Coaches
- Steve McBride
- Tom McBride
- Dawn Dieckman
- John Urkevich
- Mark Polsinello
- Marc Miranda
- 2006-2007 Red Raider Booster Club
- 2005 Varsity Softball Team
- Ben O’Connor
Steve Mcbride
Steve McBride is a 1984 graduate of Mechanicville High School who had an outstanding athletic career in both football and basketball, being named an All-Area football player as a quarterback. He was the team’s rushing leader as a senior, termed by a former coach as the “best running quarterback I ever coached”. He led his team to two sectional title games. In basketball, he was a point guard and excellent playmaker .Following his three-years of service in the United States Coast Guard after graduating from MHS, Steve returned to his alma mater and began coaching various sports over the next twenty years. He was a member of the coaching staff of the girls’ varsity softball program for 3 years, including as an assistant coach on the 2005 New York State Championship team. He also coached the junior varsity team for seven years and the modified team for eight years.Steve also coached football, two years as a junior varsity coach, one year as a modified coach and seven years as a varsity offensive coordinator under Coach John Taglione. He then coached two years at Corinth and also two years at Stillwater under Coach Dick Stipano.As a basketball coach, Steve was a varsity assistant boys’ coach for one year, a modified girls’assistant coach for three years, a modified boys’ coach for one year and a junior varsity girls’ assistant coach for three years and head coach for nine years. He also coached the Stillwater girls’ 7th and 8th grade team for one season. In 1996, he began the girls’ basketball program at Waterford High School. While building that program, he coached the Fordians’ junior varsity for two years and the varsity for one year. In 1998, he began training pitchers and catchers in a program at the Mechanicville Area Community Services Center, which evolved into a pitching clinic producing several of the top pitchers in the area, including eventual state champion pitchers Katlyn McKeever and his daughter Shannon McBride. He also trained Kirsten Alonzo, another highly-rated pitcher at Mechanicville. Through his clinic, he also trained a state champion pitcher from Salem Central School, Sara McCullogh. Following the use of the McBride farm fields as a practice site for Mechanicville’s football and soccer teams while the school’s athletic fields were being reconstructed back in 2002, Steve developed that land into a softball complex of six fields. The first Red Raider girls’ softball game was held at McBride Fields in 2003. The team then was housed at the Mechanicville Lassie League fields for several years until that land was sold. The girls were then moved back to McBride Fields where they continue to play their home games today, And if overseeing high school sports wasn’t enough for this all-around coach, he also ran the community’s Bitty Ball program for 15 years at the Mechanicville Area Community Services Center, bringing his varsity girls’ players into the program as coaches for these grade school players. An outstanding athlete who parlayed his love of sports into an outstanding career developing young players in three sports on all levels, Steve has given much to his school and his community.
Tom Mcbride
For 27 years, Tom McBride coached basketball on several levels for both girls and boys, varsity and junior varsity baseball and even did a one-season stint as a modified soccer coach. But in 2014, with changes to his job commitment, he had no choice but to step down from the high school coaching scene.Tom has loved sports all his life. He worked on his batting skills as a six-year-old, hitting snowballs with a weathered wooden bat. In grade school, he became proficient in math by calculating batting averages. He played Little League, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle and Stan Musial baseball, even earning a trip to Tennessee for a national Mickey Mantle tournament as a 16-year-old. He enjoyed basketball as well, and played CYO for several years before he was old enough for the Red Raiders high school teams. He also ran cross-country in high school and was a member of the Colonial Council championship team in 1979. loading… In 27 years, he coached 43 scholastic athletic teams. But it wasn’t just high school sports. As a young dad to son Tom III and daughter Meghan, he also coached youth soccer for more than 10 years, CYO basketball for 8 years, and Little League and all-star baseball for 6 years. Sad at having to step down in 2014 just as the new baseball season was about to start, leaving returning players he had coached for several years, Tom said, “ I think the thing I’ve liked most about coaching is sharing my love of the game . . . be it baseball or basketball . . . with a new group of kids every year. It’s also important to me that the kids I’ve coached be good teammates and exhibit good sportsmanship. We’re playing to win for sure, but I do what I can to make sure every season is fun and that the kids are taking positive memories with them.” It was fitting irony that coaching the Stillwater junior varsity boys’ basketball team that defeated him in the final game of his long career was David Alston, a young man he once coached in Little League and travel tournament baseball and CYO travel team basketball.
