EASTON, Pa.- Penny (Erisman/Ferency) Bermender '91, James Conrad '07, Deanna DiCroce '13, Mike Joseph '88, Matt Lancor '88 and Bill Lawson will be inducted into the Maroon Club Hall of Fame's Class of 2025-26 during the Hall of Fame Dinner on Friday, Nov. 21 at Kirby Sports Center. More details and registration are to follow.

Gifts to the Maroon Club help support our amazing student-athletes across our 23 Division I programs. If you'd like to make a gift in honor of a member of this year's Hall of Fame Class, please click the link above.

Penny (Erisman '91) Ferency-Bermender (Volleyball/Track and Field)

Ferency-Bermender, a dual-sport athlete, excelled on the track and field and volleyball teams at Lafayette. 

The Lehigh Valley Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women selected her as the most outstanding volleyball player as well as the top athlete for the 1990-91 year. That season, she was the lone captain and led the volleyball program in five categories as a right-side hitter: hitting percentage, kills, kills average, aces and blocks. She set a new school record in career kills (237) and started every game of her four-year career on the court. During her freshman and sophomore years, Bermender was a second-team East Coast Conference all-star and added a first-team All-Patriot League laurel before graduating. 

In track and field, Bermender made history by becoming the first Leopard woman to win an ECAC title for her first-place finish in the 20-lb. weight throw (16.55) as a senior. She also dominated the Patriot League Outdoor Championships that year with wins for discus (39.30) and shot put (10.63), as well as second place for her hammer throw. In 1988, she topped the shot put competition during the East Coast Conference Outdoor Championships. Indoors, the Red Lion, Pa. native also earned titles in shot put and the 20-lb. weight throw as a senior for her 55'11" attempt.

Overall, she won a record-setting 10 individual league track and field championships and was honored as the Charles L. Albert '08 Award recipient.

Following her graduation with a bachelor's degree in Art (Marketing), Bermender remained in the Lehigh Valley to complete her Elementary Education certification and met her first husband, Paul Ferency. In just two years, she accepted a position as assistant coach for Lafayette volleyball, but stepped up into the head coaching role right before the season started. 

Bermender spent three years with the Leopards, helping to turn around the record and compete well in the Patriot League. She kickstarted a recruiting regimen for the program, traveling to watch club tournaments in the offseason.

Her next stop took her to the Wilson Area School District, including the opportunity to coach track and field part time. She and Paul got married at that time as her certification studies were completed. 

After the Wilson stint, Bermender taught in an Easton Area middle school for over 28 years. While working and raising her two boys, Elek and Odin, she earned her master's degree in Education from Wilkes in 2011. At that time, she stayed on as Wilson's assistant track coach for 16 years, amassing over 20 state qualifiers.

Her sons, Elek and Odin, were state qualifiers during their high school years at Easton, taking after her and their late father, Paul Ferency, who passed away in 2019. Elek is a 2023 graduate of Muhlenberg College and was a thrower for the track and field team. Odin is currently attending Charleston Southern University on an academic and track and field scholarship, set to graduate in 2027. 

Over the past year, Bermender retired from a successful career and moved to Tampa, Fla. with her new husband, Andrew Bermender. She enjoys traveling to see her sons, friends and family in Pennsylvania and spending her time shelling on the west coast of Florida or relaxing with her husband.

 

James Conrad '07 (Baseball)

As one of the most highly-decorated center fielders in Lafayette history, Conrad was an academic and athletic force. The Columbia, Md. native was a two-time All-Patriot League First-Team selection (2005, 2007) and was named to the Second Team in 2006. During his senior campaign, he was crowned the conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year, a Second Team ABCA All-East Region player and claimed a spot on the All-Patriot League Tournament Team. 

On the diamond, he still holds several Patriot League records, including finishing first in single-season runs scored (75, 2007), second in single-season stolen bases (49, 2007) and fourth in career stolen bases (85). Conrad also paced the league in hits, runs scored and triples that year.

The Math major was honored as a part of the NCAA Tournament All-Regional Team, held in Charlottesville in 2007, finishing third and eighth in the nation for stolen bases and runs scored, respectively. 

