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Four Inducted to CGA Hall of Fame on Homecoming |
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 Laurie Somers makes his Hall of Fame induction speech during Homecoming Weekend.
Captain Laurie Somers, Class of 1965, Commander Pat Shuck, Class of 1973, Steve Hargis, Class of 1980 and Dale Chittenden, Class of 1981 joined the elite group.
Somers graduated as the all-time leading scorer in Coast Guard Academy men’s basketball history with 1,029 points, a record which has since been broken. He is currently 13th on the Bears’ all-time scoring list and is just one of 18 players that are a member of the Bears men’s basketball 1,000 point club. He was also a member of the men’s outdoor track team at the Academy where he set the school-record in the high jump, which has since been broken.
Shuck, another member of the men’s basketball 1,000 point club, finished his career with 1,017 points which ranks him 15th on the all-time list. He is also seventh all-time at the Academy with 700 career rebounds. He was the winner of the Captain Lee H. Baker Award in 1973 given to the senior who best demonstrates Inspirational Leadership in Intercollegiate Athletics.
Hargis was a team-captain on the rowing team and rowed on the Intermediate 8 team that won the Head of the Charles Regatta during his sophomore season. He represented the Coast Guard Academy at the Henley Royal Regatta in England and his Varsity 8 boat won the Dad Vail Regatta in 1978 and 1979. He returned to the Academy as the women’s head coach from 1999-2008, Director of Rowing (1999-2009) and served as the technical coach in the program last year.
During his time as head coach, Hargis made five out of six NCAA DIII appearances, won two NEWMAC conference championships (2007 and 2008), and produced three DIII First-Boat All Americans. He was honored as NEWMAC Coach of the Year in both 2003 and 2007, as well as DIII National Coach of the Year in 2003. In 2008, the Bears became the first at-large boat to make the Grand Final at the NCAA Championship. Hargis has served as Director of the U.S. Junior Women’s National Team Development Camp, preparing national level high school rowers for U.S. National Team selection and both national and international championship racing. From 2004-2008, Hargis served as the U.S. Junior Women’s National Team head coach. In 2008, under Steve, the US Eight raced to a gold medal finish at the Junior World Championships held in Linz-Ottensheim, Austria – the first gold in this event in the 30 year history of US participation in Junior Worlds - defeating defending Junior World Champion, Romania. That same year, Steve was presented with the United States Olympic Committee’s, Development Coach of the Year Award for his contributions to US Rowing.
Chittenden excelled in both football and wrestling at the Academy earning seven varsity letters in the two sports. He earned All-New England honors in wrestling three times in 1978, 1979 and 1980. In 1979 and 1980 he led the Bears to the New England Championship for the first two times in school history. He was an individual New England champion in 1979 while serving as the team captain. He earned several Player of the Week awards on the gridiron.
“On behalf of the Athletics Division, I’d like to congratulate the four new members of the Hall of Fame,” said Tim Fitzpatrick, Coast Guard Academy Director of Athletics. “Each of them achieved competitive excellence as a cadet-athlete here at the Coast Guard Academy and after graduation continued to excel in their chosen fields. They are shining examples of leaders of character, and wonderful role models for our corps of cadets.”
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