Dawn Dieckmann
Dawn Dieckmann, a 1987 graduate of Mechanicville High School, will be inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame in October. A standout three-sport athlete, Dawn is well-remembered as one of the most exciting and capable goalkeepers ever to man the nets for the Red Raider soccer team. Playing for the varsity for four seasons under Coach George Dudas in the rebuilding years that led up to the team’s eventual state championship, Dawn set a Section II record for the most shutouts in a career with 54. Her team would take three colonial Council titles in the years Dawn was in the goal. In Dawn’s junior year, they took Section II Class C championship, a regional championship, and made it to the State semi-finals. In her senior year, the Red Raiders lost in the Section II finals in a shootout. Dawn was honored as a Section II All-star in 1984 and in 1985 was named a Colonial Council All-star, a Section II all-star, a WNYT Channel 13 All-star and also received Athlete of the Week awards for both the Saratogian and Times Record newspapers. In her senior season she was named the Female Scholastic Athlete of the Year. Dawn was also a varsity basketball player in her sophomore, junior and senior years. In 1987, she was her team’s leading scorer and was named a first-team Colonial Council All-star. And to round out her scholastic athletic accomplishments, she was also the catcher on the Red Raider softball team. Upon graduation from high school, Dawn played soccer at SUNY Albany for two years and then transferred to SUNY Oneonta where she played for two more years. From 1987 to 1991, she played on the Women’s Open Empire State Games team, Adirondack Region, where she earned two gold medals and two bronze medals. Dawn currently lives in Sarasota, Florida with her wife Leslie of seven years, and works as a deli manager at Publix Supermarkets. They enjoy the beach, and look forward to coming back to Mechanicville to visit the family
John Urkevich
John Urkevich, an outstanding baseball player/pitcher on all levels will be inducted into Mechanicville High School’s Athletic Hall of Fame in a ceremony to be held at the Mechanicville/Stillwater Elks Lodge on October 21.Affectionately known as “Urkie”, one of the “Pruyn Hill boys”, John was the son of John and Irene Urkevich. He began his accomplishments in baseball as a member of the Saints Little League team, a member of their 1961 league champion team, and in 1964, he was honored with awards for highest batting average, .444; strikeouts, 64; hits, 20; and home runs, 3.John went on to high school, playing varsity baseball at MHS under Coach Ralph Maru. In 1969,he was honored in April as a Schenectady Gazette Athlete of the Week, was rated one of the Colonial Council’s top pitchers, and earned a varsity letter. He was also an exceptional hitter, with a number of key hits throughout the season. Hall of Famer and local sportswriter Jim Keniry nicknamed him “Abe” because of his lanky build.In 1970, as a senior, he posted a season record of seven of his team’s ten wins, against only one of their four losses. A loss to Lansingburgh in the final regular season game saw the Red Raiders finish in second place in the league.In the post season, John pitched the win over Greenwich 4-1 in the sectional opener, notched a double at the plate in the semi-final win against Ballston Spa, with the Red Raiders dropping the Class B sectional final game to Hudson. John Urkevich Athlete Baseball In addition to his accomplishments on the diamond, John was a four-year member of the high school band, and played in the All-area All State Music Festival in November of his senior year.Following high school, he played for the Saratoga County Amateur baseball team, earning several victories on the mound, and claiming a league championship.After graduating from MHS in 1970, John went on to Hudson Valley Community College where he graduated with a degree in industrial technology and received a two year certificate with the National Safety Council, regarding workplace safety. He is a twenty-year member of the National Safety Council/Green Cross. He went on to work with the Lane Pipe Division of Bethlehem Steel, working his way up to shipping foreman, then to Superintendent of Operations. He then became a traveling sales representative and Special Fabrication Assistant in the Northeast. John retired in 2010.John has also served as Commander of American Legion’s Henry F. Lefko Post 1644. And what does “Urkie” do with his time now? He much enjoys woodworking, repairing anything and everything and loves sports-related activities. He enjoys family, friends and mowing the lawn, and is trying to figure out the game of golf, which he loves!
