Four former student-athletes were inducted into the Catawba College Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday.
The inductees were Bill E. Peeler (Class of 1954); Anne Marie Contesti, (1990); Gary S. Kochman (1970); and Richard C. Snyder (1956).
The induction ceremony and luncheon, sponsored by the Catawba College Chiefs Club, was held in the Kirkland Lobby of the Abernethy Physical Education Center and preceded Friday by a Hall of Fame Golf Tournament at the Crescent Golf Club.
Peeler, a Salisbury native and outstanding athlete at Boyden High School, earned seven letters at Catawba between 1950 and 1954. He played center on Catawba’s football team for four years and catcher on its baseball team for three years. He was nominated for the Shrine Bowl and the East-West All-Star football games.
After graduation, Peeler worked for 38 years in the Davie County Public Schools as a football coach at Mocksville High School, a varsity girls basketball coach at Davie County High and as a baseball coach for both Mocksville and Davie County high schools.
He retired in 1991. He and his wife, Eleanor, have three children — Patricia Artz of Salisbury, Robert Peeler of Concord and Mary Peeler of Charlotte — and four grandsons.
Contesti, originally from Monrovia, Md., was a four-year starter in field hockey at Catawba from 1986-89. She ranks as the college’s all-time leader in goals, assists and points. She was a four-time All-Deep South performer chosen for the National Hockey Festival in 1988. She joined the women’s basketball team for her senior season and although she played in just 12 games, she contributed 55 points, 19 assists and 17 steals.
She is currently employed as the girls field hockey coach and physical education teacher at Burlington Township High School in Burlington, N.J.
Kochman, a native of Hagerstown, Md., excelled in track and football while at Catawba. During two years on the track team, he set Catawba records in the long jump, 440 hurdles, the mile relay, and for scoring the most points in a single meet — 25 covering seven events.
He played football for four years, between 1966 and 1969, starting for three teams and earning all-conference honors as a defensive back in 1969.
He received the Gold Helmet Award in 1969 for accumulating the most game helmet awards during the season and the Aycock Medal as the top male athlete in the senior class.
After graduation, he served as a player-coach on the Greenville, S.C., Bulls semi-pro football team and in 1973 led that squad to a perfect 14-0 record. Later, he was a teacher and coach at Wade Hampton High School in Greenville.
He has been employed for the past 11 years as a State Farm Insurance agent in Charlotte. He and his wife, Catherine, live in Matthews with their daughter Alexandra. Kochman also has two stepchildren, Mason Clark of Charlotte and Toby Clark of New Orleans.
Snyder played football at Catawba between 1952 and 1955, as an offensive and defensive end. He earned All-North State Conference honors as well as All-North Carolina status as a senior in 1955. He was awarded the Aycock Medal in 1956 as the top male athlete in the senior class.
In 1989, Snyder retired following a 35-year career with Southern Bell/Bell South as vice president of operations for systems technology in Atlanta. He then worked for 10 years as vice president of Shared Technologies, Inc., a communications firm in Atlanta.
He now resides in Dunwoody with his wife, Frankie, a 1956 Catawba alumna. They have two children, Margaret Conner and Susan Snyder-Bass, both of Atlanta, and one grandchild.
The Catawba College Sports Hall of Fame was founded in 1977. To date, 117 former athletes have been inducted.
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