Rutgers University Athletics

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The Rutgers University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics has announced the members of the 2022 Hall of Fame class including Sandra Petway (women’s track & field coach), C. Vivian Stringer (women’s basketball coach) and Pat Willis (softball coach & women’s basketball assistant coach) along with Dr. Sam Crosby (wrestling & football).

“We celebrate the 50th anniversary of Title IX by inducting some of the great pioneers in women’s collegiate athletics – C Vivian Stringer, Sandra Petway and Pat Willis, three groundbreaking Rutgers legends,” said Director of Athletics Pat Hobbs. “And then there is Sam Crosby, one of Rutgers all-time great multi-sport athletes. Congratulations to all." 

Registration in now open for the highly anticipated Rutgers Athletics Hall of Fame Dinner on Friday, October 21 at the Heldrich Hotel and Conference Center in downtown New Brunswick. The event will begin with a 6:30 p.m. reception before an 8 p.m. program. The dinner is $175 per person, $150 per person for former letterwinners and free for all past Rutgers Athletics Hall of Fame inductees.

Online registration is also available for the Varsity R Homecoming Tailgate, which will take place in Athletes Glen, across from SHI Stadium, on October 22nd as Rutgers football takes on Indiana. The tailgate from 9:30 – 11:30 a.m. at the Frank R. Burns Pavilion in Athletics Glen prior to the noon kickoff against the Hoosiers is free for letterwinners and children under 10 with registration and $25 per adult guest.

SANDRA PETWAY – Women’s Track & Field/Cross Country Coach

Sandra Petway was among the inaugural group of coaches named in June of 1974 to spearhead the original seven programs to begin women’s sports in the Rutgers Athletics Department. At 24 years old and only three years after graduating from Trenton State (currently The College of New Jersey), Petway could already be considered an old pro when it came to building programs.   

The Trenton State women’s track & field program did not exist when the Vineland, New Jersey native joined the freshman class in 1967. However, by her sophomore year Petway and Estelle (Cookie) Sey formed TSC’s first women’s varsity track team. She would go on to compete in the long jump, high jump, 440-yard run and 440-yard relay. Petway then stayed on at Trenton State to earn her master's degree and help coach the track team. Petway was inducted into the Trenton State College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1995.

Coach Petway first arrived at Rutgers during the 1973-74 academic year serving as a physical education instructor and would go on to share her time with the cross-country team, indoor club track team and outdoor varsity track & field team, in addition to teaching academic courses and remaining an active AAU competitor in the long jump.

The women’s track & field cross country program started as an AAU club team. It became an intercollegiate sport at Rutgers in 1976 with Petway as the head coach.

After coaching the women’s cross-country team to an undefeated season in 1976 and coaching the outdoor track & field team to a 4-0 record with a state championship, Petway became the first women’s full-time coach at Rutgers. Coach Petway remained the head coach until the fall of 1980. During her tenure, 19 Scarlet Knights earned AIAW All-American status.

C. VIVIAN STRINGER – Women’s Basketball Coach

The second full-time head coach in Rutgers women's basketball history, Stringer served at the helm of the Scarlet Knights from 1995 until her retirement in the spring of 2022. During that span, Stringer won 535 games with the Scarlet Knights while qualifying for 17 NCAA Tournaments, including 10 consecutively from 2003 to 2012. Stringer led Rutgers to a pair of Final Four appearances in 2000 and 2007, with the latter culminating in RU's first NCAA Championship Game. In 2000, she became the first men's or women's basketball coach to guide three different intercollegiate programs to the Final Four after playing in the first NCAA Championship Game with Cheyney State in 1982 and leading Iowa to the national semifinals in 1993. 

Within three seasons at Rutgers, the Scarlet Knights won 20 games and won a Big East division title. Within five years, RU rose to national prominence as the women's game exploded in popularity across the United States. 

Stringer surpassed the monumental 1,000 career victory milestone in November 2018. She became the fifth NCAA Division I women's basketball coach to reach 1,000 career wins and was the first African-American coach to reach the milestone. She retired ranked fifth all-time in NCAA women's basketball history with 1,055 career victories. In 2019-20, Stringer passed the late, great Pat Summitt and became the NCAA record holder with 37 seasons of 20 or more victories. Following that season, she received the John R. Wooden Award "Legends of Coaching" honor based on character, success on the court, graduation rate of student-athletes in their basketball program, coaching philosophy, and identification with the goals of the John R. Wooden Award. 

Her standard of excellence extends to Stringer's staff and student-athletes. In March 2021, Stringer was honored in the Sports Business Journal as a Leader in Diversity and Inclusive Hiring. Stringer also recruited, developed, and coached 21 student-athletes who would be selected in the WNBA Draft, along with others who played professionally overseas. 

Stringer has served the game of basketball as an administrator and an international coach. An assistant coach for the gold-medal 2004 U.S. Olympic Team, her first USA Basketball experience came as an assistant for the bronze-medal 1980 USA Jones Cup Team. Stringer was one of the key players in the development of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Stringer served on the Board of Directors of the Kay Yow Cancer Fund in 2007.  The Fund's mission is to raise money for scientific research, serve the underserved and unite people in the fight against all cancers affecting women.

