The 2020 East Hampton High School Hall of Fame class that the coronavirus pandemic prevented from being inducted last fall was duly installed as part of Saturday’s homecoming activities.
The new members are Frank (Sprig) Gardner, Dick Baker, Tom McGintee, Matt Rubenstein, the 1965-66 wrestling team, and the 2009 girls volleyball team.
Gardner, the legendary high school wrestling coach who began his career here, led his Mepham High School teams to 100-match and 130-match win streaks.
Baker, a nationally-ranked age-group badminton player, was a four-year starter on East Hampton’s first golf team and on the baseball team, and played on the 1965-66 championship boys basketball team, which is already in the Hall of Fame.
McGintee, a 1997 graduate, was an all-county baseball center fielder who went on to play the sport at Davidson College in North Carolina.
Rubenstein, a 2004 graduate, was a high school all-American in tennis, and was the East Coast’s top-ranked 18-year-old when he played the sport here. The manager of the East Hampton Indoor/Outdoor Tennis Club now, Rubenstein played at the College of William and Mary, leading it to a conference championship in his freshman year. He also was an all-league basketball player here, and was a member of the 2002 county-champion boys cross-country team.
The 1965-66 wrestling team, coached by the late Gary Golden, went 7-0 in league competition. The 2009 girls volleyball team, coached by Kathy McGeehan, was a county and Long Island champion.
