Hall of Fame
Peter Hoy ’89 – Class of 2003
Knowing what to do…
He was reserved and quiet. Yet his coach calls him one of the fiercest competitors he has known. He was big, almost awkward looking on the mound. Yet he was called “the Cat” for his ability to field his position. He did not have a loose arm. From the batter’s box, body parts seemed to be flying at you as he wound up and delivered the ball. Yet, he consistently threw strikes.
The whole of this self-motivated athlete was clearly greater than the sum of the parts. He had a knack of knowing what had to be done and he would find a way to do it. In three stellar years on the Heights, Peter Hoy distinguished himself among elite collegiate pitchers. If one game would determine success or failure – when a season hung in the balance – you would want him to have the ball. And it was a good bet: eighty percent of the time you would win.
Pete threw 165 innings in Green and Gold, allowing only 37 earned runs while recording 19 victories and 5 losses. His 137 strikeouts are testimony to his “money pitch,” a sharply sinking two-seam fastball. He was befuddling batters with it long before the “two-seamer” became standard part of a pitcher’s repertoire.
He has distinguished himself in a broad spectrum of athletic competition. He was selected as the “Top Male Athlete” at his High School in Prescott, Ontario and he was captain of the football team and most valuable player on the basketball squad. At Le Moyne, baseball was at the center of his life, and it has remained there. He was drafted by the Boston Red Sox organization after his junior year and quickly rose through their system. He also became Le Moyne’s first Olympian – pitching with distinction for Team Canada at the 1988 Games at Seoul, Korea.
The Red Sox groomed him as a closer, and he made it to the mound at Fenway before his sinker lost its bite. Today, as the Dolphin’s assistant baseball coach, he brings to the Heights the credibility of a major league player and a sincere interest in his players’ development and personal growth.
Pete still has the gift of knowing what has to be done. Just as in his playing days, a reserved demeanor is balanced by a fiercely competitive spirit. Unfailingly patient when required, yet always genuine and sincere, he quickly earns respect. His charges readily perceive a steely desire to win just beneath that soft-spoken exterior.
The self-motivation remains as well. He recognizes the science in coaching and has worked to develop excellent skills as a teacher and clinician.
An elite pitcher who knew what to do on the mound for the Dolphins, Team Canada and the Red Sox… a coach whose character and professional manner serves his players well and reflects honor on his alma mater, it is fitting that,
Peter Hoy ’89, is a member of the
Le Moyne College Athletic Hall of Fame.
February 8, 2003