In addition to her Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame induction in 2009 and Women's Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinement in 2001, Stringer entered another elite club with a 2020 induction into the New Jersey Hall of Fame alongside Eli Manning, Rick Barry, Ed Harris, and Anne Hathaway.

PAT WILLIS – Softball Coach & Women’s Basketball Assistant Coach

Pat Willis spent nearly three decades of loyal service to Rutgers University and its Department of Intercollegiate Athletics as both a softball and basketball coach before retiring in 2006. 

Willis amassed more than 600 victories during her 27-year career as the Scarlet Knights softball head coach, including three 30-win seasons, 20 20-win campaigns, an AIAW College World Series and two NCAA Tournament berths (1984, 1994), compiling a career record of 645-565-8 while “On the Banks”. She was named the A10 Coach of the Year in 1990.

Over her career, Willis groomed 50 all-conference honorees and almost 30 all-region selections, including 1998 BIG EAST Player of the Year Angie Catalano and 1993 All-American Carla Camino, a fellow member of the Rutgers Athletics Hall of Fame. Willis also successfully guided the Scarlet Knights in their transition from the Atlantic 10 Conference to the BIG EAST in 1996. While a member of the Atlantic 10, Rutgers had at least one player earn all-conference honors for 12 consecutive seasons. 

In 1981, Rutgers posted a 28-3 record under the leadership of its second-year head coach, winning the Eastern Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (EAIAW) title before advancing to the AIAW College World Series in Oklahoma. In 1984, the second year of membership for RU in the Atlantic 10, the Knights earned their first conference title and reached their first NCAA Tournament, finishing the season with a 22-14 slate. 

Beginning in 1993, Willis and Rutgers began a three-year run that saw it win 90 games and the 1994 Atlantic 10 Tournament title, advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in school history. Willis' 1993 team amassed a school-record 34 wins, including her 350th career victory. 

Rutgers softball joined the BIG EAST for the 1996 season and just one year later the Scarlet Knights earned their first-ever BIG EAST Tournament berth. After making its first appearance in the postseason tournament in 1997, RU returned in 1998 to pick up the school's first win in a BIG EAST Tournament game. 

Before taking over the reins of the softball program in 1980, Willis served as an assistant to the program’s first-ever head coach, Jody Vogt, for two seasons which included an appearance in the 1979 AIAW College World Series.  

Willis also worked with the Rutgers women's basketball program for five seasons from 1979-84 as an assistant coach, helping head coach and eventual Naismith, Women's Basketball and Rutgers Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Theresa Grentz guide the Lady Knights to a 119-37 (.763) record. Rutgers advanced to three-straight AIAW National Tournaments from 1980-82, including the 1982 national title, the final AIAW championship to be awarded. During Willis' final two seasons as a member of the women's basketball staff, RU became a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference, reaching the tournament final in 1983 and the semifinals in 1984. 

DR. SAM CROSBY – Wrestling & Football

A two-sport athlete, Dr. Sam Crosby lettered in both football and wrestling at Rutgers from 1956-1958. Crosby was the Scarlet Knights’ starting quarterback in their single-wing formation during his senior season in 1958, blocking for First Team All-America tailback Bill Austin. RU finished with an impressive 8-1 record and a No. 20 ranking in the final Associated Press poll that season, as Crosby earned the team’s George T. Cronin Trophy – awarded each season to a varsity football player who manifested the most improvement and progress on the field. 

A standout collegiate wrestler, Crosby lettered three times on the mat and served as a team captain for Rutgers from 1957-59. As the No. 2 seed at the 1958 EIWA Championships, Crosby defeated Syracuse’s Bill Murphy by a 7-6 decision to win an individual conference title at 167 pounds. Crosby also qualified for the 1958 NCAA Championships held at the University of Wyoming. 

Crosby remained involved in New Jersey’s tight-knit wrestling community for more than 45 years after his graduation from the University. Crosby was the head wrestling coach at Bridgewater-Raritan High School and worked as both a high school official and NJSIAA Rules Interpreter. He was the chief wrestling official of the New Jersey State Tournament for 25 years. He also served as a member of the National Federation of High Schools Wrestling Committee for eight years, including four years as Chairman. Crosby was inducted to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, NJ Chapter, in 2001 and served on the Hall of Fame’s executive board until his retirement in 2015.

He has been recognized for his contribution to high school wrestling with a number of awards including the Harry E. Lake Award for Lifetime Achievement to Wrestling in New Jersey, the Richard C. Mirshak Award of Excellence in Officiating and the New Jersey Interscholastic Athletic Association Hall of Fame.

Supporters are encouraged to email letterwinners@scarletknights.com with any questions regarding the hall of fame dinner or pregame tailgate.

Nominations are now being accepted for consideration for the Class of 2023 Rutgers Athletics Hall of Fame. The deadline for submissions is January 31, 2023. Download the nomination form, which can be emailed along with any supporting materials on the nominee to halloffame@scarletknights.com.  

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