South Jersey Basketball Hall of Fame announces Class of 2023

The South Jersey Basketball Hall of Fame will induct eight new members in February, including former St. Augustine Prep and Rutgers standout Anthony Farmer.

The Class of 2023, selected by The Albert Carino Basketball Clubs of South Jersey, will be honored at a ceremony on Feb. 5 at 5:30 p.m. at the Holiday Inn on Route 70 in Cherry Hill.

The honorees are Anne Brinkmann (Ocean City), Kerri Hobbs (Gatling; Lenape), Karen Robinson (Keyes; Paul VI), Chris Santo (Cherry Hill East), Farmer, coaches Vince Cipriano (Florence girls) and Tony Devlin (Paul VI boys) and official Jeff Cohen.

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Tickets cost $40. Payments can me mailed to Jack Mongulla at 41 Emery Way, Delanco, NJ 08075. Credit cards may be used to secure reservations, which must be made by Jan. 21.

The inductees:

Brinkmann started every game of her four-year career at Ocean City, during which the Red Raiders were 92-14. She was one of only three four-year starters in the first two decades of the program.

She closed her career with 1,308 points, 588 assists, 436 rebounds and 397 steals. She helped Ocean City win three Cape-Atlantic League championships and its first South Jersey 3 title in 1979.

Brinkmann passed away in 1986 from Hodgkin's Disease. A scholarship was established in her memory that year and more than $26,000 has since been awarded to senior female athletes at Ocean City.

Cipriano led the Florence girls’ basketball program to a 440-200 record during a 30-year run with the Flash. He coached the team to four South Jersey 1 championships (1983, 1985, 1987, 1991) and two Central 1 crowns (2009, 2010).

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Cohen began his officiating career in 1984 with the International Association of Approved Basketball Officials (IAABO), Camden Board 34. He was assigned to seven NJSIAA finals and the Tournament of Champions title game in 2001.

He was also a collegiate official for 15 years, became an independent assignor in 1996 and the high school assignor in 2001, a position he still holds today with Camden 34.

Devlin is a graduate of St. Joseph's Prep, where he played basketball and earned a spot at Johns Hopkins.

He worked as an assistant coach at Cherry Hill East for six seasons, directed the Moorestown Friends program from 2001-2006 and has been the head coach at Paul VI since. He entered the 2022-23 season with a 369-206 career record (303-129 at Paul VI). He led the team to five conference titles and four South Jersey finals.

Farmer was a four-year starter for St. Augustine. The 2005 graduate finished school as the program's all-time leading scorer at 1,709 points and directed the Hermits to a Non-Public A state championship in 2004.

Farmer went on to Rutgers where he started four years for the Scarlet Knights, was a Big East All-Rookie Team pick and netted 1,000 points. He played professionally in both France and Hungary.

Farmer is currently the head coach at Salem. He led the Rams to a 21-8 record and a spot in the South 1 final in his first season at the helm last year.

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Hobbs was a 1,000-point scorer for Lenape and was a star in track and field too, where she jumped 18 1-3/4 in the long jump.

Hobbs then went to North Carolina State, where she helped the Wolfpack win the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament title in 1987 and a regular season championship in 1990.

Robinson, a 1987 Paul VI graduate, averaged 18 points, 8.8 assists and 5 steals during her senior season, in which the Eagles went 25-3. She scored more than 1,000 career points, was an All-American and competed on the U.S. Olympic Festival teams.

Robinson earned a scholarship to Notre Dame, where she started all four years. She was the squad's point guard and directed the team to its first-ever Top 20 ranking. She graduated as the all-time leading scorer for the Irish and was the first All-American in the program's history. She went on to play professionally in Switzerland.

Santo, a 2011 Cherry Hill East graduate, finished his career as the Cougars’ all-time leader in both points (2,497) and rebounds (1,039). He led the team to a then-school record 23 wins, including 20 straight, as a senior.

He earned a scholarship to Vermont, but wound up transferring to Division-II Saint Anselm after one year. He helped the team earn three straight berths in the NCAA Tournament. He was the Northeast 10 Player of the Year as a senior and played professionally for Falken Cynergi Virtus of the Malta Basketball Association for a season. He helped the team earn the MBA First Division crown.

Josh Friedman has produced award-winning South Jersey sports coverage for the Courier Post, The Daily Journal and the Burlington County Times for more than a decade. If you have or know of an interesting story to tell, reach out on Twitter at @JFriedman57 or via email at [email protected]. You can also contact him at 856-486-2431. Help support local journalism with a subscription.