JP Dellacamera, Erhardt Kapp and Greg Andrulis are among six individuals who will be inducted into the Connecticut Soccer Hall of Fame.
The annual induction ceremony is set for the Red Lion Hotel in Cromwell, Conn. Saturday, Jan. 26 at 5:30 p.m.
The other inductees include Rudolph Meredith, Kathryn Schoepfer and John R. Webster. The Class of 2019 will join the 163 members inducted since the hall of fame was founded in 1999.
Greg Andrulis
He played soccer at Litchfield High School and Eastern Connecticut State University (1976-80). He graduated from Eastern Connecticut State in 1980 and spent a year at his alma mater as an assistant coach. Andrulis was on the coaching staff of Columbus Crew SC from 1996-05, serving as an assistant coach for the first five years before taking over as head coach from 2001-05.
Andrulis was named the MLS coach of the year in 2004 and he led the Crew to the 2002 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup championship. Andrulis has amassed 254 victories over 26 years as a collegiate head coach at Wright State (1985-1996) and George Mason University (2005-present). He has directed Mason to three NCAA Division I Tournaments, a Colonial Athletic Association tournament title and the 2013 Atlantic 10 tournament championship.
He has been an assistant coach to the U.S. national team and for Clemson University’s national championship team (1984). He is a member of three halls of fame: Eastern Connecticut, Litchfield High and Wright State University.
Andrulis is also the regional director of the No. 1 Soccer Camps.
JP Dellacamera
He has been a pre-eminent broadcast voice in U.S. soccer for years. As a radio and TV play-by-play commentator, Dellacamera covered nine men’s World Cups (1986-2018) for ESPN, TNT and Fox, five women’s World Cups (1995-2015) for ESPN and Fox, and three Olympic soccer competitions, both men and women (2004-2012) for NBC Sports.
In the 1980s, he broadcast Major Indoor Soccer League games and has been a Major League Soccer announcer since the league’s inception in 1996. He has been the TV voice of the Philadelphia Union since 2010 and has had numerous other broadcasting assignments, including Women’s United Soccer League, Europa League, Copa America, and CONCACAF Gold Cup games.
Over Dellacamera’s career, recognition for his accomplishments include the Colin Jose Media Award from the National Soccer Hall of Fame (2018), the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Honorary All America Award (2009), and the United Soccer Coaches Presidential Award (2009). He is currently a managing director of the Connecticut Fusion of the United Women’s Soccer.
Erhardt Kapp
He excelled as a superior defender during the heyday of the University of Connecticut soccer and played professionally for the Cosmos of the North American Soccer League. He twice earned All-America recognition at UConn (1978 and 1980) and All-New England three times (1978, 1979, and 1980), and was recognized as team MVP/John Y. Squires Award two times (1978 and 1980).
Kapp led UConn to a 21-2-1 record his senior year, as the team contended for a national title. Kapp was selected by the New York Cosmos fourth overall in the 1981 NASL draft. He was a NASL runner-up in 1981 and won the NASL title in 1982. He started for the U.S. Olympic team in 1984 and earned seven caps for the U.S. national team (1983-1986). Kapp played in the MISL for the Pittsburgh Spirit (1984-1986) and the Los Angeles Lazers (1986-1989).
Rudy Meredith
He amassed 217 victories in his 24 years as head coach of the Yale University’s women’s soccer team (1995-2018). He led Yale to NCAA Division I tournaments in 2002, 2004, 2005, was a three-time Northeast Region Coach of the Year and was the 2017 New England Coach of the Year.
Meredith was an assistant coach for the Under-23 women’s national team (2012-14) and U-20 women’s national team (2007-08), a coach for U.S. Soccer’s Development Academy and was a consultant to the Kenya national team. As a youth soccer coach, Meredith is a two-time national champion and six-time state champion. Meredith was named All-America at Montgomery College in Maryland, before coming to Southern Connecticut State University. He was a member of the 1990 national championship team at Southern. He is a member of both the Montgomery College and Southern Connecticut Athletic Halls of Fame.
Kathryn Schoepfer
She ranks among the best female soccer players ever from the state of Connecticut. At Waterford High School from 2002-2005, she set the state high school career scoring record with 157 goals and registering 47 assists. She was named All-State and All-New England each of her four years, and earned All-America recognition her senior year.
Schoepfer was named Gatorade Connecticut State player of the year in 2005 and went on to have a successful career at Penn State University, becoming a two-time All-American. She was named Big Ten offensive player of the year (2009), first team Scholar All-American (2009) and semifinalist for the 2009 Hermann Trophy. Her professional career lasted seven years and included 100 appearances for the Boston Breakers of the National Women’s Soccer League (2011-2017), third most in their history. Schoepfer also played for the U-17, U-20 and U-23 national teams. She is currently an assistant coach for College of the Holy Cross.
John Webster
Webster was head soccer coach at Central Connecticut State University for 16 years, from 1969-1984. He took on the challenge of starting the team in 1968 and built it into a formidable program during his tenure. John recorded 107 wins, 92 losses, 24 ties [.534]. The early 1980s marked the pinnacle of his time at Central, with five consecutive winning seasons and reaching No. 9 in NCAA Division II national rankings during the 1984 season.
A significant number of his players achieved All-New England honors, and one was twice named an NCAA Division II All-American. John identified and hired notable coaches as assistants to support his teams, including CT Hall of Famers Tony DiCicco and Frantz Innocent, and former NASL goalkeeper Tad Delorm. John was the National Soccer Coaches Association of America’s director of Film Library (1983-1985), NSCAA ethics committee member (1984), Site Coordinator for the NEISL All Star Soccer Game (1982-83), New England ratings board and national ratings board member (1982-83) and served on the NCAA championship selection committee (1983-84). He is a member of the CCSU Athletic Hall of Fame (2004) and the Old Timers Athletic Association of Greater Danbury (2005). He received the CCSU Presidential Recognition Award on “Coach Webster Day” in 2000.
Tickets are $50 per person, and $25 for youths 12 and under. Advertisements in the dinner program and sponsorship packages are available.
Information regarding induction dinner tickets and program sponsorships can be obtained by calling CSHF at (860) 306-6822.
