Six legendary figures comprise Saint Michael's Athletic Hall of Fame class of 2012

COLCHESTER, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College Department of Athletics announced its 2012 Athletic Hall of Fame class on Friday, with six new members set to be enshrined at the 25th annual Athletic Hall of Fame Banquet on Friday evening, Sept. 14, at the DoubleTree Hotel in South Burlington.

The Class of 2012 is comprised of: Peter Cragan '70, who averaged a double-double during his three-year basketball career; Meggan Roberge Dulude '07, who graduated with the Northeast-10 Conference record for career strikeouts by a softball pitcher; Fr. Eugene Labory, a founding father of athletics at the College in the early 1900s; Greg McClallen '64, a four-year Alpine skiing standout before becoming a revered coach in the State of Vermont; Marie Lane Shaw '89, an All-America field hockey player and member of the historic 1988 team; and Lori Ducharme Vernier '82, a women's cross country pioneer at the College.

Cragan, originally from Holden, Mass., and now a resident of North Attleboro, Mass., will be the 47th member of the Hall of Fame who was a member of the men's basketball program. A forward during the years when freshmen could not play varsity, Cragan averaged 12.6 points and 10.8 rebounds per game over his 71-game career, shooting 47.7 percent. As of his induction, Cragan's 769 boards are good for 10th in program history, including fourth among three-year players. He served as a senior captain, turning in 14.4 points and 11.3 rebounds per contest, after averaging 11.0 points and 12.1 rebounds as a junior, and 12.5 points and 9.1 boards as a sophomore. After graduation, Cragan served the College as Alumni Director (1971 to 1973) and Associate Director of Development (1973 to 1977). He left Saint Michael's to begin a very successful career in apparel and shoe sales, most recently serving as the Director of North American Sales for Allen Edmonds prior to his retirement.

Dulude, who hails from Sheldon Springs, Vt., is the fifth inductee with softball ties to head into the Hall of Fame. She graduated holding NE-10 and school records with 804 career strikeouts in 695 innings, while having gone 63-36 with 31 shutouts, a 1.39 earned run average, and 85 complete games in 92 starts. A two-time NE-10 Pitcher of the Year, and the 2004 NE-10 Rookie of the Year, Dulude landed all-conference laurels three times. As a sophomore in 2005, she earned wins in the first two postseason contests in program history, helping the Purple Knights advance to the NE-10 Tournament semifinals. The two-time NE-10 Academic All-Conference first teamer capped a stellar career her senior year by being named Daktronics Northeast Region Pitcher of the Year, Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Pitcher of the Year, Division II Conference Commissioners Association (CCA) New England Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and NE-10 Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year. She also earned the College's NCAA Woman of the Year nomination and the Victor V. LeMieux '35 Award. Dulude currently serves the school as an assistant director of athletics, the senior woman administrator, and a softball assistant coach.

Labory was among the founders of the College's administration as a member of the Society of Saint Edmund. Born in Paris in 1880, Labory came to the United States to study in 1898, and was ordained for the order of the Society of Saint Edmund in Swanton, Vt., in 1903. That year, he and a small group of Edmundite fathers came to Winooski Park and founded Saint Michael's College. In addition to teaching and being heavily involved with residence life, he served as the College's first moderator of athletics, responsible for creating the varsity athletics program and overseeing the Athletic Association, an early version of the Student-Athlete Advisory Council. Despite a lack of knowledge for American sports, he was extremely supportive of the students and their interests, was an enthusiastic learner, and worked hard to help the students achieve their athletics goals. He remained at Saint Michael's until 1915, when he moved to Grand Rapids, Mich., to care for an ailing sister. He later served for 44 years at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Standish, Mich., retiring in 1959 before passing away at the age of 95 in 1975.

A resident in his hometown of Rutland, Vt., McClallen becomes the third male skier to be inducted. A two-year captain, he jumped into coaching immediately after graduation, leading the Purple Knights to their only Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association (EISA) Division II Eastern title, in 1964-65. Later a legendary coach and teacher at Otter Valley Union and Rutland high schools, McClallen led his Alpine skiing teams to 17 state championships, and his charges won another 12 state titles in girls' cross country, and boys' and girls' track & field. He was named the National Federation of Scholastic Coaches' National Coach of the Year in 1987. McClallen, who served as race director at Pico Mountain in Killington, Vt., for more than 40 years, was inducted into the Vermont Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame in 2011. His daughter, Lori '93, was a three-time all-EISA racer at Saint Michael's.

Shaw, who joins Cragan as being a native of Holden, Mass., is the 12th member of the field hockey program to be enshrined. At the time of her induction, the West Boylston, Mass., resident is tied for seventh in program history in goals (27) while standing 10th in points (65), after her 28 points in 1986 set a program record at the time. As a senior co-captain in 1988, Shaw netted the only goal in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Tournament title game against Bentley University, putting a cap on a 13-4 season to deliver Saint Michael's its first women's championship in any sport. The Purple Knights were ranked as high as seventh nationally that season. She was named a College Field Hockey Coaches Association (CFHCA) All-America at the close of the year, and was invited to attend the USA Field Hockey Festival in Virginia the following summer. Shaw received the prestigious Roger Keleher '15 Award as the outstanding female scholar-athlete in the Saint Michael's senior class.

A resident in her hometown of Bolton, Conn., Vernier becomes the sixth representative of the women's cross country program to be inducted. Prior to the establishment of the women's team, she ran as a member of the men's team for a year, placing in the top seven at all races. Vernier, who captained the women's team during each of its first three years of existence (1979-81), finished 11th at the inaugural women's NCAA regional championship her senior year, missing a trip to the NCAA Championship by one place. She was named all-state three times. Vernier formerly held school records at the three-mile, 5K, and 3.5-mile distances, as well as for single-season and career victories.

The Athletic Hall of Fame Banquet, which is a cornerstone of the College's Alumni Weekend, begins with a reception at 6 p.m. on Sept. 14 followed by the dinner and induction ceremony at 7 p.m. Tickets, which are $40 apiece, and additional information about the ceremony and Alumni Weekend can be found by contacting the Saint Michael's Alumni Office at (802) 654-2527 or visiting here.