Millville Thunderbolt Club's Hall of Fame to induct Class of 2022
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The Millville Thunderbolt Club Hall of Fame will induct its Class of 2022 on Saturday, Nov. 26.
A reception will start at 6 p.m. with the induction ceremony to begin at 7 p.m.
For more information, please contact Millville High School athletic director Dave LaGamba at (609) 327-6061.
Millville 1917 football team
The 1917 Millville High School football team finished the season with an outstanding 9-0 record and was named state champions. This team scored 313 points and only allowed six points, which was yielded by the Millville Alumni team in an exhibition. They handed both Glassboro and Salem 45-0 losses while knocking off Bridgeton and Vineland by 26-0 scores. They also shut out Wilmington (Delaware), 12-0; Atlantic City, 6-0; Penns Grove, 19-0; Moorestown, 27-0, and Pleasantville, 95-0.
The team consisted of Dick Abbott (captain), Jim Carter, Tom Cox, Carl Estlow, Ned Hankins (captain), Charles Hartmann, Jay Havens, Ralph Jones, Lou Miller, Fred Myers, Ted Rieck, Horace Shivers, Lou Slimmer, Toby Slimmer, Newell Sparks and George Stinson. Carter, Lou Slimmer, Miller, Abbott, Shivers and Estlow earned All-South Jersey honors.
The team was coached by Lee Hoffman for the first four games until he defected to coach Wilmington after Millville beat them in the fourth game of the season. They were coached by Virgil Johnson and Floyd “Chalky” Clunn for the remainder of the year.
Floyd “Chalky” Clunn
Clunn was an outstanding athlete at Millville High School, excelling in both football and baseball. He was widely regarded as one of the best left-handed pitchers in the baseball world of the early 1900s.
After graduating from Millville High School in 1904 and from the South Jersey Institute in 1906, he pitched for Millville and Vineland in locally organized leagues. He also coach the Millville High School football team in 1908. In that same year he began playing professional baseball, first in the Tri-State League and later in the Virginia League. In 1910, the Pittsburgh Pirates bought his contact and the New York Highlanders soon did the same. He later moved to the Bridgeport (Connecticut) Mechanics of the New England League, before pitching the 1911 season for the New Haven Marlins of the same league. After a hiatus from baseball, he returned in 1914 to the Reading Pretzels of the Tri-State League and in 1915, he moved to the Western League where he played part of the season for the Topeka (Kansas) Jayhawks.
After suffering an injury, Clunn left the Jayhawks, returned to Millville, married, and eventually established a framing shop and garden center on Whitaker Ave. In 1955, he was honored as the Outstanding Old Time Athlete by the Millville Elks. He passed away in 1961.
A newspaper article from 1907 recounted how Clunn, well known for his “spit balls” was pitching for Millville and Bridgeton. After rubbing his tongue across the ball, he was “seized by a terrible burning sensation in his mouth.” He asked for another ball, but his experience was the same. An examination by a doctor within the crowd determined the Bridgeton team had placed mustard oil on the baseballs in order to prevent Clunn from working his magic.
2001 boys track and field team
The Millville Senior High School 2001 boys track and field team won the NJSIAA sectional and state Group 4 championships, collecting the program’s third state title in four years.
At the state championship meet, the Thunderbolts were led by Millville Hall of Fame inductee Azim Smith as he became Millville Track’s first athlete top place in all four of his state events, placing first in the 400-meter hurdles (52.2), third in the long jump (22-2.5), fifth in the 110 hurdles (14.05) and sixth in the 400 (49.98).
Supporting Smith were Millville Sports Hall of Fame inductee Tim Bowser, second in the high jump (6-6), Charles Harper, third in the 400 (49.43) and Dan Gale, fourth in the javelin (175-9).
Millville tallied 37 points en route to the title with Plainfield finished second with 36 points.
Coached by Bill Hoover, the senior members were Azim Smith, Charles Harper, Mario Santiago, Herb Harrington, Melvin Thompson, Nick Karisko, Dan DeTullio, Dan Gale and Tim Bowser.
Diane Harden Armstead (1980s)
The 1985 Millville graduate was a three-sport athlete in field hockey, basketball and track.
She became a starter in field hockey after going out for the team as a senior. In two years of varsity basketball, she was a 1,000-point scorer. In the spring, she was a standout javelin thrower and won a county title in the event.
Harden was an all-conference selection in basketball and track in her final two years and was the Thunderbolt Club scholarship winner for basketball in 1985.
After graduating she played basketball for McClellan Air Force Base in 1985 and 1986, winning numerous awards. She went on to play for Cumberland County College in 1999 and 2000, becoming the team’s leading scorer and top rebounder on her way to first-team all-conference and all-region honors.