Mark Polsinello
Mark Polsinello to Be Inducted into MHS Hall of Fame on Oct. 21Dr. Mark Polsinello, DMD, who earned eight varsity letters while playing three sports at Mechanicville High School, will be inducted into the MHS Athletic Hall of Fame on Oct. 21.Mark, a 1982 MHS graduate, collected two varsity letters apiece in football and basketball, and four more in baseball, starting at catcher all four years.In his senior year, Mark led Mechanicville to a 6-3 record in the Northern Adirondack Football League, running for six touchdowns, passing for nine TDs and averaging more than 200 yards passing per game. That earned him a spot on the All-League Team as well as Player of the Week and runner-up honors for Player of the Year by WRGB-TV’s “Bob Grainey High School Wrap-up.” Mark was recruited to play quarterback at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, where he played on the freshman team. During his two years playing varsity basketball, Mark was the team’s leading scorer his junior year, averaging 13.3 points per game, earning him spots on the Troy Record’s All-Area Team and the Colonial Council All-Star Team as well as honorable mention status on The Saratogian’s 1980-81 Dream Team.It was on the baseball diamond where Mark really excelled. Using skills honed from growing up catching for his older brother Frank, a 1979 MHS graduate and 2017 Hall of Fame inductee, Mark started for four years and was named captain his junior and senior years. Mark Polsinello Athlete Football Basketball Baseball Mark went on to coach three sports at MHS. He was an assistant football coach for several seasons, including for the 1984 team that went 9-1 and won the Northern Adirondack Football League Super Bowl. Mark was the baseball coach for the 1988 team that was tri–Colonial Council champion and managed the 1989 team to the Class CC title, losing in the Class C-CC tournament to eventual state champs Rensselaer.Mark also coached girls’ varsity basketball, guiding the 1988-89 team to the Colonial Council championship and the sectional and regional titles before being eliminated in a Final Four game at Queensbury High School. He was named a Coach of the Year by the Albany Times Union and The Saratogian.In the 1989-90 season, Mark coached the team to the Colonial Council title, going 14-0 in league play. That team was the Class CC champion and lost in the C-CC playoffs to eventual state champions Hoosic Valley.Mark earned his undergraduate degree from Union College in 1986 and his doctorate of medical dentistry from the University of Pennsylvania in 1994. He lives in Saratoga Springs with his wife Laurie. They have two children, Logan Polsinello and Julia Labbate.
Marc Miranda
Marc Miranda excelled in four sports at Mechanicville High School, and because of his achievements, he will be inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame on October 21.A member of the varsity golf team in grades 8 through 10, he gave up golf to join the football team in his junior year. As a wide receiver and defensive back, Marc earned a number of honors in his two years of football. He was an All-State wide receiver in 1999 and 2000, was a first team Times Union all-star both years, as well as a Times Record all-star in both years. With Mechanicville in the Northern Adirondack League, he was first team wide receiver and defensive back for both years.In his senior season, he was the Saratogian’s Athlete of the Year. James Allen, sportswriter for the Times Record, noted that Marc in his junior year had the best performance for a wide receiver for Section 2 when he caught nine passes for 175 yards and three touchdowns against Edgemont. He finished his football career with 75 receptions, which was in the top ten in Section 2 at that time. It remains a Mechanicville football record. In his senior year, he was the Most Valuable Player on Offense in a semi-final tournament game. In 2019, Marc was inducted into the Capital Region Football Hall of Fame, only the third player from Mechanicville to garner this honor, joining the company of John Taglione and Joe Cocozzo.Marc was a three-year starter on the varsity basketball team, and a team captain in his senior year. Marc Miranda Athlete Football Basketball Track Golf He earned Colonial Council first team recognition in both his junior and senior years. He scored his 1000 th career point in the sectional finals in 2001, and led his team into the state finals. He was named to the Section 2 state tournament team. In post-season, he was named the MVP of Section 2 in Class C/CC and the Saratogian Athlete of the Year.Marc also lettered in track in high school, and carried on his love of running when he competed in Iron Man competitions, completing a 140.6 mile meet in both Lake Placid and in Maryland. He also competed in a USA National Triathlon qualifier as well.Marc earned a Bachelor’s degree from SUNY Albany. He went on to earn a Masters’ in Business Administration from Western Governors University, and was selected to be a Commencement Speaker at his 2016 graduation. Married to Shannon McBride, Marc has a daughter, Gianna, and two sons, Rocco and Santino.1
Red Raider Booster Club 2006-2007