Conrad received national attention as a Third Team CoSIDA Academic All-American and listed as a two-time ESPN's The Magazine Academic All-District II First-Team recipient. 

Following graduation, he interned with Bill James' Baseball Info Solutions and coached collegiately at Virginia Military Institute and Eastern Illinois University for three years. During that time he received his master's degree before changing his career path to become an actuary. 

Conrad currently works primarily with pension plans as a consultant and has finished several series of actuarial exams (earning him accolades such as Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, Enrolled Actuary, Fellow of the Conference of Consulting Actuaries, and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries).

He was able to begin working remotely in 2016, allowing he and his wife, Erin, to sell their house and travel around the country in an RV to various state parks and MLB stadiums for 18 months. They then settled in Erin's hometown of Covington, Va. with their two children, Gideon and Tobias.

Conrad spends his free time with his family, their two cats and a puppy, as well as coaching the boys' baseball and soccer teams. His evenings consist of setting the rosters for his Lafayette group's fantasy baseball league, still going strong since senior year in 2007.

 

Deanna DiCroce '13 (Field Hockey)

As one of Lafayette's most prolific strikers, Deanna DiCroce helped elevate the field hockey program to national prominence during her four seasons of play. 

She was selected as a National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) Third-Team All-American as a senior, holds three NFHCA All-Region First Team laurels (2009, 2011, 2012) and one Second Team award (2010). The Patriot League crowned her as its 2011 and 2012 Offensive Player of the Year alongside her four seasons of First Team-All League honors. 

When the Leopards won the conference title in 2012 and finished ranked 12th nationally, she was honored as the Tournament MVP. DiCroce's accolades also list 2011 and 2012 All-Tournament Team picks with the back-to-back championship wins.

DiCroce ranks third all-time in the Patriot League's career assists list with 43. Additionally, she places fifth overall in career goals (53) and second in career points with 149. Her 51 single-season points as a senior ranks her third in the conference to this day while she sits tied in first place for her nine points in a Patriot League Tournament appearance. She is also tied for the most Offensive Player of the Week awards in a single season and for an entire career. For her efforts, she was titled the 2013 Patriot League Female Athlete of the Year, named a 2013 Second Team All-American by Synapse, and chosen to represent the Patriot League in the 25th Anniversary Team on Aug. 13, 2015. Before graduation, DiCroce was honored with the Charles L. Albert '08 Award, given to a senior female student-athlete who was judged to be the most outstanding athlete that year.

The Doylestown, Pa. native graduated with a Psychology degree and has spent the years since exploring life in various cities, including New York, Philadelphia, and the surrounding suburbs, before returning to Brooklyn, where she now resides. In her youth, she competed on the USA Senior National Indoor squad.

Professionally, DiCroce has built a career in revenue strategy, working at companies like NBC Sports, Spotify, and currently, Reddit. Outside the office, she claims that life has been just as full, spending time with her greatest joy, her 9-year-old English Bulldog, Blue.

 

Mike Joseph '88 (Football)

Joseph specialized on the gridiron as a defensive back during his collegiate career, before he returned to Lafayette as a defensive backs coach and recruiting coordinator from 1992-2002. As a freshman, he was the program's rookie of the year.

The Allentown, Pa. native shined on the defensive side of the ball, particularly in 1986 when he led the Colonial League in interceptions (7). That same fall, he ranked 16th nationally, set the fifth-best single-season mark by modern Patriot League history standards and claimed second place on Lafayette's all-time single-season interceptions list.

Over his four years, he became Lafayette's all-time leader in picks and was named the team MVP while garnering All-Colonial League First-Team honors in 1987. The Industrial Engineering major left College Hill with a 22-22 overall record. He was also a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.

Joseph then earned his master's degree from Villanova in addition to working as a football graduate assistant coach under Andy Talley for two years. 

During his return tenure on the Leopard staff in 1992, he continued to shape the program with his expertise and leadership alongside Hall of Fame head coach Bill Russo. Joseph was privileged to recruit and guide over five future Hall of Fame players as well.