She has degrees from Cumberland County College and Rowan University and a Masters degree from Wilmington University. She and her husband Leonard have a daughter Mya.
Ken Walker (1970s)
The 1978 graduate was a two-year starter in soccer, a three-year starter (and captain as a senior) in basketball and three-year starter in baseball. Playing in the Millville Little League and Babe Ruth League, Walker was an all-star who compiled tremendous records both hitting and pitching, many of which are legendary.
On the diamond in high school, Walker was a very accomplished player earning all-conference and all-county honors in his junior and senior years and All-South Jersey in 1978. He excelled as a pitcher and third baseman. Walker was a leader on the 1978 Diamond Classic championship team. An arm injury curtailed his opportunity for a professional career in baseball. He was the Thunderbolt Club scholarship winner in his senior year.
Walker played baseball for two years at Gloucester County College. He and his wife Krystal have three children: Kenneth Jr., Miranda and Antonio.
Charles Brozina
Lifetime achievement
Brozina began his educational career at Millville in 1969, working in library services. His first seven years were spend in grade schools where he helped found RD Wood School field day activities and organized before and after school sports club activities in the years prior to elementary school physical education. During his tenure at Millville High School, Brozina served the athletic department in a number of areas.
He was the athletic equipment manager from 1977 to 1996, responsible for all team equipment, inventory, distribution and collection. His organizational skills increased the space in the storage room by one-third. During home football games, Borzina was the ticket taker at the main gate from 1977 to 2005. He also coordinated the “Parents Night” activity for the football team. He copied football videos for use during the season as well as individual player highlight videos from 1985 to 2012.
Brozina retired in 2012 after a 37-year career as the Librarian for the Memorial High School and Millville Senior High School. He and his wife Holly have four children: Chuck, Nick, Mary and Sam and they, like their Dad, are all Millville graduates.
Sylvia Galarza (2000s)
The 2004 MHS graduate was an outstanding scholar athlete, competing in track and field. She earned seven varsity letters in her career.
Galarza set the Millville Senior High School record in the shot put (45-feet, 6-inches) and discus (153-2). As a high school athlete, she was a three-time Cumberland County champion and three-time Cape-Atlantic League titlist in the shot put and discus. She won the Most Outstanding Field Athlete at the Woodbury Relays in 2004 along with the 2002 sectional title (discus), 2003 outdoor sectional champ (shot put and discus), 2004 outdoor sectional champ (discus), 2004 outdoor state champ (shot put and discus), 2004 outdoor Meet of Champions titlist (shot put), 2004 indoor sectional and Meet of Champions titlist (shot put). Galarza was a three-time All-South Jersey selection (2002-04), two-time all-state honoree (2003-04), six-time Junior Olympic All-American in the shot put and discus, 2004 indoor and outdoor All-American in the shot put as well as 2020 South Jersey Track Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee.
Galarza’s college career was equally impressive. She attended Coastal Carolina and was named 2004-05 All-Big South in the javelin and shot put. Galarza transferred to Rutgers and was named 2006-07 Big East indoor shot put champion, 2006-07 All-Big East outdoor in discus and shot put. She’s the Rutgers record holder in indoor shot put and the 2007-08 Rutgers Track and Field Most Outstanding Performer.
As a professional athlete, Galarza has been a member of the Puerto Rican National Team from 2004-22. She’s the Puerto Rican national record holder in the discus, is a two-time PR national champion in the discus, an Atlantic City Shore Track Club team member since 2008, and the 2015 Atlantic City Shore Athlete of the year.
Coach Roy Hallenbeck
Hallenbeck was the head baseball coach for 21 seasons, compiling a record of 330-194-1 from 1999-2019 and leading the program to its first-eve state Group 4 championship in 2011. His teams also won four Cape-Atlantic League titles and set school records for most wins in a season with 22.
Under his tenure, numerous student athletes went on to play at the collegiate level. Three of his players were also taken in the Major League Baseball Draft: Mike Trout by the Anaheim Angels in the first round of the 2009 draft, Aaron Cox by the Angels in the 19th round of the 2012 draft and Buddy Kennedy by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the fifth round of the 2017 draft.
The Health and Physical Education teacher was the South Jersey Baseball Coaches Coach of the Year in 2008 and the American Baseball Coaches Association’s Regional Coach of the Year in 2009 and 2010. He has been inducted into the NJ Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame and NJ Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Tom McGurk is a regional sports editor for the Courier-Post, The Daily Journal and Burlington County Times, covering South Jersey sports for over 30 years. If you have a sports story that needs to be told, contact him at (856) 486-2420 or email tmcgurk@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @McGurkSports. Help support local journalism with a digital subscription.
This article originally appeared on Vineland Daily Journal: Millville Thunderbolt Club to induct Class of 2022 into Hall of Fame
