Greater Utica Sports Hall of Fame announces eight inductees
The Greater Utica Sports Hall of Fame has announced its inductees for 2022 and will enshrine eight people Sept. 18.
Broadcaster Jim Jackson joins football players Tim Myslinski Jr. and Dave Brown, basketball players Sean Burton and Steve Babiarz, baseball player Anthony Mauro, soccer player Dominica (Reina) Paladino, and the late Diane Hobin, a multi-sport standout, in the class of 2022.
The induction will take place at Delta Hotels by Marriott in downtown Utica. Tickets are $50 for adults and $25 for attendees under the age of 18, and may be purchased at CNY Awards and Apparel in the New Hartford Shopping Center.
Myslinski played for his father, coach Tom Myslinski, at Rome Free Academy then attended the University of Tennessee where he was an all-Southeastern Conference lineman while also competing in track and field. Selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the fourth round of the NFL's 1992 draft, he suited up for eight teams over the next decade. Following his playing career, Myslinski worked as a strength and conditioning coach in the NFL and college football, making two stops with the Cleveland Browns and more recently the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Brown also doubled up in football and track at Utica's Thomas R. Proctor and Notre Dame high schools. He was a four-year college starter as a defensive back at The Ohio State University and was twice named All-Big 10.
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Burton and Babiarz were high school standouts at Notre Dame who later starred in college and suited up as teammates this past winter with the Herkimer Originals in the American Basketball Association. Burton was a two-time All-American at Ithaca College where he later coached after playing professionally in Iceland. Babiarz is the all-time scoring leader at SUNY-Potsdam where he was a two-time All-American and played on the undefeated Division III national championship team in 1986.
Mauro, another Notre Dame graduate, won honors at the United States Naval Academy where he played with his brother Steve. The Mauros' No. 13 was retired by the Charles H. Adrean Post 625 baseball team on Steve and Tony Mauro Day in Utica in 2003. Anthony Mauro was twice an All-Patriot League selection at Navy.
The Hall of Fame inducted Steve Mauro in 2021.
Paladino was the state's Class C soccer Player of the Year at Notre Dame in 2001 and went on to pay at St. John's University where she earned All-Big East honors and holds program records for career goals and points
Hobin, who died in 2020, earned 10 varsity letters at Holland Patent High School and 11 more in field hockey, basketball and softball at Hofstra University where she was twice selected as the school's Female Athlete of the Year.
Jackson, a graduate of New York Mills High School and Syracuse University, called Utica Devils games locally on WIBX radio before spending three decades as the television voice of the Philadelphia Flyers.
Jon Rathbun is a sportswriter for the Times Telegram. Email Jon at sports@timestelegram.com.
This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: Greater Utica Sports Hall of Fame announces 2022 induction class
