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Softball Inks Three During Early Signing Period

Softball Canisius College Athletics

Canisius Announces 2009 Sports Hall of Fame Class

Canisius College has selected one former student-athlete, one team and a current head coach to its Sports Hall of Fame for the Class of 2009. The three new members are Keith Applegate '95- baseball, Mike Rappl '77 - current head softball coach, former head women's basketball coach and former athletic department administrator and the 1948 Football Team.

The ceremonies for the Hall of Fame will be held Sunday, Jan. 24, during halftime of the Golden Griffins' Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference men's basketball game against Saint Peter's, which tips off at 2 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on GoGriffs.com and on the radio at CJRN 710 AM. For more information on the induction ceremonies and Hall of Fame Day activities, contact the Alumni Office at (716) 888-2700.

To be eligible for the Canisius College Sports Hall of Fame, a student-athlete must have completed his/her eligibility 10 years prior to induction, be a graduate of the College, been acclaimed as an undergraduate as one of the outstanding athletes in the history of the school and, since graduation, the athlete's life must have continued to reflect favorably on the College. Non-athletes may be inducted if they have made outstanding contributions to Canisius College athletics.

The Canisius Sports Hall of Fame, which began in 1963, now boasts 160 members with the addition of the 2009 class.

Mike Rappl '77 - The most veteran member of the school's athletic department, Rappl is the first active head coach in Canisius College history to be inducted into the College's Sports Hall of Fame. Entering his 31st year at the helm of the softball program, the veteran skipper holds a career coaching record of 717-401-2 with a win percentage of .641. Rappl is one of 26 active Division I head softball coaches with 700 career wins, a milestone he reached March 21, 2009, when the Griffs beat Idaho State 6-0. With a career record of 281-85 all-time against MAAC rivals, Rappl, a seven-time MAAC Coach of the Year, has guided his program to 12 MAAC regular season titles, 12 MAAC Championship Tournament crowns and 11 NCAA Division I Softball Tournament appearances. Since 1980, 10 players have earned national recognition for their play on the field and work in the classroom, 12 have received regional honors and 43 players have been honored as All-MAAC selections. Of those 43 all-league honorees, five have been named the MAAC's Player of the Year, five have been named the conference's Pitcher of the Year and two players have been recognized as the MAAC Rookie of the Year. Additionally, 12 Griffs have been recognized as the MAAC Tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

Since joining the MAAC, the Griffs have played in 19 MAAC postseason events in 20 years, with the team advancing to the softball championship game 16 times. Canisius is the only team in conference history to come out of the loser's bracket to claim the league's title, having won three games on the final day of the tournament in 2002, 2004 and 2005. On the national stage, Canisius has played the No. 1 ranked team three times, meeting Arizona in Tuscon, Ariz., 1994, UCLA in Los Angeles in 2000 and Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich., in 2005.

From 1986-93, Rappl coached the Canisius women's basketball team to a 93-94 record and served as the World University Games venue chair for women's basketball in 1993. The Buffalo native previously served as the associate athletic director for facility operations at the College and he served a three-year stint (1995-97) on the NCAA Northeast Region Softball Ranking Committee. In the summer of 2005 he was honored by his high school alma mater, as he was inducted into the St. Mary's High School Athletic Hall of Fame, and in November 2007, he was enshrined into the Western New York Softball Hall of Fame.

Keith Applegate '95 - A three-year member of the Canisius College baseball team, Applegate started 107 of 110 games as a catcher from 1992-94. A transfer after his freshman year, he didn't commit an error during his sophomore season, and finished his time in Blue and Gold with a .984 career fielding percentage. Applegate was a three-time all-MAAC selection. In his senior season, he caught for the Golden Griffin team that went 17-1 in the MAAC and was the regular-season conference champion. In three years at Canisius, he only committed 10 errors and made 529 putouts with a season-high of 244 in 1994. At the time of his graduation following the 1994 season, Applegate ranked 12th in program history in batting average (.300) and second in fielding percentage (.984). At the end of the 1992 campaign, he became just the second player in program history to record a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage.

1948 Football Team - The 7-2-1 team was the only team in program history to earn a bowl bid, playing in the Great Lakes Bowl at Cleveland's Municipal Stadium against John Carroll in front of 17,964 fans. Under head coach Jim Wilson, the 1948 team began its season with a 61-0 shutout win over St. Francis (Pa.) in the first collegiate football game in Western New York to be broadcast on television. The team outscored its opponents 242-109 that season, with the defense holding opponents to seven or fewer points six times with three shutouts. One of the season's most memorable moments came on Nov. 11, when the 5-1 Griffs took on an undefeated St. Bonaventure team at Civic Stadium, and posted a 14-6 triumph. The win was witnessed by 32,541 fans, and wiped out St. Bonaventure's prospect of a postseason bid as the Griffs moved to 6-1. Following the season, nine Golden Griffins were named on The Buffalo News All-Western New York College Football team, including five first-team selections, three second-team selections and one third-team honoree. Of the 40 men on the roster, six have already been inducted into the Canisius Sports Hall of Fame. The 1948 football team is the second team to be inducted into the school's hall of fame, joining the 1955-56 men's basketball team, which was inducted as part of the 2007 class.

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