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In celebration of the 250 th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence just across the river in Philadelphia, the Courier-Post sports staff has compiled a wide-ranging list of the top 250 South Jersey athletes of all time.
Our staff scoured the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and Daily Journal archives, spoke to countless South Jersey athletic luminaries and argued endlessly on the final list of 250 names.
To be eligible for this list, an athlete must have attended a South Jersey high school, lived their formulative years in South Jersey or gained their notoriety from their connection to South Jersey.
In the coming weeks, we will present the names in reverse order until we get to No.
1.
USA 250 South Jersey Athletes of All Time links 201-250 | 151-200 | 101-150 51-100 | 26-50 | 1-25 This week, we bring you the athletes from 250-201: 250.
Leon Donkey Lucas, Camden One of the top fighters to come out of Camden, Lucas won four fights in one night, captured the light heavyweight title in the Amateur Athleitc Union and qualified for the United States Olympic team which competed in the 1928 Games in Amsterdam.
Lucas, nicknamed Donkey because his punch felt like a donkeys kick, would later purchase a tavern in Camden where Donkeys Place continues to serve up his famous cheesesteak sandwiches.
249.
Mike Iaconelli, Triton One of the top fishermen in the nations history, Iaconelli is the only angler to win the Bassmaster Classic (2003), Bassmaster Angler of the Year (2006) and B.A.S.S.
national championship (1999).
A 1990 graduate of Triton Regional High School, Iaconelli won the 2014 Bassmaster Elites on the Delaware River.
248.
Ernest Turner, Sterling One of the top scorers in South Jersey boys basketball history, Turner pumped in 2,806 points during his career, which ranked third in the region and fifth in the state at the time of his graduation in 2001.
He went on to play college hoops at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (two years) and Maine (two years).
247.
Tom Flacco, Eastern The Courier-Post Male Athlete of the Year in 2014, Flacco was a three-sport star for the Vikings in football, basketball and baseball.
On the gridiron, Flacco threw for 7,397 yards, which was second in South Jersey and third in the state at the time of his graduation.
On the diamond, Flacco was a two-time All-South Jersey selection, leading the Vikings to back-to-back South Jersey Group 4 crowns.
He was selected in the 32 nd round of the MLB Draft by the Philadelphia Phillies but chose the football route, landing at Towson after stops at Western Michigan and Rutgers.
246.
Joanna Coe, Oakcrest A two-sport star at Oakcrest, Coe was a four-time All-American in golf at Rollins College where she won the NCAA Division II national championship, setting a then-NCAA low-round record of 68 in 2008.
She hit the links professionally, qualifying for the 2011 LPGA U.S.
Womens Open.
Coe now works as the PGA Director of Instruction at Merion Golf Club.
245.
Chris Pallies, Washington Township This 1975 graduate of Washington Township was better known as his stage name King Kong Bundy where he was beloved as a trash-talking villain in professional wrestling.
The 6-foot-4, 450-pound behemoth wrestled on several different professional tours during a 26-year career.
Pallies won a two-time Region 8 champ (heavyweight in 1973 and 1974) for the Minutemen and later won a JUCO title for Gloucester County College.
244.
Rich Racobaldo, Camden Catholic One of the best three-sports athletes at Camden Catholic, Racobaldo was an All-South Jersey selection in both football and baseball while also being a starter on the Irishs state championship basketball team in 2003.
After playing on a national championship team at Mount Olive, Racobaldo was selected by the St.
Louis Cardinals in the 37 th round of the MLB Draft in 2009.
He played two seasons in the minor leagues.
243.
Michelle Rowen, Washington Township One of the top distance runners in South Jersey history, Rowen still holds the area record in the 3,200-meters and the second fastest time in the 1,600 (4:41.5).
Rowen ran a 10:12.8 in the 3,200, a mark that also stood as the state record until six years ago.
She also held the state indoor record of 4:43.16 for 37 years.
Rowen went on to run at the University of Virginia where she was the first Atlantic Coast Conference female indoor champion in the mile (4:44.71) before returning to the area to become a podiatrist.
