The Greater Niagara Sports Hall of Fame has announced 10 new inductees.
The organization, first started in 1968, will hold its induction ceremony at 6 p.m. on Oct. 19 at Antonio’s Banquet and Conference Center. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased by calling Dan Bazzani at 716-531-2341.
Here are the inductees:
Tom Blinco (Lewiston-Porter): A three-year letterwinner in football, Blinco earned all-league honors in 1975 and 1976, a year he was also an all-state pick and the Connolly Cup winner. Blinco held school records for rushing touchdowns and punt yardage.
Blinco also wrestled for the Lancers, earning all-league three times and All-Western New York twice. He went on to win three letters for the Ohio State football team, appearing in the Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl and Rose Bowl.
Giulio Colangelo (Niagara Catholic/Niagara Falls): Colangelo played two years of varsity football and three in basketball, amassing over 900 points in his career.
Colangelo played two years of basketball at the University at Buffalo and two at Fredonia, where averaged 19.3 points per game, which was the second-highest total in school history when he graduated in 1989. He was a a two-time All-SUNYAC selection and was named to Fredonia’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996.
Colangelo was a four-year varsity basketball coach at Niagara Falls, compiling an 83-11 record and was a two-time Class AA state finalist. The Wolverines won Section VI championships in 2008 and 2009 before coaching for four seasons at Niagara Catholic, where he led the team to the Monsignor Martin High School Athletic Association Class B championship in 2018, becoming one of three coaches to win a Section VI and a Monsignor Martin championship. His coaching record was 127-54.
Michael Freeney (LaSalle): Freeney played varsity basketball from 1977-1981, twice earning All-Niagara Frontier League honors. He led the team in scoring and steals in 1981, when he was named All-Western New York.
Freeney went on to play collegiately for Alabama State, leading the team in assists all four seasons. He was all-conference in 1985 and appeared in the NIT in 1982.
Freeney also served as a high school basketball official in Alabama.
Robert “Bear” Henry (Niagara Wheatfield): Henry was a two-year letterwinner in football, helping Niagara Wheatfield to the 1977 Niagara Frontier League championship. He won three letters in lacrosse and was first-team all-league each season.
Henry led Niagara Wheatfield to a Western New York League championship in 1977 and was named an All-American in 1979. He won a Canadian National Junior B championship in 1981 and two Canadian National Senior B championships in 1994 and 2000.
Henry won to National Lacrosse League championships with the Buffalo Bandits in 1993 and 1997 and played for the Iroquois national team in 1990 and 1994.
Vincent Mazza (Niagara Catholic): Mazza played four years of football at Niagara Catholic from 1978-1981 before going on to star for Ashland University.
Mazza was first-team All-Heartland Conference punter, winning the conference’s Special Teams Player of the Year three times and was also a four-time All-American. Mazza was the conference’s overall MVP in 1986 and a finalist for the Harlon Hill Trophy as Division II’s national player of the year.
He still holds school records for career punts (243) and yardage (10,043) and went on to spend time with the Pittsburgh Stelers, Atlanta Falcons, Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins. Mazza was also named to the 2025 College Football Hall of Fame ballot for the fifth time.
Daniel Meterko (LaSalle): Meterko was an all-division football player in all three of his varsity seasons from 1974-1976, earning second-team all-state as a senior and was a Joe Namath Prep All-American honorable mention pick.
Meterko also went 5-0 as a pitcher in 1977, earning Gazette All-Area honors two times apiece in football and baseball. He also won two varsity letters in wrestling.
He played two years of football and baseball at Canisius University, before spending time as a coach at Lewiston-Porter and Niagara Falls.
John Pitarresi (LaSalle): After starting high school at Bishop Duffy, Pitarresi won two letters in football at LaSalle and was part of its 1966 sectional championship baseball team.
Pitarresi played four seasons of football at Hamilton College and three seasons of lacrosse, serving as captain in both sports and was a two-time lacrosse team MVP. He was the Niagara Falls Police Athletic League Athlete of the Year in 1970.
He was inducted into the Greater Utica Sports Hall of Fame in 2016 and has been a Utica sportswriter since 1972, winning Gatehouse Company Feature Writer of the Year in 2012.
Harris L. Wienke (Niagara Wheatfield): Wienke was a the Niagara-Orleans League MVP in football in 1964, earning three varsity letters and two more in baseball. He went on to be a three-year starter at Syracuse from 1964-1966, appearing in the Sugar Bowl and Gator Bowl.
He was the a player-coach for the Lockport Travelers semi-pro team from 1969-1972, before coaching football and softball at Orchard Park.
Wienke later officiated baseball, field hockey, football, girls basketball and softball and was named Mike Perry Referee of the Year in 2006. He was in Niagara Wheatfield’s first hall of fame class and was inducted into the Section VI Hall of Fame in 2015.
Jimmie L. Winkfield (LaSalle): In four varsity football seasons, Winkfield was an All-Western New York pick in 1975 and was a two-time all-league selection at defensive line. He scored all 10 of LaSalle’s points in a 10-8 upset of Lew-Port that season.
Winkfield was also a four-year letterwinner in wrestling, winning the Section VI heavyweight championship in 1976. He also won two letters in track field before being a four-year starter in football at Canisius, where he spent two years as an assistant coach in 1981 and 1982.
Salvatore J. Pagano (Pep DiRamio Service Award): Pagana played football at Niagara Falls from 1954-1960 and junior varsity basketball at Carleton College in 1962. Pagano coached in the Whirlpool Soccer League from 1980-1982 before pairing with Roger Carroll to start the DeDees Dairy Soccer Program, which is now the Niagara Police Athletic League Soccer Club.
Pagano was the JV girls soccer coach at LaSalle from 1985-1987 and then served as the varsity coach until 2000. He then coached varsity soccer at Niagara Falls from 2000-2002.
Additionally, Pagano was a modified and JV girls basketball and softball coach at LaSalle and Niagara Falls. Upon retirement in 2002, Pagano served as a basketball and soccer referee.
