docBiographical Information on more than 200 CSC Athletes 1983
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Biographical Information on more than 200 CSC Athletes 1983
Biographical Information on more than 200 CSC Athletes 1983-Present $15 Foreword This book was originally printed in observance of the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Athletic Hall of Fame at Chadron State College in 2008. It was done to help Eagles’ followers know more about those who helped give the college its rich athletic tradition. Considerable time has been spent updating and improving the information that was released at the time the inductions into the Hall of Fame were made. The book was updated in the summer of 2010 to include the 2009 inductions and it will continue to grow as more inductions are made. As noted above, the Hall of Fame was founded by Ross Armstrong in 1983, when 32 inductions were made. Although he consulted with long-time fans, former coaches and numerous athletes in making the selections, he continued to make a majority of the hall of fame decisions until his death in 1990. Since then, the selection committee has included Con Marshall, the college’s sports information director from July 1969 through July 2007; Brad Smith, the CSC athletic director since 1987; Dr. Pat Colgate, who has been affiliated with CSC athletics since 1965; and Frank Ferguson and Randy Bauer, both Hall of Fame members who have continued to have a close relationship with the Eagles since they were CSC athletes. Alex Helmbrecht, the current CSC sports information director, and John Axtell, the longtime voice of the Eagles on KAAQ/KQSK, are also on the committee. In making the selections, the committee has considered both the athletic achievements and the accomplishments of the athletes since their days of participation ended. A few former CSC coaches also have been inducted, along with several individuals who have provided meritorious service. Readers will notice that considerably more has been written about some of the hall of fame members than others. Fans should understand why that happened. More statistics are available and more honors are awarded in some sports and for some positions than others. Regardless of the amount written everyone in the Hall of Fame is to be congratulated on his or her membership. It is a special honor. Of course, not all the outstanding CSC athletes by any means are in the Hall of Fame. But anyone who has represented the college in an athletic event should have a sense of pride for having been an Eagle. It’s an experience many others would have liked to have had. Con Marshall, CSC Sports Information Director (1969-76, 1977-2007) Alex Helmbrecht, CSC Sports Information Director (2007-present) On the Front Cover: Top row, left to right, Sam Perikins, Tricia Lukawski, Caryn Martin Ziettlow and Don Beebe. Bottom row, Josh Robinson, LaVerne McKelvey, Carol Bachmann Marxsen and Bob Lynch. Table of Contents Hall of Fame Inductions by Year... 4 Alphabetical Hall of Fame............. 5 Ross Armstrong............................ 6 1983 Charter Inductees................ William Dean Armstrong.............. 7 Jack Barker.................................... 7 Bob Baumann............................... 8 George Bowman........................... 8 Bill Bruer....................................... 8 Don Burrows................................. 8 Al (Bud) Butterfield....................... 8 Paul Carroll..................................... 8 Glen Cheney................................. 9 Ivan Christian................................ 9 Nels Christiansen.......................... 9 Lyle “Moose” Colerick.................. 9 Archie Conn.................................. 9 Ralph Garvin............................... 10 Norman (Bud) Larsen................. 10 Verne Lewellen........................... 10 Louis Mantalica.......................... 10 Harold (Pepper) Martin.............. 10 John McGregor........................... 10 LaVerne McKelvey..................... 11 Milford “Dub” Miller.................. 12 Mack Peyton............................... 12 Wilmer Planansky....................... 13 Jim Ratelle.................................. 13 Clinton Smith.............................. 13 J.C. Sollars................................... 13 Ralph Shipp................................. 14 Ruffus Trapp............................... 14 Clifford Weller............................ 14 Orin Weymouth.......................... 14 Joe Zowada................................. 14 1984 Inductees............................. Tom Blundell............................... 15 Earl Buckingham......................... 15 William Diercks .......................... 16 Wes Evans................................... 16 Frank Ferguson........................... 16 Roy Houser................................. 16 Keith Kyser.................................. 17 Larry Lytle................................... 17 Virgil Meyer................................ 17 Guido Santero............................. 17 Leo Stangle................................. 17 Bill Stephenson........................... 18 Dale Tangeman........................... 18 Lonny Wickard............................ 18 1985 Inductees............................. Gene Alcorn................................ 19 Robert Armstrong....................... 19 Richard Boness........................... 20 Dick Colerick............................... 20 Bennie Francis............................ 20 Larry Gold................................... 20 Glen Groves................................ 20 John McLane.............................. 21 1986 Inductees............................. Bob Burden................................. 21 Morse Burley.............................. 21 Steve Gremm.............................. 22 Leonard Kaiser............................ 22 Bob Lynch................................... 22 Francis Rose .............................. 22 Jim Schwartz............................... 22 1987 Inductees............................. Jack Dinnel.................................. 23 Jim Hampton.............................. 23 Bill Savage................................... 24 Norm Wilson.............................. 24 1988 Inductees............................. Clifford “Pete” Carroll................. 25 Rod Ehler.................................... 25 Francis Montague....................... 25 1989 Inductees............................. Tom Alcorn................................. 26 Jim Hogeland.............................. 26 Dean Palser................................. 26 Pat Moore................................... 27 Mike Winchell............................. 27 1990 Inductees............................. Jerry Bartak................................ 27 Larry Baumann........................... 28 Lee Baumann.............................. 28 Rex Cadwallader......................... 28 Robert Isham.............................. 28 Joe Johnson................................ 28 Carol Bachmann Marxsen.......... 28 Bud Murray................................. 29 Jack Needham............................ 29 Gwen Reed................................. 29 Don Reel..................................... 29 John Sides................................... 30 1991 Inductees............................. Bill Baker..................................... 30 Brad Bartlett............................... 31 Rod Borders................................ 31 Marge Burkett............................ 31 Gary Decker................................ 31 Ted Erlewine............................... 31 Bill Giles...................................... 31 Louis Peters................................ 31 Tim Turman................................ 32 Rick Watson................................ 32 1992 Inductees............................. Paul Colgate................................ 33 Kevin Kirwin................................33 Don Meter.................................. 33 Ken Ottoson................................ 33 Bill Pile........................................ 34 Kathy Hanshew Runyan.............. 34 Don Schmaderer......................... 34 Harry Simonton.......................... 34 Loy Young................................... 34 1993 Inductees............................. Rodney Cook.............................. 35 Dale Hendrickson....................... 35 Nancy Cozad Newman................ 35 Charles McGaw.......................... 36 Ken Parks.................................... 36 Mike Parks.................................. 36 Jim Prell...................................... 36 Walt Stoeger............................... 36 Larry Riley................................... 36 1994 Inductees............................. Randy Bauer............................... 37 Rick Brown.................................. 37 Chad Emanuel............................ 37 Kevin Emanuel............................ 38 Scott Jones.................................. 38 Michael Kinnaird........................ 38 Wanda Rainbolt.......................... 38 Larry Ruzicka.............................. 38 1995 Inductees............................. Kent Halley................................. 39 Rex Jones.................................... 39 Kathy Kennedy............................ 39 Jean Fuchs Poythress.................. 39 Martee Meter Pruitt................... 40 Terry Statton............................... 40 Dale Williamson......................... 40 1996 Inductees............................. Clinton Belden............................ 41 Doug Brandt............................... 41 Dale Drahota.............................. 41 Lue Graesser............................... 41 Sheryl Myers Levi....................... 42 Rick Nave.................................... 42 Kelvin Sharp................................ 42 Dale Timperley........................... 42 Francis Wrage............................. 42 1997 Inductees............................. Bunny Piscka Bolden.................. 43 Bob Brown.................................. 43 Vern and Frances Chicoine......... 43 Dean Churchill............................ 44 Gene Emanuel............................ 44 Duane Fritz................................. 44 Shari Fisher Kopp........................ 44 Dennis Schmitz........................... 44 1998 Inductees............................. 1948 Football Team.................... 45 1958 Football Team ................... 45 1978 Football Team.................... 46 1999 Inductees............................. Brad Fults................................... 47 Ralph Gill.................................... 47 Ron Hoffman.............................. 48 Laurie Wickard Janicek............... 48 Doug Jones................................. 48 Rick Mikelson............................. 48 Sam Perkins................................ 48 Monty Reher.............................. 48 Bill Ryan...................................... 48 2000 Inductees............................. Don Beebe.................................. 49 Steve Coon................................. 49 Rick Daniels................................ 50 Butch Lehmkuhler...................... 50 Barb Zurn Rangel........................ 50 Phil Sanders................................ 50 Dick Steinke................................ 50 Ken Thompson............................ 50 Bart Voycheske........................... 51 Bob Wood................................... 51 2001 Inductees............................. Richard (Sparky) Adams............. 51 Dan Barent................................. 51 Maureen Cooney O’Dell............. 52 J.D. Hill........................................ 52 Ray Hoffman............................... 52 Randy Jarzynka........................... 52 Willy Long................................... 52 2002 Inductees............................. Dennis Breing............................. 53 Jerry Carder................................ 53 Dr. Pat Colgate............................ 53 Carolyn Williams Hovendick....... 53 Terry Mastny............................... 53 Joe McKay................................... 53 Creighton Miller......................... 54 Charlie Mitchell.......................... 54 Dave Smith................................. 54 2003 Inductees............................. Phil Haberman............................ 55 Terry Hillman.............................. 55 Rich King..................................... 55 Randy Lotton.............................. 55 Don Mathis ................................ 55 Deb Spickelmier Noble............... 56 Todd Pierce................................. 56 Jenifer Durbin Proud.................. 56 Dean Rickard.............................. 56 Duane Smith............................... 57 Gregg Stephens.......................... 57 2004 Inductees............................. Carrie Roberts Antonovich......... 57 Kerry Becker............................... 57 Rod Bussinger............................. 57 John Flynn.................................. 58 Lisa Brott Flynn........................... 58 Leonard Hawkins........................ 58 Mike Max.................................... 58 Jeff Parke.................................... 58 2005 Inductees............................. Steve Aggers............................... 59 Corey Anderson.......................... 59 Lee Crawford.............................. 59 Murray Johnson.......................... 59 David Jones................................. 59 Danny Moore.............................. 60 Mary Perrien.............................. 60 Rick Samuels............................... 60 2006 Inductees............................. Roxie Boehm Arens ................... 61 Scott Blachly............................... 61 Dennis Fitzgerald........................ 61 Jay Masek................................... 61 Todd McIntyre............................ 61 Ted Niemann.............................. 62 Dr. Sam Rankin........................... 62 Toby Spence............................... 62 Chris Stein................................... 62 2007 Inductees............................. Dean Barent............................... 63 Bill Boness.................................. 63 Kail Bowman............................... 63 Dawn Brammer.......................... 63 Mike Sorensen............................ 63 Josh Robinson............................. 64 Bob Waldner............................... 64 2008 Inductees............................. Wendy Grint Alexander.............. 64 Russ Anderson............................ 64 Tricia Lukawski ........................... 65 Con Marshall.............................. 65 David McCartney........................ 65 Steward Perez............................. 66 Felix Sanford............................... 66 Cory Shinkle................................ 66 Caryn Martin Ziettlow................ 66 2009 Inductees............................. Russ Crafton............................... 67 J.J. Feddersen............................. 67 Cody Gamble.............................. 68 Shauna Smith Golembiewski...... 68 Chad Johnson............................. 68 Joe Planansky............................. 68 Angela Woodworth Rhoades...... 68 Jay Rhoades................................ 69 Jason Robinson........................... 69 3 Hall of Fame Inductions by Year The Chadron State College Athletic Hall of Fame was begun in 1983 by Ross Armstrong, long-time CSC coach and administrator. After 25 years, the list of members has grown to 210, not counting the induction of three football teams in 1998. Those teams were the 1948 team coached by Ross Armstrong, the 1958 team coached by Bill Baker and the 1978 team coached by Jerry Welch. They are the only teams that have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. The following are the inductees by year: 1983: *Ross Armstrong, William Dean Armstrong, Jack Barker, Bob Baumann, George Bowman, Bill Bruer, Don Burrows, Al (Bud) Butterfield, Paul Carroll, Glen Cheney, Lyle Colerick, Archie Conn, Ivan Christian, Nels Christiansen, Ralph Garvin, Norman (Bud) Larsen, Verne Lewellen, Louis Mantalica, Harold (Pepper) Martin, John McGregor, LaVerne McKelvey, Milford (Dub) Miller, *Mack Peyton, Wilmer Planansky, Jim Ratelle, Ralph Shipp, Clinton Smith, J.C. Sollars, Ruffus Trapp, Clifford Weller, Orin Weymouth, Joe Zowada. 