The New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference was well-represented at the induction ceremony for the 2009 class of the New England Basketball Hall of Fame – led by NEWMAC Executive Director Katie Hersey.

Hersey, who has led the conference since 2003, was inducted Friday in recognition of her playing career at Amherst. She was joined in the class by two NEWMAC women’s basketball coaches, Pat Glispin of Clark and Naomi Graves of Springfield.

The New England Small College Athletic Conference also contributed numerous honorees at the event, with Hersey leading eight former players (five men and three women) as inductees from NESCAC schools. Three NESCAC coaches also were honored: men’s coach Dave Paulsen of Williams and women’s coaches Stephanie Pemper of Bowdoin and Amy Backus of Middlebury.

Hersey, a two-time team captain at Amherst, holds the school’s single-game scoring record with her 37 points against Williams during her senior season. Gilspin has won more than 400 games through 25 years at Clark, and Graves, who earlier coached at WPI, has compiled a 266-177 record through 19 seasons at Springfield.

Two former NEWMAC men’s coaches also were honored: Pete Broaca of Coast Guard (currently an assistant at Springfield) and Hal Wissel of Springfield, who was recognized as a scholar-athlete on the basis of classroom excellence and career achievement. A former Clark athletics director, Russ Granger, also was recognized for his work with the Clark High School Basketball Tournament.

Joining Williams’ Paulsen and Coast Guard’s Broaca among head men’s coaches inducted into the hall were Brian Baptiste of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, Rick Simonds of St. Joseph’s (Maine) and Charlie Titus of Massachusetts-Boston. Women’s coach Carol Simon of Brandeis also was inducted.

The complete list of this year’s honorees, including 16 former players at Division III institutions as well as inductees from Division I and II, is here.