West Deptford Athletic Hall Inducts Newest Class

Innovators, leaders, captains, record-breakers and motivators: Those are just some of the words used to describe the individuals who received due credit Sunday afternoon and became the newest members of the prestigious West Deptford Sports Hall of Fame.

Judy Brown, Brenda Stewart, Tony Scirrotto and Pete Kelly each left an irreplaceable mark on the fields and hallways at , and each now has their respective name next to some of the other Eagle greats.

“We ate it, we drank it, we breathed it, we slept it,” said Stewart, a 1978 graduate who scored 32 goals in her field hockey career and over 800 points in basketball. “It was all we did all that time and it was so wonderful. The values that we learned (and) the carryover we experienced between home and what we had with our coaches and teachers really spoke into our lives. The relationships we just so valuable and so meaningful. As you grow and mature you start to realize, ‘Wow, what a great experience I have been able to have with my life.’”

Before Stewart, there was Brown, who stepped into the athletic circle in a time where women were just starting to receive the athletic opportunities their male counterparts had received for years. Brown, who played field hockey, basketball and tennis in the 1970s, entered junior high school with no experience in competitive athletics and graduated as one of the best athletes of the decade. She captained all three teams, possessing an energy and “go get it” spirit that few have matched.

Brown spoke of the first time she was brought to the West Deptford High School gym as a six-year old by her uncle, Ed Shirk, a former football coach.

“I recall him taking us to the gym and my seeing it for the first time and it looking huge,” Brown recalled. “And then he opened and closed those huge doors, and I looked up at them and thought they were the biggest doors in the word. Little did I know that one day the gym and the athletic fields would become my second home, and later the site of my chosen profession in health and physical education.”

While Brown and Stewart embodied the will and spirit of female athletics in the early years, Scirrotto was recognized for putting together an athletic resume that few, if anyone, in the history of the school could match.

Scirrotto, who went on to play football for Penn State and briefly as a professional, was a four-year starter at defensive back and led the Eagles to South Jersey Group 2 State Championships in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Over that span he recorded 26 interceptions. In his final two seasons he also quarterbacked the team to a 24-0 record. He was an All-American for two years, to go with countless other honors.

“To this day he is the most recruited and decorated player to graduate from West Deptford,” said head football coach Clyde Folsom.

Scirrotto was also one of the best baseball players to wear an Eagles’ uniform, helping the program establish itself into one of the Colonial Conference’s elite.

In fashion typical with his reputation, Scirrotto deflect the credit to others, and said it was his teammates, friends and family who made everything he accomplished worth it.

“It’s easy to be a quarterback when you have so many weapons on offense,” said Scirrotto, before rattling off a list of players. “These guys, I had been playing with since I was six years old. The lifetime friendships that I made with these guys will always supersede the accolades I receive, because when all this stuff stops they will always been there. My family, my friends, all of you guys who supported us and have been in this town and watched us, that stuff lasts forever to me.”

Kelly, meanwhile, proved that you don’t have to have competed in a sport to be able to help other succeed in it. What started out as a coach looking for a sport to assist in during the winter season turned into a 35-year coaching career. In his time with the swim program, Kelly compiled a 153-78-2 record, highlighted by a state championship in 1996.

“I never swam in college, I never swam in high school,” said Kelly of his swimming experience. “We had summer races across the lake at the park. That was it.”

His loyalties to both his family and school showed through when he left West Deptford to take a coaching job at Schalick, where over the next decade he was able to coach all five of his children. After the last of his children had graduated, he returned to West Deptford and helped develop the boys' swim team.

Finally the 1992 girls' track team was honored for its 10-0 campaign. Head coach Bill Moore put together a lineup that won a conference title, finished second at the Woodbury Relays and was fifth at states.

Each player, coach and team that was honored on Sunday made a giant imprint on the West Deptford athletic program. Their place in the Hall of Fame assures that their accomplishments will never be forgotten.