The North Rose-Wolcott Central School District inducted five people into its Athletic Hall of Fame during a ceremony on April 13 at North Rose-Wolcott High School.
The NRW Athletic Hall of Fame was established to recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of outstanding athletes, coaches, administrators and Cougar supporters and to enhance current student athletes’ understanding and appreciation for the positive role models in the tradition of Cougar Athletics. Through nomination and committee selection, the Hall of Fame recognizes athletes who have been graduated from NRW a minimum of 10 years; individuals who have made significant contributions to NRW athletic programs as a coach; or individuals who have made a significant impact on district, sectional, regional, state, national, professional or international athletics.
The 2024 honorees include:
Zakk Hess, Class of 2011:
Hess participated in soccer and indoor and outdoor track during his time at NRW. A distance running specialist, Hess put in long hours on the track to achieve his fullest potential. His effort became contagious with his teammates, leading to success including the boys track team being crowned county champions in 2010. Hess was an indoor track sectional winner in the 1000m and 1600m and still holds the current school record in both events. In outdoor track, Hess was a member of all-league first team 12 times, a nine-time county champion, a two-time sectional champion and competed at the state track meet both his junior and senior year. After graduating from NRW, Hess attended SUNY Fredonia and achieved a 3.7 GPA while participating in indoor track, outdoor track and cross country. He earned multiple awards and recognitions at Fredonia, was inducted into the SUNYAC Cross Country Hall of Fame in 2014 and was named Fredonia’s Male Athlete of the Year in 2015. Hess went on to obtain a master’s degree in hydrologic systems from Boise State University and a second master’s in Geographic Information Systems from Northwest Missouri State University. He is currently the GIS manager for Wayne County and the owner of a woodworking business.
Terry Moss, Class of 1994:
Moss participated in wrestling, basketball, baseball and soccer at NRW. He was captain of the wrestling and baseball teams. Moss was on the all-county first team for baseball in 1993 and 1994 and first-team all-county and co-MVP for soccer in 1993. Moss excelled as a goalkeeper and went on to play varsity soccer at SUNY Cortland, where he was voted captain and was named second-team All-SUNYAC his senior year. Currently, Moss is assistant coach for the Spencerport varsity soccer team, is a travel club head goalkeeper coach and trains the women goalkeepers at SUNY Geneseo. He is the owner of The BrickLab, a LEGO learning center in Spencerport. He lives in Rochester with his wife and three children.
David Urban, Class of 1999:
Urban participated in soccer and swimming at NRW. As a goalkeeper on the soccer team, Urban was named to first team all-county and second team all-state. As a diver on the swim team, Urban was the Section V Class C diving champion.
Today, Urban is a nuclear security shift supervisor at Ginna Nuclear Power Plant and runs a Lake Ontario fishing charter business. He is the father of two children.
Gerald Decausemaker,
Class of 1974, Coach:
Decausemaker was a two-time league champion and placed second in sectionals twice during his wrestling career at NRW, being named an MVP in 1973. He went on to wrestle at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he was a two-time conference champion, placed third at the state college championship and was a three-time Division 3 National Qualifier. As an assistant coach and then a head coach for NRW’s wrestling team, his teams and athletes have won multiple league and sectional titles. As head coach, he has racked up five league championships, three sectional championships, and three state qualifiers. In 2012, Decausemaker was voted the New York State Assistant Coach of the Year. In 2023, he received the Section V Terry Robert Justice Award for outstanding service to high school wrestling. In addition to his coaching duties at NRW, Decausemaker is heavily involved in the Mat Power program for younger wrestlers. He lives in Wolcott with his wife and is the father of four children.
James Prentice, Coach:
Prentice started at North Rose-Wolcott as a history teacher in 1987. His career as a wrestling coach began at the modified level. Prentice then moved to the varsity position for the 1992-1993 season. As head coach he had 52 league champions, eight league team championships, 17 sectional champions, one sectional team championship, and took six wrestlers to the state tournament. He was named the Wayne-Finger Lakes League head coach of the year eight times. Prentice retired from NRW in 2019 and coached through the 2019-2020 season. He is currently enjoying time with his wife and two sons.
