennis team for four years and also ran cross country.