SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Union College Department of Athletics is proud to announce the newest class of inductees into the Union Athletics Hall of Fame, as seven individuals and two teams will be recognized as part of the Class of 2026.
 
The College's 16th induction class includes All-American football defensive back Steve Ciesinski '70, women's ice hockey and lacrosse star Elizabeth Flanagan '05, two-time men's lacrosse captain Stephen Ritterbush '68, women's basketball and softball record-setter Michelle Rogers '09, men's swimming national champion Elliot Seguin '06, longtime women's soccer coach Brian Speck, and track & field All-American Sean Washington '04. In addition, the 1974-75 men's basketball team and a special group of 1974-75 women's trailblazers will also be inducted as Teams of Distinction.
 
With this year's class, the number of individuals inducted into the Hall of Fame climbs to 102 since the first ceremony in 2002, while the number of Teams of Distinction rises to 19 since the honor was first awarded in 2007.
 
The biennial celebration will once again coincide with ReUnion weekend on Sunday, May 17, 2026. Registration for the event is now open at https://ualumni.union.edu/HOF with more information on how you can join us to celebrate these former student-athletes and coaches.  For those unable to attend, the event will be live streamed at https://unionathletics.com/halloffame/2026/video.
 
Steve Ciesinski '70
Steve Ciesinski was a three-year letterwinner for the Union football and men's lacrosse teams in the late 1960s, leaving his mark on both programs and later on the College as a whole. 
 
On the gridiron, Ciesinski was a three-year starter and two-time Independent College Athletic Conference All-Star selection. He was named an Associated Press Little All-America honorable mention as a junior, when he intercepted a program single-season record 10 passes in just eight games during the 1968 season, including a then-program-record three in a game against Rensselaer. In three seasons with the varsity team, Ciesinski intercepted 17 passes in 25 games, a mark that still stands as the program's all-time record 56 years later. He also spent three years with the men's lacrosse team and captained the team in his final two seasons, guiding the team to a 23-14 record in his time on the squad.
 
Since graduation, Ciesinski served on Union's Board of Trustees and was the board chair from 2002-07. He endowed the Stephen J. and Diane K. Ciesinski Dean of the Faculty position in 2007 and has given back to the College in many other ways since leaving his native Schenectady.

Elizabeth Flanagan '05
Elizabeth Flanagan (Forrest) earned laurels both on the field and on the ice for the Union women's lacrosse and ice hockey teams from 2001-05.
 
Flanagan was one of the first stars of Union's nascent women's ice hockey program, scoring 29 goals with 35 assists for 64 points in just two seasons on the ice. A two-time All-ECAC East selection and two-time team Most Valuable Player, she set school records with 40 points and a conference-best 26 assists in Union's final Division III season of 2002-03, including a school single-season and career record four shorthanded goals that led the country that year. The only player in program history to score five goals in a game and the only player to record multiple five-point games, she still ranks fourth all-time in points, fifth in assists and seventh in goals in just 50 career games.
 
Flanagan also made a big impact with the women's lacrosse team as well, earning three All-Conference selections and a pair of IWLCA All-Region first team nods over her four seasons. She shared the Terry Lynch-Jackie Havercamp Cuttita Memorial Award with her twin sister Molly '05 HOF '15 as first-years, and she followed up with a school single-season record 70 caused turnovers as a sophomore. As a senior, she was named to the WomensLacrosse.com All-America third team and the ECAC Upstate All-Star first team in addition to her second straight All-Region honor. Flanagan finished her career with 177 ground balls and 113 caused turnovers in addition to 31 goals and 38 assists in 67 career games, ranking third in career caused turnovers and seventh in ground balls all-time at Union.

Stephen Ritterbush '68
Stephen Ritterbush helped to lead the Union men's lacrosse team to some of the best seasons in program history as a three-year letterwinner and two-year captain from 1966-68.
 
After captaining the freshman team in 1965, Ritterbush moved up to varsity as a sophomore and ranked second in scoring on the Hall of Fame 1966 squad that went 10-1 and posted the second-highest winning percentage of any Union lacrosse, netting 22 goals with 24 assists for 46 points. He went on to record 28 points (13 goals, 15 assists) as a junior captain and added 32 points on 19 goals and 13 assists as a senior captain, becoming one of the first 100-point players in program history. Union posted a combined record of 27-6 (.818) in his three varsity seasons, a mark that remains the highest winning percentage over a three-year span in almost 100 seasons of Union lacrosse.
 
Off the field, Ritterbush also served as senior class president and went on to serve on the College's Board of Trustees. One of the Department of Athletics' highest individual honors, the Stephen Ritterbush Award, is named in his honor.