242.
Jackie Donovan, Sterling Delivered 2,516 career points which was the top scoring mark in South Jersey when she graduated from Sterling in 1990.
She led the area in scoring in 1989 and 1990, averaging 25.8 and 27.8 points per game, respectively.
The Courier-Post Player of the Year in 1990, she was the first player in New Jersey history to be named MVP in back-to-back state championship games.
She went on to have a solid collegiate career at Penn State, playing 111 games over four years.
Now known as Jackie Mulligan, she has coached Haddonfield to over 300 wins in girls basketball.
241.
Lauren Schmetterling, Moorestown The Moorestown 2006 graduate boasts an Olympic gold medal and is a three-time gold medalist at the world championships in rowing.
She was part of the womens eight boat at the 2016 Rio Games.
In the three years prior to those Olympic Games, the womens eight won world titles.
240.
Cleveland Cleve Lewis, John F.
Kennedy While his family is more known for track and field, this Lewis set the standard on the soccer pitch.
He scored over 100 goals in high school, including a state-best 36 as a senior and finished with a then-New Jersey record of 87 points that season.
He was an All-American at Brandeis University where he led the Judges to the NCAA Division III national championship in 1976 and finished with a program-record 58 career goals.
239.
Sean Redman, Glassboro The Bulldogs football program boasts one of the most talented all-time rosters and Redman was one of the schools brightest stars.
Redman scored 32 touchdowns and registered 200 points during his senior season in 1984, two marks that ranked among the best in South Jersey history.
He finished 1,959 rushing yards as a senior and had 65 career touchdowns.
Redman was also a standout in track with the 400-meters being his signature event.
Redman played three seasons at Penn State and was a member of the Nittany Lions national championship team in 1986.
238.
Tony Hall, Oakcrest An Olympian at the 1976 Montreal Games, Hall was one of the top javelin throwers in the nation.
He went on to throw the javelin at Norfolk State where he finished third in the nation at the NCAA championships in 1973.
He recorded seven of the top 10 throws during a seven-year period from 1973-1980.
He ranks 14 th in U.S.
history in the old javelin (284-3).
237.
George Dempsey, Merchantville After a standout basketball career at Merchantville High where he won a state title and was named MVP in the final during the 1946-47 season, Dempsey went on to star at Kings College and then the Philadelphia Warriors where he won an NBA title in 1956.
He played five seasons (315 games) in the Association.
236.
Brett Boone, Shawnee Played shortstop for the Renegades for a season before moving to California when his father, Bob, landed a job with the California Angels.
Boone played 14 seasons in Major League Baseball and was a three-time All-Star.
He finished with 252 career homers.
Boone was third in the American League MVP voting in 2003 when he hit 37 homers and drove in 141 runs.
235.
Walt Montford, Atlantic City A two-time All-South Jersey basketball selection, Montford was one of the premier inside players in the region and was a member of the Courier-Posts All-Century Team of the Modern Era (1969-1999).
He finished with 1,646 career points at AC, which was a program record at this time of graduation in 1975.
Montford went on to play for four seasons at Temple University.
234.
Ron Gassert, Mount Holly, Bordentown Military A standout player at Mount Holly High, Gassert graduated at age 16 and enrolled at the BMI, where he played well enough to earn a scholarship to the University of Virginia.
Gassert was a fourth-round pick of the Green Bay Packers in 1962, winning an NFL championship as a rookie.
Gassert was traded to the Los Angeles Rams but was injured and never played there.
Contacted by the Oakland Raiders of the American Football League, Gassert was set to return to pro football but was claimed by Buffalo, which owned his AFL rights.
233.
Larry Bland, Glassboro One of the top basketball players in Bulldogs history, Bland was the Courier-Post Player of the Year during his senior season in 1986.
The versatile scorer poured in an average of 38.4 points per game that season and finished his career with 2,339 points.
Which ranked fifth in area history at the time of his graduation.
After stepping away from the game, Bland returned to college in 1998, and became a star player at Rowan University.
232.
