Class of 1986
Tom Hicks
Hicks had an amazing career at CCRI, one of his great achievements was leading the team to the Eastern District Playoffs in Lake Placid, New York during the 1978-1979 season.
He set the school’s record for most goals in a career with 67, most goals in a season with 36, most points in a season with 64, and the most points in a career with 124. In both seasons, he was named the team’s MVP and he was named to the NJCAA All-American Hockey Team in 1978-1979 and in 1979-1980.
Hicks was also a part of the CCRI tennis team that won the New England Junior College Championship.
Deborah Konuch
One of the best student athletes to come into CCRI was Deborah Konuch. She was a three-sport athlete at CCRI, playing basketball, softball, and volleyball. She was an All-New England selection for both basketball and volleyball and was named as CCRI’s outstanding student athlete in her last year. She was also the basketball team’s MVP and after graduating from CCRI, she went on to Roger Williams and had an equally great career over there.
Konuch surpassed the 1,000 career points in her college career, finishing with 1,162. She was an All-New England in volleyball and basketball at Roger Williams as well and she was the first woman in Roger Williams’ history to earn NAIA All-District honors in both basketball and volleyball. In volleyball, she was a part of the NAIA Nationals All-Tournament team and led the volleyball team to the ECAC Championship in 1985.
She was a Mayflower Conference All-Star for both teams and she was Roger Williams’ Female Athlete of the Year in 1984 and 1985. She was inducted into Roger Williams’ athletic Hall of Fame in 2016. Konuch has also been a part of the National Youth Sports Program staff at CCRI.
Frank Lanning
It has been said that you weren’t famous in Rhode Island unless Frank Lanning drew a picture of you. Lanning was one of the most acclaimed and renowned sports cartoonists in the nation. His most famous cartoon would be the drawing of President John F. Kennedy that was released in the Journal after Kennedy’s assassination and it sold quickly with 65,000 copies being sold.
Lanning was the first contributor to be inducted into CCRI’s Athletic Hall of Fame. His illustrations were a daily feature on the Providence Journal-Bulletin for 47 years. He was the designer of the Knight, CCRI’s mascot and he designed the cover of the very first athletic program for CCRI. He has been honored by many groups, organizations and was active in many civic organizations. He served as the first President of the Word Unlimited organization, a statewide organization made up of sports writers and broadcasters.
The Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame was founded in 1965, Lanning was one of the founders and served as President from 1965-1976. He has received honorary degrees from the University of Rhode Island and Providence College; on top of that he was inducted into Bryant’s Athletics Hall of Fame and was selected for the Humanitarian Award by the Big Brothers Association of Rhode Island.
Herman Mello
Mello came into CCRI in 1977, coming from Bristol High School where he set a new scoring mark for the Rhode Island Interscholastic League.
His outstanding play at CCRI had him named third team All-American in 1977 and first team All-American in 1978, he was also All-New England for both of those seasons and was named MVP in those two seasons as well.
Mello set the record for most goals in a season with 27, most goals in a career with 52, most goals in a game with 7, and most points in a career with 71.
Kristen Norberg
Norberg was the first female that was named to be a part of CCRI’s Athletic Hall of Fame. She was MVP on all three sports she played and earned All-New England honors in each sport as well (basketball, volleyball, softball). She holds the career record of 562 rebounds in basketball, she was the leading junior college hitter in the nation for softball in 1981 by hitting .630 and a school record of 4 home runs.
After graduating from CCRI, she continued her athletic career at Rhode Island College where she was an outstanding player for them as well in basketball, softball, and volleyball. In 1982, she led her RIC volleyball team to qualify for the Eastern Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women championships and was named to the All-Championship Team in that year.
She was a part of RIC’s women’s basketball team that qualified NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Tournament in 1983. A captain for RIC’s softball team in 1983 and she had batted .306 with 17 runs, 22 hits, 15 RBI and five extra base hits in that season. After graduating, she went on to coach at both high school and college level, having an 18-year career as RIC’s head women’s volleyball coach, accumulating 242 career victories and she is currently coaching as an assistant for RIC’s softball team.
She won RIC’s Physical Education Alumni Award in 2001 and was inducted into RIC’s Athletic Hall of Fame.