Former GW men’s basketball coach Mike Jarvis was one of nine former GW athletic figures inducted into the University’s hall of fame.
Jarvis was the coach of the Colonials from 1990 to 1998, when he took the team to the NCAA tournament three times, including a Sweet 16 appearance in 1993. During his speech introducing Jarvis, Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs Robert Chernak spoke of one year when GW was a bubble team and left out of the field for the tournament. During a CBS interview, Chernak said, Jarvis told anchor Jim Nantz how lucky his team was to have been selected the year before and that he understood that another, more-deserving team would take the spot instead. That, Chernak said, earned Jarvis a lot of respect and shows the Massachusetts native’s character.
Jarvis’ impact is still felt at GW as head men’s basketball coach Karl Hobbs was his player in high school.
Also being inducted were former women’s basketball players Lisa Cermignano and Colleen McCrea, who were both seniors during the Colonials’ Elite Eight run in 1997. Women’s basketball coach Joe McKeown, who was the coach of that team, nominated both players and also gave their introductions.
“GW is a very special place,” Cermignano said after accepting her award. “It’s more than about basketball. It’s about family. So many people (at the ceremony) are a part of my family and I have become a part of theirs.”
Carmignano served as an assistant on McKeown’s program for four seasons before leaving to be an assistant at Vanderbilt University.
Also among the honorees was former swimmer Chad Senior, who still holds two school records and was named the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year in 1994. After graduating, Senior enrolled in the Army and is currently a flight commander and combat rescue officer in the Air Force. He leaves for Afghanistan tomorrow.
Senior said his time in the pool prepared him for the armed forces.
“People ask me, ‘aren’t you afraid of going over there to fight?'” Senior said. “And I tell them that I spent so much time competing that I learned to deal with pressure. I know how to make decisions.”
The other five inducted were rowers Aquil Abdullah (class of 1996) and Linda Miller (’94), who both competed in the Olympics; David Haggerty (’79) of men’s tennis, who later started the tennis company Prince and is now the president at large of the board of trustees of the United States Tennis Association; gymnastics’ Devin McCalla (’02), who is currently a graduate student at GW and also works in the athletic department’s marketing office; and soccer player Marcelo Valencia (’95), who was named all-conference in each of his four seasons and was the A-10 Player of the Year during his sophomore season.
