Schenectady, N.Y. (Nov. 23, 2005) – Union College associate athletic director and senior women's administrator Joanne Little was recently inducted into the Nanuet High School Sports Hall of Fame for her outstanding athletic achievements. Little, class of '76, was one of six honorees recognized at the 4th annual induction dinner. She earned 10 varsity letters in four sports – basketball, volleyball, softball and track & field.
Basketball was the sport in which Little, a guard, excelled most. She led the Rockland County Public School Athletic League in scoring her junior and senior years, averaging 24.1 and 20.5 points per game, respectively. Both years she was a unanimous first-team All-County selection, team co-captain and MVP. She also averaged 15.5 points per game as a freshman and 18.7 as a sophomore in the days when teams played only 13 to 15 games a season. She wound up with 956 points during her four-year varsity career.
In volleyball, she earned first-team All-County recognition her senior year and was team co-captain and MVP, while as a junior she was honorable mention All-County. During the spring, Little played softball for three years and merited honorable mention All-County as a junior. The following year she switched to track & field. At the Rockland County Championships, Little won the shot put and finished second in the discus.
At the conclusion of her stellar athletic career, Little was one of three Black & Gold Club scholarship recipients, along with fellow Nanuet Hall of Famers and 1976 graduates Tony Harlin and Bret Watzka. She also earned the Jesse Kaplan Memorial Award, the Nanuet Lions Club Humanitarian Award, the I Dare You Committee Leadership Award, and the P.T.S.A. Citizenship Award.
Little earned an athletic scholarship to Keene State College in New Hampshire, an NCAA Div. II school where she excelled in basketball for four years and softball for two. She then embarked on a career in coaching and athletic administration. During her one season as head women's basketball coach at SUNY Binghamton, 1989-90, she was SUNY Coach of the Year for leading her team to a fourth-place finish after they were picked in a pre-season poll to finish 10th out of 11 teams.
Little, a resident of Niskayuna, N.Y., has spent the last 15 years at Union College serving as a coach of basketball, volleyball and tennis and later moving into administration. In her current role as associate athletic director and senior women's administrator she oversees 10 sports, sports services and sports information, and is the marketing/promotions coordinator for the department.