Athletic Hall of Fame

The Millersville University Athletic Hall of Fame’s 21st annual class of inductees was honored at a ceremony on October 23, during Homecoming weekend. The class includes Ray Davis ’75 (baseball/men’s basketball); Cathy Sipes Jennings ’96 (volleyball); Charlie Parker ’09 (men’s basketball); Carol Forry Roth ’92 (women’s track and field); Kelley Shea ’87 (field hockey/softball); Jerry Swope (wrestling coach); and Greg Wright (sports information director).

Beyond the five athletes’ outstanding individual accomplishments, all were winners and tremendous team players. Each of the athletes led teams to at least one PSAC Championship. The class also features all-around athletes, with Davis and Shea earning All-PSAC recognition in two sports. Swope took Millersville’s wrestling program to national prominence over 15 seasons. Wright, the first sports information director ever inducted into the hall of fame, revolutionized publicity for the Marauders in 22 years on the job.

Ray Davis was not just a two-sport athlete at Millersville. He was a two-sport star. An All-PSAC selection in both baseball and basketball, Davis was a dominant pitcher on the diamond and a dangerous scoring threat on the hardwood, scoring 1,146 career points from 1972-75. He won back-to-back PSAC Championships on the diamond and two NAIA District 19 titles on the hardwood. He is a plant leader at W. L. Gore & Associates in Elkton, Md.

A true winner and a force at the net, Cathy Sipes Jennings led Millersville volleyball through its most successful four-season stretch (1992-95), winning four consecutive PSAC East titles and the program’s lone PSAC Championship in 1995. A two-time All-PSAC East selection and AVCA Atlantic Region pick in 1995, Jennings piled up 195 block solos and 1,167 kills during her career. Nearly 20 years later, Jennings still ranks first in career block solos, eighth in career block assists, third in career kills, third in career hitting percentage (.267) and seventh in career service aces (162). She is a preschool teacher at Hayshire United Church of Christ.

Charlie Parker ranks among the best basketball players in Millersville’s storied history. He capped his brilliant four-year career as Millersville’s second-leading scorer of all time, with 1,949 points. His 454 assists rank fourth, and his 288 career steals rank second. He was the 2005 PSAC East Freshman of the Year and followed that accolade with back-to-back PSAC East Player of the Year awards in 2006-07 and 2007-08. Parker is one of only four players in Millersville history to win the award and the only player to win it twice. He is the owner of Crunchtime Hoops L.L.C.

As a Marauder from 1986-89, Carol Forry Roth not only won the PSAC heptathlon championship twice, but she also won the 100-meter hurdles at the conference championships in 1988 and 1989. Those exploits landed her the Outstanding Track Athlete Award at the 1989 PSAC Outdoor Championships. She set Millersville records in the 100-meter hurdles and the long jump that are still standing more than 25 years later. She is an instructional technology coach in the Central York School District and an adjunct professor at York College.

A two-sport standout for the Millersville field hockey and softball teams, Kelley Shea has the rare distinction of earning All-PSAC honors in two sports. A back-to-back PSAC Champ in field hockey and record-setter in softball, Shea left Millersville as one of the school’s finest all-around athletes. Shea was a key midfielder for the PSAC Championship-winning field hockey teams in 1985 and 1986, and played in three NCAA Division III Tournaments with the team, reaching the national final in 1985. She also set records in assists, triples and walks as a shortstop with the softball team.

Jerry Swope’s wrestling teams posted a 133-83-3 dual record, including a 104-35-2 record from 1970-79. His 1977-78 club finished as the NCAA Division III runner-up. It also took third place at the national championships in 1976-77. Swope coached five Marauders to individual Division III titles, and seven won PSAC Championships during his tenure. He lives in Lock Haven.

Greg Wright, known as the founder of sports information at Millersville, was responsible for the publicity, game-day media operations and athletic publications for Millersville’s diverse intercollegiate athletics programs. Wright received 10 citations for publications and writing excellence from the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). He also created Millersville’s first athletic website. He resides in Lititz.