Eclectic class of inductees to be enshrined in the Salem County Sports Hall of Fame in ceremonies at Salem CC in January
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
This year’s Salem County Sports Hall of Fame induction class has it all. It covers a variety of sports, a cross-section of the high schools in the county and even some international flair.
It features a legendary coach, one of the most prolific scorers in county basketball history, an athlete whose success reaches from the field to the sidelines, one of the best athletes the county ever produced, a World Cup soccer player and an administrator who raised the entire athletics profile at his school.
This year’s Hall of Fame induction class features – drum roll, please – Geoff Shute, Joe Hickman, Sean Collins, Steve Ware, Tierrny Wiltshire and community honoree Jack Swain.
“It’s an extraordinary group of athletes and coaches, a well-deserved honor and I’m privileged to be able to do this,” said Salem Community College president and SCSHOF committee member Mike Gorman, “When you look at Shute and Collins, they have coaching resumes that are extraordinary. Collins also has a player’s resume that is well deserving. Hickman was a legend in basketball in the county.
“Look at Steve Ware. I was his assistant principal at that time, so I knew that Class of ’85 very well – and it’s one of the few times that Woodstown beat Delsea. And Tierrny –the World Cup. Most of us didn’t even have tickets to the World Cup much less be playing in it.”
Shute was Pennsville’s cross country coach from 2001 t0 2016, compiling a dual meet record of 114-15 with 77 wins in a row between 2004 and 2016. He won 11 Tri-County Conference division titles, nine Salem County crowns and the 2006 state championship among his eight top-five finishes at the state meet.
Hickman is Woodstown’s all-time leading scorer in basketball (1,726 points) and tied for fourth on the Salem County all-time list. He remembered for being a leader on some Wolverines teams in the early ’70s that endured some tough times.
“I’ve had an opportunity to talk to a lot of people in the community that know him,” Woodstown athletics director Joe Ursino said. “Obviously I don’t know him well because my time started after his involvement, but there’s more than just the basketball side of it. From the stories I hear and the teams he was on, some of the things, just the way the world was, that that team went through, the first thing everybody will tell you is he was a leader of that team. On top of that, his play made it evident he was going to lead the team.
“I had an opportunity to sit next to him at the playoff game when we went to Salem last year. I don’t know if he knew who I was, but I knew who he was and for me, as a former basketball coach, a former coach at Woodstown, it was a neat experience, because you could still see his passion for Woodstown, you can see his passion for the game. When you’re a basketball player and you know how to play the game, it doesn’t matter what year the game is being played in you can find the intricacies of it and you could see him recognizing them. It was just neat to be part of that.”
Ware was a three-sport athlete at Woodstown who went on to set football records at Trenton State (now TCNJ). In 1984 he set the school’s single-game rushing record that stood until 2022 and in 1985 set the single-season rushing record that also stood until 2022.
Collins enjoyed success both as a player and a coach. He was a multiple all-star in football, baseball and basketball, His 1,393 career points in basketball ranks in the top 20 on the county list. As a coach he won more than 100 games and two different schools (111 at Schalick). He has now been inducted into six Halls of Fame.
Wiltshire was born in Elmer and played three seasons at Schalick, where she also played basketball and ran track. After high school she played a Rutgers, then played professionally overseas and in the NWSL ultimately competing for Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz in the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
The sixth member of the class, Swain, is the retiring superintendent of Salem County Vocational Technical Schools. During his tenure Salem Tech has built an entire athletics program at the school, providing its student-athletes the chance to play for the school they attend. After bringing field hockey, baseball and softball on line last year, about the only sports missing from the school’s lineup is football and wrestling.
The committee also will be recognizing Pennsville’s 2006 cross country state championship team coached by Shute, as well as this past academic year’s state champions.
This Hall of Fame class will be enshrined in Salem CC’s Davidow Theatre on Jan. 15, 2027, a seasonal date that will remain consistent on the Hall calendar going forward. The event is free and open to the public.
Hall inducts new class
