Alumni features, winter 2020
Catching up with ... Former ice hockey goalie Jeff Randazzo
Imagine if you were a 17-year-old college recruit and your future coach told you the stark truth about the program and college you were considering.
“We’d like you to come be our hockey goalie. It will be our first season as a Division III program and we will be playing against some of the best teams in the country. We will be outsized and overmatched against almost every opponent and there will be games when victory is claimed by merely clearing the puck out of our defensive zone. You might even end up going more than two seasons without winning a game and the team could set an NCAA record for consecutive losses. You won’t have a lot of help and will probably face upwards of 80-100 shots on goal per game. You will need to put up staggering saves totals, even as we lose by double digits. Oh and we practice at 6 a.m. every day at a rink 20 minutes away from campus. So for months during the cold Binghamton winters, you will have to wake up by 5 a.m. and get yourself to Chenango Bridge for practice. The early wake-up calls will follow nights of studying, because our academic curriculum is very challenging. Also, I almost forgot … immediately after your senior season, we will drop the sport due to myriad logistical and financial hurdles, thus denying you and your teammates the chance to come back to campus as alumni to celebrate as a team and renew your friendships. How does all of that sound?”
Catching up with ... Former basketball player Shea Kenney
Simply put, Shea (Kenny) Walters have lived a whirlwind life since graduating from Binghamton University in 2007. She has lived in Denmark and coached girls’ basketball there, has taught elementary education in Myrtle Beach and Northern Virginia, has pursued multiple degree and has even run the New York Marathon. Now settled in the Washington D.C. area with her husband Mark and son Finn, she is currently pursuing her Ph. D. and is working as a learning consultant.
’Cat Couples: Alexis Hatcher and Chris Fernandez
They met eight years ago during a pre-season get together organized by the Binghamton cross country program. They have supported each other through their running and academic careers. This past year, they navigated their way through the storm of getting married during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through it all, the relationship between Chris Fernandez and Alexis Hatcher has only grown stronger.
Rising to the Challenge: Mikala King
In October 2013, Mikala (King) Ferry was a senior at Binghamton University. She had already excelled as a member of the Bearcat softball team and her GPA was high enough to earn induction into the National College Athlete Honor Society. In addition, Ferry had been working in several offices on campus and was building an impressive resume.
It was against that backdrop that Ferry arrived at the Athletics Department’s first-ever Alumni Networking Panel, which has since become a staple of each Homecoming Weekend. Ferry, as well as her fellow Bearcat senior student-athletes, came to the TAU Room in the Events Center and listened to several Binghamton alumni student-athletes share their experiences and advice for how to plan for the future.
Catching up with ... Former distance runner Andrew Ugolino
Andrew Ugolino was a four-year member of the Binghamton men’s track and cross country teams. A 2012 graduate, he was a part of the 2009 cross country squad that won the program’s first-ever America East championship.
Following graduation, he pursued a lifelong dream of teaching abroad (in China and Colombia). He also earned a master’s degree and obtained his certification in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). Now settled in upstate New York with his wife – and close to his family—Ugolino is teaching and coaching at the high school level.
Catching up with ... Former swimmer Corinne Zotter
Upon graduation in 2015, Corinne (Zotter) Labor took some time off before pursuing her Master of Arts in Teaching at Binghamton University. Currently teaching biology and coaching locally at Chenango Valley High School, Labor shares about her love for her new career, what she appreciates most about her time as a Bearcat and her recent marriage to husband Vaughn Labor.
Catching up with ... Former soccer twins Debra and Donna Beato
Debra and Donna know this. Their parents certainly do. Hundreds of soccer teammates and countless opponents came to realize this. Coaches on Long Island and later at Binghamton reaped the benefits of this. And now more than 6,000 families across the New York metropolitan area can attest to this.
Two Beatos are better than one.
Catching up with ... Former distance runner Mary Tursi
Upon graduation in 2007, cross country and track athlete Mary (Tursi) Manning spent 5 years working for NBC Universal before enrolling in the Rutgers University dietetics program. The now registered dietitian shares what she has been up to since her time at Binghamton and what she appreciates most about her years at Binghamton.
Catching up with ... Former tennis greats Marcus and Rosenthal
At his lab at the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University (Ga.), noted professor and researcher Adam Marcus ’98 PhD, is working vigorously to understand the biology behind cancer - what’s happening at the molecular level – in hopes of someday winning the war against the dreadful disease.
Meanwhile, some 875 miles up the East Coast, David Rosenthal ’97 PhD, is breaking down an enemy of another kind to thousands of college students – Calculus. Rosenthal is a popular, 16-year professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at St. John’s University.
Catching up with ... Former tennis player Bonnie Loedel
Some 37 years ago, Bonnie Loedel ’87 came upstate and started what would become a Hall of Fame tennis career and an equally noted educational journey. Loedel, who grew up in Kew Gardens, Queens, dusted off her racquet and proceeded to become the program’s most decorated conference champion with six SUNYAC titles - all earned at the top spot. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Latin American studies (with honors) in 1987, Loedel went on to receive her master’s degree in public health from UCLA and earned a law degree from Boston University in 1994.