Great Moments in Athletics History
Worcester State has a rich and proud history of student athletics that took off when Al G. Fotiades ’50 and company formed Worcester State’s first varsity sports team. The university joined the NCAA’s Division III in 1973 and today has 20 Division III sports teams with 471 student-athletes. Here’s a look back at some of those great moments.
Late 1800s-early 1900s
Students have been playing sports at Worcester State for more than 100 years. The university’s archives contain photos of women’s basketball from 1897 and women’s volleyball from around 1920. In the 1910s, women played in softball tournaments. These early athletics activities began as physical education before expanding into clubs such as the Men’s and Women’s Athletics Associations that hosted both weekly and intercollegiate competition.
1940s
In the 1940s, athletics grew thanks to the efforts of World War II veteran Al G. Fotiades ’50 and several of his fellow Lancers. As a freshman at Worcester State Teachers College, Fotiades along with nine other students formed the 1946-47 men’s basketball team. The team played their home games in a standing-room-only gymnasium that was located on the first floor of the Shaughnessy Administration Building and went 8-1 in their inaugural season.
1950s
Baseball started in 1951, the second varsity team at the college, and has had an impressive record in its nearly 75 years. From 1966 to 2022, the team had 561 wins and, under the leadership of Coach Dirk Baker (1996-2022), went to the NCAAs six times.
By 1953, Worcester State Teachers College was in need of a better logo and identity for the players. At the time, uniforms simply read “State,” but most of the teams they played were also state colleges and had the same word on their uniforms. John Mockler, the first athletic director and catalyst for most of the men’s sports at Worcester State, studied the Massachusetts state seal for some inspiration and landed on “Lancers,” based on the arrow in the state seal. He commissioned an artist at the school newspaper to draw the first Lancer. Everyone loved the horse-mounted lancer, and the first athletics logo was born.
1960s
The 1960s were years of rapid expansion. Men’s ice hockey started in 1966, and women’s basketball followed in 1967. In the late 1960s, the university started indoor and outdoor men’s track, men’s cross country, and a men’s tennis team.
Football had been played at Worcester State College since 1969 as a club sport for the first decade and a half of its existence. It was a successful club sport, too; both the 1980 and 1984 club football teams took home the National Collegiate Football Association championship. After an 11-0 season in 1984 that culminated in a dramatic victory against the two-time national champion Bentley College, the team’s continued success could no longer be denied. A varsity football program was established the following year.
1970s-1990s
Field hockey at Worcester State first began as a varsity sport in 1970, and the program quickly established a winning culture. In only their second season, the team began a run of three straight Massachusetts State College Tournament titles from 1971 to 1973, the first ever 3-peat in the history of Worcester State athletics. Hall of Fame inductee Debra (DiPadua) Tambeau ’74 anchored the team as their goalie, with her 15 shutouts in 34 games helping them maintain dominance over that three-season span. The 2023 Worcester State field hockey team holds the honor of winning the sport’s first ever MASCAC post-season championship under the leadership of first-year coach Sophia Monopoli.
Led by legendary head coach John Coughlin Sr., men’s hockey went on a historic run in the 1970s that began with the 1971-72 season. The team won the first of three consecutive ECAC championships and set numerous records that have yet to be broken by any Lancer men’s hockey team since. Their single-season record of 21-3 remains the best in program history, as does the team’s win percentage (.875) and total goals scored (252). To commemorate their performance that season, the entire 1971-72 men’s ice hockey team was inducted into the Worcester State Athletic Hall of Fame in 2022. (Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the print edition which states the team did not win a championship.)
The Lancer women’s basketball team earned national recognition for their dynamic victory of the 1980 AIAW National Championship. Led by longtime women’s basketball head coach Donna Devlin, the team finished with a record of 24-2 and won the first national championship in Worcester State history. The championship game was a closely contested matchup against Wisconsin-La Crosse that finished with a final score of 76-73. The women’s basketball team returned to the AIAW tournament the following season, falling short in the Final Four.
