Sigmund “Sig” Makofski '26, one of the outstanding athletes in the history of the College and a high school coaching legend, died January 15. He was eighty-nine.
A native of Schenectady, Makofski was a first-team All American in basketball in 1925-26 and an honorable mention in football in 1925. He was a member of Phi Sigma Kappa and also played baseball.
He began coaching basketball at Schenectady High School after his graduation, and moved to Mont Pleasant High School when it opened in 1931. By the time he retired from coaching in 1952, his teams had compiled a record of 461-35, with six undefeated seasons.
Makofski was known for his inventiveness, competitive drive, and insistence that his players conduct themselves in a sportsmanlike manner. His record and his coaching innovations earned him induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.
He also coached Mont Pleasant football teams, leaving with a record of 418-3, and was the school's golf coach for thirty years. An avid golfer, he at one time or another held fourteen local course records and won the New York State Senior Tournament in 1961. He retired as Mont Pleasant's athletic director in 1963.
He served one term on the Schenectady City Council and also was a member of the city's Municipal Housing Authority, Recreation Commission, and Golfing Commission.
In 1981, the College awarded him the honorary degree of Doctor of Pedagogy. The Sigmund Makofski Scholarship Fund was established by friends and admirers of the renowned coach; the scholarship is presented annually to a Union student from Schenectady County who has displayed outstanding character and established a record of achievement in extracurricular activities. Contributions may be made to the scholarship fund.
He is survived by his wife, Barbara, of Clearwater, Fla.
The Nikki Stone you saw doing double back flips at the Olympics in February is the same young woman who majors in psychology at the College.
Stone, a junior from Westborough, Mass., was ranked third in World Cup aerial freestyle skiing and was the top American. She was one of three women representing the United States.
Stone visited the campus briefly in early February before leaving for Sweden for more World Cup competition. There are twelve stops on the World Cup tour, which ended two weeks after the Olympics.
This is Stone's third winter in the World Cup (she takes a leave during the winter term to compete). In 1992, she won her fourth World Cup event, in Japan, and finished ninth in the series, earning Rookie of the Year honors. Last year, she finished third overall, was fourth in the world championships, and won the national championship.
Stone transferred to Union from the University of Vermont, partly because the College's three-term calendar means she loses less class time than under a two-semester system. Another reason for choosing Union-she is a descendant of Eliphalet Nott, and her mother's maiden name was Nott.
She got into the sport as a teenager, when she happened to watch a television show with freestyle skiers practicing inverted aerials. Since she was growing too big for gymnastics, and since what the skiers were doing looked like fun, she decided to give the sport a try.
“It takes a lot of nerve,” she says. “Each time I go to a new site or a new aerial jump it gets my nerves pumping. It's scary, but it keeps you on your toes and it makes it more exciting because the fear factor is involved.”
After two years of ski lessons, she won the junior ballet title and finished third in the combined competition at the national championships. In 1991 she won the aerial title on the Nor Am developmental circuit, placed third in the ballet, and was second in the combined standings. From there it was on to the World Cup.
“My psychology major has helped me a lot in the sport,” she says. “It helps to be able to visualize the jumps.” The Olympic aerial team works with sports psychologists to help them visualize their jumps, she says.
Senior point guard Steve Evans (20) was in the top five in the country in assists per game, with an average of 7.5. He was on tract to break the College's single-season assist record.
The success of the fall sports season rubbed off on the College's winter teams.
Perhaps the biggest success story came in hockey, where the team had several Division I wins by February and an overall victory total that exceeded the past two seasons combined.
Swimming continued its winning ways, men's basketball was well above .500, women's basketball was close, and track had seen several outstanding individual performances.
HOCKEY
As of early February, the Skating Dutchmen were in tenth place in the ECAC standings-good enough for a playoff spot. Overall, the Dutchmen were 89-2.
Reid Simonton
Union got out of last place on January 7, beating Cornell 6-2 while Dartmouth lost. After a disheartening 82 loss to RPI, the Dutchmen came right back the next night to play RPI hard, losing 5-3. Then came wins over Yale, Dartmouth, and St. Lawrence.