Kelli McGroarty, Eastern A versatile three-sport star at Eastern, McGroarty made her biggest mark on the soccer pitch.
Her name dominates the programs record board, including most career goals (108) and most career points (275) as well as the top two single-season scoring marks of 40 and 37.
She scored the game-winning goal in Easterns state championship game in 2018 and was the Courier-Post Player of the Year.
McGroarty went on to star at La Salle and Iowa and is currently playing professional soccer in Australia.
231.
TJ Brennan, Moorestown The former Philadelphia Junior Flyers player left Moorestown High School early to pursue professional ice hockey in the Quebec junior leagues.
A defenseman, Brennan won the Raymond Lagace Trophy as the Quebec Major Junior defensive rookie of the year after scoring 16 goals in 68 games.
A second-round pick of the Buffalo Sabres in the 2009 NHL Draft, Brennan played 679 games in an 11-year career in the American Hockey league.
He totaled 53 National Hockey League games with the Sabres, Panthers and Maple Leafs, scoring five goals with eight assists.
230.
Demetrius Poles, Delsea One of the stars in the Crusaders basketball program, Poles led the team to a 48-3 record over his final two seasons, including a state championship run in his senior season (1991).
He finished with a program-record 1,783 points.
He went on to star at Rowan where he was the teams top rebounder on the Profs national championship squad in 1996.
He would later become a popular coach for both the mens and womens teams at Rowan after coaching overseas for a decade.
229.
Jack Pierce, Woodbury After a standout track career at Woodbury High and Morgan State University, Pierce won a bronze medal in the 110-meter hurdles at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona.
Pierce also earned medals at the World Championships in the event, earning silver in Tokyo (1991) and third in Stuttgart (1993).
228.
Browning Ross, Woodbury After getting cut from the baseball team, Ross found his true calling running.
Ross would become known by many as the father of long-distance running in the country.
He was crowned the states best miler in his senior year (1943).
He went on to star at Villanova University where he was the NCAA steeplechase champion in 1948.
At the 1951 Pan American Games, Ross won a gold medal in the 1,500-meter race and a silver in the 3,000 steeplechase.
He also competed in the 1948 and 1952 Olympics.
227.
Vic Carstarphen, Camden A two-time All-South Jersey selection, Carstarphen was one of the best scorers in Camden basketball history.
He scored 784 points and 795 points in his final two seasons, which were among the top 30 highest scoring seasons in South Jersey and his 2,136 career points ranked second in Camden history at the time of his graduation in 1988.
After playing one season at Cincinnati, Carstarphen transferred to Temple where he played 75 games over three seasons with the Owls.
Carstarphen is the current mayor of Camden.
226.
Madison Tiernan, Eastern A two-sport star, her No.
13 jersey has been retired by both the soccer and softball programs at Eastern.
Tiernan was a three-time All-South Jersey selection in soccer, posting 79 goals, 45 assists and 203 points in her career.
In softball, she was a two-time All-South Jersey selection, racking up 141 hits, 110 runs and 120 over her four seasons.
After a standout soccer career at Rutgers (25 goals in 88 games), Tiernan played four seasons in the National Womens Soccer League working as a midfielder with the Sky Blue FC.
225.
Reggie Miller, Pleasantville One of South Jerseys best scorers in basketball, Miller shined during the countrys Bicentennial celebration, scoring 817 points during his senior season.
It was the second-highest, single-season scoring mark in area history at the time.
At the time of his graduation, nobody had scored more career points than Millers 2,505 and he was the first player to top 2,000 career points.
224.
Lori Vile, Shawnee Vile scored 104 goals on the field hockey team and led the Renegades to five combined state championships in both hockey and lacrosse.
The ACC Rookie of the Year and All-American at the University of Maryland led the Terrapins hockey team to the 1993 NCAA Championship.
Vile also played internationally for the United States Under-21 field hockey team.
223.
Tony Sacca, Delran The 1988 Delran graduate was the prototype big quarterback, leading the Bears to the 1987 South Jersey Group 1 title.
