Mercy Inducts 2009 Hall of Fame Class

The Mercy College athletic department inducted their 2009 Hall of Fame class on Oct. 17, inducting four former standout athletes.

Among the inductees were men’s basketball legend Brian Donohue, Mary Brechbiel Agnetti, who played for the women’s basketball team, baseball phenom Bob Crescenzo, and Noreen Annunziata Apicella, who also represented Mercy’s women’s basketball squad.

Donohue, a member of the class of ’78, came to Mercy from Albertus Magnus in Bardonia, N.Y. to play basketball for the Flyers. But before he arrived at Mercy, he achieved all-county honors for being the fifth leading scorer in the county.

Dubbed by his peers are the “man with the golden shooting touch,” Donohue scored a total of 2,028 career points and notched 119 career steals for the Flyers. He broke the all-time scoring record in his sophomore year.

Donohue served three years as the men’s basketball team captain and his number 12 is one of only three retired by Mercy athletics.

Currently working for IBM, Donohue lives with his family in Brewster.

Agnetti was a standout player on the Flyers women’s basketball team and the first female athlete to receive a scholarship from Mercy. Like Donohue, she was a graduate of the Mercy class of ’78 and alumni of Albertus Magnus.

In her rookie season, Agnetti helped lead the Flyers to a 15-2 record and as a sophomore, she averaged nearly 18 points per game.

In her senior campaign, Agnetti was at the forefront of the team and the lady Flyers knocked off Division I schools like Brown University and Eastern Connecticut in the Women’s Northeast Regional Tournament.

It was in the tournament that Agnetti scored her 1,500th career point against Yale.

Agnetti went on to work for the NYPD and now lives with her family in Haverstraw.

Crescenzo played for the Mercy baseball team from 1979-82. Under the leadership of 2008 Hall of Fame inductee and the winningest head baseball coach in Mercy history Rick Wolff, he finished his career with a .345 batting average with eight home runs and 70 RBIs.

In his first year on the team, Crescenzo batted .416, an average that put him in 28th place in the national ranks. He eventually became team captain in his sophomore year in 1980, arguably his best season.

In one of his more memorable games, Crescenzo launched a game-winning, two-run home run on March 26 to beat Pace University, 5-3. Overall in 1980, he batted .327 and knocked in 26 runs.

Still involved in the sport of baseball, Crescenzo now owns and manages the U-14 New Jersey Cyclones baseball club.

Apicella, a graduating member of the Mercy class of ’86, was recruited from Pearl River High School where she was a three sport athlete. She chose to play basketball for the lady Flyers and soon became one of the best players on the court.

She is Mercy’s fourth all-time scorer with 1.532 career points and Apicella ranks sixth on the all-time steals list. She is also the first player in Rockland County history to score 1,000 points in high school and on the collegiate level.

As a sophomore, Apicella achieved New York State Division II All-State honors and HVWAC All-Conference honors, averaging 16 points per game and scoring a career-high 468 points that year.

In her senior year she was named Mercy’s female Athlete of the Year.

Apicella is currently teaching physical education in the North Rockland school district