Class of 1985
Robert Brooks
Robert Brooks was one of the best athletes that Rhode Island has ever had, during his time in high school at St. Raphael’s Academy; earning All – State Honors in football, basketball, and baseball. In 1968-1970 at CCRI, he led the team in both points and rebounds.
He dominated the game as a freshman setting the single game record with 37 points and a single season with 479 points. Then as a sophomore, he set a new season scoring record with 553 points and was the first CCRI player to reach 1,000 points, finishing with 1,032; he averaged 23 points per game.
In 1974, the news media gave him the outstanding junior college player in the state. He was inducted into RIIL Hall of Fame in 2005.
Harold "Whitey" Fell
Coach Fell was a professor in the business department at CCRI when he was asked to coach the brand-new baseball program; he started the program with no field or equipment. He remained being a coach for 19 years with the program and in that time, they never had a losing season.
Coach Fell never missed a game or practice while coaching and his teams have won 250 games in his career. Many of the players he has coached had gone on to play professional baseball. The baseball field is named after him now and he has been recognized for his many achievements.
He is a part of the Coventry High School Hall of Fame, the University of Rhode Island Athletic Hall of Fame, and the Rhode Island Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame, and has been awarded the Ben Mondor Award, the Frank Lanning Award, and the Rhode Island Umpire Association's Edward Jansen Memorial Award.
Tom Goryl
Goryl was one of the best pitchers in CCRI’s history. He was undefeated, in his two years at CCRI he had a record of 10 wins and no losses; he batted over .300 as well.
As a freshman, he set records of most strikeouts in a season with 45 and in a game with 15. In the 1969 season, he completed two shutout games and in 1970, he was named as one of the MVPs on the team.
Goryl was a guard on the basketball team as well and after CCRI, he went on to become one of Rhode Island’s top ranked amateur golfers.
Art Silva
In 1966, Coach Silva came into CCRI as a professor of the business department and then became one of the founding members of the athletic department.
He became the first intramural director at CCRI and served that role for 14 years and was the first director at the fieldhouse for the Flanagan campus. He was the assistant coach of golf for 11 years. He also directed the National Youth Sports program in its first year.
In his 14-year career at CCRI, he always succeeded in all the assignments he was given and always was able to produce a successful result.
Joao Silva
Silva was vital in the establishment of CCRI’s soccer team powerhouse as a New England junior college.
During his two seasons at CCRI, he led the team in scoring with 26 goals and led the team in assists with 11. Against Roger Williams is when he set the record of most goals in a game, scoring six. His sophomore year, he led the team to the New England tournament; in that same year he was selected to the Region XXI All-New England team and was named MVP for the team.
He was an unselfish player and an inspiring leader that always brought the team together.
Charlie Wilkes
Coach Wilkes was hired by CCRI to be a math professor in 1967 and spent 40 years here. He became an assistant coach under Coach Cullen for 30 years, retiring in 1997. He became the first director of the Knight Campus fieldhouse when it opened in 1972 and continued to serve that role along with directing the intramural program until 1981.
During his time as Coach Cullen’s top assistant, both of them had accumulated a 580-216 record and they brought the teams to 6 regional titles, 4 national tournament appearances and that includes them having a 2nd and 3rd place finish. Before CCRI, Coach Wilkes was an outstanding basketball and soccer player for Rhode Island College; in basketball he accumulated more than 1,000 points in his career at Rhode Island College and for his accomplishments, they named him to RIC’s 75th Anniversary Basketball Team.
He is a part of many halls of fames, those being the North Providence Hall of Fame, International Scholar Athlete Hall of Fame and the RIC Athletics Hall of Fame, the New England Basketball Hall of Fame, and has won awards such as the Words Unlimited Bill Cawley Achievement Award in 1997 and the William “Bill” Kutnieski Memorial Basketball Heritage Award.
That is given based distinguished contributions that have brought honor and prestige to the game of basketball. After retiring from coaching, he started to work as the Athletic’s Academic Coordinator and with his work, he boosted the academic performance of many student-athletes.