Hall of Fame
CHARLES F. CONNERY '71, whose career is more or less the story of URI gymnastics, arrived at Kingston as an assistant in 1978, the third year of the program, and took over as head coach in 1980. In 21 years as the head man, he guided the Rams to the NCAA Regionals nine times, including seven of his last ten seasons. He earned the Northeast Region Coach of the Year award in 1992-93 and his third Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year honor in 1999-2000 after leading the Rams to a second-place finish. He retired in 2001 with a career mark of 187-168 (.527), all at Rhode Island. In 1988 he was named to the North Kingstown High Athletic Hall of Fame, 21 years after starring for the school in baseball, basketball and cross-country. He returned to coach gymnastics there from 1974-80.