The Community Contributor to be inducted into the Mechanicville High School’s Athletic Hall of Fame here in 2023 is the Red Raider Booster Club 2006-2007. Their inclusion in the Hall is in recognition of an incredible feat achieved by a determined community led by five officers who worked tirelessly to fund sports in our school district, ably assisted by coaches, parents and administrators as well as the students themselves. The officers who led this historic quest were Anne Gaetano, president; Tina Pearl, vice president; Carrie Motta, secretary; and Donna Perkins and Wendy Diaco, treasurers. When the Mechanicville School District budget was voted down twice in June of 2006, a contingency budget was put in place, and interscholastic sports was primary fodder for the axe. They would be eliminated. But that wasn’t going to happen. The day after the second defeat, Ann and her fellow officers-to-be hosted a meeting with Coach Kevin Collins to discuss what could be done to save sports for the students. After a second meeting, the group was given permission for a gathering in the gym of anyone who would support efforts to field the athletic teams. That gathering a week later was packed with parents, students, coaches, administrators and community supporters to discuss what could be done to keep the kids on the fields, tracks, and courts and in the gymnasium in 2006-2007. The gathering gave life to the old saying, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way!”Traditionally, each school sport has its own booster club. But following those meetings, the clubs united into one Red Raider Booster Club with a primary goal to fund all sports on all levels in all seasons. A board of directors was appointed, with committees representing each sport working with the officers.They received calls of assurance from other districts which had overcome the same problem. One man told them they would receive support from the community in ways they couldn’t imagine. And he was right. Donations were generous and quick to come. Local businesses, restaurants and concerned district residents came forth with generous contributions. They knew that they must raise $86,000 by August to fund fall sports. And it was done. Fund raisers were held to meet that goal, including a raffle for a 2006 Toyota Prius and a barbecue held on the football field with a motivational speaker, former Notre Dame football player Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger. Raffles, car washes, bottle returns, gold card sales, sporting events and band benefits were held. At these fundraisers, the student-athletes worked right alongside their parents, siblings and the booster club members. The money was raised. Fall sports took to the fields.But more was needed. Winter and spring sports were yet to come. The efforts continued throughout fall and winter, and when it was all tallied up at the beginning of spring sports, the booster club had raised an incredible $252,000 in this small town! All sports on all levels had been funded.And not only did the athletes pitch in to help, they showed just what that hard work was all about. The golf team won the C-D sectionals, both boys’ and girls’ soccer teams notched sectional quarter-final victories, the football team earned a division co-championship, modified girls soccer went undefeated and the girls’ softball team made it to the Sectional finals. Cross-country, volleyball, wrestling, basketball, track and baseball teams all had successful seasons. Several athletes earned scholarships to highly-rated colleges. The Red Raider Booster Club 2006-2007 was Mechanicville’s leader in an amazing feat . . . they were the leaders of a true team pulling together to pull off the impossible. Community Contributors indeed!
2005 State Champion Softball Team
The Mechanicville Red Raiders 2005 New York State Champion softball team, the fourth softball team from our school to reach that pinnacle of sports, will be inducted into the MHS Athletic Hall of Fame on October 21.Following the amazing “three-peat”, when Mechanicville claimed state titles in 2000, 2001 and 2002, they came back in 2005 to do it all again. Under head coach Don Arceneaux, assisted by Bruce Fellows, Tom Berrigan and Steve McBride, with bookkeeping handled once again by Paul DeVoe, the Red Raiders posted a season record of thirty wins against only one loss, with that sole loss coming against White Plains in the first Mudville Tournament in April by a score of 4-2. Their thirty wins in a season was a school record. They notched sixteen wins in the Colonial Council, two wins in the Binghamton tournament, three wins in two Mudville tournaments and two wins in a home field tournament.In post-season play, after taking the Colonial Council championship with an undefeated league record, the girls earned victories over Albany Academy, Tamarac and Canajoharie to take the Section II Class CC championship and then won a spot in the regionals by defeating Duanesburg in the CC-C playoff by a score of 4-3. In the Eastern Regionals, they defeated Northern Adirondack, 8-0. Going into the New York State Public High School Athletic Association’s state tournament semi-finals, they beat Cheektowaga JFK by a score of 5-2 and went on to emphatically