Former Sachem athletic director Pete Blieberg and Sachem alum Linda Detlefsen have been selected for induction to the Suffolk County Sports Hall of Fame.
Blieberg retired last year from his post at Sachem after originally starting his career in the district in the early 1980s. He also spent time in East Islip and Kings Park between the bookends of his Sachem career.
An inductee of the Sachem Athletic Hall of Fame and Kings Park Athletic Hall of Fame, Blieberg has been heavily involved in the Boomer Esiason Foundation as the game coordinator for the annual Empire Challenge all-star football game.
Detlefsen, who graduated from Sachem in 1980, is a highly accomplished track and field athlete. She held the New York State mile record in 1979 and was a four-time All-League and All-County runner, as well as an AAU cross-country All-American.
At the University of Georgia she was the 1984 NCAA Division I Indoor Champion in the 1,500-meter run.
As a professional runner she was an Olympic Trials Finalist, and competed in the 1987 World Championships in Rome, held the Prefontain Classic meet record in the mile at 4:29.09, among many other achievements.
Detlefsen is also a member of the University of Georgia Hall of Fame.
Other inductees include Karen Dromerhauser, Gene Heeter, John Pacella, Ray Searage, Mark Semioli and Brett Ziegler. The induction ceremony will take place in May.
Sachem has had more inductees in the Suffolk Hall than any other school district and has had inductees for five straight years.
Complete list of Sachem inductees in Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame
- John “Jumbo” Elliott (football player), 1993
- Joe Cipp Jr. (football coach), 1996
- David S. Rothenberg (administrator), 1996
- Neal Heaton (baseball player), 1997
- Diane Nelson (equestrian), 2000
- Fred Fusaro (football coach), 2003
- Jack Mahoney (wrestling coach), 2004
- Bill Batewell (baseball coach), 2010
- Risa Zander (basketball coach), 2013
- Jeff Ruland (basketball player), 2013
- Nicole Kaczmarski (basketball player), 2013
- Tom Sabatelle (administrator/athlete), 2014
- Doug Shanahan (lacrosse player), 2014
- Nick Schroeder (interim administrator), 2014
- Ken Freidheim (gymnastics coach), 2015
- Rick Mercurio (lacrosse coach), 2015
- Rich Cimini (media), 2016
- Maria Michta-Coffey (Olympian), 2016
- Laura Gentile (media), 2016
- Isaac Ramaswamy (wrestling coach), 2016
- Pete Blieberg (administrator), 2017
- Linda Detlefsen (track and field), 2017
-Words by Chris R. Vaccaro