Michelle Rogers '09
One of the most decorated two-sport athletes in Union history, Michelle Rogers (Iduate) was a record-setting force for both the women's basketball and softball teams from 2005-09.
 
Rogers had one of the most prolific careers in program history on the softball field, as she remains the only Union softball player (and one of only five in any sport) to earn four straight All-Region selections and was a four-time All-Liberty League first-team honoree. A career .463 hitter in 144 games, Rogers is Union's all-time leader in hits (223), runs scored (149) and doubles (50), while also ranking second in batting average, third in on-base percentage (.500), fourth in slugging percentage (.676) and fifth in runs batted in (110). She set the school single-season record by scoring 45 times while also hitting a career-high eight homers as a sophomore, and led Division III in doubles and doubles per game with a program-record 21 two-baggers in her junior year. The team posted a remarkable 123-28 (.814) record in her four seasons, the highest four-year winning percentage in program history.
 
Rogers was just as successful on the court for Union, scoring over 1,000 points and remaining Union's all-time leader in field-goal percentage at 59.3 percent in 100 games. He averaged 16.5 points per game and shot 62.2 percent from the field on the way to Liberty League Player of the Year and D3hoops.com All-Region honors as a senior, including a program-record 38 points and 17 field goals against Williams on November 30, 2008. The two-time All-Liberty League selection averaged over 10 points per game for her career and currently ranks ninth all-time in points (1,076), eighth in field goals (429) and 10th in free throws (217) at Union.
 
Due in part to her multi-sport prowess, Rogers is one of the few Union student-athletes to earn Athlete of the Year for her class in all four years on campus, sweeping the Terry Lynch-Jackie Havercamp Cuttita Memorial Award, Female Sophomore Athletic Prize, ECAC Medal of Merit and Robert M. Ridings Memorial Award.

Elliot Seguin '06
Elliot Seguin made a lasting impact in the pool as one of four individual national champions in the long history of the Union men's swimming & diving program during his time on campus from 2001-05.
 
Seguin finished his decorated Union career with 12 All-America laurels to his credit, with six coming as an individual and six as part of relay teams. He shined brightest in his senior season, earning All-America honors in all three freestyle sprint events, including the program's fourth national title in the 100 free, which he won by over four-tenths of a second. That season also saw Seguin capture state titles in the 100 and 200 free, set a new school record in the 100 free (45.17) that still stands today, and earn Union's Student-Athlete of the Year award.
 
As a sophomore, Seguin earned the Sophomore Athletic Prize after picking up a pair of individual All-America laurels, finishing third in the 50 free and fourth in the 100 free, to go with four All-America relay honors. His pair of individual honors made him only the fifth Union swimmer to earn multiple All-America first-team awards in the same season, and also helped Union finish 14th at the national championships with 91 points, the team's highest finish since 1998.

Brian Speck
One of the longest tenured and most successful coaches in the history of Union athletics, Brian Speck left an indelible impact during his time coaching the women's soccer and softball teams between 1995-2019.
 
Speck's biggest successes came on the pitch, where he guided the women's soccer team to never-before-seen success. He finished his 25-year career with a 311-111-35 (.719) record at the helm of the program, leading Union to 10 NCAA Tournaments and six conference championships, as well as the 14 winningest seasons in program history and 12 years with a national ranking. He led the team to a 13-1-1 record and its first-ever national ranking on the way to NSCAA Regional Coach of the Year honors in 1998, then guided the 1999 Hall of Fame squad to the national tournament for the first time, where they became the first women's team at Union to win an NCAA Tournament contest. His teams reached as high as fifth nationally in both 2000 and 2005, with the 2005 squad finishing 18-1-3 to cap a remarkable three-year run that saw the team post a combined 56-5-5 mark. A three-time conference Coach of the Year, he has seen nine of his players inducted into the Union Athletics Hall of Fame.
 
Speck also spent 14 years with the Union softball team, serving two years as head coach and 12 years as an assistant alongside Pete Brown '83. Together, the pair led the program to unprecedented heights, posting a combined 326-147 record and four NCAA Tournament appearances.
 
Speck finished his time at Union with the third-most wins in a single sport in Union history and his 330 wins between soccer and softball are fourth-most ever for a Union mentor. He remains one of only four Union coaches to lead a team for at least 25 years and mentored over 300 Union student-athletes in his quarter-century of service.

Sean Washington '04
One of the most accomplished sprinters ever for the Union College men's track & field team, Sean Washington overcame adversity to race into the record books on the track and also was a key contributor to the Union football team from 2000-04.
 
