Legendary long-time Vikings men’s soccer and tennis coach Stanley Dlugosz established his athletics hall of fame credentials as a player even before arriving at MCCC. Born in Philadelphia, Stan graduated from Olney High School and then earned a Civil Engineering degree from Drexel University (1960) and a Master degree in Engineering from Lehigh University (1962). While at Drexel, he played both baseball and soccer for three seasons, was a two-year captain of the baseball team and also captain of the Dragons’ 1958 National Champion soccer team. Stosh, as he was then know, was a two-time First Team All-American in soccer and remains as the school’s all-time leader in career goals and points. He was inducted as part of the inaugural class into the Drexel Athletics Hall of Fame in 1971. After college Stan played several seasons of professional soccer with the Philadelphia Ukrainians of the American Soccer League (ASL), during which time the team won three national championships.
In 1962 after Lehigh University offered Stan a position in teaching or coaching, he accepted a job where he could do both at Trenton Junior College (which merged into Mercer County Community College in 1966). As the saying goes, the rest is history. Stan had a distinguished career as a teacher of Civil Engineering at MCCC from 1962 until retiring as a full professor in 2000. His impact on the storied sports history of Mercer has been remarkable. He established the men’s soccer program in 1963, coaching it for 19 seasons with a 311-42-8 record, won two National Championships (1963 and 1968), and guided 36 of his players (including fellow inductees Mickey Forker and Randy Garber) to All-American recognition. He created the men’s tennis program in 1974, coaching it for 35 years with 297 wins in dual matches, and under his leadership the team traveled to the nationals approximately 25 times with their best showing (third place) in 2006. Among his awards are: Mercer County Soccer Hall of Fame (1995), NJCAA Men’s Tennis Hall of Fame (1996), NJCAA’s Hershel Stephens Award for outstanding contributions to NJCAA Tennis (2005) and Mercer County Tennis Hall of Fame (2008).
Stan passed away in February 2019 at the age of 81. His legendary impact on Mercer athletics will live forever.