There have been numerous individual highlights:
Sophomore Reid Simonton, of Calgary, Alberta, became the first player since 1991 to have a five-point game, with a goal and four assists in Union's first-round win in the Concordia Tournament. Union won the tournament the next night, and Simonton was named the most valuable player.
Forwards Chris Albert, of Nepean, Ont., Chris Ford, of Rochester, N.Y., and Troy Stevens, of Coon Rapids, Minn., had scored twenty points each by
February notable since
Albert was the only player to reach twenty in all of 1992-1993. As a team, the Dutchmen have scored more than twice as many goals as last year.
Goalie Mike Gallant, of Hamilton, Ont., not only broke his winless streak but was named to the ECAC weekly honor roll four times.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
At the end of the 1993 part of the season, the team was 3-3 and coming off a tough four-point loss to Ithaca. By early February, the team was 11-7.
In January, though, the Dutchmen rallied to beat Williams, which came into the game 7-0 and ranked number one in New England. After a win over Swarthmore, Union did it again, this time beating undefeated New York University, which was ranked number one in New York.
Coach Bill Scanlon said it was the first time in his twenty-one years of
coaching that he his team had faced two undefeated and top-ranked teams.
Individual honors for the season were going to Ken Evans, of Ballston Spa, N.Y., who became the tenth Union player to score more than 1,000 points in his career, and senior guard Steve Evans, of Rome, N.Y., who was on track to establish a new Union single-season record for assists.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Andrea Pagnozzi
After an 0-5 start, the Union team went in the other direction, winning seven of their next twelve on their way to a 7-10 record by early February.
The catalyst has been junior guard Andrea Pagnozzi, of Cresskill, N.J., who averaged more than eighteen points a game. Twice she was named to the ECAC weekly honor roll and once she was named upstate New York's player of the week.
She has been supported in scoring by freshmen forwards Amy Dougherty, of Glassboro, N.J., and Amy Hitz, of Acton, Mass., and in rebounding by senior forward Michelle Kleinhaus, of Woodmere, N.Y.
SWIMMING
The highlight of the men's season was a 128114 victory over Hartwick, the defending New York state champions. By February the Dutchmen
were 81 in dual meets and preparing for the state championships in late February, to be held on campus.
Freshman Kevin Makarowski, of Washington Mills, N.Y., set a number of Union
freestyle and individual medley records, lowering the 400-intermediate
standard by more than eight seconds at one point. Equally successful was the women's team, which was 8-0 in dual meets by early February. Freshman Jackie Crane, of Danville, Pa., set several freestyle records as she qualified for the NCAA “B” cut; also qualifying was senior Kelly Bevan in the breaststroke.
TRACK
Senior Rich Pulver, of Fort Edward, N.Y., qualified for the NCAA meet when he finished third in the shotput at the Dartmouth Relays. On the women's side, junior sprinter Nadine Filosi, of Stoneham, Mass., did well in events ranging from the 55-meter hurdles to the 300 meters.
The 27,000 Schenectady County residents who found surveys in their mailboxes this winter were answering to a trio of Union students.
The Schenectady County Chamber of Commerce wanted to know what residents thought about perceived strengths and weaknesses and to solicit ideas for improvement.
That's where P.J. Lee '93, Deborah Murray '94, and Nishan Nadaraja '94 came in.
The students began putting the survey together last spring. They refined it over the summer and saw it go into the mail in November. Residents were asked to rate government and community services, shopping, recreation, and entertainment. They also were asked to comment on safety, their reasons for living in the county, and where they prefer to spend their free time.
More than 3,500 surveys were filled out and returned, and tabulation was underway as the magazine went to press. The results of the survey also will be presented to organizers of Schenectady 2000, the revitalization plan for the city of Schenectady.
The College's chapter of the Society of Physics Students has been selected as an outstanding chapter for 1992-93.
Only thirty-two of the society's 608 chapters received the designation from the national organization, based in College Park, Md.
Selection criteria included chapter activity, membership, outstanding projects, undergraduate research, and student papers presented at scientific meetings.
Society officers were Seth Cheiken '95, James Dykes '93, Jessica Lowenstein '95, and Nicole Sylvestri '93. The faculty advisor was James McWhirter, John D. MacArthur assistant professor of physics.
