Hempstead, NY – Former Hofstra former men's lacrosse student-athlete James C. Metzger '83 and men's basketball student-athlete Stephen E. Dunn '62 will be honored this evening at the 2012 Hofstra University Alumni Awards Dinner.
The event is being held at The Garden City Hotel in Garden City, New York.
Metzger is receiving the Alumni Achievement Award, while Dunn is being named the Alumnus of the Year.
Metzger was a two-year letterman on the Hofstra men's lacrosse team, under Coach Harry Royle, in 1979 and 1980. He led the Pride in assists both seasons, posting 12 in 1979 and 28 in 1980, and led the team in points per game in 1980 with 49 points, on 21 goals and 28 assists, in 10 games. Metzger's 4.90 points per game average stands today at the fifth best season average in school history. For his efforts in 1980 he was named a Division I All-America honorable mention by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association. He is one of only three Hofstra players to tally eight or more points three times in a single season when he recorded eight points versus Penn State, Towson and North Carolina State in 1980.
After graduating from Hofstra in 1983 Metzger entered the insurance world and by 1989 he founded his own company, The Whitmore Group Ltd. which is one of the largest independent insurance agencies and estate planning company in the New York metropolitan area. For more than two decades, The Whitmore Group has focused on all facets of personal and commercial insurance along with estate planning. Cited as one of the most civic and community-minded businessman on Long Island, Metzger and The Whitmore Group are the leading benefactor of Hofstra Athletics, spearheading numerous high profile campaigns including the Traditions Project, the men's and women's lacrosse locker room project as well as other scholarship endowments to support various academic programs. In recognition of his contributions, the Hofstra Athletics Department has renamed the Capital Improvements Fund, The James C. Metzger Fund for Capital Improvements.
Dunn was a guard on the men's basketball team at Hofstra for three years from 1958 to 1961. During his tenure on the basketball team, he scored 755 points and grabbed 132 rebounds. Hofstra posted a 64-12 record during his three years, including a 23-1 mark in 1959-60. Dunn's best year came in 1958-59 when he averaged 14.2 points per game, ranking second on the squad. He followed that up with a 9.6 points per game average in 1959-60 before ending his career with a 6.7 scoring average in 1960-61.
After graduating from Hofstra in 1962 with a degree in English, he worked in advertising and then wrote a novel before earning a master's degree in creative writing from Syracuse. An award-winning author of more than 12 collections of poetry, Dunn was the recipient of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for his collection Different Hours. He has also received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, three National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowships and Fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations.