Jon Cahill

Three outstanding scholar-athletes - Jon Cahill ’01, Jill (Croft) Paige ’02 and Brandon Curran ’03 - will be inducted into the UMass Lowell Athletic Hall of Fame as part of the annual Excellence Banquet to be held in the Costello Athletic Center on Tuesday, May 13.

A Hall of Fame alumni reception will be held at 5:30 p.m. in the Trustees Room in Cumnock Hall, followed at 7 p.m. by a buffet dinner and awards ceremony in Costello.

In addition to the scholar-athlete awards, the Bob Griffin Academic Cup will be presented to the men and women’s teams with the highest cumulative grade point average.

UML student athletes will be admitted to the banquet free, while admission for parents and guests will be $20 per person. Tickets can be purchased at the Athletics Business Affairs office in Costello or by calling ext. 2335.

Jon Cahill, a member of the River Hawks baseball team from 1998 to 2001, led the squad to four NCAA tournament bids and its first-ever trip to the Division II college World Series.

Jill Paige, who starred in track and field, becomes the first UML athlete named to the NE-10 Hall since the University became part of that conference in the 2000-01 season. She was the most decorated female athlete of her time, earning All-America honors seven times in the indoor and outdoor long jump, indoor high jump and indoor 60-meter dash. In addition to her University honor, she will be inducted into the Northeast-10 Conference Hall of Fame on June 2.

Brandon Curran spearheaded the ascent of the men’s soccer program to regional and national prominence earlier in this decade, a level the program has maintained. From his sophomore year on, Cahill collected multiple honors, peaking with his senior year in which he was named to the American Baseball Coaches Association All-America First Team.

His coach, Jim Stone, now retired, says, “Jon was just an all-around good player. He worked awfully hard and did so many things well. He’s just a terrific kid from a terrific family.”

George Davis, who retired in 2002 after 33 years of coaching, says of Paige: “Jill was coachable. She was aggressive in the sense that she wanted to be better. She enjoyed that aspect of competition. She was also a very good leader, a good teammate and a wonderful person.”

Regarding Curran and his effect on the soccer program, Coach Ted Priestly says, “Brandon’s impact on UMass Lowell soccer has been immeasurable. He’s an example of exactly the type of player that has made the program successful. He played every game as though it was his last and he sacrificed individual goals for the betterment of the team.”

Jill Paige

Brandon Curran