1984: Tom Blundell, Earl Buckingham, William Diercks, Wesley Evans, Frank Ferguson, Roy Houser, Keith Kyser, Larry Lytle, Virgil Meyer, Guido Santero, Leo Stangle, Bill Stephenson, Dale Tangeman, Lionel Wickard. 1985: Gene Alcorn, Robert Armstrong, Richard Boness, Dick Colerick, Bennie Francis, Larry Gold, Glen Groves, John McLane. 1986: Bob Burden, Morse Burley, Steve Gremm, Leonard Kaiser, Bob Lynch, Francis Rose, Jim Schwartz. 1987: Jack Dinnel, Jim Hampton, Bill Savage, Norm Wilson. 1988: Clifford Carroll, Rod Ehler, Francis Montague, Dean Palser. 1989: Tom Alcorn, Jim Hogeland, Pat Moore, Mike Winchell. 1990: Jerry Bartak, Larry Baumann, Lee Baumann, Rex Cadwallader, +Robert Isham, Joe Johnson, Carol Bachmann Marxsen, Bud Murray, Jack Needham, Gwen Reed, Don Reel, John Sides. 1991: *Bill Baker, *Marge Burkett, *Bill Giles, Brad Bartlett, Rod Borders, Gary Decker, Ted Erlewine, Louis Peters, Tim Turman, Rick Watson. 1992: Paul Colgate, Kevin Kirwan, Don Meter, Ken Ottoson, Bill Pile, Kathy Hanshew Runyan, Don Schmaderer, *Harry Simonton, *Loy Young. 1993: Rodney Cook, Dale Hendrickson, Charles McGaw, Nancy Cozad Newman, Jim Prell, Ken Parks, Mike Parks, *Larry Riley, Walt Stoeger. 1994: Randy Bauer, Rick Brown, Chad Emanuel, Kevin Emanuel, Scott Jones, Michael Kinnaird, *Wanda Rainbolt, Larry Ruzicka. 1995: Kent Halley, Rex Jones, Kathy Kennedy, Jean Fuchs Poythress, Martee Meter Pruitt, Terry Statton, Dale Williamson. 1996: Clint Belden, Doug Brandt, Dale Drahota, Lue Graesser, Sheryl Myers Levi, Rick Nave, Kelvin Sharp, Dale Timperley, Fran Wrage. 1997: Bob Brown, +Vern and +Frances Chicoine, Dean Churchill, Gene Emanuel, Duane Fritz, Shari Fisher Kopp, Bunny Pisacka, Dennis Schmitz. 1998: 1948, 1958 and 1978 football teams. 1999: Brad Fults, Ralph Gill, Ron Hoffman, Laurie Wickard Janicek, Doug Jones, Rick Mikelson, Sam Perkins, Monty Reher, Bill Ryan. 2000: Don Beebe, Steve Coon, Rick Daniels, Butch Lehmkuhler, Barb Zurn Rangel, Phil Sanders, Dick Steinke, Ken Thompson, Bart Voycheske, *Bob Wood. 2001: *Sparky Adams, Dan Barent, Maureen Cooney O’Dell, Ray Hoffman, Randy Jarzynka, Willy Long. 2002: Dennis Breinig, Jerry Carder, Dr. Pat Colgate, Carolyn Williams Hovendick, Terry Mastny, Joe McKay, Creighton Miller, Charlie Mitchell, Dave Smith 2003: Phil Haberman, Terry Hillman, Rich King, Randy Lotton, Don Mathis, Deb Spickelmier Noble, Jenifer Durbin Proud, Todd Pierce, Dean Rickard, Duane Smith, Gregg Stephens. 2004: Carrie Roberts Antonovich, Kerry Becker, Rod Bussinger, John Flynn, Lisa Brott Flynn, Leonard Hawkins, Mike Max, Jeff Parke. 2005: Steve Aggers, Corey Anderson, Lee Crawford, Murray Johnson, David Jones, Danny Moore, Mary Perrien, Rick Samuels. 2006: Roxie Boehm Arens, Scott Blachly, Dennis Fitzgerald, Jay Masek, Todd McIntyre, Ted Niemann, +Dr. Sam Rankin, Toby Spence, Chris Stein. 2007: Dean Barent, Bill Boness, Kail Bowman, *Dawn Brammer, Josh Robinson, Mike Sorensen, Bob Waldner. 2008: Wendy Grint Alexander, Russ Anderson, Tricia Lukawski, +Con Marshall, David McCartney, Steward Perez, Felix Sanford, Cory Shinkle, Caryn Martin Ziettlow. 2009: Russ Crafton, J.J. Feddersen, Cody Gamble, Shauna Smith Golembiewski, Chad Johnson, Joe Planansky, Angela Woodworth Rhoades, Jay Rhoades, Jason Robinson. 4 *CSC coaches. Brammer, Trapp, Riley and Wood also were CSC athletes. +Meritorious service Hall of Fame Alphabetical Roster -ASparky Adams......................................2001 Steve Aggers........................................2005 Gene Alcorn.........................................1985 Tom Alcorn..........................................1989 Wendy Grint Alexander.......................2008 Corey Anderson...................................2005 Russ Anderson.....................................2008 Carrie Roberts Antonovich..................2004 Roxie Boehm Arens.............................2006 Bob Armstrong....................................1985 Ross Armstrong...................................1983 William Dean Armstrong.....................1983 -BBill Baker..............................................1991 Jack Barker...........................................1983 Jerry Bartak.........................................1990 Brad Bartlett........................................1991 Dan Barent..........................................2001 Dean Barent........................................2007 Randy Bauer........................................1994 Bob Baumann......................................1983 Larry Baumann....................................1990 Lee Baumann.......................................1990 Kerry Becker........................................2004 Don Beebe...........................................2000 Clint Belden.........................................1996 Scott Blachly........................................2006 Tom Blundell........................................1984 Bill Boness...........................................2007 Dick Boness.........................................1985 Rod Borders.........................................1991 Kail Bowman........................................2007 George Bowman..................................1983 Dawn Brammer...................................2007 Doug Brandt........................................1996 Dennis Breinig.....................................2002 Bob Brown...........................................1997 Rick Brown...........................................1994 Bill Bruer..............................................1983 Earl Buckingham..................................1984 Bob Burden..........................................1986 Marge Burkett.....................................1991 Morse Burley.......................................1986 Don Burrows........................................1983 Rod Bussinger......................................2004 Al “Bud” Butterfield.............................1983 -CJerry Carder.........................................2002 Rex Cadwallader..................................1990 Clifford “Pete” Carroll..........................1988 Paul Carroll..........................................1983 Glenn Cheney......................................1983 Vern and Francis Chicoine...................1997 Ivan Christian.......................................1983 Nels Christiansen.................................1983 Dean Churchill.....................................1997 Dick Colerick........................................1985 Lyle “Moose” Colerick.........................1983 Pat Colgate..........................................2002 Paul Colgate.........................................1992 Archie Conn.........................................1983 Rod Cook.............................................1993 Steve Coon..........................................2000 Russ Crafton........................................2009 Lee Crawford.......................................2005 -DRick Daniels.........................................2000 Gary Decker.........................................1991 Bill Dierks.............................................1994 Jack Dinnel...........................................1987 Dale Drahota.......................................1996 -ERod Ehler.............................................1988 Chad Emanuel.....................................1994 Gene Emanuel.....................................1997 Kevin Emanuel.....................................1994 Ted Erlewine........................................1991 Wes Evans............................................1984 -FJ.J. Feddersen......................................2009 Frank Ferguson....................................1984 Dennis Fitzgerald.................................2006 John Flynn...........................................2004 Lisa Brott Flynn....................................2004 Bennie Francis ....................................1985 Duane Fritz..........................................1997 Brad Fults............................................1999 -GCody Gamble.......................................2009 Ralph Garvin........................................1983 Bill Giles...............................................1991 Ralph Gill.............................................1999 Shauna Smith Golembiewski...............2009 Larry Gold............................................1985 Lue Graesser........................................1996 Steve Gremm.......................................1986 Glenn Groves.......................................1985 -HPhil Haberman.....................................2003 Kent Halley..........................................1995 Jim Hampton.......................................1987 Leonard Hawkins.................................2004 Dale Hendrickson................................1993 Terry Hillman.......................................2003 Ray Hoffman........................................2001 Ron Hoffman.......................................1999 Jim Hogeland.......................................1989 Roy Houser..........................................1984 Carolyn Williams Hovendick................2002 -IBob Isham............................................1990 -JLaurie Wickard Janicek........................1999 Randy Jarzynka....................................2001 Chad Johnson......................................2009 Joe Johnson.........................................1990 Murray Johnson...................................2005 David Jones..........................................2005 Doug Jones..........................................1999 Scott Jones...........................................1994 -KLen Kaiser............................................1996 Kathy Kennedy.....................................1995 Rich King..............................................2003 Mike Kinnaird......................................1994 Kevin Kirwin.........................................1992 Shari Fisher Kopp.................................1997 Keith Kyser...........................................1984 -LNorman “Bud” Larsen.........................1983 Alan “Butch” Lehmkuhler....................2000 Sheryl Myers Levi................................1996 Verne Lewellen....................................1983 Willy Long............................................2001 Randy Lotton.......................................2003 Tricia Lukawski.....................................2008 Bob Lynch............................................1986 Larry Lytle............................................1984 -MLouis Mantalica...................................1983 Con Marshall.......................................2008 Harold “Pepper” Martin......................1983 Carol Bachman Marxsen.....................1990 Terry Mastny........................................2002 Jay Masek............................................2006 Don Mathis..........................................2003 Mike Max.............................................2004 David McCartney.................................2008 Chuck McGaw......................................1993 John McGregor....................................1983 Todd McIntyre.....................................2006 Joe McKay............................................2002 John McLane.......................................1985 LaVerne McKelvey...............................1983 Don Meter...........................................1992 Virgil Meyer.........................................1984 Rick Mikelson......................................1999 Creighton Miller..................................2002 Milford “Dub” Miller...........................1983 Charlie Mitchell...................................2002 Francis Montague................................1988 Danny Moore.......................................2005 Pat Moore............................................1989 Bud Murray..........................................1990 -NRick Nave.............................................1996 Jack Needham.....................................1990 Nancy Cozad Newman.........................1993 Ted Niemann.......................................2006 Deb Spickelmeier Noble......................2003 5 Hall of Fame Alphabetical Roster -PDean Palser..........................................1988 Jeff Parke.............................................2004 Ken Parks.............................................1993 Mike Parks...........................................1993 Steward Perez......................................2008 Mack Peyton........................................1983 Sam Perkins.........................................1999 Mary Perrien.......................................2005 Louis Peters.........................................1991 Todd Pierce..........................................2003 Bill Pile.................................................1992 Bunny Pisacka......................................1997 Joe Planansky......................................2009 Wilmer Planansky................................1983 Jean Fuchs Poythress...........................1999 Jim Prell...............................................1993 Martee Meter Pruitt............................1995 Jenifer Durbin Proud...........................2003 -RWanda Rainbolt...................................1994 Barb Zurn Rangel.................................2000 Sam Rankin..........................................2006 Jim Ratelle...........................................1983 Gwen Reed..........................................1990 Don Reel..............................................1990 Monty Reher.......................................1999 Angela Woodworth Rhoades...............2009 Jay Rhoades.........................................2009 Larry Riley............................................1993 Dean Rickard.......................................2003 Jason Robinson....................................2009 Josh Robinson......................................2007 Kathy Hanshew Runyan.......................1992 Larry Ruzicka.......................................1994 Bill Ryan...............................................1999 -SRick Samuels........................................2005 Phil Sanders.........................................2000 Bill Savage............................................1988 Don Schmaderer..................................1992 Dennis Schmitz....................................1997 Jim Schwartz........................................1986 Kelvin Sharp.........................................1996 Cory Shinkle.........................................2008 Ralph Shipp..........................................1983 John Sides............................................1990 Harry Simonton...................................1992 Clinton Smith.......................................1983 Dave Smith..........................................2002 Duane Smith........................................2003 J.C. Sollars............................................1983 Mike Sorensen.....................................2007 Toby Spence........................................2006 Leo Stangle..........................................1984 Terry Statton........................................1995 Chris Stein............................................2006 Dick Steinke.........................................2000 Gregg Stephens...................................2003 Bill Stephenson....................................1984 Walt Stoeger........................................1993 -TKen Thompson.....................................2000 Dale Timperley....................................1996 Ruffas Trapp.........................................1983 Tim Turman.........................................1991 -VBart Voycheske....................................2000 -WBob Waldner........................................2007 Rick Watson.........................................1991 Clifford “Bub” Weller...........................1983 Orin Weymouth...................................1983 Lonny Wickard.....................................1984 Dale Williamson..................................1995 Norm Wilson.......................................1987 Mike Winchell......................................1989 Bob Wood............................................2000 Fran Wrage..........................................1996 -YLoy Young............................................1992 -ZCaryn Martin Ziettlow.........................2008 Joe Zowada..........................................1983 Ross Armstrong - Hall of Fame founder The venerable Ross O. Armstrong had many achievements during his