Six outstanding former Falcons will be inducted into the Bentley University Athletic Hall of Fame this fall. The luncheon ceremony takes place on Sunday, October 24, during Homecoming and Fall Parents Weekend.

Julie Doherty ’02 (women’s cross country and track) is one of the best distance runners to ever represent Bentley. As a senior, she was the first Bentley woman to qualify for the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships. She earned NCAA Division II Women’s Cross Country Runner of the Year honors for 2001 and, the same year, finished first among Division II runners at the New England Championships.

Gary Mello ’01 (men’s cross country and track) joins Doherty in making a mark as a distance runner. In 1998, he became the school’s first-ever NCAA Division II All-American in cross country. Mello garnered All-America honors again in 2000, after a third straight trip to the nationals. His senior year included winning the NCAA Division II Northeast Regional Championship and making conference history as the first cross country runner to three-peat as champion. The alumnus was inducted to the Northeast-10 Conference Hall of Fame in 2007.

Mike Rymsha ’96 (football) was a big part of the football team’s remarkable success from 1993 to 1995. The Falcons lost only once during that time span, to amass the longest winning streak in New England history: 30 games. As quarterback on those Bentley teams, Rymsha threw for 46 touchdowns and 4,516 yards in 28 regular season games. His senior year brought recognition as a GTE Academic All-American and winner of the Coca-Cola Gold Helmet, awarded to the premier Division II-III player in New England.

Kim (Cummings) Singh ’96 (women’s basketball) is the only player in school history with top 10 rankings in career points (fourth at 1,701), assists (fifth at 563), rebounds (eighth at 777) and steals (ninth at 254). Indeed, her career totals in points, assists and rebounds are unmatched by any other Bentley athlete, male or female. Singh was named the university’s Outstanding Female Senior Athlete in 1996 and, in 2008, won a place in the Northeast-10 Conference Hall of Fame.
 
Kevin Van Dam ’02 (men’s basketball) is among the premier three-point shooters in Falcon history. In fact, he is the only player with both 175 career three-balls and a lifetime shooting percentage of at least .400 from behind the arc. Recognized as the Bentley Outstanding Male Senior Athlete in 2002, Van Dam connected 256 times from downtown, finding the target nearly 41 percent of the time. His 1,575 career points places him ninth on the school’s all-time scoring list.

Scott Yavarow ’02 (men’s soccer and lacrosse) is another Class of 2002 standout – in two sports. He started 72 of 73 games as a soccer defender from 1998 to 2001, and was in the lineup for every lacrosse match the Falcons played from 1999 to 2002.  The two-time Division II All-American in lacrosse earned first-team accolades from the U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association in 2002. Yavarow was a three-time All-Northeast-10 selection and the third player in program history to reach the 200-point milestone. He was also the first Falcon drafted by a Major League Lacrosse team: the Boston Cannons.