FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JOSEPH COPPO ’75 POSTHUMOUSLY INDUCTED INTO MANHATTAN COLLEGE’S ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME

RIVERDALE, N.Y. – Manhattan College alumnus Joseph Coppo ’75 was posthumously inducted into the College’s Athletic Hall of Fame. The 26th annual event, sponsored by the Manhattan College Alumni Society, was held Dec. 4, 2004, in Smith Auditorium at the college campus.

Coppo was a versatile baseball player at Manhattan. One highlight of Coppo’s pitching career was bringing a Jasper victory against a tough Seton Hall team, which included future Major League players Rick Cerone of the Yankees and Todd Heimer and Rico Belini of the Indians. As captain his senior year, Coppo led the team in slugging with an average of .493 while also working the most innings on the mound (46 2/3) and leading the team in earned run average (3.32).

After graduation in 1975, he continued his passion for baseball as Little League coach in New Canaan, Conn., a position he enjoyed until his death in 2001. He brought the same energy he gave as a Manhattan athlete to children’s sports throughout New Canaan. The neighborhood recognized his many accomplishments and dedication to the sport when they named a baseball field in New Canaan’s Waveny Park in his honor in 2003. The town also will remember him yearly at a baseball tournament established in his honor.

Manhattan College was founded in 1853 upon the Lasallian heritage of excellence in teaching. Located in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, Manhattan College is an independent, Catholic, coeducational institution of higher learning offering more than 40 major programs of study in the areas of arts, business, education, engineering and science.  For more information about the College, visit www.manhattan.edu.

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