Red Hook senior making her point
Bronze medal winner at U.S. National Championships hopes to be future Olympian
After less than three years competing, Red Hook High senior Ilsa Hoffman has climbed to the highest echelons of fencing competition.
In the recent U.S. National Championships in St. Louis, Hoffman earned a bronze medal in Division II competing against approximately 120 other female athletes from all over the country.
“It was an awesome accomplishment,” Hoffman said. “I was fighting hard all day.”
Hoffman said she found herself fighting from behind for the win on several occasions.
“I had to fight my way back up to 14-14 and I had to get the last touch to 15-14,” Hoffman said. “I made it to the final strip, which is the coolest experience ever.
“Your name is all over the place, and there are lights going off and you have video replay.”
Battling back from behind was very stressful, she added.
“When you’re down like 8-3, it’s hard to make a comeback,” Hoffman said. “And, at that point, you’re pretty exhausted as well, so you have to pull deep inside of you just to have the energy to make a comeback.”
Hoffman said the competition has several different divisions, with the highest division serving as an Olympic qualifier. The divisions are broken into A, B and C, with the top 120 athletes classified in the A Division, where she competes. The A Division is further broken down into divisions, with just the top 32 athletes making Division I.
Starting out in the C Division, Hoffman fought her way up to the A Division in the course of the last couple of years.
While Hoffman enjoyed earn-
pay stub during my time in the big leagues. I didn’t care what I was making. As long as I walked in the clubhouse and I saw my name in the three hole playing third for the Atlanta Braves, that’s all that really mattered.
“I just kept my head down and tried to do whatever I could to help us win and let the numbers take care of themselves.”
Those numbers — .303 career batting average, 549 doubles, 468 home runs, 1,623 RBIs — earned Jones baseball’s highest honor, election to the Hall of Fame on the first try. He’ll be inducted Sunday with Jim Thome, Vladimir Guerrero, Trevor Hoffman, and former Detroit Tigers teammates Jack Morris and Alan Trammell.
Thome also is a first-ballot selection, while Morris and Trammell were picked by a veterans committee last December.
Jones, only the second overall No. 1 draft pick to reach the Hall (Ken Griffey Jr. is the other), couldn’t have arrived at a better time for the Braves, who were perennial cellar-dwellers in the NL West. He became a force on most of the Atlanta teams that did a quick about-face and won 14 straight division titles — and a World Series in his rookie season (1995).
Also part of those Atlanta teams were pitchers Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz, manager Bobby Cox, and general manager John Schuerholz. All five were elected to the Hall of Fame in the past four years, and now Jones will join them.
“Somebody had to score
some runs for that pitching staff,” Jones said with a chuckle. “It’s nice the day has finally come.”
Thome hit 612 home runs, eighth all-time, and had an MLB record 13 walk-off homers , mostly for the Cleveland Indians. When he toured the Hall of Fame in late February to prepare for induction day, Thome got misty when he walked into the Plaque Gallery where his bronze likeness will hang after Sunday’s ceremony.
Expect more of the same when he stares out at the big crowd during his speech.
“It’s been an absolute dream,” Thome said. “I try to keep that (life) pretty simple, but it’s been very special to enjoy this with the ones you really care about and the people that are ... happy for you. That means so much.
“To go there and now
call that home is just incredible.”
Hoffman, chosen in his third year on the ballot, played the bulk of his career with the San Diego Padres before finishing with the Milwaukee Brewers. After failing to impress the front office in three years as a shortstop, he switched to the bullpen and became a star. Using a stultifying changeup, Hoffman recorded 601 saves over 18 seasons, second all-time to former Yankees star Mariano Rivera’s 652.
Guerrero was elected on his second try, receiving 92.9 percent of the vote. The nine-time All-Star outfielder batted .318 with 449 homers and 1,496 RBIs and was a notorious bad-ball hitter, a skill he learned as a kid growing up in the Dominican Republic playing a game similar to cricket.