Two women who graduated from Catholic high schools in the Diocese of Wilmington have been selected for induction into the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame. They are among a class of nine men and women who will be honored on May 12 at the Chase Center in Wilmington.
Katelyn Falgowski Ginolfi, who graduated from Saint Mark’s High School in 2007, played for the United States Olympic field hockey team three times after a stellar career for the Spartans and at the University of North Carolina. She represented the United States in Beijing in 2008, London in 2012, and Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
As a member of the national team, Ginolfi, a midfielder, helped the Americans win gold at the 2011 Pan Am Games, where she was player of the game in the championship match, and was a 2011 world all-star. Overall, her teams won six golds, three silver and two bronze medals. She was the Delaware Sportswriters and Broadcasters Association’s Athlete of the Year in 2016.
She retired from competition in 2018 with 261 caps, or international appearances.
Ginolfi was part of two national champions at North Carolina, in 2007 and 2009, and the Tar Heels advanced to the national championship game her other two seasons. She was the Atlantic Coast Conference freshman of the year in 2007 and a two-time first-team all-American. As a senior, she was the national player of the year and graduated as the Tar Heels’ career leader in assists. Her No. 23 has been retired by the university.
Ginolfi was born in Wilmington and grew up in Chester County, Pa., later moving to Lewes. As a Saint Mark’s student, she played on the national team. She was 14 when she earned a spot on the USA Under-20 team, the youngest player on the roster. As a senior, she played for Team USA in the 2006 Hockey World Cup in Spain.
In a 2018 interview with The Dialog, Ginolfi expressed her gratitude toward Saint Mark’s for working with her national ambitions.
“I owe so much to that school for allowing me to play on the national team at the same time, to honor my commitment to play in a world cup while I was there. I just cannot say enough about the family community that they rallied around me,” said Ginolfi, who currently lives in San Diego.
She is the youngest of four siblings, all of whom attended Saint Mark’s.
Joining Ginolfi and the other seven is Khadijah Rushdan, who is one of the best high school basketball players ever to suit up in the Diamond State. The 2007 alumna of St. Elizabeth High School was a five-time first-team all-state selection, the first high school athlete in any sport to earn that distinction.
Rushdan was Delaware’s high school player of the year three times, in 2004, ’06 and ’07, and she led the Vikings to a state championship in 2007. The team played in three other state championship games while she was there. She finished with 2,464 career points, which was a state record at the time, and she was named a McDonald’s and a Parade all-American.
At the 2006 FIBA Americas Under-18 Championship, Rushdan averaged 11 points, three steals and a team-leading six assists for the USA national team, which won a gold medal.
Rushdan played at Rutgers University, recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament to earn first-team all-Big East honors as a senior. She played in more games for the Scarlet Knights (135) than any other player and is one of just two players to record a triple double. She ranks 20th in career scoring for Rutgers with 1,288 points.
She was selected 15th overall in the 2012 Women’s National Basketball Association draft by the Los Angeles Sparks and played overseas in Israel before embarking on a coaching career. Rushdan coached at her alma mater, St. Elizabeth, for three seasons before ascending to the college ranks. Rushdan was an assistant at La Salle University for a year before joining the staff at the University of North Florida in 2018.
The other inductees are:
- Juliet Bottorff, an NCAA track champion in the 10,000 meter at Duke University, where she was a nine-time all-American. Bottorff was a standout at Tatnall School, where she broke state records in every distance event and graduated with 21 state records, including nine in individual events.
- Dave Frederick, who coached Cape Henlopen track and field and cross country to championships in the 1970s and ’80s. He began writing a weekly column at The Whale, a Sussex County Weekly, then moved to the Cape Gazette, where he has covered all sports in all seasons for four decades. He is a Philadelphia native and graduate of Bishop Egan High School.
- Joe Holloway, who got into horse racing at Brandywine Raceway and was one of the nation’s most successful harness trainers. He trained seven Breeders Cup winners between 1994-2015. According to the Sports Hall of Fame, he was introduced to harness racing by a priest friend who was a part-time driver at Brandywine.
- Bob King, a leader in Delaware track and field as an athlete, coach and volunteer. He was a high school cross country champion twice, and he also won state championships in track at Howard High School. King went on to Morgan State University, then returned to Howard as a coach and administrator.
- Bob Shillinglaw, who coached men’s lacrosse at the University of Delaware for 37 years and worked with the Delaware Lacrosse Foundation. He coached 654 games as a college coach, more than any other coach, and is one of two to win more than 300 at one school. He was the two-time national collegiate coach of the year.
- Devon Still, a graduate of Howard High School who became an all-American at Penn State and played four seasons in the National Football League. He was the Big Ten’s defensive player of the year in 2011, only the second tackle to win the award. He won the Jimmy V Award along with his daughter Leah in 2015 after putting his NFL career on hold to care for Leah, who was diagnosed with cancer.
- Gene Thompson, the state’s coach of the year in three sports who led Wilmington High School to three basketball state championships in an 11-year span. Thompson, a science and math teacher, was coach of the Red Devils from 1976 until the school closed in 1999. He also coached track, and his 1994 team won a Division II state title.
Tickets to the induction banquet are $65 and available at www.desports.org/events. The deadline for reserving tickets is May 9.