more than 50 years at Chadron State College. One of them was founding the Athletic Hall of Fame in 1983. Armstrong was a graduate of the University of Iowa where he played football and basketball. After coaching in high schools in Montana and Iowa, he came to Chadron State in 1933 to establish a Physical Education Department and to serve as an assistant coach. He became the head basketball coach in 1935 and coached the sport through the 1949-50 season. His basketball teams won 157 games and lost 76. During a three-year stretch just prior to World War II, his teams went 16-4, 15-3 and 17-4. The latter team (194142) represented Nebraska at the NAIA National Tournament. The first year after the war, with most of the same players in the lineup, the Eagles were 17-1 under Armstrong’s guidance. He became of head football coach in 1938 and directed that sport through the 1952 season. His greatest success as a football coach came in the late 1940s, when three of his teams compiled a 21-5 record. Two of them tied for conference championships. Armstrong served as the college’s athletic director 1937-70, stepping down due to state-mandated age requirements for administrators. He also served as executive director of the Chadron State Foundation from its founding in the early 1960s until his death in January 1990 at age 84. In addition, Armstrong was chairman of NAIA District 11, made up of about a dozen Nebraska colleges, for 12 years. He was 6 Ross Armstrong holds the trophies the 1947 and 1948 CSC football teams won as conference co-champions. inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame in 1965, received Chadron State’s Distinguished Service Award in 1982 and was inducted posthumously into the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame in 1991. It’s possible that no one ever associated with Chadron State was more widely known or had more friends than Ross Armstrong. He and his wife, Ruby, had been married for more than 50 years when she died in 1984. They had two sons, including Bob, who is also in the CSC Hall of Fame. 1983 Charter Inductees These were the charter inductees into the Chadron State College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1983. In front, from left, are Dora Taylor, sister of Clinton Smith; Ross Armstrong; Ralph Shipp; Lucille Childers, sister of Orin Weymouth; Bea Miller, widow of Dub Miller; Mary Dee Peyton, widow of Mack Peyton; Paul Carroll and George Bowman. In the second row are Lyle Colerick, Jim Ratelle, Bob Baumann, Louis Mantalica, Glen Cheney, Ivan Christian, Archie Conn, J.C. Sollars, John McGregor and Dean Armstrong. In the back are Pepper Martin, Jack Barker, Bud Butterfield, Bub Larsen, Nels Christiansen, Joe Zowada, Verne Lewellen and Wilmer Planansky. William Dean Armstrong Known as Dean, he was the younger brother of Ross Armstrong. He came from their home in Iowa to attend Chadron State in the fall of 1936. He played both football and basketball for the Eagles. He was the leading scorer on the basketball team his final three years, averaging about 10 points a game during his career. He earned all-conference in basketball in 1936 and in football as a senior in 1939. After graduating from CSC in 1940, he taught and coached at Mountain View, Wyo., for one year before joining the Marine Air Corps. He became a flight squadron commander and was a combat pilot for four years during World War II and the Korean War. He retired from the Marines as a lieutenant colonel. After that, he was a professor at Pepperdine University for eight years and later was a counselor in the Orange County Juvenile Hall. He received Chadron State’s Distinguished Service Award in May 1989. Jack Barker A native of Alliance, Barker was an excellent running back on the outstanding football teams at Chadron State in the late 1940s after serving as an Army paratrooper who jumped into France on D-Day on June 6, 1944. He was wounded twice, earning two Purple Hearts and three Bronze Stars that were given for bravery. Barker earned first-team all-Nebraska College Conference honors in both 1948 and ’49. In ’48, he set the CSC record for longest kickoff return for a touchdown, 82 yards against Hastings College. Sixty seasons later, that return still is the fourth longest in CSC annals. He also was a long jumper for the CSC track and field team. During a 1985 interview, Gene Alcorn, one of the linemen who blocked for Barker, called him “as good as Johnny Rodgers (Nebraska Heisman Trophy winner in 1972).” “I know that’s a strong statement, but that’s the way I feel,” Alcorn said. “He was terrific. He could twist and turn and lower his shoulder and knock them down.” Alcorn added that during a game at Wayne, Barker’s teammates decided not to block for him on a punt return because they didn’t think he was showing enough appreciation for what the line was doing. Barker still carried the punt all the way for a touchdown, Alcorn said. Barker lived most of his adult life in California, and taught and coached at Carmichael, Calif., High School for 28 years. He died at age 71 in 1996. 7 Bob Baumann Upon the recommendation of a Chadron State graduate, Baumann came to Chadron State after graduating from Cushing, Iowa, High School in 1939. He lived in Ross and Ruby Armstrong’s basement much of the time he attended CSC and did chores around the house to pay his rent. Baumann was an exceptional athlete. He was the floor general and sparkplug on four outstanding basketball teams at CSC. Teams he played on had records of 16-4 in 193940, 15-3 in 1940-41 and 17-4 in 194142 before he and his teammates were rushed into action during World War II. The 1941-42 team represented Bob Baumann (center) was a charter inductee into Nebraska at the NAIA the CSC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1983 while his sons Larry (left) and Lee were inducted in 1990. National Tournament in Kansas City. While the Eagles lost 34-29, it was to San Diego State, the defending national champions. That was the last basketball game the Eagles played until 1945 after the war had ended. The ’45-’46 team that included Baumann and several of the other veterans went 17-1, losing only to Peru State, which got the bid for the national tournament. The CSC teams he played on had a 65-12 cumulative record. Baumann had not played football in high school, but caught the winning touchdown pass during a 6-0 victory over Colorado State College (now University of Northern Colorado) in 1942. He also was the leadoff hitter and shortstop on the Chadron town teams sponsored by the Elks Lodge in the late 1940s and early ‘50s. Baumann and his wife, Mary “Babe”, owned and operated F&M Bootery in Chadron for about 40 years, were avid Eagles’ fans. He also was a Chadron civic leader. Their sons Larry and Lee were inducted into the CSC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1990. Bob died in June 2004. George Bowman Bowman was a native of Victor, Iowa, a town not far from Brooklyn, Iowa, Ross Armstrong’s hometown. Armstrong encouraged him to enroll at CSC. Bowman, a 5-foot-8 setshot artist, was the second leading scorer on CSC’s basketball teams four straight years from 1936-37 to 1939-40. He scored 698 points during that period, an average of about 8.5 per game. The Eagles had a 60-22 record those four years. His Hall of Fame induction information stated that Bowman earned all-conference honors each of his final three years with the Eagles. Following graduation, he taught and coached one year at Bob 8 Baumann’s hometown of Cushing, Iowa, then served in the Army during World War II. After the war ended, he taught and coached in Iowa high schools, including 33 years at Iowa City High. Bill Bruer Bruer is arguably the most outstanding athlete ever to come from Crawford. He lettered in football, basketball and track and field all three years he attended Chadron State. He was an all-conference selection at least twice in both football and basketball and received All-American recognition in both sports before graduating in 1942. His football exploits included catching a touchdown pass and then throwing a 43-yard end-around pass that set up the Eagles’ other TD during a 12-9 win over the Wyoming Cowboys in 1940. That same season he threw another end around pass for the game’s only touchdown in a 6-0 win over Wayne State. The Eagles were 48-11 during his three years as a post player for the basketball teams. He led the team in scoring in 1940-41 at 14.2 points a game and again in 1941-42, when he averaged 12.7 points. The Eagles won the Nebraska Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title and represented the state at the NAIA National Tournament in Kansas City his senior year. Bruer also won the shot and the discus at the conference track meet in 1941. After the war, he was a coach, principal and superintendent of schools in Montana for about 10 years before spending eight years at Western Montana College in Dillon and 18 years as dean of students and then as a professor and division chairman at Columbia Basin College at Pasco, Wash. Don Burrows Not much is known about this charter member of the CSC Hall of Fame. He was from Mitchell and earned four letters in track and two in football while at CSC before graduating in 1932. He was the captain of the 1932 track team. Prior to serving in World War II, he taught and coached at Gurley, Henry and Elsie, all in Nebraska. After the war, he earned a master’s degree from Colorado State College (now University of Northern Colorado) and coached the freshman football team three years. He then taught industrial arts and vocational education for 25 years at Sidney. He was living in Denver when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Al (Bud) Butterfield A native of Rushville and a Marine during World War II, Butterfield played football for the Eagles from 1945 through ’48, earning all-conference honors as fullback and lineman the final two seasons. The Eagles were 7-1 and 7-1-1 those two seasons. He graduated in 1949, and spent the next 11 years as a teacher and coach at Torrington, Wyo. He was the Trailblazers’ head football and track coach seven of those years. His football teams reached the state championship game four times. In 1960, Butterfield and his wife moved to Dickinson, N.D., where they owned and operated a truck stop for 13 years. He then served as the county building and zoning inspector before being elected county superintendent of schools in 1980. Paul Carroll Carroll was a standout on the 1920 Cambridge football team that beat Omaha Commerce (soon to be called Technical High) 10-0 for the state championship. Since he reportedly weighed only about 120 pounds, he worked at the bakery and drug store in his hometown for three years until he weighed 140 pounds, then enrolled at CSC in 1924. Although he started all four years at CSC, he didn’t get to play in the 3-0 victory over the University of Colorado that opened the 1925 season. That’s because he had purchased new shoes and was sidelined by blisters. Carroll earned all-conference honors three times, was captain of the 1926 Eagles and wrapped up his career in ’27, when they went 7-2. After graduating with a degree in chemistry, Carroll taught and coached at Gordon for eight years, Chadron for 15 years and Hay Springs for seven years. Although he was in his late 30s when the United States entered World War II, Carroll spent three years in the Navy. After retiring from teaching, he lived in Chadron and often attended Chadron State athletic events. He seldom would be drawn into discussions about how the highly-successful teams he played on would have fared against those he watched the next seven decades. About all he would say was “For that era, we had a real good team.” He died in 1997 at age 94. Glen Cheney A native of Lead, S.D., Cheney was an athlete at CSC in the late 1920s and early ‘30s. Not much is known about his exploits. The form he filled out prior to his Hall of Fame induction said he earned all-conference in football three times and twice in basketball. After graduating in 1933, he returned to Lead and worked for Homestake Mining Co. for four years. He then taught and coached at Morrill before going to Rawlins, Wyo., in 1940 to teach math, science and industrial arts and to coach. He said his 1947 football team won the Wyoming state championship and many of the projects produced by his industrial arts students won top honors in state competition. He was on the Rawlins faculty 32 years before retiring in 1972. Ivan Christian Like several of his teammates at CSC, Christian was a native of Bayard. He was a center and an end on the Eagles’ outstanding football teams in the 1920s, playing each position two years. The Eagles were 30-7 while he played, topped by the 3-0 win over the University of Colorado and the 9-0 season in 1925. Christian earned all-conference honors as a senior in 1927. After graduating in 1928, Christian coached at Mitchell for three years and Gering 10 years. He was then a principal or superintendent for nearly 30 years at Gering, Bayard and Kimball. He was president of District VI of the Nebraska State Education Association in 1947 and was a Gering city councilman for 10 years. Nels Christiansen Christiansen was from Red Lodge., Mont., where his high school coach was Bill Bruer, also a charter inductee into the CSC Athletic Hall of Fame. Christiansen poured in 1,372 points during his four years on the CSC basketball team. That was the most in Eagles’ history when Christiansen graduated and is still 12th on the career scoring list. He averaged 12 points as a freshman in 1948-49, 15.4 as a sophomore, 16.3 as a junior and 16.8 as a senior. The team his senior year in 1951-52 went 18-7 and represented Nebraska at the NAIA National Tournament in Kansas City, where the Eagles lost to the eventual champion, Southwest Missouri State. After teaching and coaching in high schools for a few years, Christiansen was on the physical education faculty at Montana Nels Christiansen gives his approval State-Billings for 38 to when his bronze was unveiled in the years, including eight Montana State-Billings gymnasium. years as head track coach and 17 years as assistant basketball coach. He also officiated high school and college football games spanning from 1948 while he was a student at CSC until 1991. During his career, he worked 10 Montana high school championship games. In addition, he was a starter at the state track meets from 1968 through 1982 and was a starter at the NAIA National Track Meets in 1968 and 1972. The CSC Athletic Hall of Fame is one of five into which Christiansen was inducted. The others are the Montana Officials’ Association, the Montana State Golf Association, the National Football Foundation for his football officiating and the one at Montana State-Billings for his long service to the school. His bronze bust is one of four in the lobby of the MSU-Billings gymnasium. He died July 31, 2008 at age 78. Lyle “Moose” Colerick Colerick played end and was one of the outstanding football players on the Eagles’ excellent teams in the late 1940s. Those teams went 21-4-1 and shared two conference championships. In 1944, his first year out of high school, Colerick played football at the University of Nebraska, which did not discontinue its athletic programs during World War II. He then spent two years in the Navy and worked for a year before coming to Chadron State. Colerick earned all-conference honors all three years at CSC and received Little All-American honorable mention his senior year in 1949. Following a tryout, he reportedly was offered a contract to play for the Chicago Cardinals in the National Football League in 1951, but he did not accept. Later that year, he went to work for Schlumberger Well Services and lived in several Rocky Mountain states before settling in Farmington, N.M. After retiring from the firm in 1972, he opened a real estate appraisal business in Farmington. After he graduated from CSC, Moose and his wife, Carlyle, a native of Broadwater, were active in the Purple Passion group for more than 50 years. He died in 2006 at age 79. Archie Conn A native of Bayard, Conn earned four letters in both football and basketball at Chadron State before graduating in 1933. Not much is known about his exploits as an athlete, but he certainly was a successful teacher, coach and administrator. He is best known for coaching the Chadron State Campus Laboratory 9 School (generally