BINGHAMTON – Chenango County will have a strong presence at this year’s Section IV Athletics Hall of Fame induction ceremony, Saturday, March 6 at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena.
Coaches and athletes from Greene, Bainbridge-Guilford, Oxford, and Afton will receive induction including Bill Case and his daughters Emily and Erin of Greene; Courtney Mattingly of Bainbridge-Guilford, Tony Abbott of Oxford; and Afton’s Janet Conover and Cindy Bostelman.
Case coached the boys soccer team for 17 years, and led his teams to over 250 wins and one sectional championship, not a bad achievement for a man who never actually played soccer competitively.
Basketball, however, is where the Syracuse University product made his name. A captain his senior year for the Orange, Case briefly coached varsity boys basketball before turning to girls’ basketball at Whitney Point. He moved on to Greene where he coached for 22 seasons winning nine division titles, four league championships, and four straight sectional titles in the mid-’90s (five overall), his top finish being Final Four appearances in 1988 and1993. Case posted a 427-129 record, a .767 winning percentage, and was named coach of the year in his conference 10 times.
“He was such a good coach and a teacher, and I’ve borrowed many things from him,” said Case’s successor as the Greene varsity girls coach, Dave Gorton. “I really respect him and he’s a class act all the way.”
Case first coached his daughter Emily, who was a four-year player on the varsity team, and is the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,111 points including a school-record 96 three-pointers.
Erin was also a four-year player for Greene and finished among the school’s all-time leading scorers, while also charting top-five career totals in steals, three-pointers, assists, and blocked shots. Case is also the school record holder in the high jump at 5-foot-4 winning two league championships and appearing the state finals two times.
“I know Bill talked about one day seeing his kids get in (to the Hall of Fame),” Gorton said. “It’s fantastic to see them all get in. They’re a close family, and it’s special for all of them.”
Abbott coached the Oxford football team for a quarter century winning 147 games. He led the Blackhawks to three undefeated seasons in 1979, 1981, and 1982 as Oxford won three sectional titles and one bowl title under his stewardship.
Abbott was considered one of high school football’s innovators, and was the first Section IV coach to institute the triple option. Abbott was also the “voice of the Section IV wrestling tournament” for many years, and served as the director of the Clyde Cole Wrestling Tournament – one of the longest running in the state – for 27 years. Abbott was also selected as “Teacher of the Year” twice during his tenure at Oxford.
Mattingly was a dynamic athlete during her four-year basketball career playing at Bainbridge-Guilford, and holds nearly every local scoring record including career points (1,918), points in a season (650), and points in a game (53). She also finished with 492 career rebounds, 456 assists, and 376 steals, all B-G records.
“If had to say one thing about Courtney, it’s truly, she is one of those players who makes everyone a round her better,” said B-G coach Bob Conway, who coached Mattingly through her high school career. “She was the type of player who put people in position to be successful.”
Mattingly was a four-time league all-star in the Susquenango Association (now the MAC) and two-time MVP, first team all-state as a senior, and a four-time Evening Sun All-Star. Her senior season, she led the Bobcats to the Class C state championship game losing a tight game to Bloomfield.
After high school, Mattingly earned a scholarship at St. Bonaventure and went on to become one of the top-10 players in Bonnies history. Mattingly is currently in her first season has head women’s basketball coach of the University of Massachusetts at Boston. “I always thought she would be a coach because she understood the game and was very supportive of her teammates, no matter what they did,” Conway said.
Conover, a retired longtime field hockey coach for Afton, compiled 384 wins during her long career. Among her list of accomplishments are 13 league championships, six Section IV titles, six times a sectional runner-up, two state titles in 1993, 2000, and Conover has coached the Central Region Empire State Games team since the ‘80s.
Conover also laid the groundwork for Afton’s outstanding softball program She was 106-18 during her career winning state titles in 1985 and 1987, and was a state runner-up in 1986
Bostelman, still actively coaching the Crimson Knights, picked up where Conover left off taking the reins of the softball program 21 seasons ago. The Knights have been nearly untouchable in Section IV for nearly a decade and a half winning a whopping 14 straight sectional championships. Along the way, Bostelman has piloted Afton to five state championships and eight runner-up finishes. During her career, she has posted an impressive 380-132 record, and may reach the 400-win mark this season.
Bostelman was named the New York State Sportswriters Association “Coach of the Decade” in the 1990s, and has earned New York State Coach of the Year three times, the latest after this past year’s Class D state championship.