DANBURY, CONN. — For more than a decade, the late Harvey Jessup coached baseball, basketball and golf at Western Connecticut State University. His motto: “All team members must play in every game.”

And although he was considered the university’s Athletic Director for many years, it was a title he never officially held. This year, Jessup will be inducted into the university’s Hall of Fame as “Athletic Director” on Friday, Oct. 23, in the Grand Ballroom of WestConn’s Westside Campus Center. Other inductees are: Matt LeFever ’01 (football); Kate Manning ’00 (softball); Wayne Mones (men’s soccer coach); Ray Parry (support); Carl Rivers ’03 (baseball); and Ted Smigala ’59 (baseball).

LeFever, who played on the Colonial’s football team from 1997 through 2000, still holds the university record with 5,762 career passing yards. A four-year starter, LeFever led his teams to a 29-13 record, including a 10-0 regular season record in 1999.

Manning, who played softball from 1997 through 2000, holds a career school record in wins with 62 and complete games with 69. In addition to a slew of titles, Manning was named Little East Conference Pitcher of the Year in 2000.

The men’s soccer coach from 1988 to 2003, Mones was named LEC Coach of the Year in 2002 and led the Colonials to LEC championship in 1994, 1995 and 2003. He retired with a 212-89-34 won-lost-tied record.

A 2003 WCSU graduate, Rivers played on the university’s baseball team and was named two-time All-New England Third-Team Pitcher and led his team into its first LEC Tournament Championship and NCAA Tournament berth in 2002. He was also named the LEC Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player and finished second nationally in strikeouts per nine innings during each of his last three years.

Smigala played basketball and baseball at WestConn from 1956 to 1959, where he was captain of the basketball team for three years, leading his team to championship tournament in 1959. In baseball, Smigala was a right fielder with great power and effortless speed and had a try-out with the Philadelphia Phillies prior to enrolling at WestConn. He has been a teacher in the Danbury school system for more than 30 years.

For 11 years, from 1990 to 2001, Parry played a vital part of WestConn’s successful athletic program as its equipment manager. He supervised equipment rooms and home athletic events and mentored numerous student-workers during his career.

Anyone may attend the event, which starts with cocktails at 5:30 p.m. and is followed by dinner and the induction ceremony. The cost is $65 per person and reservations can be made by calling (203) 837-8298 by Oct. 9.

Western Connecticut State University offers outstanding faculty in a range of quality academic programs. Our diverse university community provides students an enriching and supportive environment that takes advantage of the unique cultural offerings of Western Connecticut and New York. Our vision: To be an affordable public university with the characteristics of New England’s best small private universities.