referred to as Chadron Prep) basketball teams from 1947, until the high school portion closed in 1961. His teams compiled a 253-64 record, won 10 conference championships, nine district titles and three Class C state championships. All of the state championship teams, in 1950, 1952 and 1955, were undefeated. Conn and all three teams were inducted into the Nebraska High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2001. He also coached the Prep football teams six years, compiling a 28-8-2 record. Both the 1948 and ’49 teams were undefeated. After the entire Campus Laboratory School closed in 1964, Conn joined the education faculty at the University of South DakotaSpringfield. He received Chadron State’s Distinguished Service Award in 1976. He died in October 1984 at age 78. Garvin was the “other halfback” during the 1920s when LaVerne McKelvey was the star on Chadron State football teams. He didn’t as many accolades as McKelvey, but apparently was an excellent player. The Eagles were 8-1 in 1924, 9-0 in ’25, 6-4 in ’26 and 7-2 in ’27, when he played. Garvin also earned two letters as a sprinter on the track team. He was born in Kearney, but graduated from Alliance High School. He was living in Omaha when he died on July 31, 1984, but was buried in the Greenwood Cemetery in Chadron. His wife, Blanche, was a Chadron native. following spring. He had planned to enroll at CSC after graduating from high school, but World War II interrupted those plans. He became a staff sergeant with Patton’s 16th Armored Tank Division that drove the Nazis out of eastern Europe in the spring of 1945. After graduating from CSC, he taught and coached at Hay Springs and Chadron. During his seven years as the Chadron coach, his basketball teams had a 122-35 record, qualified for the state tournament three times and won the Class B state championship in 1960-61. He then was the Chadron Middle School principal two years and superintendent at Rushville five years and at Mitchell nearly 20 years. Lewellen has an exemplary record of service to Chadron State. He has been the leader of the Purple Passion group that is made up largely of CSC alums from the late ‘40s and meets annually at various locations in the western half of the nation. In addition, he and his wife, Irma, have established scholarships to CSC that are available to seniors from six Panhandle communities where he and his family have lived. He also has served on the board of directors of the Chadron State Foundation and received the college’s Distinguished Service Award in 1988. He has also established close ties with the citizens of Plazen, Czechoslovakia, one of the towns his tank division liberated. Beginning in the 1990s, he made 13 trips in the month of May to help Plazen celebrate its freedom. Norman (Bud) Larsen Louis Mantalica Ralph Garvin One of CSC’s all-time great basketball players, Larsen scored 1,605 points during his four years (1949-53) at CSC for an average of 17 points a game. He was the Eagles’ career scoring leader for 26 years before Steve Coon finally passed him. He still ranks third on the all-time list. He was the first CSC player to average more than 20 points a game. He did it as a senior in 1952-53 after averaging 18.8 the previous season. The Eagles, led by Larsen and Nels Christiansen, represented Nebraska at the NAIA National Tournament in 1951-52. A native of Springview, where he now lives, Larsen was a three-time all-conference selection at CSC and was a second-team All-American his senior year. After graduating, Larsen coached Valentine and Alliance basketball teams that reached the state tournament. He later was an administrator at several Nebraska schools and the Pine Ridge Job Corps Center. Another of his life-long interests has been raising and racing thoroughbreds. His horses ran on nearly all the tracks in the Midwest and in Arizona. He was selected as Nebraska’s Thoroughbred Breeder of the Year in 1984. His wife, Marilyn, is from Chadron. Verne Lewellen He played halfback on offense and in the secondary on defense for the great Chadron State football teams of the late 1940s. A highlight occurred in the final game of his career on Thanksgiving Day 1949, when he intercepted four passes while playing in the Bean Bowl in Scottsbluff against Idaho State. Only one CSC player, Keven Logan in 1985, has ever matched that feat. Lewellen is a native of Minatare where he played on the football team that was accorded the Class C state championship and an all-class top 10 ranking his senior year in 1941. He was a member of the track team that tied for the state title the 10 Originally from Lead, S.D., Mantalica earned all-conference honors in both football and basketball at Chadron State. Both teams won conference championships his final year in 1933. The football team he quarterbacked was 6-1 in ’33, losing only to the University of Colorado. Mantalica graduated from Loyola University School of Law in 1941. Following service in the Navy in World War II, he practiced law in the Los Angeles area and was involved in many civic activities. He received CSC’s Distinguished Service Award in 1985. Harold (Pepper) Martin Martin, a native of Mitchell, was a three-time all-conference lineman for the Eagles on the great teams in the late 1940s. He also received honorable mention All-American honors one season and participated in track and field. One of his teammates, Verne Lewellen, called Martin “a really tough guy.” After graduating in 1950, Martin taught and coached at Rushville for four years. His football teams had a 22-game winning streak. The 1951 team went 8-0 and averaged 51 points a game. Martin was a teacher and coach for five years at Carson City, Nev., before spending the next 22 years as a teacher in Reno, Nev. Martin and his wife, Helen, also owned a couple of businesses in Reno before they retired in 1983. John McGregor He may be the only athlete in Chadron State history who was recruited by the college’s president. It occurred in the summer of 1931. McGregor had completed two years at Wentworth Military Academy in Missouri and was planning to attend the University of Wyoming. His father had recently been named the Bureau of Indian Affairs superintendent on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Late in the summer, the father and son decided to stay overnight in Chadron while en route to Laramie. From their vantage point in the Blaine Hotel downtown, they noticed footballs in the air at the south end of town and went to investigate. The Eagles were practicing. When the McGregors arrived on campus to watch, they were approached by CSC President Robert Elliott, who, as was his custom, was attending practice. Elliott told the McGregors that Chadron State was a fine school and said John should attend it. His father thought that was a good idea since it was close to the family’s new home in Pine Ridge. They went to the Western Union office in Chadron and sent a telegram to Wentworth requesting that a transcript be sent to the registrar at CSC. They also wired Wyoming that John would not be attending there. McGregor played both football and basketball at CSC. He earned all-conference honors in basketball both years he played and was the Nebraska Intercollegiate Athletic Association’s scoring champion on the CSC 17-4 basketball team his senior year in 1932-33. He also was the college’s intramurals champion in tennis. After graduating, he coached at Batesland, S.D., before working in several Civilian Conservation Corps camps. He was an Army officer during both World War II and the Korean War and later was a supervisor for the U.S. Postal Service in Seattle. He and his wife bequeathed $10,000 to both the CSC Rodeo Club and the Mari Sandoz High Plains Heritage Center. LaVerne McKelvey McKelvey has long been recognized as one of Chadron State’s all-time great football players. He was a triple-threat who earned all-conference honors all five years (yes, five) that he played at CSC. The Eagles were 24-1-1 and outscored their opponents 670-55 during the final three years he played for them. Listed at 5-foot-8, 175 pounds, McKelvey also helped hand the Eagles a loss. That was in 1919 when he was a junior at Bayard High School. The Tigers had beaten Sidney for the western Nebraska high school championship the previous week and then beat the Eagles 3-0 on McKelvey’s field goal. After the game, CSC officials persuaded McKelvey and teammate Ruffus Trapp, a standout lineman, to join the Eagles once they completed high school. The number of yards and touchdowns that McKelvey accumulated are not known. Game stories in those days seldom included such details. For example, the story on the 94-0 win over Nebraska Central in 1923 said only that “McKelvey collected an impressive array of touchdowns.” But he definitely helped the Eagles fly high. In his first season, he caught a pass for a touchdown and kicked the extra point as CSC edged Black Hills State 7-6. Against Nebraska Wesleyan, he returned the opening kickoff 75 yards for a TD and kicked a field goal. That same season, he returned an interception 70 yards against Kearney State. In 1922, McKelvey ran 40 yards for a touchdown against Kearney, had touchdown runs of 20, 35 and 70 yards against Black Hills, kicked three field goals in the 9-0 win over South Dakota Tech and scored two TDs and booted a field goal against Wayne State His heroics in 1923 included a dropkicked field goal from the 40-yard line that defeated “seemingly invincible” Grand Island LaVerne McKelvey College 3-0. He also kicked a 20-yard field goal and returned an interception 50 yards during a 10-10 tie with Peru State in the season finale that left the Eagles with a 7-0-1 record. He also kicked a field goal, scored a touchdown and was credited with an 80-yard punt against Kearney. In 1924, the Chadron Journal, while reporting on the all-state team, simply said, “McKelvey, a brilliant, versatile halfback of unquestioned ability, (was) placed on the first team as a matter of course.” The Eagles went 9-0-0 in 1925. They opened the season with the monumental 3-0 victory over the University of Colorado in Boulder, thanks to McKelvey’s field goal. He also drop-kicked field goals against both Wayne State and Hastings and had a 50-yard touchdown run against South Dakota Tech. In his final game, CSC defeated Peru State 13-3 with McKelvey scoring all 13 points. He returned a punt 55 yards for a touchdown, added the extra point and then booted 24 and 30-yard field goals. He also had an 80-yard punt, the game-story reported. At the end of the season, the Journal sportwriter said: “McKelvey, unquestionably the outstanding Eagle player, exemplified throughout the season the boundless possibilities of the triple threat. Yet even more conspicious than his running ability was the kicking of the Eagle quarterback. If he had been unable to gain a yard—and he gained many of them—the punting of McKelvey stamped him as a star of outstanding magnitude.” Not much is known about McKelvey after his football career ended. He apparently had a successful real estate and insurance business in Chadron for a few years, but died before he had reached middle age. He received a long-overdue honor in 2000 when he was inducted into the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame. 11 Milford “Dub” Miller Long regarded as one of the Eagles’ all-time great athletes, Miller not only starred in football and basketball for the Eagles, but also played in the line for two National Football League teams for three years before a knee injury ended his career. Miller, who was 6-foot-2, 225 pounds while playing for the Eagles, moved from Litchfield, Neb., to Crawford in 1929 and helped the Rams go undefeated in football that fall. After skipping school for a year, he enrolled at Chadron State in 1931, where he crashed the football team’s starting lineup early in the season by bumping a senior. He made the all-conference team all four years at CSC. At the end of his college career, the Chadron Chronicle reported that he had been on every all-opponent team chosen by the Eagles’ opponents. Miller helped the Eagles win the conference football championship in 1933 in both basketball and football. The CSC football team lost only to the University of Colorado that season and went 6-2 his senior year in ’34. As his college career was winding down, Miller was contacted by Brooklyn in what would become the NFL. Ruffus Trapp, the CSC head coach, reportedly told Miller that if the pros were interested in him he might as well play for the Chicago Bears since they were the world champions. “So I wrote to them, they offered me a contract and I took it,” Miller said during an interview in the early 1970s. His salary was $100 a game his rookie year in 1935. He got a $10 per game raise the next year. Miller recalled that there were three tackles on the Bears’ 28-man roster his rookie year and they played both offense and defense. He said he played as much as the other two. In the next to last game his rookie year, Miller suffered a knee injury that would cut short his pro career. After the knee was reinjured early in 1936, Miller was traded to the cross-town Chicago Cardinals. He related that his leg was so heavily taped the remainder of the season that he could hardly bend it. He was forced to quit before the season ended, after being hit so hard that the tape tore in two. Miller returned to the Cardinals and played all of the 1937 season, but he said the game was no longer fun because the injury hampered his mobility. After the season, the Cardinals offered to renew Miller’s contract, but at the same time recommended he give up football while he could still walk. He took their advice. He walked with a limp the rest of his life. Miller served in Europe during World War II. He owned and operated a tavern in Chadron for more than 30 years prior to his death in April 1981. He was inducted into the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame in 2004. Mack Peyton Peyton was a long-time baseball and basketball coach and athletic director at Chadron State. His untimely death in 1980 following a heart attack was a jolt to the college. After graduating from high school at Richmond, Ind., Peyton received a basketball scholarship to Indiana University, where he spent his freshman year, just as the United States was becoming involved in World War II. He spent the next 46 months in the Army. He was stationed in Casper part of that time, and that’s why he enrolled at the University of Wyoming when the war ended. 