Alumni Spotlight: Meet the new members of the Fairfield Alumni Association Athletic Hall of Fame

Two outstanding alumni athletes - Adam Ferreri '01 and Mellissa Santos '03 - were inducted into Fairfield's Athletic Hall of Fame in the annual awards ceremony in May, held in conjunction with the Athletic Department Varsity Athlete Awards Dinner. Honorees are pictured at right with University President Jeffrey von Arx, S.J., and Alumni Board President Carla Supersano Sullivan '88.

Adam Ferreri '01 started playing flag football at age 4. Mellissa Santos '03 remembers weekly pitching lessons when she was 11. Besides cultivating their talents from an early age, both of the 2009 inductees into Fairfield's Athletic Hall of Fame state that goal-setting has been an important part of their personal and professional success since graduating.

Mellissa Santos '03

"Softball taught me to set goals and create a plan to achieve them," says Mellissa. "The work ethic that I developed during my time at Fairfield has also been useful in many areas of my life."

Six years after her graduation, Mellissa still holds every career softball pitching record and single-season pitching record at Fairfield. She became the 16th player in Division I history to reach 1,000 strikeouts, finishing her career with 1,156. Mellissa was honored in 2002 as MAAC co-female student-athlete of the year, and during her senior year, the Fairfield University softball team won the MAAC Championship. After college, Mellissa was recruited to play softball in Sicily for four months.

Mellissa, who had a double-major in psychology and economics, works at Rakuten USA, the U.S. operation of a Japanese Internet company, as an HR manager. She enjoys yoga, golf, cooking, and travelling, and lives in Waltham, Mass.

Adam Ferreri '01

When he graduated in 2001, Adam was Fairfield's all-time leading rusher, finishing his Fairfield
football career with a total of 1,555 total yards and 13 touchdowns. A natural leader, he was voted
captain by his teammates.

Adam graduated with a degree in marketing, summa cum laude, received CoSIDA (College Information Directors Association) American honors as a senior, and is currently a relationship manager in the Private Bank of Credit Suisse in Manhattan.

Active in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Adam is also a volunteer coach at his local high school. He is a fitness enthusiast and an ocean lifeguard on the weekends near where he resides in North Babylon, N.Y.

"Playing football at Fairfield helped teach me how to handle the adversity life may deal you," Adam says."It has taught me to persevere when your back is to the wall.When I find myself in a tough situation, I think back to the adversity I had to overcome as an athlete and keep the mindset that brought me success in the past."

Click here for a full list of members of the Athletic Hall of Fame.

Past Profiles

March 2009 - Leonard and Barbara DiBella
Read about Bill Murphy Jr. '92