Saturday, June 23, 2007

Bill DeFlavio and Rene Ingoglia inducted into the UMass Hall-of-Fame

UMass has inducted two former UMass football players into the UMass Hall-of-Fame.


The following is Bill Deflavio's bio from the article: "DeFlavio was a football player from 1969 to 1971, going from walk-on to first team All American. An undersized defensive lineman, DeFlavio earned first team All-Yankee Conference honors three times. He was named All-East as both a junior and senior in 1970 and 1971. As a senior, he became UMass' sixth first team All-American in 1971. DeFlavio led UMass to two Yankee Conference championships in 1969 and 1971. In his era, sacks and tackles for loss weren't kept, but accounts of the games indicate that he would have been a team leader in both categories. After his UMass playing days were over, DeFlavio went on to play professionally in the World Football League, with New York and Charlotte, and in the Canadian Football League, with Montreal. After a business career with Nike, he is now in real estate and development in Massachusetts. DeFlavio has stayed active with UMass Football, serving as President of The Friends of Football. He graduated from UMass with a degree in Physical Education in 1973."

DeFlavio was one of the UMass players that got me hooked on UMass football. I saw one of his games in either '70 or '71 against Holy Cross. He was in the Crusader backfield all game. It was one of the most dominent games I have ever seen a DT play.

Rene Ingoglia was one of the finest running backs in UMass history. His bio from the article: "Ingoglia was a football player from 1992-95, who was named first team All-America in 1995 and second team All-America in 1994. He was picked to the Yankee Conference's 50th Anniversary Team, after earning spots on the Yankee Conference's first team in 1994 and 1995, and second team in 1993. As a running back, he set the career school rushing record with 4,624 yards, which now stands third behind Marcel Shipp and Steve Baylark and is 24th all-time in NCAA 1-AA football. He also set the school record for rushing yards in a game with 313 against Rhode Island in 1994, which currently stands second. His 54 touchdowns is second best at UMass and eighth best in 1-AA football. A two-time captain, Ingoglia was the first UMass back to average over 100 yards a game for a career and had 21 games with 100 or more rushing yards. He rushed for more than 1,000 yards three times, with those single season totals standing sixth (1,505), seventh (1,285), and ninth (1,178). After his UMass career, he played in the 1996 Hula Bowl All-Star Game and played in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills and in NFL Europe with the Frankfort Galaxy, where he scored a touchdown in World Bowl '99. He is currently a member of the Orlando Police Department, where he has won two awards of commendation. He graduated from UMass in 1996 with a degree in Exercise Science."

I have the 1993 UMass Highlight film. In it Ingoglia performs one of the greatest runs ever at McGuirk. He runs through the whole Delaware defense for a TD. If you slow the tape down----NINE Delaware defenders get their hands on him.

Both players richly deserve to be in the UMass Hall-of-Fame. Congratulations Rene and Bill!