12 Dub Miller, left, studies the plaque he was given by Mack Peyton. Miller’s plaque honored him for his pro football career. He was the first CSC professional football player. Peyton was a three-year starter in both baseball and basketball for the Cowboys. He led the baseball team in hitting all three years and was captain of the basketball team two years. In 1949, at age 25, he signed a bonus contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers. But after playing in the minors two years, he turned to coaching. He launched his career in education at Rock Springs High School in Wyoming, where his first basketball team won the state championship and seven of his nine teams finished among the top four at the state tournament. His career record at Rock Springs was 202-56. He left there in 1958 to become the basketball coach at New Mexico Military Institute. He came to Chadron State in 1960. Peyton coached the CSC baseball teams for 10 years and the basketball teams for 14 years. His 190-159 record as the basketball coach makes him both the winninest and losingest coach in school history. Nine of his teams won more games than they lost. His best team was the 1966-67 quintet that finished 22-6 and represented Nebraska at the NAIA National Tournament. The Eagles were 19-5 the previous year and 18-5 the following year. He was twice named Nebraska’s small college coach-of-the-year. In 1970 when Ross Armstrong became 65 and was forced to step down from administrative posts, Peyton succeeded him as the CSC athletic director. Peyton also replaced Armstrong as chairman of NAIA District 11 that was made up of about a dozen Nebraska schools. Peyton was an improvisor and a worker. He founded the college’s outdoor education program that included sixth-grade camps that were annually attended by more than 1,200 students from area schools in the late ‘60s and ‘70s. During the summers in that era, he also led a 10-day stay for college students in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming. He helped put Chadron State on the map by founding and directing the CSC Holiday Basketball Tournament that utilized Chadron’s three gymnasiums and became the nation’s largest. At its peak, it featured 16 college and 32 high school teams and a total of 72 games over a three-day span. His widow, Mary Dee, lives in Lexington. Wilmer Planansky A native of Hemingford, Planansky was only 16 and had just $15 when he came to Chadron State in 1936. Years later he recalled that he needed 10 more dollars to pay his bills. He was about to head back home when Ross Armstrong loaned him the money he needed to stay in school. Planansky was a four-year starter in both football and basketball for the Eagles. He also earned two letters in track and field as a high jumper, pole vaulter, javelin thrower and the anchor on the mile relay team. In 2008, he said basketball was probably his best sport. The Eagles were 60-22 during his basketball career. He also was an officer in several college organizations, was named to “Who’s Who” and earned a private pilot’s license through the Civilian Pilot Program at the Chadron airport while he was attending CSC. After teaching and coaching one year at Bridgeport, Planansky went to the University of Wyoming for more flight training and airplane mechanical training. He then spent three years in the Navy. Beginning in 1947, Planansky was a physical education instructor at El Monte School District in California until retiring in 1980. The school system was one of California’s largest, and he gained widespread recognition for developing an exemplary intramural program that school administrators said improved discipline and raised the morale among the students. He received the coveted Golden Apple Award. He also gave many years of service to his church and helped with Special Olympics. Golf is another of Planansky’s passions. Well into his 80s, he and his wife, Bobbi, returned several times to western Nebraska to visit relatives and so Wilmer could play in the Don Beebe Golf Classic at CSC. Jim Ratelle Ratelle beat the odds to become a standout football player for the Eagles. Before he enrolled at Chadron State in the fall of 1946, his only experience with the sport had come seven years earlier when as a high school freshman he played six-man football at Glenrock, Wyo. , and loved the game. “I loved to hit. I guess that was the caveman in me,” he said But next year, Ratelle’s family moved to Long Beach, Calif., and he was cut from the football teams at two large high schools, dropped out of school and joined the Navy as soon as possible when the U.S. became involved in World War II. He spent the next four years going through some hair-raising experiences on submarines. A few months after he was discharged from the Navy in March 1946, Ratelle received a call from a cousin, Harold Reid, who was attending Chadron State. Reid had told Ross Armstrong about Ratelle’s interest in playing football despite his lack of experience. Armstrong said he was welcome to use his GI bill to enroll at CSC and try out for the team. Ratelle recalled in a 2004 interview that he had no idea what position he wanted to play. But midway through the ’46 season when the Eagles’ starting center got hurt, Ratelle took over. He also played linebacker. He shared playing time with another WWII veteran, Bob Burden, in 1947 and filled both positions in 1948 and ’49. He earned all-conference as a senior. The CSC yearbook called him “The hardest hitting linebacker in the conference” and he was the Eagles’ nominee for lineman of the year. Ratelle’s employment record was similar to his football experience. After graduating from CSC, he moved to California and took what was supposed to be a temporary job with Compressor Services Co. , which had a handful of employees who produced and sold compressors. When he retired 40 years later he was vice president of operations and the firm had 90 employees. Clinton Smith Smith was an outstanding center on several of the Eagles’ great teams in the 1920s. He earned all-conference honors in both 1924 and 1925 and was captain of the undefeated ’25 team that beat the University of Colorado 3-0. Like several of his teammates, he is credited with lettering in football five years. During the 50-year reunion of the 1925 team, Smith related that when he showed the trophy the Eagles had won for being conference champions to Robert Elliott, the college president remarked, “And, just think, that didn’t cost us a dime.” “I wanted to hit him over the head with it,” Smith said. “We had sweat blood to win that trophy.” There’s more to the story about Smith’s contribution to the athletic legacy of Chadron State. Smith was born in Crawford, but his family moved to Chadron when he was a youth. He apparently robbed an eagles’ nest and kept one of the eaglets as a pet. As the bird grew, legend has it that he took it to the Chadron State football games. Pretty soon, the bird was adopted as the team’s mascot and people started calling Chadron State “the Eagles.” Shortly after graduating from CSC, Smith moved to Grand Junction, Colo., where he established a thriving insurance agency and was a community leader. J.C. Sollars Sollars was one of a handful of traditional-age college students to play on the outstanding football teams that Ross Armstrong coached in the late 1940s. The others were World War II veterans who were at least five or six years older than Sollars. A native of Riverton, Wyo., Sollars recalled in a 2001 interview that as a freshman in 1947, he was terribly homesick and might not have remained in college if his name hadn’t been on the list to travel to Rapid City to play South Dakota Mines in the seasonopener. He said he had never practiced with the first-team during the preseason, but just before the game he learned that he would start at both offensive guard and either linebacker or defensive tackle, depending on which defense the Eagles used. Sollars said his status apparently changed because a teammate was injured in practice just prior to the game. That was the first of 37 consecutive games that Sollars started during his four years on the team. He was the only Chadron State football player to earn first-team all-conference honors four times during the post-World War II era until Marvin Jackson and Danny Woodhead accomplished that in the 2000s. As a senior in 1950, Sollars also was selected as the Nebraska College Conference’s outstanding lineman, was listed by Sport Magazine as one of the top 40 offensive guards in the nation regardless of the size of school where they played and was named to Tom Harmon’s Little All-American team. For 52 years, Sollars also owned the CSC record for longest return of a fumble for 52 years after rambling 68 yards for a 13 touchdown against Peru State as a freshman. After graduating in 1951, Sollars spent 44 months in the Army, including two years as an artillery commander in Korea. He then returned to Wyoming and taught, coached and was principal at Morton, was director of federal programs on the Wind River Reservation, director of instruction at Wyoming Indian High School and owned an insurance agency in Lander. Ralph Shipp Shipp was a farm boy from the Hay Springs area. He attended high school at the Nebraska School of Agriculture at Curtis, graduating in 1919. He worked in a store in Hay Springs the following year, then enrolled at Chadron State in the fall of 1920 after obtaining a job as the “soda squirt” at the Corner Drug Store in downtown Chadron. Shipp said he made the Chadron State football team by tackling the coach, who was Ralph West. He stated that after CSC was defeated 33-0 by South Dakota Mines in the season opener, Coach West was trying to teach his backs how to block. To demonstrate, West took over at quarterback during practice. On two consecutive plays Shipp, who was at defensive end, avoided the blockers and made hard tackles on the coach. After the second one, West got up and said, “Shipp, anyone who can tackle like that can play end.” So he started at end all four years and earned all-conference honors in 1923, when the Eagles won seven straight before tying Peru State 10-10 in the season finale. After coaching one year at Gordon, and eight years at Agra, Kan., Shipp spent most of his career working for the Soil Conservation Service. He and his wife, Claire, were living in Boulder, Colo., when he died in July 1996. Ruffus Trapp Trapp was LaVerne McKelvey’s teammate on the Bayard High School football team that defeated Chadron State 3-0 in 1919. After they graduated in 1921, they came to Chadron State and helped the Eagles become a gridiron power. Trapp was a lineman, who, according to available records, was a threetime all-conference choice. He was another five-year football letterman and also lettered four times in basketball and three times in track and field. In 1930, Trapp became the Eagles’ coach in all sports. He remained the basketball coach through the 1934-35 and the football coach through 1937. Ross Armstrong succeeded him in both sports. Trapp’s main claim to fame as a coach was winning both the conference basketball and football championships during the 1933 calendar year. The 1932-33 basketball team went 17-4 and the football team was 6-1 the next fall. Clifford Weller Football was a passion for Weller. He loved the game all of his life, and he lived to be nearly 90. He was born in Illinois and lived in Indiana until his family moved to western Nebraska in the early 1920s when his father helped develop Lake Minatare. The family lived in Minatare, but the high school there did not have a football team, so he attended Scottsbluff High in the fall of 1923 so he could play the sport. That was his only year of high school football. In the summer of 1924, Weller went to Seattle by train in 14 hopes of playing at the University of Washington. While he practiced with the Huskies and learned to run interference as a pulling guard, he ran out of money and returned home before he had played in a game. He enrolled at Chadron State in 1925 and started every game at guard the next four years. During an interview in 1991, he said that he and nine of the other 10 starters played the entire 60 minutes in his first college game, the fabled 3-0 victory over Colorado. He earned all-conference honors three times and was the team captain his senior year in 1928. “I wasn’t particularly fast, but I was quick and knew what to do. Very seldom did I get beat,” he said during the interview. After graduating in 1929, he took a teaching and coaching job at Riverton, Wyo. He said his annual salary of $1,600 was the highest any first-year teacher from CSC received that year. While at Riverton, he earned a master’s degree from the University of Wyoming and later served as superintendent at Moorcroft, Manville, Veteran and Yoder in Wyoming. Orin Weymouth Weymouth was a native of Chadron who was a pioneer in more ways than one. Biographical information says that he homesteaded in Wyoming. It’s also believed that he was the player-coach on CSC football teams in 1915 and ’16, but the only games on record those years were against Alliance High. Alliance won once, CSC won once and the other was a 12-12 tie. He served in the Army during World War I and then returned to college. The Eagles’ letterman’s book lists Weymouth as a football letterman in 1919 and ’20, when CSC played a total of 12 games, winning half of them. He graduated in 1925. Ross Armstrong wrote that Weymouth was “given credit for keeping football alive in the early years of the college.” Weymouth lived most of his adult life in Sidney. He went there as a coach and was superintendent of schools for 37 years. The football field at Sidney is named in his honor. Joe Zowada Zowada was a bruising fullback and linebacker who came to Chadron State from Sheridan, Wyo., in the fall of 1949. He rushed for 2,390 yards during the next four years. This mark stood for 35 years before David Jones broke it in the late 1980s. He was an all-state and all-conference selection in 1951 and ’52 and was selected the Eagles’ most valuable player as a senior in ’52. Zowada also had a long list of student achievements, including freshman class president, student council member, Who’s Who Among American College and University Students and selection as an American College Student Leader in 1953. After teaching in Nebraska a couple of years, he returned to his hometown, where his business ventures included owning a plumbing business and a motel. Joe Zowada, left, congratulates David Jones after Jones broke Zowada’s career rushing record in 1990. 1984 Inductees These standouts made up the second group of inductees into the Chadron State Athletic Hall of Fame in 1984. In front. from left, are Dale Tangeman, Bill Stephenson, Bill Dierks, Earl Buckingham and Wes Evans. In the back are Frank Ferguson, Keith Kyser, Tom Blundell, Virgil Meyer, Guido Santero, Lonny Wickard and Larry Lytle. Tom Blundell Blundell was a member of the Chadron High School’s undefeated football team his senior year in 1954 and won the Class B low hurdles at the state track meet the following spring. He continued to excel in both sports at Chadron State. He was a standout end on the Eagles’ undefeated football team in 1958, when he received the Carricker Award as the Outstanding Lineman in the Nebraska College Conference and was a secondteam NAIA All-American. In track, he won the high hurdles at the Nebraska State College Meet three times and the low hurdles once. He set the meet record of 14.9 seconds in the 120-yard highs at the Corn Palace Relays his senior year. Besides his athletic achievements, Blundell also was an outstanding student, was a member of the debate squad, had leads in several drama productions and was the CSC Ivy Day orator his senior year. Blundell earned a master’s degree in English at the University of Arkansas in 1960 and joined the Navy, where he commanded two ships and was an officer ashore in intelligence, command and control and strategic planning. One of his assignments was at the NATO headquarters in Oslo. Following his discharge, he taught English at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas for several years. He died Oct. 12, 1996 in Las Vegas. He was married to two women from Chadron. His first wife was the late Marlene Rasmussen Blundell. He then married Janice Knox, who was the CSC homecoming queen in 1956. Earl Buckingham A great American success story is connected with Earl Buckingham and his siblings. Nine of the 10 who lived to adulthood attended Chadron State or its Campus Laboratory Schools during the 1920s and ‘30s. They moved to the Morrill area in a covered wagon in 1905 and lived in a two-room tarpaper shack. But they were an enterprising family and all of them became well-to-do. Earl was the oldest boy. He played football for the Eagles in 1924, ’25, ’28 and ’29. A big person, particularly for that era, he played fullback and tackle. Those teams had a 30-4 record. He was an all-conference choice twice. He also lettered in basketball each of those years. In addition, he found time to drive a taxicab and he and a friend purchased a filling station in Chadron. It’s also reported that he bought an old bus and transported the CSC football team to its away games one season. Paul Carroll, who was a player in that era, once remarked, “What a deal that was.” After leaving CSC in 1930, Buckingham wanted to teach and 15 coach, but the Great Depression was lurking and he couldn’t find a job. Thus, he borrowed money, bought a truck and began hauling freight in all directions. He is said to have brought the first load of produce from Denver to the Safeway Store in Chadron when it opened in 1931. He also obtained the first permit to haul freight between Denver and Los Angeles. Other family members joined the fledgling firm and Buckingham Freightlines and then United Buckingham eventually had 1,300 employees and served 29 states. It became the thrust for numerous other business ventures. In their heyday, the Buckinghams were involved in 22 partnerships and Earl served a term as president of the American Trucking Association. Earl and his brother, Harold, were presented Distinguished Service Awards by CSC in May 1987. William Diercks A rangy athlete, Diercks lettered in all three sports that Chadron State offered in his era. A graduate of Hay Springs High, he enrolled at Chadron State in the fall of 1942. World War II was heating up and the Eagles played five football games and two basketball games that year before nearly all the men on campus were drafted or enlisted in the military and all athletics ceased until 1945. CSC records show that Diercks also played football in 1946, 1949 and ’50, was on the basketball team in 1946-47 and 1949-50 and earned a letter throwing the shot in 1950. After graduating at CSC, Diercks taught and coached at Sargent, Neb., for a couple of years, but spent most his career in schools in northern Wyoming. He started the football program at Manderson High School in 1956 and later was the principal there several years and the superintendent for 15 years. During that period, Manderson merged with Hyatteville to form Riverside High School. He retired in 1981 and died in 1991. He was one of at least four Eagles who thought so much of their coach at CSC, Ross Armstrong, that they named a son after him. The others included Gene Alcorn, Bob Burden and Bill Stephenson. Wes Evans Although Evans had been a standout quarterback/blocking back at Rapid City High School during the 1920s and “desperately wanted to play football” in college, he was not recruited by college coaches. That’s because he weighed just 120 pounds. But when Chadron State Coach Art Stark came to Rapid City to recruit runningback Albert “Babe” Stangle, who, in Evans’ words “weighed about 185 and could run,” Stangle said he wouldn’t come to Chadron State unless Evans, his best friend, could come along. Stangle also became good college player, but Evans’ versatility and intelligence made him the perfect fit for the Notre Dame box, or Rockne shift, offense that Stark installed. His duties included calling the plays, barking the signals and blocking after the ball was snapped to the tailback. Once in a while, Evans recalled during a 1992 interview, he took the snap and threw a short pop pass or handed off the ball. Also, he’d sometimes fake that he was going to block and slither into the open to catch a pass from the tailback. Most of the time the offense worked well. The Eagles were 5-2 in 1928 and 8-1 in ’29 under Stark before he left and was replaced by Ruffus Trapp. They were 5-2 and 3-4 the next two years. 