Niagara Wheatfield's Byron Mulkey, Lockport's Pat Burke to be inducted in Section VI Hall of Fame
Aug. 9—A pair of Niagara County legends are headed into the Section VI Hall of Fame.
Former Niagara Wheatfield and University at Buffalo basketball star Byron Mulkey and longtime Barker, Lockport, Medina and Wilson coach and administrator Pat Burke are part of Section VI's ninth class.
Mulkey was a four-year varsity player for the Falcons and his 1,777 career points are still a Niagara Wheatfield all-time record. He averaged 26.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 6.5 assists per game as a senior in 2006, earning second-team All-Western New York honors.
He was also an All-Western New York selection as a football player and received a tryout with the Bills as a cornerback in 2013. Mulkey averaged nine points and 3.3 assists in four seasons with Buffalo.
Burke, who is fresh off being inducted into the New York State Athletic Administrators Hall of Fame this year, spent 12 years as a coach and administrator with Barker and Medina and spent the last 20 years of his career as the athletic director at Lockport before retiring in 2015.
Burke has served as the president of the Niagara Frontier League, while serving on the Section VI athletic council and was inducted into the New York Baseball Hall of Fame after being a star athlete for Lockport in the 1970s.
He was the boys basketball coach and athletic director at Barker from 1982-1988 and led Wilson to the 1983 state baseball championship in one of his two years at the school. Burke was then the girls basketball coach, assistant principal and athletic director at Medina from 1988-1995, winning the 1995 Niagara-Orleans League championship.
At Lockport, Burke stopped coaching, but was instrumental in adding indoor track and field, lacrosse, ice hockey and crafted the Lockport Athletic Hall of Fame. He also instituted Lockport's awards nights to give scholarship money to athletes attending college.
The Hall of Fame ceremony is scheduled for Dec. 1 at The Columns Banquets in Elma. Reservations are $45 per individual and $25 per child ages 4-12. Tickets may be purchased at https://eofan.co/app/events/1028238?schoolid=NYSHSAAVI before Nov. 21.
Other inductees include: Clar Anderson (Olean), Starling Bryant (East), Richard DeKay (West Valley), Timm Slade (Section VI), Jenn Suhr (Fredonia), Thomas Sutton (official), Gene Tundo (Orchard Park) and Jeffrey Tundo (Orchard Park).B
