The College of Staten Island Athletics program unveiled its class of six individuals, this week, to its 2022 Hall of Fame Class. With the induction ceremony set for November, the Hall of Fame picks up after a lengthy hiatus, with the 2020 event postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s Class features former and current student-athletes, coaches, and administrators of the program, with roots in Staten Island Community College (SICC), and span a total of nearly 100 years of service to the College’s Athletics program.

The headliners start with administrative pioneer Joseph Barresi, who began his career as a staffer in the early 1960s, when the Athletics program was affiliated with SICC. As Director of Athletics, he helped usher the College’s entry into NCAA Division III athletics in 1976, and stayed firmly in that role until his retirement in 1995, right around the time the College moved its facilities to the current Willowbrook campus. 

Tony Petosa, the former standout student-athlete of CSI’s nationally ranked Men’s Basketball teams of the early 1980s, parlayed his playing days into an extensive coaching career at the College of Staten Island. Petosa amassed 459 wins, coaching the team from 1989-2017, a run that included six CUNYAC Championships, seven NCAA Division III Postseason Tournament appearances, ten ECAC Postseason appearances, and a pair of ECAC Championships. The wins are the most of any CUNYAC coach spanning any sport.

Like Petosa, Pat Daddio enjoyed a tremendous playing career in the 1980s behind the plate on the baseball diamond. Daddio played three seasons at CSI before being signed by Major League Baseball’s Detroit Tigers. After a professional stint, Daddio ultimately returned to his roots and entered the collegiate coaching ranks as an assistant baseball coach in 2014, helping the Dolphins to four CUNYAC Championships before entering the NCAA Division II ranks in 2019.

On CSI’s softball diamond, four-year standout Kaitlyn Flynn dominated the CSI record books during the 2009-2012 seasons, where she helped lead the Dolphins to a pair of CUNYAC titles after a pair of MVP seasons. Over her four-year career, the slugger batted .415, and continues to be CSI’s homerun champion with 17 in total, to go with 130 career RBIs, the second-highest all time.

Melissa Gelardi is CSI’s lone soccer honoree in the 2022 Class and was a centerpiece of the program from 2011-2014. The center-midfielder was a monster in the middle, lending equally to the offensive and defensive units that collected a 23-0-1 regular season record within CUNY in her four years, winning a postseason title in 2011. Gelardi’s calling card, however, was distribution, and the standout collected 75 career assists, almost 50 more than CSI’s next in line in that category. In 2013, Gelardi broke the national record for assists in a single game, which is still standing, and ended up leading the nation in assists per game in 2012.

Finalizing this year’s Class is Men’s Basketball standout Jordan Young, who enjoyed a stellar career with the Dolphins from 2008-2012. Young lands in the Top 10 statistically in a variety of categories, including points scored, rebounds, blocked shots, assists, and steals, but the calling card he carried most was his impeccable leadership and versatility, eventually captaining a team that amassed just six wins in total his first year, the lowest in school history, to a team that would ultimately go the farthest that any other team has at CSI. It was a Sweet-16 run in the NCAA Division III Postseason Tournament in 2012 that saw CSI win a CUNY title and tally 26 wins in total, at the time, the highest in school history. Young stayed on post-graduation as an assistant coach for four years.

The six new inductees to the Hall of Fame will be officially inaugurated on November 3, 2022, at the Nicotra Ballroom on Staten Island. Ticket information will be announced soon. The inductees will join 28 current members of the Hall of Fame, which was established in 2012 and runs biennially.

Visit www.csidolphins.com/hof for the latest Hall of Fame information as it becomes available.