16 Evans earned all-conference honors his final three years at CSC and then had a remarkable coaching career at Bridgeport, Torrington, Wyo., and his alma mater, Rapid City High. During his seven years at Torrington, his football teams went 43-12 and never lost a conference game. After spending three years in the Navy during World War II, Evans was recruited to become the Rapid City football coach. During a four-year stretch beginning in 1948, his teams went 30-1-1. He never had a losing season at Torrington or Rapid City. Frank Ferguson Ferguson came to Chadron State in the fall of 1955 with the help of a track scholarship to run middle distances. The next spring, he set the school record of 50.3 in the 440 while placing third at the Nebraska College Conference Meet. Late that season, he outran the team’s sprinters during practice and almost never ran the 440 again except on relays. As a sophomore, Ferguson won the 100-yard dash in 10.2 seconds at the conference meet. Teammate Virgil Meyer edged Ferguson in the 100 and 220 much of the time the next two years, but Ferguson joined fellow hall of famers Dick Boness, Keith Kyser and Meyer along with Jerry Chapin to give the Eagles some outstanding relay teams. Their best time of 42.7 in the 440-yard relay wasn’t broken until 1995 and their time of 1:29.1 in the 880-yard relay lasted until 2004. The 880-yard relay team placed third at the NAIA National Meet his senior year in 1959. In addition, their time of 3:22.8 in the mile relay in 1958 was a conference record and is still the seventh best in Chadron State history when converted from yards to meters. After graduating from Chadron State in 1959, Ferguson taught and coached at Gordon for seven years before returning to his alma mater to teach math in 1967. He earned a doctorate in 1972 and remained at CSC through 1998. During that tenure his was director of Adult and Continuing Education seven years, chairman of the Division of Science and Mathematics three years and had an outstanding record for service. He was the college’s faculty athletic representative for 32 years, was a sponsor of Blue Key National Honor Society for 30 years and chairman or co-chairman of the scholastic contest for about 25 years. He and his wife, Sandy, also a CSC graduate, live in his hometown of Hot Springs, S.D. Roy Houser A native of Mitchell where he was a member of some dominant teams in the mid-1930s, Houser may have been the only combination football lineman and distance runner in CSC annals. He reportedly started four years at center for the Eagles’ football teams beginning in 1937. He also won the two-mile at the Nebraska Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Meet in 1940 in 10:42.2 and was the runner-up the next year. Ross Armstrong said he thought Houser also won the race at the 1939 meet, but that was never confirmed. Houser’s brother, George, also was a distance runner for the Eagles in the same era. He won the mile at the conference meet in 1940 in 4:45.2 and was second the following year. He wanted to play football, too, but said he couldn’t afford it. That’s because Roy was one of the college’s student-janitors, a job that paid $15 a month, enough to cover his board and room. But CSC rules said just one member of a family could hold one of the lucrative jobs at a time, so George had to find work off-campus and couldn’t fit football into his schedule. In his later years, Roy he owned several electric razor sales and service outlets in California. He died in June 1984, just a few months before he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Keith Kyser As a child, Kyser developed rickets, a disease which prevents bones from maturing properly. His mother thought he would never walk. His parents took him to the Mayo Clinic, where they were told to give him large doses of cod liver oil. It paid off. As a senior at Hay Springs High School in 1955, Kyser won the long jump and the 220-yard dash and placed second in the 100 at the state track meet to score enough points for the Hawks to tie for the Class C state championship. There were 128 schools in the class that year. Kyser continued to excel as a sprinter and long jumper at Chadron State. He nearly always placed high in both events and ran on some superb relay teams. He finished seventh in the finals of the 220 at the NAIA National Meet in 1958 and had collegiate bests of 9.7 in the 100 and 21.7 in the 220. His long jumping exploits included setting the record of 22-4 ½ at the Midland Relays in 1958 and stretching it to 22-6 ¾ the following year. Kyser also was a highly successful coach, leading track and field teams to state championships at Akron, Colo., Alliance and Pine Bluffs, Wyo. Several of his teams at Kemmerer, Wyo., his last coaching stop, placed second or third. Larry Lytle Although he was born and raised on a ranch at Wasta, S.D., Lytle enrolled at Chadron Prep as a high school senior and helped the Junior Eagles go 27-0 and win the Class C state basketball championship in 1951-52. He then played four years at Chadron State. He was the team’s leading scorer in both 1954-55 and 1955-56, when he averaged 13.2 and 17.1 points, respectively. The Eagles were 19-6 and 16-5 those years and he earned all-conference honors both times. Lytle finished his career with 1,093 points, third high on the college’s all-time list at that time behind only Bud Larsen and Nels Christiansen. After teaching and coaching two years and serving in the Army, Lytle graduated from the University of Nebraska Dental College in 1964, and practiced dentistry in Rapid City, S.D. He also earned a degree in nutrition and became a leader in several organizations and a spokeman on various dental techniques and nutrition. All three of his children graduated from CSC. Virgil Meyer One of Chadron State’s all-time great sprinters, Meyer won both the 100 and 220-yard dashes at the Nebraska College Conference Meets in 1958 and ’59 and also ran on the winning 880-yard relay both years. The relay team, which also included Frank Ferguson, Jerry Chapin and Keith Kyser, placed third at the NAIA National Meet in 1959. He also was sixth in the 220 at the national meet that year. A native of Bertrand, Meyer was second in both sprints at the conference meet his senior year in 1960, but his times of 10.0 and 21.9 were identical to those of the winner, Clinton Skinner of Doane. Meyer set the NCC record of 21.7 seconds in the 220 in 1959, These sprinters won numerous races during the late 1950s for the Eagles. They are, from left, Virgil Meyer, Frank Ferguson, Keith Kyser and Dick Boness. This photo was taken after they had won both the 880 and mile relays at the Nebraska College Conference Meet in 1958. All four are in the CSC Athletic Hall of Fame. when the race was run on the straightaway. He also set the school record of 9.7 in the 100 and ran wind-aided times of 9.5 and 21.2 as a senior. Besides running track, Meyer was a wingback and defensive back on the Eagles’ undefeated football team in 1958 and the 1959 team that went 6-2. He earned all-conference honors on defense in 1959, and also led the Eagles in scoring when he caught nine passes for 165 yards and turned six of them into touchdowns. After teaching and coaching for several years, Meyer was in the farm implement business in Gothenburg for 32 years prior to his death in June 2005. Guido Santero A native of Lewellen, Santero was the leading rusher on the Eagles’ undefeated football team in 1958. He carried the ball 117 times for 807 yards, an average of 6.9 yards, and scored 13 touchdowns. At the end of the season, he was named to the Nebraska College Conference first-team as well as to the allstate college teams selected by both the Lincoln Journal and the Omaha World-Herald. The following season, Santero was the Eagles’ leading rusher with 113 carries for 485 yards and completed 20 of 40 passes for 360 yards and seven TDs. Nicknamed “Quicko,” Santero also earned a letter in basketball in 1958-59. After teaching one year at Sioux County High School in Harrison, Santero entered the insurance field and owns an agency in the Kansas City area. Leo Stangle The Eagles’ 3-0 victory over the University of Colorado in 1925 caught Stangle’s attention. He was a senior at Rapid City High School that year and wanted to play college football. “I knew Chadron must have a pretty good team if they could beat Colorado,” Stangle said in a 1995 interview. CSC Coach Roy Wynne offered him a scholarship that was a 17 job as janitor in the Administration Building for 45 cents an hour. That, Stangle said, was enough to pay the bills because meals in the college cafeteria cost $5 a week and his room was $5 a month. But Stangle’s initial stay at Chadron State was short. He was homesick and dropped out of college before the 1926 football season was completed. The following year, he went to the University of Minnesota in hopes of playing football for the Gophers, but decided the school was too big and returned to Chadron State. He was ineligible for the 1927 season, but started at blocking back in 1928 and was an all-conference offensive guard his final year in ’29. The Eagles had a 12-3 combined record those years. After graduating in 1930, Stangle was hired to teach and coach in Valentine, where he remained for five years before moving to Scottsbluff as the basketball coach. In 1940-41, Scottsbluff went 26-0 and won the state Class A state championship. Shortly after the season ended, Stangle enlisted in the Army despite being 36 years old. After serving four years during World War II, he returned to Scottsbluff and took the 1947 and ’48 basketball teams to the state tourney. He became the school’s athletic director in 1949 and had the position until retiring in 1972. Leo and his wife moved to Estes Park, Colo., in 1975, but he returned to Scottsbluff shortly after her death in 1995. He was still mentally and physically sharp at age 95 when his 1941 basketball team had its 60-year reunion in 2001. Bill Stephenson A native of Minatare, Stephenson was a stellar member of the Eagles’ outstanding football teams in the late 1940s after he had served in the Army in Europe during World War II. He was a running back and played in the secondary on defense. Stephenson was a highly successful football coach. He led Cambridge to an undefeated season in 1951 and Class C top 10 rankings in 1952 and ’53. He also had an undefeated team at Rushville in 1959 and a top 10 ranking again in 1960 before he moved to Lincoln Southeast, where he was the head coach for seven seasons. He said his career record was 117-37. He was the head coach for the North in the Nebraska Shrine Bowl in 1961. Dale Tangeman Tangeman was a 1939 graduate of Assumption Academy in Chadron and was on Chadron State’s outstanding basketball teams in the 1940s. The Eagles were 55-12 the four years he played. The first three went 16-4, 15-3 and 17-4, capped by a trip to the National Intercollegiate Athletic Association Tournament in Kansas City in 1941-42. Like most other able-bodied men, his college days were interrupted by World War II, when he served in the Army Air Corps. Four of the five starters from the national tournament team returned in 1945-46, when the Eagles went 17-1. Ross Armstrong said he sometimes used psychology to get the most out of Tangeman on the basketball court. Tangeman took pride in playing defense. The coach usually assigned him to guard the opponent’s top scorer, then mention that he hoped Tangeman could handle the job. That would fire up Tangeman, who wanted to prove himself to the coach. Tangeman also was a fullback for the CSC football teams prior to the war. After graduating in 1946, he taught, coached 18 and was an administrator at Provo High near Edgemont, S.D., and at Kimball. He later was a principal at Carey Junior High in Cheyenne, Wyo., for more than 20 years. In addition, he refereed at the Wyoming State Basketball Tournament 13 years in a row and was a football official. Lonny Wickard The boot-tough Wickard was one of the mainstays of Chadron State’s undefeated football team of 1958, starring on both offense and defense and also doing the punting if that became necessary. Wickard is a native of Minatare, where the football teams he played on lost just three games his final three years of high school. He initially enrolled at Scottsbluff Junior College. Soon afterwards, he was drafted into the Army during the Korean War, but spent most of his two-year hitch in Alaska. After his discharge, he returned to the junior college and was an allconference end on the football team in 1956, his second year there. In 1958 when Wickard was a senior, Coach Bill Baker switched the Eagles to the single-wing. Wickard was the quarterback, but had a different assignment than today’s quarterbacks. He called the signals, but did more blocking than ballhandling or passing. The snap from center usually went to the tailback, who often followed the quarterback and guards through the hole. At the end of the 8-0 season, Wickard was first-team allconference at linebacker and second-team quarterback (Tom Osborne of Hastings College was first-team). Wickard completed 25 of 42 passes for 575 yards. He also averaged 42.8 yards a punt and still shares the school record for longest punt, 80 yards. His 93-yard jaunt with an interception is the second longest in CSC history. Wickard spent most of his career as an educator at Bayard. He was the superintendent for 11 years and the elementary principal for 16 years before retiring in 1990. He was inducted into the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame in 2000 along with Bayard native LaVerne McKelvey, a CSC great in the 1920s. Perhaps Wickard’s greatest tribute came from the late Tom Blundell, an All-American end on the 1958 CSC team and a career officer in the Navy. He said: “Lonny was absolutely the best leader and toughest guy I ever met. I saw a lot of great leaders from seamen to admirals while I was in the Navy. But I never met one as good as Lonny.” All four of Lonny and Dee’s children attended CSC. Their daughter, Laurie, was the Eagles’ first female All-American and also is in Hall of Fame. Lonny and Laurie Wickard are one of two father-daughter duos in the Chadron State Hall of Fame. The other is Don and Martee Meter. 