claim the school’s fourth state championship, defeating Port Jefferson by a score of 11-2.Captains of the team were the four seniors on the roster: Megan Cefferillo, Shannon Treacy, Maggie Malone and Shaina Overocker. Juniors on the team were Kristen Dorr, Alyssa Moore, Gianna Martinelli, Janine Guido, Ali Nimons, Samantha Brown and Katlin McKeever, while three sophomores were Becky Gronczniak, Alicia Jones, and Kayla Jones. Five freshman players, Toni Liberty, Lindsey McKeever, Nina Cervini, Rachel Hiser and Kelly Murphy, rounded out the team.Individual post-season honors were numerous for this outstanding team. Katlin McKeever, the team’s ace pitcher throughout, was named Colonial Council MVP, Times Record first team all-star, Times Union All-area second team, Saratogian Dream Team’s Pitcher of the Year, and earned a first-team All-State designation. Maggie Malone was named to the Colonial Council first team all-stars; Times Record all-stars; Times Union 2 nd team all-stars and Saratogian Dream Team. She topped it off by being chosen for the All-State fourth team. Sam Brown made the All-State first team as well as the Colonial Council second team all-stars. Alicia Jones was honored as a Colonial Council second team all-star while being named to the All-State third team. Shaina Overocker was named a Times Record second team all-star, and Ali Nimons was chosen for the Colonial Council’s second team all-stars. 2005 State Champion Softball Team to be Inducted into MHS Hall of Fame In the forward to the girls’ post-season honors booklet, the writer notes “Winning a championship wasn’t all great catches, great hits and great base running. There was much more invested than that. There was a personal drive . . . a determination that existed in each and every one of you. There was a will to succeed and a will to be the best. . . . you understand the meaning of team work; you understand that each one of you is just a small piece of a very large puzzle and that your role was just as important as your teammates’ roles.” It most certainly was this mindset of this group of softball players that propelled them to the highest honor in scholastic sports when they earned a New York State championship in 2005.
Ben O’Connor
Ben O’Connor was a 1929 graduate of Mechanicville High School. He was a three-sport athlete, playing baseball and basketball and running track. His senior year was the first year that Coach Ted Weigle was at MHS.In 1928 he played in the adult Mechanicville-Stillwater Twilight League where he won the pitching award for that season. In 1929 he played in the Mohawk Valley Semi-pro Baseball League, one of the many professional baseball leagues of that time.Upon graduation from high school, Ben attended Niagara University where he played on the baseball team in the 1930 season with his friend, Karl Hickey, who would go on to become a teacher and longtime baseball coach at MHS. As a result of the 1929 stock market crash, Ben wasn’t able to continue his studies at Niagara. He would become a member of the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933, a program established under Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal during the Great Depression. He then pitched for the CCC championship baseball team in Idaho, playing alongside Joe “Piker” Ten Eyck, also of Mechanicville.During the rest of the 1930’s and 40’s he played for and against some of the best teams in Saratoga County and beyond. He played baseball for Westvaco’s team. Because he was such a stellar player, he earned a tryout with the Philadelphia Athletics managed by the famous Connie Mack. Ben also played basketball for the Mechanicville Central A. C.’s and the Stillwater Collegians who once played a traveling Long Island University team at the Convention Center in Saratoga. During that time, as with most Mechanicville people, he earned multiple nicknames during his playing days. He was known as “Bullpen Ben” and “Dusty” in baseball and “Crusty” in basketball for his gritty style of play. Ben O’Connor, Legend, to be Inducted into Hall of Fame In 1942 he answered his nation’s call when he enlisted in the US Navy and served nobly on a submarine chaser until 1945 when he was honorably discharged. Ben’s love of sports and his desire to make a significant contribution to the youth of Mechanicville was the reason for his being part of the group that established the Mechanicvlle-Stillwater Little League in 1952. He was extremely proud of managing the Elks team from 1952-1955 and then being named commissioner of the newly-established minor league in 1956. In 1958, he established and managed the Mechanicville Independents which was our city’s entry into the Saratoga County Babe Ruth League.In 1951 Ben was recognized by the New York State Senate and Assembly with a Legislative Resolution for his “distinguished contributions to his community”. Even in death, Ben continues to support MHS through the Ben O’Connor Scholarship Fund. Since 1992, awards have been given to students who had excelled in baseball or softball and basketball along with performing well in English and history for all four years of their high school careers. Ben O’Connor . . . a legend who has left an indelible legacy