By Corky Blake
Reprinted with permission from the Express-Times.

L. SAUCON TWP. - The late Pete Nevins was the gold standard in his profession during 33 years as East Stroudsburg University's sports information director.

Even after he retired from ESU in the summer of 2002, Nevins kept tabs on the pulse of ESU and Pocono sports by writing a weekly column for the Pocono Record newspaper.

And Nevins remained a fixture at the winter meetings of the Lehigh Valley Small College Basketball Media Organization, which he helped found in 1994-95 to promote the student-athletes at his institution, along with those from Cedar Crest, Delaware Valley, DeSales, Kutztown, Moravian and Muhlenberg.

Nevins died Jan. 6 after a brief battle with cancer. But his memory lives on.

Nevins' fellow Lehigh Valley sports information directors, many of whom he mentored in their formative years, decided to honor him by naming the organization's 2007 player of the year awards after him.

And it was only fitting, that on Tuesday the women's inaugural Pete Nevins Player of the Year was awarded to Alyssa Antolick.

Just like Nevins, Antolick, a Bethlehem Catholic High School graduate, has set incredible standards, first at DeSales and now at East Stroudsburg University as a post-graduate.

"I knew we had a good group of returning players and a good group of freshmen, but when Alyssa Antolick joined us that made us an outstanding team," said ESU coach Julienne Simpson, whose Warriors are 18-3 overall and 7-1 in the Pennsylvania Conference East Division.

Antolick, a 6-foot guard, thought her college basketball days were over after DeSales had defeated Moravian on March 5, 2005 in the ECAC South championship game. She was leaving coach Fred Richter's program as the school's third all-time leading scorer and three times was an All-Freedom Conference first team performer.

By then she'd been a frequent visitor to the Small Colleges monthly luncheon and a recipient of the player of the year award.

But after spending a season as an assistant coach at Cedar Crest, Antolick decided to enroll in East Stroudsburg's sports management graduate program.

"I did it because I wanted to coach and if that didn't work out I could get into sports management," Antolick said.

Fortunately for ESU, Warriors assistant coach Diane Decker knew Antolick still had a season of eligibility remaining because of an ankle injury that curtailed her freshman season. Decker, the former Freedom High School coach, convinced Antolick to come out of retirement.

"It was a little bit of a shock at first, but it was Diane who gave me the confidence to return," Antolick said.

Antolick is second on the team in scoring (12.7 ppg) and rebounding (4.9 rpg). She leads the conference in 3-point shooting percentage (45.5) and twice was named PSAC East Player of the Week.

Simpson said Antolick's influence on her team will last beyond this season.

"I'd like to say I watched her grow and mature, but we're benefiting from what Coach Richter taught her over the years," Simpson said. "We all know Alyssa can shoot the ball, but she's taught our team about giving and sharing the ball. Those are the things that will continue to stay with us."

Antolick was joined on the women's team of the year by Kirby Lutz (Pen Argyl) of DeSales, Kelly Applegate (Wilson) of Moravian, Jess Brady (Emmaus) of Kutztown, Meghan Courtney of Muhlenberg, Kelly Oakes of Cedar Crest and Shannon O'Neill of Delaware Valley.

Kutztown sophomore guard Dave Ben, who is averaging 19.6 points and 5.6 rebounds, was the men's Nevins Player of the Year. The men's team also included Moravian's Mark Franzyshen, Muhlenberg's Chris Huber (Parkland), DeSales' Eddie Ohlson (Parkland), Delaware Valley's Isaiah Pinckney and East Stroudsburg's Channon Easley.