1985 Inductees These men were inducted into the CSC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1985. In front, from left, are Bob Armstrong, Dick Boness, John McLane and Larry Gold. In the back are Glen Groves, Gene Alcorn, Dick Colerick and Bennie Francis. Gene Alcorn Alcorn went against his parents’ wishes to play football, but was a standout lineman for the Eagles and became the patriarch to family dynasty, a part of which is now in its third generation at Chadron State. Alcorn recalled during an interview prior to his induction into the Hall of Fame that his parents, Lee and Clara Alcorn, allowed him and his older brother, Lynn, to box while they were in high school, but would not let them play football for fear they would get hurt. On the sly, the brothers, both of whom were big and athletic, began practicing with the Hay Springs football team in the fall of 1938 when Lynn was a senior and Gene was a sophomore. Sure enough, Gene got hurt. He broke his collarbone while trying to make a tackle in practice. Gene recalled the tongue-lashing he got from his brother following the injury. It was something like, “You dummy, now we’ll have to tell mom and dad what we’re doing.” Gene recalled he didn’t get much sympathy from his parents because of the injury. He still had to help with the farm chores. But he said his parents soon became his greatest boosters on the gridiron and he was thrilled they were able to attend the dinner in 1985 when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. He also said they were right about the injuries. During his football career, he suffered nine broken bones. But nobody ever seemed to be happier that they had played the game. He began his college career in 1942, but was in the Navy during World War II. He returned to play tackle for the Eagles in 1946 and ’47 before becoming a prominent registered Angus producer. The 1947 team went 7-1-1 and tied for the Nebraska College Conference championship. Alcorn’s son Tom, who lettered in three sports at Chadron State, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1989. Eight of Gene’s grandsons played high school football and four played in college. They include Tom’s son, Jeff, who is an inside receiver on this year’s CSC football team. Jeff’s brother, Jason, played at South Dakota Mines. In addition, Ryan Alcorn played at CSC in the 1990s and Zac Alcorn was an All-American tight end at Black Hills State and has been in a couple of NFL camps the past two years. Robert Armstrong The son of Ross Armstrong, who was associated with Chadron State for more than 50 years and was the founder of the CSC Athletic Hall of Fame, Bob was a basketball standout for the Eagles in the early 1950s. He scored 856 points during his career, but was best known for his playmaking and defensive abilities. 19 Prior to joining the college team, Armstrong was an all-stater on Chadron Prep’s 27-0 Class C state championship basketball team in 1949-50. After graduating from CSC, Armstrong taught, coached and was an elementary principal during a 10-year period in Carson City, Nev., and was a professor at the University of Arizona before founding Assurance, Inc., a firm that developed computer software and testing programs that were used by hundreds of schools systems in 25 states and three U.S. trust territories. His wife, the former Jerry Hirchert of Chadron, also graduated from CSC and founded the Armstrong Academy, a private school for pre-kindergartners through sixth graders in Tucson, Ariz. The school was named to honor her father-in-law. Bob died on Oct. 30, 2008. He was 75. Richard Boness Boness was a four-year letterman in both football and track and field in the 1950s at CSC and also earned a letter in baseball one season while he also was on the track team. His greatest success was in track and field, where he was a long jumper and ran on several excellent relay teams. Early in his career, he set the school record in what was then known as the broad jump at 21-11 ¾. As a senior in 1959, he went 22-1 ¾ while winning the event at the Nebraska State College Meet. He also was a member of the first place 880 and mile relay teams at the Nebraska College Conference Meet in 1958 while running with Frank Ferguson, Keith Kyser and Virgil Meyer, all Hall of Fame inductees. Boness, who also earned his master’s degree at CSC, had a long career as a high school teacher, coach and administrator. Highlights included leading the football team at Alliance St. Agnes to undefeated regular seasons in 1971 and ’75. He is a graduate of St. Agnes. He also football coached at Mullen, Imperial, Gordon, Valentine, Sidney and Alliance. He concluded his career as the principal at Alliance High School in 1998. He and his wife, Lorraine, live in Alliance. Their son, Bill, an All-American offensive lineman for the Eagles in 1990, was inducted into the CSC Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007. A grandson, Matt Harris, is a freshman on this year’s CSC football team. Dick Colerick Colerick also is a native of Alliance, but graduated from Alliance High. After spending three years in the Army, he lettered four years in football at CSC, capping his career as the starting fullback and cornerback and a co-captain on Bill Baker’s undefeated team in 1958. He earned all-conference honors on defense in ’58. He also earned his master’s degree from CSC. After beginning his career as a teacher and coach at Valentine, Colerick was a counselor and then assistant principal in charge of student services at Northeast High School in Lincoln for 30 years. His wife, Gloria, also is an Alliance High School graduate. Bennie Francis A graduate of Douglas High School at Ellsworth Air Force Base near Rapid City, S.D., Francis was a four-year starter for the CSC football teams in the late 1960s. He earned all-district honors at offensive tackle as a senior in 1969, but was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the spring of 1970 as a defensive lineman. He received a $3,000 bonus that he used to purchase a new Chevrolet automobile. 20 Unfortunately, Francis was drafted by the wrong team. The Vikings’ “Purple People Eaters” were having a hey-day in the NFL then and were well-stocked with defensive linemen suche as Carl Eller, Jim Marshall and Allen Page. He later played with a semi pro team in Omaha. A big (6-foot-5, 230 pounds), gifted athlete, Francis also was an outstanding thrower for the track and field team, although he did not participate in the sport as a senior. He won the discus at the Nebraska College Conference Meet in both 1966 and ’67, and set the conference record of 164-2 the second year. He also won the shot put title in 1969. Francis has been a marketing representative for Xerox, Western Business Resources and South Dakota Gaming. He lives in Rapid City. Larry Gold Gold was an all-state football player and a track and field standout at Chadron High School. He set the Class B state record of 158-foot-3 in the discus and placed third in the shot put at the Nebraska State Meet as a senior in 1964. He played football two years at CSC, but was booted off the team in 1966 by coach Jack McBride for smoking. The incident proved to be a blessing for the next coach, Bill Giles. Gold returned to the team in 1967 and rushed 135 times for 681 yards. The following year, Gold became the first Chadron State player to run for more than 1,000 yards in a season, when he carried 214 times for 1,126 yards (5.3-yard average) and scored 10 touchdowns. The Eagles won eight games that fall after winning only nine the previous six seasons. Gold earned all-district and honorable mention All-American honors in ’68. Gold spent 34 years as a business teacher and guidance counselor in the Bellevue Schools. His wife, the former Susan Lecher, also is from Chadron. They live in Bellevue. With some tutoring from Dr. Pat Colgate, one of the assistant football coaches at CSC when Gold played, he became an exceptional wood carver, specializing in Western figures. Glen Groves Groves was a high-scoring basketball player for the Eagles in the late 1940s and also set a record that still stands while playing football. A graduate of LaGrange, Wyo., High School, Groves served two years in the military before enrolling at Chadron State. He was the first Chadron State basketball player to score 1,000 points during his career. He also set Eagles’ the single-game scoring record of 38 points against Kearney State in 1947-48 when he was a junior. The record stood for 16 years. He led the team in scoring his final three years, averaging 13.4 points, 19.9 and 17.9, respectively. He tallied at least 20 points in 22 of the Eagles’ 41 games his final two years. His football record is for the longest run with an intercepted lateral, 88 yards against Midland Lutheran in 1946. He also lettered in football in 1947 and ’48. After graduating in 1949, he was the manager of the VFW Club in Cheyenne for approximately 30 years and was extremely active in community affairs. He was among the founders of Drums Along the Rockies drum and bugle corps in Cheyenne, helped start what became the Special Olympics in Cheyenne, organized a Bill of Rights Essay Contest for sixth graders and helped plan a memorial park honoring Vietnam veterans. He died Aug. 11, 1999 at age 75. John McLane A native of Cambridge, McLane started at offensive and defensive tackle for the Eagles for 3 ½ years 1957-60. He was one of the most decorated members of the undefeated 1958 team, earning all-conference honors as well as being placed on both the Omaha World-Herald and Lincoln Journal Star all-state college teams. He also earned all-conference in 1959 and was the team’s primary punter in 1959 and ’60. After graduating, he was a teacher and coach for eight years, owned and operated a sporting goods store in Scottsbluff and became vice president, then president, of the bank at Keystone, Neb. He returned to education as principal at Sidney in the 1980s and later was superintendent at Wilcox and Ainsworth. After retiring for three years, he was recruited to take over as interim superintendent at Alliance in 2006. He was still there in the fall of 2008. 1986 Inductees These athletes were inducted into the CSC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1986. They are, from left, Len Kaiser, Bob Burden, Bob Lynch, Steve Gremm and Francis Rose. Morse Burley and Jim Schwartz were unable to attend. Bob Burden A native of Morrill, Burden played football for the Eagles in 1939, ’40 and ’41 before he was called for military duty during World War II. He returned to college in 1947 and was an all-state center on the school’s conference co-championship team. He played linebacker on defense. Prior to the war, Burden played what was called “running guard” on the short side of the Eagles’ single-wing alignment. He was positioned between the center and the end and often pulled and tried to block ahead of the ball carrier. He had been a sprinter in high school and had the speed to handle the position. Burden also played football two years while he was serving in the Army Air Corps. He spent much of his 3½-year hitch in London helping repair U.S. warplanes that had been damaged while bombing Nazi territory. He said 60 football teams were formed to help keep the GIs who played in shape and to entertain the thousands of others who were stationed in England. In both 1943 and ’44, Burden was on teams that played six or seven games. As a senior at CSC, Burden weighed 197 pounds, about 35 more than before the war, and was a much stronger and more experienced player. Burden spent his entire 31-year teaching and coaching career at Hill City, S.D., retiring in 1979. His football, basketball and track teams won at least 20 conference championships. When the new gymnasium was opened in Hill City in 1978, it was named in his honor. Morse Burley Burley was the quarterback on the CSC football teams for three years immediately after World War II and also did the placekicking. After he kicked the extra point that allowed the Eagles to defeat Kearney 7-6 in 1947, the Chadron Record reported that he “could have run for mayor of Chadron and won in a walk.” Burley, who wore No. 72 while quarterbacking the Eagles, was a native of Mitchell. He coached at Hemingford in 1949-51 and spent the rest of his career as a teacher, coach and principal at Carson City, Nev. In 1978, he was named Carson City’s “Man of the Year” for his community service. In 1982, the new athletic facilities at Carson High School was named the Morse R. Burley Sports Complex. 21 Steve Gremm A highly-competitive native of Broken Bow and nicknamed “Cowboy,” Gremm was a two-sport standout at Chadron State. He was a two-time all-NAIA District 11 football selection at offensive guard and earned All-American honorable mention his senior year in 1969. He was strong, quick and aggressive. Even though he was often significantly outweighed, he was a superb heavyweight wrestler, compiling a 66-12-10 career record. Many of his draws were in battles that he might have lost had it not been for his competitiveness. As a senior, he placed fifth at the NAIA National Tournament to become Chadron State’s first All-American in the sport. Gremm spent much of his career as a business owner and constructor, initially in Michigan and later in Colorado Springs, where he and his wife, Connie, reside. Leonard Kaiser Kaiser was a two-time South Dakota Class A mile champion while attending Hot Springs High School in the late 1940s. He also had outstanding success in that event at Chadron State. He won the race at the Nebraska College Conference Meet in both 1951 and ’52, and owned the school records in both the 880 (2:01.5) and mile (4:28.9). He was the Eagles’ leading point producer all four years he competed. After graduating in 1953, Kaiser moved to California, where he was a highly successful basketball and track coach at LeGrand and Modesto. One of his basketball teams at Modesto went 33-3 and won the state championship. He also was the Modesto athletic director from 1978 until his retirement in 1991. Bob Lynch Lynch followed Steve Gremm from Broken Bow to wrestle at Chadron State, and was the Eagles’ only national champion until Brett Hunter won the 165-pound title in 2007, 35 years after Lynch won his crown. At 6-foot-3 and blessed with long arms, large hands and a powerful grip, Lynch was difficult to beat. He was 16-3, 19-1 and 22-2 his first three years on the team before going 30-0 and winning the 158-pound championship at the NAIA National Tournament as a senior in 1971-72. That Bob Lynch season, Lynch pinned 12 of his opponents and held 13 others scoreless. One of his losses as a junior was to the eventual national champion. Since graduating, Lynch has lived most of his life in Lexington, where he worked for Sperry New Holland and a bank and owns numerous rentals. Francis Rose Rose calls himself “an average athlete who loved sports.” He was a three-sport letterman at Chadron State in the mid-1950s, 22 excelling as a running back and linebacker in football. He also played on the school’s first baseball teams and earned a letter in basketball his senior year in 1957-58. Rose had an outstanding coaching career. His first coaching stop was at Edgemont, S.D., just a few miles from Provo High School that he had attended. He coached the Moguls just one year, but his football team was undefeated, his basketball team went 18-7 and his track team placed second at the South Dakota State Meet He spent the next five years at Lusk, Wyo., where three of his teams were unbeaten and he had a 38-5-1 record. After two years at Sheridan, Wyo., where one of his football teams won a conference championship, Rose spent three years at Bayard, where the football teams went 19-8 and won two conference titles, the wrestling team he had started won the Class C state championship in 1968 during its second year of existence and his track team finished second at the state meet ’68. Rose was the head football and wrestling coach at Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Mont., 1969-74, taking over downtrodden programs and making them competitive. He spent the last 16 years of his career as a teacher and coach in the Billings Public Schools. During a four-year stint as the wrestling coach at West High, he had 11 state champions. After he had retired, his son Todd, who was coaching at Shepherd High School in Montana, was diagnosed with cancer and required chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant. Todd arranged to have his father fill in for him. At age 63, Francis Rose was back on the mat, demonstrating the moves and holds he knew so well. The Shepherd team missed winning the state championship by three points. One of the team’s three state champions was Emmett Willson, who in 2004 as a senior at Montana State-Northern became the first and only NAIA wrestler to win the Dan Hodge Trophy that goes to the nation’s outstanding wrestler. “My one year in the program did not create this super wrestler. My son had the most to do with that development. But it was a thrill for me to work with Emmett. What is more important is that my son beat leukemia and is coaching wrestling again.” Rose added that he would like to be remembered as a good father, husband and coach and a man of character. He added that the best definition of character he ever heard was, “It is how you act when no one is looking.” Jim Schwartz A native of Potter, Schwartz was an all-conference fullback at CSC in 1956, spent the next two years in the Army and then earned all-conference honors again in 1959 and ’60. He also earned three letters as the catcher on the baseball team. He set the school record for best rushing average in a season in 1960, when he averaged 7.4 yards (61 carries for 452 yards). The record stood until Danny Woodhead averaged 8.0 yards during his great season in 2006. Schwartz began his coaching career at Gordon and returned to Chadron State in 1972-73 as head track coach and assistant football coach. He earned a doctorate at the University of Oregon and spent most of his career in California as an athletic and physical education administrator. His final positions included special assistant to the president and vice president of academic affairs at El Camino College at Torrance. 