Ron Torgalski

For much of Torgalski's childhood, his father, Bob, was a coach and athletic director at Saint Francis High School in Athol Springs, New York. Between several different sports and schools, Bob's high school coaching career lasted for over 50 years.[7] Torgalski played baseball, basketball and football at Nichols School in Buffalo. As a baseball player, he was variously named to the All-Catholic team, the All Niagara Frontier League team and Honorable Mention All-WNY. In his single season as a sophomore football player, he was named Honorable Mention All-Catholic.[1]

In 1985, Torgalski and teammate Christian Laettner led Nichols to a New York state basketball title in Class C. Torgalski was named Most Valuable Player of the state tournament and Class C All-State. Torgalski graduated as the leading scorer in Nichols history (with 1,783 points) and was later inducted into the school's athletics hall of fame.[1] In 1985 he was named to the All-WNY team by The Buffalo News alongside Clifford Robinson.[9]

Torgalski went on to play both baseball and basketball in NCAA Division III at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. He majored in psychology and was a member of Delta Upsilon.[1] As a basketball player, Torgalski scored more than 1,000 points and finished his career with the third-most assists of any Division III player in history at that point. He also helped Hamilton to championships in the ECAC Men's Basketball Tournaments in 1986 and 1987. In 1989, he averaged 10.6 assists per game and was named to the All-ECAC first team.[7]

After college, Torgalski played professional basketball in Sweden for two seasons with the Monstreas Club, averaging 22 points and 9 assists per game.[7][10]

Torgalski's brother, Randie, similarly coached two sports at the NCAA level. He served simultaneously as the head softball and men's basketball coach at Elmira College. Another brother, Rick, played baseball at Duke for four years and served as team captain.[13]