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Dr. George Wanko, a friend to Barry University students and staff, was the first athletic administrator responsible for the intercollegiate athletic program at Barry when it was founded in 1984. Dr. Wanko oversaw the first days of Buccaneer Athletics from 1984 until summer 1991. During those years, the athletics program grew and developed and Barry won its first NCAA National Championship in Women’s Soccer. Dr. Wanko came to Barry in 1978 as Dean of Student Affairs and was promoted to Vice President for Student Services in 1981.
Almost 25,000 of Barry’s 30,000 alumni graduated while Dr. Wanko was at Barry and Sr. Jeanne O'Laughlin said of him: "I never once worried about our students when they were in Dr. Wanko’s care. Students always came first in his life."
Dr. Wanko earned his BA at Penn State University, his MS at Syracuse University and the Ph.D. at The Catholic University of America. Barry established the George Wanko Endowed Scholarship in 1999 and he matched it with a $30,000 gift.
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