His South Jersey exploits caught the attention of Penn State University, where he threw for 5,869 yards and 41 touchdowns in 45 games.
Sacca was the 46th overall pick, in the second round of the 1992 NFL Draft, by the then-Phoenix Cardinals.
222.
Bo Gray, Cherry Hill West One of the top pitchers in Garden State history, Gray went 30-0 in his high school career helping lead the Cherry Hill West Lions to two state championships.
No other pitcher in state history had gone unbeaten with at least 30 decisions.
He was 14-0 with a 0.78 ERA in his senior season.
He was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 32 nd round, but chose to go to Temple University instead where he suffered an injury to his pitching arm.
While competing in the National Upper Deck Classic as a high schooler, Gray struck out Alex Rodriguez.
221.
Amy Lewis, Moorestown An elite scorer, Lewis tallied 109 career goals at Moorestown while playing field hockey for her mother, Joan.
In three varsity seasons, Lewis's teams had a 58-1-3 record, won two NJSIAA state championship sand closed out her career with a 42-game unbeaten streak.
At Rutgers, Lewis holds the Scarlets Knights' career mark with 71 goals and 159 points, earning All-America honors in 2008.
220.
Vicky Aromando, Shawnee A South Jersey Basketball Hall of Famer after a three-sport Renegades career that included over 1,300 career points in basketball, Aromando was one of Shawnee first athletic stars.
The 1978 graduate went on to Siena University, where she became a two-time All-American in the years before women's sports were recognized by the NCAA.
Aromando was the first women's named to Siena's Athletics Hall of Fame.
219.
Sharon Tinucci, Eastern A 1978 graduate of Eastern High School, Tinucci made a name for herself as one of South Jersey smartest field hockey players.
Those qualities led to a sparkling career at Penn State University.
Forever a student of the game, Tinucci seamlessly transitioned to being a teacher of the game.
Tinucci won 219 games in two separate stints at Cherokee High School.
218.
Nick Cangelosi, Camden Catholic A true standout in two sports, Cangelosi brought two state championships to the Irish in basketball and a division title in football.
Cangelosi was a three-year starter at quarterback throwing for more than 5,000 yards and 59 touchdowns.
As a senior, he was the state's top QB, with 2,190 yards and 25 TDs.
Cangelosi was the point guard on the Camden Catholic 2001 and 2003 state championship teams, scoring 1,388 career points.
Cangelosi players football at the University of North Carolina and Georgetown University.
217.
Christine McGinley, Shawnee There were few more dominant athletes in the spring and fall than McGinley.
A 1990 Shawnee graduate, McGinley was part of two state championship field hockey and one state champion lacrosse team.
McGinley led the country with 40 field hockey goals as a senior.
In lacrosse she scored 80 times as a junior, 114 in her senior year and 231 overall.
At Penn State University, McGinley scored 86 career field hockey goals as a two-time All-America selection.
216.
Ginny Whitaker, Haddon Heights The Garnets' star earned 11 of a possible 12 varsity letters in field hockey, basketball and softball before graduating in 1951.
After attending and continuing her athletic career at Temple University, Whitaker embarked on a distinguished career in education as a teacher, coach and administration for the Cherry Hill School District, where, among other accomplishments, she became South Jersey's first female athletic director.
The first president of the women's chapter of the Al Carino South Jersey Basketball Club, Whitaker has annual awards named in her honor by both the Carino Club and the Women's Lacrosse Club of South Jersey.
The Cherry Hill district's Christmas basketball tournaments are also named in her honor.
215.
Dave Budd, Woodbury A three-year starter for the Thundering Herd, playing for Woodbury assistant coach and former New York Knicks player Joe Colone, the 6-foot-6 shooting guard was the rare big man of the time that possessed the skills of a point guard.
After graduation in 1956, Budd went to Wake Forest University where he became one of the first Demon Deacons player to score 1,000 career points with 500 career rebounds.
Budd was the 10th pick of the 1960 NBA Draft by the Knicks.
Budd averaged 7.1 points per game in five seasons in New York.