After starting his college career by breaking a leg during his first football preseason camp, Washington came back as a sophomore and earned the first of three All-Conference honors in the 55-meter dash. As a junior, he was named the UCAA (now Liberty League) Indoor Track Athlete of the Year and took fifth in the 55 at the NCAA Championships to earn his first All-America honor. He doubled up on All-America laurels as a senior, taking seventh in both the 55 during the indoor season and the 100-meter dash during the outdoor season to become the third Union track athlete to earn All-America honors in multiple events. He remains the school record holder in the indoor 55 and as part of the outdoor 4x100 relay, and his outdoor 100 record stood for 10 years and currently ranks second by a margin of 0.01 seconds.
 
On the gridiron, Washington worked his way back from injury to become one of the team's leading receivers and kick returners, and earned first team All-UCAA recognition as a senior tailback in 2003.
 
Washington earned department honors in all three full seasons of competition at Union, winning the William B. Jaffe '26 Athletic Award, the William A. Pike '60 Award and the Harold R. Moore Male Sophomore Athletic Prize.
 
1974-75 Men's Basketball Team
The 1974-75 men's basketball team is one of the finest squads in the long history of basketball at Union, posting a 20-4 record to tie for fourth on the program's single-season wins list.
 
Lead by head coach Bill Scanlon, who was named the Times Union Capital District Coach of the Year, the team did not lose consecutive games all season and ended the season by capturing the ECAC Upstate New York championship as the top seed with convincing wins over Hamilton and Oneonta. As a team, Union shot an incredible 50.7 percent (803-of-1582) from the field, the highest single-season percentage in program history and sixth-best in the nation that year. The team's 79.4 points-per-game average is third-best ever for a Union side and helped the squad rank top-five nationally by winning by an average of 14.3 points per game.
 
Charles Gugliotta led the team in scoring and rebounding at 14.0 points and 9.0 rebounds per game and was named to the NABC All-East District Team, while Bill Carmody set a then-school record with 146 assists, a mark that still ranks eighth all-time at Union, and graduated with school single-game, single-season and career assist records.
 
Team members:
Gary Borgese '77
Bill Carmody '75, HOF '04 (captain)
Kevin Crawford '75 (captain)
John Denio '76, HOF '11
Rick Gorman '77
Charles Gugliotta '75 (captain)
Joel Fisher '76
Larry Hughes '77
Larry Kearney '77
Steve Kelly '76
Cletus McLaughlin '77
Peter Meola '77
David Viniar '76
Alan Walker '78

Head Coach: Bill Scanlon
Manager: Lou Barash '76
 
1974-75 Women's Trailblazers Team
In recognition of 50 years of women's athletics at Union, a group of female student-athletes from the 1974-75 school year are being recognized to honor the collective achievements of the strong, dedicated, persistent, trailblazers that worked with the college administration to establish the women's athletic program at Union half a century ago. Most athletes played multiple sports without the benefits of trainers, fitness centers, and quality field and equipment conditions; nevertheless, they persevered, made lifelong friends, and learned valuable life lessons.
 
These trailblazing women, part of the nearly 100 to play on six teams in 1974-75, were recognized as the top students and athletes from their respective sports during the first full year of competition for women at Union. They were named team Most Valuable Players and captains, earned the Dutchess Award for academic and athletic excellence, wrote articles about their teams in the Concordiensis, and contributed to the infancy of women's athletics at Union in many other ways.
 
Team Members:
Pamela Anderson '77 – Dutchess Award for the volleyball and tennis teams
Elaine Baldwin '79 – Dutchess Award for the softball team
Lynn Bateman Pulliam '78 – captain of the basketball team, also played field hockey and lacrosse and wrote for the Concordiensis
Barbara J. (Dewey) Carmody '75 – Dutchess Award for the basketball team
Diana Gazzolo '78 – played volleyball, basketball and softball, and also wrote and took photos for the Concordiensis
Sarah "Muffy" Hart Hansen '78 – played field hockey, tennis and lacrosse
Amy L. Juchatz-Camanzo '78 – MVP and captain of the volleyball team, and also played lacrosse
Katharine "Kipp" Kelley Freeman '75 – Dutchess Award for the field hockey and lacrosse teams, and also played volleyball
Priscilla "Perky" (Francis) Nellissen '77, HOF '05 – played softball and field hockey
Allyne Price '78 – played field hockey and lacrosse and also wrote for the Concordiensis
Catherine "Cathy" Reals '78 – captain of the basketball team, also played volleyball and softball and wrote for the Concordiensis
Susan Rich '75 – MVP of the tennis team
Donna Sockell '77 – MVP of the basketball team and also played field hockey and softball
Madelyn Yelton '75 – MVP of both the field hockey and lacrosse teams, and also played volleyball
Ronni Zankel '78 – MVP of the softball team
Bob Ridings HOF '07 - Athletic Equipment Manager
Sheila Weaver - Director of Women's Athletics and the first full-time women's varsity coach at Union