Dr. Daniel P. Starr & Shauna (Geronzin) Green Named 2016 Canisius College MAAC Basketball Honor Roll Inductees
MAAC Sports
EDISON, NJ – The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) has announced its first two institutional honorees to be inducted in the MAAC Honor Roll, in which honorees will be enshrined in “The MAAC Experience” exhibit at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on October 15.
Each member institution of the MAAC honors one male and one female from its basketball “family” as part of the 2016 induction class. A dinner event will be on Saturday, October 15, 2016 at the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame Court of Dreams to recognize the Honor Roll inductees.
Each honoree will be profiled in the game program for the 2017 MAAC Basketball Championships, and will also be featured in a video display at “The MAAC Experience.”
Dr. Daniel P. Starr (1974-2000) Canisius College
The most visible man in Canisius athletics for over a quarter of a century, Dr. Dan Starr served as the College’s chief administrator from 1974-2000. His 26-year tenure as the school’s director of athletics is the longest in the College’s athletic history, and upon his departure, he was the second-longest tenured NCAA Division I athletic director in the country.
In historical terms, Starr’s reign as the Golden Griffins’ athletic director covered five U.S. Presidents, four New York State governors and three Buffalo mayors.
During his tenure, the Canisius athletic program grew from a small, men’s-only program to a department that included 21 varsity sports with the addition of women’s varsity sports to the offering. He played a key role in helping the Griffs jump to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in 1989, and he also played an instrumental role in helping create the ECAC Football Conference. His relationships with members of the NIT committee helped secure the men’s basketball program earn NIT berths in 1985, 1994 and 1995. The 1995 year resulted in a trip to Madison Square Garden as the Griffs advanced to the semifinals. He was also the athletic director when Canisius won its only MAAC men’s basketball crown, which came in 1996 under former head coach John Beilein, the current head coach at Michigan. “Doc” was the man who made the call to hire Beilein after the 1991-92 season.
Every female student-athlete to wear the Blue and Gold can credit their opportunity to Starr’s diligence in moving the women’s sports programs to varsity status. He also carried the Canisius banner off campus, serving on various community, regional and national committees, including the Empire State Games, the World University Games, various NCAA, MAAC and ECAC groups and assisting the charge to bring both the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament and the NCAA Frozen Four to the City of Good Neighbors. In retirement, he completed a comprehensive report on the state of the City of Buffalo high school athletic programs that included many documented recommendations that are in place today.
Starr earned his undergraduate degree in history from Canisius in 1958. A year later, he earned his master’s degree from Rutgers before joining the Canisius faculty in 1962. In 1967, he received his Ph.D., from Rutgers. He was enshrined into the Canisius Sports Hall of Fame in 2000 and he was inducted into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame in 2010.
Shauna (Geronzin) Green (1998-2002) Canisius College
Shauna (Geronzin) Green, the only player in Canisius women’s basketball history to score more than 2,000 career points, is one of the most decorated female student-athletes in Canisius history. A four-time All-MAAC honoree, Green played 107 career games in Canisius Blue and Gold from 1998-02 and closed out her career with 2,012 career points, making her one of two Canisius basketball players (along with former men’s player Ray Hall) to reach to 2,000-point plateau in her time on Main Street.
One of two players in program history to lead the team in scoring average three or more times in her career, Green’s 2,012 career points ranks seventh in MAAC history, and her 18.8 points per game scoring average is tops at Canisius and fifth-best in conference history. She is the only female player in Canisius history to average better than 20 points per game in multiple seasons, highlighted by her 20.5 points per game scoring average in 1999-00. In her junior season, she scored a career-high 42 points in an 87-77 home win over long-time rival Niagara on Feb. 20, 2000, making her one of three players in program history to score 40-or more points in a game. She followed her junior year with a spectacular senior campaign as well, where she score 570 points in 28 games for a team-best scoring average of 20.4 points per game. She is the only player in program history to score more than 500 points in back-to-back seasons.
In addition to being the program’s career leader in points scored and scoring average, Green holds program records for career field goals made (731) and career field goal attempts (1,766). She closed out her career ranked second in program history with 910 rebounds, while ranking fourth in career 3-point field goal percentage (36.1), second in career free-throws made (446) and second in career free-throw attempts (591). The 1999 MAAC Rookie of the Year and an All-MAAC Third-Team honoree in her freshman campaign, Green went on to earn All-MAAC First-Team honors three times from 2000-02, making her the first Canisius women’s basketball player to earn all-league honors in four-straight seasons.
The 2002 Canisius Female Athlete of the Year, Green earned her undergraduate degree in business marketing from the College in 2002. Off the court, she was also an excellent student, earning MAAC All-Academic Team and district all-academic honors three times. She was enshrined into the Canisius Sports Hall of Fame in 2012. She is currently an assistant coach on the women’s basketball staff at Northwestern University.