Sports Notables - Nutley, New Jersey

Carol Blazejowski

Victor Hopkins

Victor Hopkins participated in the 1924 Olympics.
He was an Amateur World Record Holder and the 1926 Professional Motorpaced Champion of America.
He was just inducted into the United States Bicycling Hall of Fame.
Hopkins lived in Nutley from the 1930s until his death in December of 1969.

Peter Nye article in the 1998 75th anniversary issue for USAC magazine

Iowa Bicycle Racing Association - Hall of Fame

Quad-City Times Article

U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame

2006 Inductees

VICTOR HOPKINS (1904 – 1969)
VETERAN PRE – 1945 COMPETITOR

Born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Victor Hopkins started riding in 1921 for the Davenport, Iowa Bicycle Club. In his first season he set a new National Amateur Bicycle League of America worlds record for 5 miles unpaced. In 1924 he won the Olympic road racing trial, and went to the Paris Olympics. Hopkins turned professional after the Olympic for the Chicago international six-day race. In 1925 he took up the glamorous but dangerous motorpace event--pacing behind a motorcycle. He defeated six-time national champion George Chapman and world champion Robert Grassin of France to win the American motorpace championship in 1926. He won more than 70 motorpace races over his career, racing in Germany and France in 1928, 1932 and 1933. He retired in 1934 after 10 years as a pro.

Courtesy U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame

Tina Cervasio

Sports & News Broadcaster

WCBS-TV New York (formerly)

APRIL 2006: Cervasio joined the Boston Red Sox and the New England Sports Network (NESN). She will be their on-the-air reporter for the 2006 Major League Baseball Season.

Phil Cuzzi

A National League umpire

Major League Baseball - Umpire bio

Ron Fraser (born in Nutley, New Jersey) was the college baseball coach at the University of Miami from 1963 to 1992.

Nicknamed the "Wizard of College Baseball," he was one of the most successful coaches in NCAA baseball history, and was also responsible for bringing college baseball to a new level of public awareness. The Miami Hurricanes baseball team went from being on the brink of being "contracted" to being the toast of college baseball under Fraser's tenure.

Courtesy Wikipedia

Wrestler Balls Mahoney

Bennie Hawkins - NHS Class of 1961 (?) was an NFL wide receiver for, I believe, the Philadelphia Eagles.

Don Chuy - NHS Class of 1958 or 1959 (?) was an NFL lineman (LA Rams ?) who was purported to be one of the strongest players in the NFL during his playing years. I believe he went to Clemson University.

(Submitted by Ed St. Thomas)

Bad News on the Doorstep
"The Mud Bowl" between Nutley and Belleville
Joseph Cervasio

Stanley Cup Journal (The cup visits Nutley)

Incessant Rant: Nutley is Nuts

Nutley High School Athletic Hall of Fame, sponsored by the Third Half Club

Know of a Nutley sports legend? Let us know.

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