Catching up on accumulated news and notes about former Rock student-athletes:
• Former Rock women’s soccer standout
Cara Yannotti-Clayton will be one of eight individuals inducted Nov. 8 into the Plum High School Sports Hall of Fame. Yannotti-Clayton is Plum’s all-time leading scorer with 117 goals and also holds the school record for goals scored in one season with 43, as well as the Plum record for the long jump in track and field competition. As a Rock student-athlete, Yannotti-Clayton set the school record with five goals vs. Dominican (N.Y.) as a junior in 2001. She currently ranks seventh on SRU’s career assists chart with 18, is tied for eighth in career goals with 22 and ranks ninth in career points with 62.
• 2011 SRU Athletic Hall of Fame inductee
Carol Sprague added induction into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, East Boros Chapter, to her long list of accomplishments Oct. 11. A Penn Hills High School graduate who recently retired as an assistant athletic director at the University of Pittsburgh, Sprague as a national-championship qualifier as a member of SRU’s swimming team and also had a 22-year career with the Pittsburgh Debs softball team, two-time USSSA World Champions. As a coach she led the Debs to five national top-20 finishes. In 2007, the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) selected Sprague as the Administrator of the Year. Prior to becoming a member of the SRU Hall of Fame, Sprague was inducted into the Penn Hills Sports Hall of Fame (1992) and the Western Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame (1999). In 1993, Sprague was the recipient of the Women in Sports Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce.
• 2006 SRU Athletic Hall of Fame inductee
Deb Feather, a former Rock softball standout, was recently inducted into the Octorara Sports Hall of Fame in Lancaster County. Feather was an all-league goalie in field hockey, a basketball player and a four-time all-league softball player who was selected to play third base during all-state championship play as a student-athlete at Octorara before being a standout pitcher at SRU. Following graduation, she has coached softball, volleyball, basketball and track at Octorara, where she teaches health and physical education.
• Former Rock men’s track and field student-athlete
Rocky Heiges was inducted Sept. 22 into the Montgomery Athletic Hall of Fame. Heiges, a 2001 Montgomery graduate, excelled in three sports for the Red Raiders. In football, Heiges was a three year letter winner and became a member of Montgomery's 1000 yard Rushing Club. He rushed far over 1,400 yards with 14 touchdowns his senior year. Heiges was also a three-year letterman in basketball, scoring over 700 points as a Red Raider, and a four-year letterman in track and field, primarily in the javelin throw. He finished fifth in the event at the state meet and was ranked eighth nationally. Heiges threw the javelin for two seasons at SRU.
Here’s a note a little off the beaten path, but still worthy of sharing:
• Former Rock football student-athlete
Robert Bayne, prior to his death Oct. 20 as a result of Alzheimer’s, volunteered to participate in clinical studies at UPMC Montefiore in Oakland, in helping to find a cure for the dreaded disease. Upon his death, Bayne’s brain was donated to the clinic for researchers to utilize in studies that might help others. Bayne, a retired manager of business systems for Westinghouse Electric Corp., was 76 years of age at the time of his death. We applaud him and his family for their willingness to potentially help others.
We acquire these news and notes primarily via "Google alerts," but we also welcome information submitted by alumni, students, faculty, staff and friends of The Rock. Send us your news at
robert.mccomas@sru.edu.
Until next time …
GO ROCK!!
Bob McComas
Sports Information Director