UNCW To Welcome Four Greats Into Hall of Fame

WILMINGTON, North Carolina – A pair of coaching icons, a volleyball pioneer and a men's tennis wizard will be honored when the UNCW Athletic Hall of Fame conducts its 15th induction in mid-April of 2026.

Men's basketball coaching legend Jerry Wainwright, highly successful baseball coach Mark Scalf, volleyball standout Amy Chilausky and tennis star Rafael Aita are set for the special recognition on Saturday, April 18, 2026.

The induction in the Golden Hawk Room of the Nixon Annex on campus begins with a reception at 11 a.m., followed by the luncheon and formal ceremony. The inductees will also be honored later that day prior to the UNCW-Hofstra baseball game at Brooks Field.

The four honorees will push the elite group's number to 63 members overall since the inaugural induction took place in 1998. Tickets for the event will be $50 per person go on sale following the holiday season.

Class of '26 Inductees
Rafael Aita
A native of Chiclayo, Peru, Aita established a high standard for the men's tennis team during his spectacular career on the courts from 2011-14.

Over four seasons, Aita, playing primarily No. 1 singles and doubles, led the Seahawks to a 72-22 record, three Coastal Athletic Association championships, four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and a team ranking in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association as high as No. 33. Individually, he climbed to No. 17 (singles) and No.14 (doubles) in the national rankings.

Aita earned First-Team All-CAA honors three times in singles and twice in doubles and was named CAA Player of the Year in 2013 and 2014. He became the first UNCW tennis player to earn CAA Player of the Year accolades in 2013. In 2014, he was named the CAA Tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Aita lost only one conference match during his four seasons at UNCW.

On the national stage, Aita played in two NCAA Singles Tournaments, one NCAA Doubles Tournament and four NCAA Team Tournaments as a Seahawk. Alongside teammate Sam Williams, Aita won the ITA Carolina Regional Championship in 2013, leading the duo to a ranking as high as No. 14 after going a perfect 17-0 in doubles – a school record.

Aita racked up a 64-18 singles record in his storied career and went a sparkling 42-10 in doubles play. He ranks second in all-time in singles victories (64) and first in singles (.780) and doubles (808) winning percentage at UNCW.

Capping off his career at UNCW, Aita was named recipient of the Thomas V. Moseley Award as the school's top student-athlete in 2014. Internationally, Aita represented Peru in the 2014 Davis Cup before deciding to retire from professional tennis to pursue a career in corporate finance.

Aita spent two seasons as an assistant coach at George Washington while completing his Master's Degree, helping the Colonials capture the Atlantic 10 Conference championship en route to an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2016.

Today, Aita, the first men's tennis player to join the school's pantheon of sports greats, serves as a Director in the Investment Banking division at TD Securities in Toronto covering North American Financial Institutions.

Amy Chilausky
When it came to power hitters, Chilausky was among the best for the Seahawk volleyball program during her career with the Seahawks from 1990-93.

The Durham, N.C., native becomes the first Seahawk volleyball player to earn election to the UNCW Athletic Hall of Fame following an outstanding career in the early 90s.

Chilausky sparked the Seahawks to an 82-55 (.599) record over four seasons and was named a Coastal Athletic Association First-Teamer in 1993. She also collected Second-Team All-CAA laurels in 1992 and CAA Player-of-the-Week honors in 1992 and 1993.

Chilausky's name dominates the school's volleyball record books. She ranks first in five career statistical categories and first in nine season charts. In 137 career matches, she leads the pack in kills (1,470), kills per set (3.39), solo blocks (238), total blocks (561) and points (1962.5). She tops the seasonal list in kills (528 in 1992), kills per set (4.09 in 1992), total attempts (1283 in 1993), solo blocks (135 in 1992), total blocks (281 in 1992), blocks per set (2.18 in 1992), sets played (135 in 1993), points (791 in 1992) and points per set (6.13 in 1992).

Chilausky resides in San Diego, Calif., where she is a Senior Event Planner for Tradeshow Logic, a full-service events solutions firm.

Mark Scalf

Scalf is the all-time winningest baseball coach at UNCW and in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA).

Scalf arrived in Wilmington following a terrific high school playing career at Cary (N.C.) High School. During his collegiate playing career with the Seahawks, he was a four-time letter winner at second base.

Scalf's coaching career began in 1981 when he was a graduate assistant at UNC Chapel Hill. The following season, Scalf was added to the coaching staff on a full-time basis. He left Chapel Hill to become an assistant coach at UNCW in 1984, and remained in that position until succeeding Bobby Guthrie as head coach in 1992.

Scalf coached the Seahawks for 28 seasons, compiling a record of 941-707-1, before retiring at the conclusion of the 2019 season. Under his guidance, UNCW won nine CAA regular season titles and six tournament championships. The Seahawks qualified for 10 NCAA Tournaments.

The 2008 team went on a school-record 21-game winning streak and set a program record with 44 victories. Two of Scalf's players – pitcher Brad Holt and shortstop Greg Jones – were selected in the first round of the Major League Baseball Draft. Holt was selected No. 33 by the New York Mets in 2008, while Jones went to the Tampa Bay Rays with the 22nd pick in 2019. A total of 83 of Scalf's former players have played professionally.

Scalf was selected CAA Coach-of-the-Year seven times and American Baseball Coaches Association Regional Coach-of-the-Year on five occasions.

He was inducted into the Greater Wilmington Sports Hall of Fame in 2023 and becomes the 12th player or coach from the UNCW baseball program to earn election to the UNCW Athletic Hall of Fame.

Jerry Wainwright
Wainwright put the men's basketball program on the map when he took over the reins in 1994, coaching the Seahawks to four postseason appearances and their only postseason victory in the history of the program.

A native of Chicago, Ill., Wainwright came to the North Carolina coast after serving as an assistant coach at Wake Forest. In eight seasons, he built a 136-103 record and piloted the Seahawks to a pair of NCAA (2000, 2002) and NIT (1998, 2001) berths, with three regular season conference championships and two 20-win seasons.

Wainwright was named CAA Coach-of-the-Year in 1997 and 2001 and in 2023, he was recognized as recipient of the Gene Bartow Award, presented annually by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) to a current or former coach for contributions to the game.

Overall, Wainwright directed the program to its first ever post-season berth, first 20-win season (1998), and the first win in the NCAA Tournament, a 93-89 triumph over the University of Southern California in 2002. The Seahawks averaged 17 wins per season during his successful tenure.

Wainwright traveled to Iraq in 2008 as part of the USO Operation Hardwood Hoops With The Troops Tour. Later, as part of the USA Basketball Program, Wainwright served as Head Coach for the 19 and under team which won the silver medal in the F.I.B.A. World Championships in Novi Sad, Serbia in 2007.

In May of 2025, Wainwright was inducted into the Greater Wilmington Sports Hall of Fame. In addition, he was recently honored by UNCW Athletics with the establishment of the Jerry Wainwright Scholarship for UNCW Men's Basketball.

Wainwright will be the 10th player or coach from the UNCW men's basketball program to be enshrined into the UNCW Athletic Hall of Fame.

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UNCW To Welcome Four Greats Into Hall of Fame