The coach who took the women’s volleyball team to conference championships and launched the men’s volleyball program, two exceptional women’s basketball players, and a hoops star who now coaches the Genesee Community College Cougars were inducted into the GCC Athletics Hall of Fame during the third annual Homecoming celebration. The induction ceremony was held Saturday, September 29 and honored the following outstanding athletes:
•Volleyball coach Ben Guiliano, a native of Spencerport, led GCC’s women’s volleyball squad from 1978-1987, amassing three conference championships and one regional title. He also launched the men’s team and coached softball during his tenure at GCC. His coaching skills also helped build strong volleyball teams at Rochester Institute of Technology, St. Andrews Presbyterian College, Creighton University and Pfeiffer University. He currently guides the Keuka College women’s volleyball team, and over a 30-year career, Guiliano’s teams have earned an overall record of 546 wins and 396 losses. He lives in Branchport.
•Basketball standout Mary Loree from Arkport, New York excelled for the GCC Lady Cougars in 1978-79 on several sports teams, notably as a two-year starter for the basketball, field hockey and softball teams. Loree was named to the 1978 women’s hoops squad at the Empire State Games, and helped lead her GCC teammates to the NJCAA National Tournament. She also served for 20 years in the United States Army, retiring as a Master Sergeant in 2009. Her duties included providing worldwide communications for the White House during the administrations of Presidents William Clinton and George W. Bush, which earned her the Presidential Service Badge. Loree now makes her home in Alexandria, Virginia.
•Lynn (Jensen) Northup, class of 1993, is an Attica native who excelled as a shooting guard for the GCC Lady Cougar’s basketball program in the early 1990s. Her career highlights include five games during which she scored more than 30 points in a single game, and five three-point baskets in a single game. Northup attended Houghton College and is a Physical Therapist for the Avon Central School District. She resides in Churchville with her husband and three children.
•Class of 2003 basketball star Terry George has come full-circle at GCC. The Batavia resident was a two-time All-American and Region III Player of the Year for the men’s team, and was an integral member of the 2002-2003 squad inducted into the Genesee Athletic Hall of Fame in 2011. He still holds the college record for career points, with 1,370 over his two-year playing career with the Cougars, and was on the first GCC squad to earn an NJCAA National Tournament berth. George continued playing hoops at the College of St. Rose, and returned to GCC in 2007 as assistant coach for the men’s basketball team. In 2011, he was named interim head coach, and this year, took over the reins as permanent head coach.