214.
Jonathan Grimes, Paul VI As great a football player Grimes would become, he may have been a better piano player.
The Paul VI star chose the Eagles' program in large part because of the music programs at the school.
It was a good choice.
Grimes ran for a school record 1,925 yards with 33 touchdowns in 2007.
Grimes went on to William & Mary, where he set nearly every offensive record at the school rushing for 4,541 career yards, averaging 228.2 yards per game as a senior.
An undrafted free agent in 2012, Grimes played five total seasons in the NFL with the New York Jets and Houston Texans.
213.
Holly McGarvie, Shawnee There hasn't been a sport invented yet that McGavie couldn't dominate.
McGarvie won a track state championship as part of the indoor 4x800 relay.
McGarvie won 10 varsity letters, including four each in field hockey and lacrosse.
McGarvie never missed a game in four years as a Princeton University hockey or lacrosse player.
McGarvie scored 112 career goals on the lacrosse field and 30 in hockey.
McGarvie played for the USA Lacrosse National team winning World Cup titles in 2009 and 2013.
McGarvie helped found the Argentine National lacrosse team, leading the team as head coach for the 2022 FIL World Cup.
212.
Kelvin Harmon, Palmyra One of the most exciting wide receivers in South Jersey history, Harmon had 165 catches for 2,764 yards and 36 career touchdowns.
In three seasons at North Carolina State, Harmon caught 177 passes for 2,665 career yards, topping out with 81 catches for 1,186 yards as a junior.
Harmon was a sixth-round pick by the Washington Redskins in the 2019 NFL Draft.
He played in all 16 games as a rookie catching 30 balls for 365 yards.
A knee injury during the 2020 offseason derailed his second NFL season and eventually, his career.
211.
Michelle Tumolo, Clearview Tumolo raised high school lacrosse to new heights.
With 270 career goals as a Clearview player, Tumolo caught the attention of Syracuse coach Gary Gait.
Tumolo helped lead the Orange to three appearances in the NCAA Final Four, including the 2012 championship game.
Tumolo finished with more than 100 goals and assists, despite a knee injury midway through her senior season.
Tumolo went on to start for Team USA in the 2015 Women's World Cup.
She just completed her fifth season at head coach at the United States Military Academy, after three seasons at Wagner College.
210.
Tom Knight, Cherokee The 1991 Cherokee graduate was as pure a defensive back as South Jersey has seen.
Knight had 10 total interceptions at the University of Iowa including four each as a junior and a senior.
He returned two interceptions for touchdowns as a junior and one more as a senior.
The ninth pick in the pick in the 1997 NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals, Knight played five seasons with the Cards before ending his career with a season for the Baltimore Ravens.
209.
Doug Colman, Ocean City A 1,000-yard rusher at Ocean City, Colman was better known as a defensive player, earning South Jersey Defensive Player of the Year honors as a linebacker.
Colman won two national championships at the University of Nebraska as part of the unbeaten 1994 and 1995 Cornhuskers' teams.
Colman was drafted in the sixth round of the 1996 NFL Draft by the New York Giants.
Colman played five NFL seasons with the Giants, Titans and Browns.
208.
Al LeConey, Moorestown More than a century ago, LeConey carried the baton for the United States in the 1924 Paris Olympics, later immortalized by the movie Chariots of Fire.
LeConey ran the anchor leg of the 4x100 meter relay, taking the baton with a two-stride lead before finishing in a world-record 41.0 seconds for the gold medal.
LeConey later ran a wind-aided 9.4-second 100-yard dash.
At the 1923 IC4A championships, while at Lafayette College, LeConey won titles in the 100- and 200-meter sprints.
LeConey's image was used on a 1932 3-cent postage stamp.
207.
Kirk Luchman, Shawnee Anchoring the first South Jersey team and first New Jersey public school team to win the Tournament of Champions, the 6-foot-10 Luchman scored 1,135 career points for the Renegades.
Shawnee won two Burlington County Liberty, two South Jersey Group 4, the 1992 Group 4 and Tournament of Champions titles.
