Brick Township H.S. Wall Of Fame Inductees For 2017 Announced

BRICK, NJ — Four members of the Brick Township High School community will be honored for their contributions when they are inducted into the school's Wall of Fame in May.

Rob Bechtloff, Nick Eremita, Barbara Stryker and Cindy Acropolis Toye are the Class of 2017 inductees and are being honored for their diverse accomplishments.

They are the 14th class inducted into the Wall of Fame; this year's ceremonies are scheduled for 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Wednesday, May 17 at Crystal Point, 3900 River Road, Point Pleasant.

The Wall of Fame committee released the following biographies on the four inductees:

Rob Bechtloff: The 1979 graduate is one of three players in the history of the boys soccer team to have his jersey number retired. Wearing No. 8, Bechtloff helped the Dragons win Shore Conference Class A South three times, the Ocean County Tournament twice and they were NJSIAA South Jersey Group 4 champions. He was selected to both the All-Shore and All-State teams in 1978. Bechtloff, inducted into the Rowan Hall of Fame in 2014, has amassed more than 300 victories in his more than 30 years as head coach at Central Regional High School, where under his tutelage the Golden Eagles have won five Shore Conference Class B South titles and three state sectional titles. Bechtloff, the health and physical education supervisor at Central, also is a volunteer coach in Westfield.

Nick Eremita: The 1996 graduate finished in the top 3 percent in his class at Brick. He was a member of the 1994 state sectional championship football team and was both on the Shore Conference All-Academic team and was first team all-Ocean County as a lineman. He also wrestled for the Dragons for three years and was a four-year member of the track team. Eremita attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point from 1997 to 2000, playing football for one year, and he received Superintendent's Awards for academic, military and physical excellence. He spent spent five years as a U.S. Army paratrooper and was awarded the Meritorious Service medal for multiple tours in Afghanistan. He commanded an Army company and served as an adviser to the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division in Fort Bragg, NC. He has a master's degree from the National Resource Strategy College and spent nine years as executive leader in the Department of Defense, from 2006-2015, and was chief of Global Force Management and was twice awarded the Commanders' Superior Service Medal. Currently Eremita is the senior director of strategy for the president of Southern New Hampshire University, where he is responsible for long-range strategy development for an institution with 80,000 students and more than 8,000 employees.

Barbara Stryker: Mrs. Stryker was a secretary at Brick Township High School for 31 years. and made BTHS her life for many of those years. She met Warren Wolf and was hired for a job; her first was at BTHS in the food service department. Next was in the attendance office, and then she served as the secretary to the assistant principals, for Mrs. Faddy, Mr. Kleissler and Mr Sutter. Though Mrs. Stryker has retired, she still runs the Student of the Month breakfast and is involved in other activities in the school. She is loved by students, staff and administrators. "I have often heard her say that she thanks her 'BTHS family' for everything she has, and this is an opportunity for us to formally thank her," student Alana Colabella said. "With every over the top celebration, time-stopping photograph, and jubilant intercom announcement, Barbara Stryker has incessantly pushed us to see the greatness within ourselves, and it is time to recognize and appreciate the greatness within her."

Cindy Acropolis Toye: At a time where girls weren't regularly accepted in the then-all male world of ice hockey, Toye was a standout. She was the first female ice hockey player at Brick Township High School, and simply excelled at the sport, even though it meant dressing for games in a women's restroom or a closet. With her hair tucked into her helmet so she went unnoticed, she answered vulgarities hurled by opponents who did not feel she should be playing a men's sport by becoming the first female to score a goal in a regular season New Jersey scholastic hockey game, and the first female to score a playoff goal in the Gordon Cup playoffs and the state championships. Toye, the granddaughter of Brick's legendary ice hockey coach Bob Auriemma, went onto play at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., and had a stint at a pre-Olympic tryout camp at the University of Vermont. At RPI, she scored 128 goals and had 84 assists for 212 points in 98 games in her career, and was a three-time All-America Second Team Selection. She was RPI's four-time team MVP and was inducted into the RPI Hall of Fame in 2010. She coaches in the Brick Hockey Club and has been instrumental in the expansion of its teams for girls. She also loves raising and coaching her three children.

Tickets for the dinner are $55 per person and can be purchased by sending the form (attached as a photo below) with a check made payable to “BTHS StudentActivity Account” to William Kleissler, Brick Township High School Wall of Fame, 346 Chambersbridge Road, Brick, NJ 08723.

Tickets should be purchased by May 5, organizers said.

The form requests name, address and phone number of the purchaser, how many tickets are being requested, and the names of those attending. Dinner selections are requested, with choices of stuffed boneless breast of capon, stuffed sole Florentine, or prime rib.

There is an option to make a donation as well if you cannot attend but wish to contribute.

Tables of 8-10 people can be reserved by calling Kleissler, the Brick Township High School principal, at 732-785-3000, ext. 2093 or by emailing him at wkleissler@brickschools.org.