In 2009, he went on to be the lead color analyst for Astound Television Network (formerly RCN), broadcasting local Lehigh Valley high school and Lafayette College football for the past 16 years.

Joseph and his wife, Christine Alfieri Joseph '88, have three children: Peyton '20, Caroline and Tyler '24.

 

Matt Lancor '88 (Men's Soccer)

Matt Lancor, a rock-steady goalkeeper for the Leopards, rightly earned First Team NSCAA All-Mid-Atlantic Region and First Team All-East Coast Conference laurels in 1986.

His career records for shutouts (35) and save percentage (0.867) remain as Lafayette's leader with a second-spot finish for his 403 saves. Lancor's goal-against average of 0.76 also places him third all-time on College Hill. 

He claims fifth (111), sixth (105) and seventh (104) place in the Lafayette single-season saves list. 

Following graduation, Lancor was a legislative aid for Jamie McLaughlin '76 in the Connecticut State Legislature and worked for Reebok as its head of sales. Currently, he is the Vice President of Sales at Puma, running the national chains business, and has been with the company since 2000. 

Lancor and his wife of 35 years, Raye Ann, have lived in both Attleboro, Mass. and Atlanta. The Lancors have three daughters, Quinn, Delaney and Pierce, with which the family has grown to include six grandchildren. 

Matt and Raye Ann find joy in traveling, as the couple has visited Germany, Italy, Portugal and Hawaii most recently. Lancor is also an avid golfer and continues to love soccer.

 

Bill Lawson (Contributor)

The late William "Bill" Lawson was born in Wilmington, Del. in 1934. He was a Navy Veteran of the Korean War and a graduate of Springfield College. Bill later received his master's degree from Westfield State College before returning to reside in Easton, Pa. and occasionally Rehoboth Beach, Del. 

As a multi-sport coach (primarily swimming and men's lacrosse), Lawson indefinitely contributed to Lafayette with his knowledge and passion for athletics. 

Lawson joined the Leopards' athletic staff in 1965 as both the swimming and tennis head coach before assuming the men's lacrosse post in 1972. He retained the swimming position until 1986 and continued as the school's diving coach until 2002.

He was named the Patriot League's Men's Lacrosse Coach of the Year in 1991 while amassing over 150 career victories, becoming the winningest coach in Leopard men's lacrosse history. Lawson was also crowned the Patriot League Diving Coach of the Year in 1999-2000.

He was selected as the recipient of the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association's "Howdy Myers Man of the Year Award" in 2000, presented to the person who has contributed to the game of lacrosse in a capacity over and above the normal efforts and has shown unselfish and undying devotion. 

Lawson was one of a select number of coaches who helped coach at the 2001 U.S. National Team tryouts and coached in the annual North-South All-Star lacrosse game on two occasions.

After the very next season, he was recognized as the USILA Man of the Year, additionally being inducted into the Pennsylvania Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2002.

Lawson retired following the 2002 slate, ending a decorated 37-year career. He later returned in 2007 as a volunteer assistant men's lacrosse coach for several institutions, including Lehigh and DeSales. 

The Leopard legend resided on College Hill with his wife of 53 years, Peggy, until his passing in 2013. He is survived by two children, Christine Hastings and her husband, David, and Glenn Lawson and his wife, Martha, as well as his grandchildren.

The Patriot League renamed its Coach of the Year award in his honor in 2014, solidifying his legacy of influence across generations of student-athletes. Former Lafayette College Director of Athletics Bruce McCutcheon noted that "anyone who was ever in Bill's company left with a smile on their face for having spent the time."

 

Enshrinement into the Lafayette College Maroon Club Athletic Hall of Fame is truly the highest honor the College can bestow upon its former student-athletes, coaches, administrators, support staff and teams. Of the many men and women who have represented Lafayette in athletic competitions, only 171 individuals and 20 teams have been inducted into the Hall of Fame as of 2024-25. Each year, the Maroon Club hosts a banquet and ceremony on the eve of the Lafayette-Lehigh football game to induct a Hall of Fame class.


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