The 1983-84 men’s golf team tied for third place in the 1984 NCAA Division III tournament and enjoyed a successful year from start to finish. The softball team went 21-3 in 1987, capturing the MASCAC Championship and making its first NCAA appearance.
In the 1990s, men’s basketball star Al Pettway ’94 reached unprecedented scoring heights during his time as a Lancer, leading the Lancers to the NCAA Tournament in 1994. His 2,205 career points are still the most in program history by a wide margin, and he remains high on the list of scoring accolades such as points per game, field goals made, and three-point shots made. In 2024, Worcester State Athletics welcomed Pettway back home as the new men’s basketball coach.
The 1990s closed out with a remarkable accomplishment for the Lancer history books. Track and field athlete Elke Aun ’97 was the first Worcester State College athlete to receive an NCAA $5,000 postgraduate scholarship. Considered the best female track and field athlete in Worcester State history, her achievements include the 1996 NCAA Division III National Championship in the heptathlon, four-time All-American, All-ECAC 13 times, All-New England 18 times, ECAC Champion in four events, and New England Champion in two events. She remains the Lancer record holder in the 50-yard hurdle and the 400-meter, 500-meter, 600-meter, 800-meter, and 1,000-meter in running.
2000s
The 2001 men’s soccer team made history by capturing the program’s first-ever MASCAC title before stunning #3 Williams College in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. The squad tied a program record that season with 15 wins, finishing at 15-3-3.
The mid 2000s were a time of dominance for the women’s soccer team, which won four straight MASCAC championships from 2004 to 2007. The team’s 16 wins in both the 2006 and 2007 season are tied for most in program history, and several standout players from this era have since been enshrined in the Athletic Hall of Fame. In the final year of this stretch, the team made it to the second round of the NCAA Division III tournament, the farthest postseason run of any Lancer women’s soccer team to date.
Another track and field star followed Elke Aun to became a national champion in 2013. Terrence Gibson ’16 was the first Worcester State male athlete to win a national championship when he won the 60-meter hurdle at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships.
Volleyball player Amari King ’19 was named 2017 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Volleyball Player of the Year after she led the Lancers to a perfect 7-0 mark during conference play. King was a standout player, leading the team to back-to-back MASCAC Championships and NCAA appearances. In 2024, she returned to Worcester State as the assistant volleyball coach.
In the 2021-22 season, Worcester State established its first women’s ice hockey program. After Becker College closed in 2021, Worcester State recruited 13 members of its women’s ice hockey team, along with head coach Eliza Kelley, to play in the Lancers’ inaugural season. The team wasted no time making their presence known, winning their first ever game 5-0 and finishing the season as the 2022 ECHA champions. They have now won three straight ECHA crowns.
In 2022, during her 28th season as head coach of the women’s basketball team, Karen Tessmer reached the milestone of 350 games won. Tessmer coached her first season of Lancer women’s basketball in the 1994-95 season, and she still leads the program today. Her 350th victory was an emphatic win against Fitchburg State University that the Lancers won by 36 points.
Worcester State saw two ice hockey athletes selected to represent Team USA in international games between 2022 and 2023. Max Roth ’22 was selected to represent Team USA at the Maccabiah Games in Israel, an event that runs every four years and is open to participants of Jewish faith from around the world and Israelis of any faith. Israel hosted the 21st games with over 10,000 Jewish athletes from 80 countries, and it was one of the most widely attended sporting events of 2022.
In January, Lancer graduate student Clare Conway ’22 represented Team USA in the 2023 International University Sports Federation World University Game in New York. In addition to playing ice hockey, Conway was an outstanding lacrosse player during her time at Worcester State.
The men’s basketball team, led by Coach Tyler Hundley, finished the 2022-23 season with a conference-best 22-6 record, defeating Westfield State in a rematch to claim the MASCAC title and reach the NCAA Division III tournament for the first time since 1994. The Lancers went on to repeat as MASCAC champions the following year, earning their second straight NCAA tournament berth.
Top image: Worcester Normal School students played softball.
