2019 WCWP Hall of Fame Ceremony May 14, 2019

Other Hall of Fame ceremony recaps: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2020-21

Video of the ceremony can be found at the end of this post.

The eighth annual WCWP Hall of Fame Ceremony was held Saturday afternoon in the Goldsmith Atrium at the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts on the campus of LIU Post. As you can see above, this year’s inductees were Lew Scharfberg, Fred Gaudelli, and Pete Bellotti.

The ceremony began at 1:10 with an introduction by WCWP Director of Broadcasting Dan Cox…:

…and a video narrated by Bernie Bernard, who was inducted in 2013:

This picture taken during a dissolve was a happy accident because it looks like Lew and Jeff Kroll, the Master of Ceremonies, are pointing at Pete:

Jeff at the mic as M.C.:

Dan had the honor of introducing two of the three inductees. First, was Pete Bellotti, currently of CBS Sports Radio:

Before Jeff’s interview and remembrances from the audience, Pete gave a speech:

Jay Mirabile had an interesting story:

Joe Manfredi, Director of Operations while Pete was a student, was complimentary:

Pete even acknowledged me when referencing the music I provided and hours of co-hosting for WCWP’s live broadcast from Bar Beach Park (now North Hempstead Beach Park) in 2006:

I was about 90 pounds heavier at the time, as I co-hosted with Eli W. Sen:

“It was a fun experience”:

Lew Scharfberg was next, following Jeff’s introduction:

Among Lew’s stories in his speech were the teletype bell ringing frantically on August 16, 1977, as news broke that Elvis Presley had died, and learning of the Dome Auditorium roof collapse during the Blizzard of 1978.

Bill Mozer misremembered one anecdote…:

…and had to be corrected by Dan:

He accurately recalled another:

Neil Marks ribbed Lew, leading to an impassioned defense…:

…but was also complimentary:

Dan Cox chimed in:

The obligatory camcorder shot to use as a cover photo for my YouTube channel:

…and the obligatory alternate perspective:

Lew’s son Dan gave a moving speech:

I told him afterward, “you’re a good son.”

Last up was Fred Gaudelli, who is the executive producer of Sunday Night Football for NBC Sports:

Fred had plenty of stories from his days at C.W. Post, working his way up through ESPN, introducing what became the 1st and 10 line, producing Monday Night Football and Sunday Night Football.

At one point, Dan played a clip of Fred calling a furious comeback by the Post Pioneers against James Madison in 1981:

They rallied from 21 points down with two minutes to play, winning 37-36.

Jeff’s closing remarks:

I want to thank everyone for being here today. That’ll do it. That’s it for the 2019 WCWP Hall of Fame induction. Thank you, folks.

Photo ops, starting with the three inductees:

The three inductees with Dan Cox, Bill Mozer (2013), and Jeff Kroll (2015):

Pete and his wife Bridget:

Pete with Dan Cox and Joe Manfredi:

…and me:

The early-to-mid-2000s era of WCWP:

The Scharfbergs:

Dan quickly introduced me to Fred before he left, and took a picture of us:

I posed with him 16 years earlier after he and fellow alum Dan Reagan (“Reegan”) spoke to the broadcasting class I was in:

My parting shot was of Pat and Jeff Kroll:

Pat was inducted last year along with Muffet Provost and John Commins.

Jeff was kind enough to drive me home. We had an interesting conversation along the way, and he recognized my driveway from all the times I’d photographed it after shoveling snow. (Here’s one example.)

Congratulations to Pete Bellotti, Lew Scharfberg, and Fred Gaudelli, the 2019 class of the WCWP Hall of Fame.

Here is the video:

Thanks to Dan Cox for providing the introductory video and highlights of Fred’s play-by-play. My video was shot on a Panasonic HC-V770 camcorder with a Takstar SGC-598 shotgun mic. I periodically switched to my Tascam DR-03 recording from the platform to fill gaps between raw video files and compensate for panning to the audience.