Skip to navigation Skip to content Skip to footer

Moravian Names 2013 Hall of Fame Class & Herbstman Award Winner

Hall of Fame display case

BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- Ron Berta '68; Raymond Reimer '89; Emily Shertzer '02 and longtime coach, the late Doug Pollard make up the class of 2013 that will be inducted into the Moravian College Athletic Hall of Fame on Friday, November 8th in Johnston Hall. The 1995 Greyhound softball team will also be inducted that night. In addition to the new class of Hall of Fame inductees that will be honored that night, Dianne Shefski Harper '90 will be presented with the Robert M. Herbstman Award.

Ron Berta, a 1968 Moravian graduate, was a three-year letterwinner on both the football and baseball teams before being drafted and signing a contract with the Kansas City Athletics in 1967 following his junior season. On the baseball diamond, he led the Greyhounds in hitting as sophomore in 1966 with a .370 average and as a junior with a .375 average. He also led the Middle Atlantic Conference North Division in 1967 with three home runs and 15 RBI while earning All-MAC First Team honors as a catcher. On the football gridiron, Ron was a two-way player, starting on the line on offense and at linebacker on defense. He was named to the All-MAC Second Team as a sophomore in 1965 before making the First Team in 1966. Berta was also named a Little All-American in 1965, and he was an All-ECAC First Team selection in 1966. He played two seasons in the Kansas City Athletics organization before beginning a 31-year career with Mack Trucks. Berta, who recently served as an assistant baseball coach at Dieruff High School, resides in Wescosville, Pennsylvania with his wife JoAnn.

Ray Reimer, who graduated from Moravian in 1989, was a four-year member of the football squad, and he is the 11th member of Moravian's 1988 Middle Atlantic Conference Championship and NCAA Playoff team to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Ray started in the defensive backfield for the Greyhounds and is the third of the four starters in the secondary to join the Hall of Fame. He recorded 181 career tackles with 158 solo stops. He also had 16 interceptions that included a pair returned for touchdowns, 19 passes defended, one and a half sacks and a fumble recovery. Reimer was Moravian's Blue & Grey Senior Scholar-Athlete in 1989, and he was named to the MAC Fall All-Academic Team as well as the GTE Academic All-District Team in 1988.  He currently works for Travelers Middle Marketers and resides in Berlin, Connecticut, with his wife and Diana and their three children Jared, Vanessa, and Grace.

Emily Shertzer, who graduated in 2002, was a four-year standout on both the women's cross country and track & field teams for the Greyhounds. She helped Moravian to win four Middle Atlantic Conference cross country championships, and helped the 2000 squad and the 2001 squad to a fifth and third place finish respectively at the NCAA Division III Championships. Emily qualified for the NCAA championship meet in each of her four years finishing 56th and 58th her first two years.  She then earned All-American honors with a 26th place finish in 2000 and a 27th place in 2001. Emily also earned All-MAC all four years, finishing as the runner-up in the championship race each year. She was a four-time All-Mideast Region runner after finishes of tenth, third, fourth and third beginning with her freshman year, and helped Moravian win the Mideast Region titles in 2000 and 2001. On the track, Emily earned All-America honors twice including a seventh place in the 10,000-meter run outdoors in 2000 and a seventh place in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 2001, which was the first year the event was held at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. She captured 16 MAC titles including 12 individual titles and four relay championships. She won the 10,000-meter run all four years, and she was also a three-time champion in the 5,000-meter run both indoors and outdoors. Emily currently resides in Jonestown, Pennsylvania and works for the Pennsylvania National Guard at Fort Indiantown Gap.

Doug Pollard served as head coach of the men's and women's track and field teams from 1984 until he passed away in 2007. He guided over 150 student-athletes to appearances at the NCAA Division III indoor and outdoor national championships, with 69 earning All-American accolades. Pollard's teams won 14 Middle Atlantic Conference indoor team titles and 16 MAC outdoor titles. Of those championships, the women won the 11 of the last 12 indoor MAC Championships and 13 of the last 15 outdoor MAC Championships. Doug's track & field teams had three top ten finishes at the NCAA national meet, two by the men's program and one by the women's squad. Eight of the individual national champions in Moravian history were won by six Pollard-coached track & field athletes. He was the 2007 United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Division III Mideast Region Women's Coach of the Year, and he was a two-time Mideast Region and six-time MAC Coach of the Year. He also served as an assistant football coach through the 1990 season while at Moravian. Doug's wife Donna resides in Easton, Pennsylvania, and they have two daughters – Kate and Casey.

The 1995 Softball Team was the first softball team to win a conference championship, capturing the MAC Commonwealth League title and reaching the postseason for the first time in school history. The Greyhounds posted a 31-10 record in 1995, the first of now 15 30-win seasons under the direction of 20-year Head Coach John Byrne. Two current Moravian Hall of Fame members – Tanya Thear Hood '95 and Amy Croll Souders '97 were part of the 1995 squad.

The 2013 Herbstman award winner, Dianne Shefski Harper, a 1990 graduate, was a four-year letterwinner on the Moravian women's basketball team, and she also played on the softball team. Dianne was a guard for the Greyhounds and holds the school records for assists in a game with 14, a season with 201 and a career with 470. She helped Moravian to four MAC Southeast Championships, an ECAC South title in 1987 and an NCAA Division III Tournament berth in 1990. Since graduation, she has been active in the Miracle League of Gloucester County, Autism Speaks and the Bankridge Development Center PTO while returning to Moravian each year to participate in the Greyhounds' annual Alumni game. Dianne and her husband Daniel have three sons Andrew, Daniel, & Ryan.  The Robert M. Herbstman Award honors a Moravian graduate who exemplifies the qualities of leadership, teamwork, and selflessness.