Luchman went on to a four-year career at Florida State University, where he averaged 6.8 points and five rebounds in 11 games.
206.
Kelsey Mitchell, Eastern One of the top scorers in New Jersey field hockey history, Mitchell scored a then-state record 171 career goals, including 69 as a senior at Eastern, winning four state championships.
A two-time all-academic Big Ten player at the University of Iowa, Mitchell scored 20 goals with the Hawkeyes.
After graduation, Mitchell returned to South Jersey, coaching Ocean City High School for eight seasons, posting a 117-42-5 record.
205.
Kevin Ross, Paulsboro One of the best players to ever play at Paulsboro, Ross turned his scholastic career into a standout career at Temple University.
Ross was the 173rd pick of the 1984 NFL Draft, picked in the sixth round by the Kansas City Chiefs.
Ross played 11 of his 14 NFL seasons with the Chiefs, two with the Falcons and one with the Chargers before closing out his career in 1997 in Kansas City.
Ross snatched 38 career interceptions, including two pick-6s.
Ross also returned two blocked field goals, a blocked punt and a fumble for touchdowns.
204.
Milt Plum, Woodbury A three-sport star at Woodbury, Plum led the Thundering Herd football team to an unbeaten record and Colonial Conference and South Jersey Group 3 titles before graduating in 1953.
A power-hitting catcher, Plum chose Penn State University and football over Minor League Baseball.
Plum played quarterback and kicked for the Nittany Lions, playing well enough to be the 17th pick of the 1957 NFL Draft in the second round by the Cleveland Browns.
Plum played 13 years for the Browns, Lions, Rams and Giants, making two Pro Bowls.
His 110.4 passer rating in 1960 was the NFL record until Joe Montana passed him in 1989.
203.
Natalia Torosian, Lenape The cornerstone of the first two Lenape state championship soccer teams in 2007 and 2008, Torosian also led the Indians to a pair of Coaches Cup titles.
Torosian scored 42 goals with 38 assists for her career and was both the Courier-Post girls soccer and female athlete of the year as a senior.
Torosian went on to play collegiately at the University of Florida, where she was a two-time Southeast Conference Honor Roll recipient.
202.
Greg Mark, Pennsauken A Merchantville native, Mark made his name at Pennsauken, where he was a key member of the unbeaten 1985 South Jersey Group 3 champion Indians.
At the University of Miami, Mark was a first-team All-America defensive lineman and a finalist for the Lombardi Award as a senior.
Mark led the Hurricanes to national titles in 1987 and 1989, playing in two Sugar Bowls, two Orange Bowls and the Fiesta Bowl.
He was a third-round pick of the New York Giants in the 1990 NFL Draft, though injury severely limited his career.
201.
Phil Costa, Holy Cross A three-time, first-team All-Burlington County selection on the offensive line for the Lancers, Costa became a starter at guard for the University of Maryland as a sophomore.
After two years playing guard for the Terrapins, Costa moved over to center as a senior.
Costa was signed as an undrafted free agent center by the Dallas Cowboys in 2010, slotting in as a fourth-stringer.
Costa eventually worked his way as the primary backup and made the initial 53-man roster.
Costa played four seasons in Dallas, starting 20 games total, including the entire 2011 season.
Tom McGurk is a regional sports editor for the Courier-Post, The Daily Journal and Burlington County Times, covering South Jersey sports for over 35 years.
If you have a sports story that needs to be told, contact him by email at [email protected].
Follow him on Twitter at @McGurkSports.
Help support local journalism with a digital subscription.
Tom Rimback grew up reading the Burlington County Times and Courier Post sports sections and began writing for the BCT in 1996.
He has covered everything from Super Bowls and Final Fours to Tri-County Swimming but hes happiest on a sideline interviewing South Jersey scholastic athletes.
Follow him on twitter @Rimbacksports.
Email him with story ideas at [email protected] and, most importantly, support local journalism with a subscription to the Courier-Post.
This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Ranking South Jersey's Top 250 greatest athletes, see Nos.
250-201.