1987 Inductees The inductees into the CSC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1987 included these three men. They are, from left, Norm Wilson, Jim Hampton and Jack Dinnel. Bill Savage was not present. Jack Dinnel Not many athletes are both distance runners and javelin throwers, but Dinnel set Chadron State and Nebraska College Conference records in both. He also played safety for the CSC football team in 1947 and ’49 and was the starting quarterback in 1950, when the Eagles ran both the single wing, which called for the quarterback to primarily block, and the T formation, which needed a quarterback who could pass, run with the ball on occasion and carry out fakes after handing off. The coach, Ross Armstrong, said Dinnel could handle both alignments well. But track and field was where Dinnel really excelled. He won the mile run at the conference meets in 1947, ’48 and ’49 and the javelin in 1949 and 50. His records were 4:37.4 in the mile and 182-7 ½ in the javelin. Perhaps his most dramatic victory was in the mile in 1949, when he beat Wayne State standout Marvin Zimmerman to the finish line by running through a mud puddle that Zimmerman ran around. Dinnel also was second in the twomile at the conference meets in ’49 and ‘50. A native of Marysville, Kan., Dinnel served in the Army in Europe shortly after World War II ended, then enrolled at CSC after his father moved to Chadron. After graduating, he spent 33 ½ years as an industrial arts teacher at Wheatland, Wyo., and had leadership positions in numerous state organizations. His honors included Wyoming’s Industrial Arts Teacher of the Year in 1967-68 and the Outstanding Service Award from the Wyoming Vocational Education Association in 1970. He retired from teaching when he was 59, but competed in Senior Olympics in 2007 and 2008, when he was 80. His wife, the former Lorna Camden, was the majorette for the CSC band when they met. Jim Hampton A native of Chadron, Hampton grew up with a ball in his hands, often on the Chadron State campus. He attended Chadron Prep, where he was the quarterback on the football team and a threeyear starter on basketball teams that chalked up a 70-4 record, including a 26-0 mark in 1951-52, when the Junior Eagles won the Class C state championship. He earned all-state honors as a senior in 1953-54. Hampton played basketball four years and was a three-year starter at Chadron State. He was the Eagles’ leading scorer as both a junior and a senior with averages of 14.8 and 16.3 points, respectively, and was the leading free throw shooter on those teams. He concluded his career with 1,043 points and would have had many more if the 3-point arc had been in place. He was named to the Nebraska College Conference all-star team his senior year in 1957-58. Hampton earned a Ph.D. in physical/inorganic chemistry from Michigan State University, and worked for Dow Corning from 1963 through 1997, when he retired. In 1985, he was promoted 23 to business quality consultant, a position the corporation said was created “to recognize outstanding and sustained achievement in the application of technology and quality assurance techniques.” Now a resident of Northport, Mich., Hampton has never quit being an athlete. While studying at Michigan State, he played on two basketball teams that beat out more than 170 other teams for the intramural championship. During the 1990s, he was inducted into the Michigan Touch Football Hall of Fame and he was still playing 3-on-3 basketball and shooting 50 free throws daily when he was 70. He often made at least 45 of the charity shots. Twice he won the free throw championship at the Michigan Senior Olympics in the over 60 age group. Bill Savage Savage was a native of Deadwood, S.D., and had attended Black Hills State for two years prior to entering the Army during World War II. He lost the toes on his right foot when he was hit by enemy fire while diving into a foxhole and earned three Purple Hearts during the war. But he still excelled as an end on the football team and the center on the basketball team after enrolling at Chadron State following his discharge. He was the captain of the CSC football team in 1946 and played basketball for the Eagles in 1945-46 and ’46-’47. He was the class president both years he attended CSC. After coaching three years at Bayard, two years at Norfolk and one year at Carson City, Nev., Savage was on the faculty at Albany High in California for more than 20 years. The football team he coached in 1957 was undefeated and he was chosen the region’s coach of the year. Norm Wilson He graduated from Provo High School at Igloo, S.D., where he was an all-stater in both football and basketball. He also was a two-time state champion boxer while in high school. He was a guard for the CSC basketball team four years, scoring 1,131 points to rank third on the career list when he graduated in 1962. He averaged 13.0, 15.2 and 17.9 points a game his final three seasons. As a senior, he was selected the most valuable player at the Top of the Nation Tournament at Alamosa, Colo., and earned first-team Nebraska State College honors. Wilson worked for the U.S. Treasury Department’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, serving as an area supervisor at several locations. He now lives in Denver, Colo., where he is a “super sub” for three school districts. He also serves on the Colorado High School Athletics Association’s basketball tournament seeding committee. In that capacity, he attends about 60 Class 5A games annually to help with tournament pairings. Although splattered with mud, Jack Dinnel won the mile at the 1949 Nebraska College Conference Meet. It was Dinnel’s third-straight gold in the mile at the NCC meet. 24 1988 Inductees Four former standouts were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1988. They are, from left, Dean Palser, Rod Ehler, Clifford “Pete” Carroll and Francis Montague. Clifford “Pete” Carroll A native of Cambridge and the younger brother of Paul Carroll, a Hall of Famer from the 1920s, Clifford was an all-conference guard on CSC football teams in 1931, ’32 and ’33. He was the captain of the 1933 team that went 6-1, losing only the seasonopener 19-0 to the University of Colorado. During the remaining games, the Eagles outscored their foes 128-40. After graduating in 1935, he spent seven years with the National Youth Administration before serving three years, mostly in the South Pacific, in the Army Air Corps during World War II. He later worked for the Veterans Administration and Bureau of Indian Affairs. He was small. His teammate, Francis Montague, who also was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1988, said Carroll weighed only 145 pounds, if that much. After retiring, Carroll carved dozens of “walking sticks.” Rod Ehler Ehler played both basketball and baseball at Chadron State after transferring from Scottsbluff Junior College in his hometown. He was a member of the 1966-67 basketball team that had a 22-6 record and represented Nebraska at the NAIA National Tournament. However, baseball was Ehler’s best game on the college level. He starred as both a hitter and a pitcher for the Eagles. His feats included setting school records for highest single-season batting average (.475), lowest earned run average for a season (1.52) and most victories in a season (6). Unfortunately, in the spring of 1970, his senior year, he sustained a broken ankle that was a huge blow to the team. Ehler spent his entire career as a teacher and coach at Scottsbluff High School. His coaching duties included boys’ and girls’ basketball and golf. When he wasn’t coaching the sport, he officiated basketball, including the finals at the state tournament. Francis Montague After he was named the outstanding athlete at the Wyoming State High School Track and Field Meet his senior year at Lusk High School in 1930, Montague was recruited to come to Chadron State. A bit of subterfuge may have been involved in landing him. During a 1998 interview, he recalled that when two CSC athletes visited him he mentioned that he was “nuts about airplanes.” When they told him the Eagles were going to start flying to their games, “it hooked me on going to Chadron,” he said. We now know it was 66 years before the Eagles flew to a game. It finally happened when the NCAA paid their way to the playoff game at Central Oklahoma. Montague still did well at CSC. He earned all-conference four times. He played linebacker on defense, was an end on offense his freshman year and then moved to fullback for the rest of his 25 career. At 6-3, 200 pounds, he was a big player who could run. The Eagles were particularly potent his final two seasons, going 6-1 and winning the conference championship in 1933 and 6-2 the following year. It’s not generally known, but Montague went with his CSC teammate, Dub Miller, to try out with the Chicago Bears in the fall of 1935. During the ’98 interview, Montague said he thought he would have made the team, but suffered a knee injury in a preseason scrimmage and was forced to give up football. Again, things turned out well for Montague. He coached two years at both Lingle and Wheatland, Wyo., and then joined the Navy in 1942. During the next 28 years, he was the commanding officer of five ships and had three shore commands. He spent about 10 years showing the Chinese how to operate ships the U.S. had given them and three years working with the Central Intelligence Agency in the Orient. 1989 Inductees Dean Palser Palser was a standout in both football and baseball at Chadron State in the late 1960s. He was one of the football players who helped get the Eagles out of the doldrums. The team was just 2-16-1 his first two years, but went 3-6 when he was a junior and 8-1 his senior year in 1968, when he caught 35 passes and made the NAIA All-District 11 team. Palser had 107 career receptions, the most in school history at the time. He also was an all-conference selection as a first baseman for the baseball team. After graduating, he taught and coached at Lusk, Mitchell and Bayard before returning to his alma mater, Scottsbluff High, where he was head football coach several years. During the winters he teamed with Rod Ehler to referee high school and college basketball games. Palser and his wife, Barbara, now live in Kearney. Their son, Jeff, played football at CSC in the early 1990s. The 1989 inductees into the Hall of Fame were, from left, Tom Alcorn, Pat Moore, Jim Hogeland, and Mike Winchell. Tom Alcorn Alcorn was a rare three-sport letterman at Chadron State. He came to the college to play football, but weighed just 175 pounds and did not letter as a freshman. He was up to 200 as a sophomore and became a three-year starter at defensive end. He continued to grow and weighed 230 his senior year and earned Nebraska College Conference all-star honors in both 1972 and ’73, when the Eagles yielded just 11 and eight points a game, respectively. Although Alcorn had played basketball at Hay Springs High School, he wrestled in college and finished his senior season in 1973-74 with a 16-11-1 record and was selected as the Eagles’ outstanding wrestler. He also threw the javelin for the track and field team, something he had never done before. Just before he graduated in ’74, he was honored by the Eagles Booster Club as the college’s Outstanding Senior Athlete. Much of the time since graduating, Alcorn has raised registered Angus cattle south and west of Hay Springs. His 26 father, the late Gene Alcorn, also played football at CSC and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1985. His wife, Lou, is a CSC graduate and a Chadron elementary school principal. Their youngest child, Jeff, is an inside receiver on the CSC football team this fall. Jim Hogeland Big Jim excelled in both football and golf for the Eagles in the late 1960s. Besides playing tackle, he was the punter for the football team. His 80-yard punt against Kearney State in 1965 is still tied for the longest in Chadron State history. In 1967, Hogeland won the NAIA District 11 golf championship. He later was the runner-up at the Nebraska Amateur Golf Tournament. He has helped manage the family’s grocery business in Alma, Neb., since graduating in 1970. Pat Moore Moore was another big tackle who helped Coach Bill Giles build an excellent football program in the late 1960s. He earned all-conference honors three times and was an NAIA District 11 selection in 1968 when the Eagles went 8-1. A native of Windsor, Colo., Moore earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from CSC and spent 38 years as an educator. He began his career with a six-year stint as a teacher and coach at Thedford, then was the football and basketball coach and principal at Paxton for 16 years. After that, he was the principal at Hershey for six years, Ogallala three years and Rangely, Colo., six years. He retired in 2008. He and his wife, the former Connie Grantham of Chadron, recently moved to Chadron. She also graduated from CSC. 1990 Inductees Mike Winchell Although Winchell lived in Chadron as a youth, he graduated from Rapid City Central, where he was one of South Dakota’s outstanding all-around athletes. He excelled in both football and baseball at Chadron State. He was a regular at quarterback all four years for the Eagles, often sharing playing time with fellow Hall-of-Famer Tim Turman. Early in their careers, they alternated on every play. During a game at Wayne State in 1970 when Turman was injured, Winchell became the first CSC quarterback to throw five touchdown passes. He completed 21 of 37 passes for 352 yards during the 34-20 victory. Winchell earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degree from Chadron State. He and his wife, Kathy, a Chadron native, have owned an embroidery business in Norfolk for more than 25 years. Many of their products are worn by athletes. These were the inductees into the CSC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1990. In front, from left, are Bob Isham, Gwen Reed, Carol Bachman Marxsen and Lois Cadwallader and Rex Cadwallader Jr., widow and son of Rex Cadwallader Sr. In the back are Bud Murray, Lee Baumann, Larry Baumann, John Sides, Don Reel and Jack Needham. Jerry Bartak A native of Lewellen, Bartak was a four-year starter on the Eagles’ outstanding basketball teams of the 1960s. He was the only senior starter of the 1966-67 team that had a 22-6 record and represented Nebraska at the NAIA Tournament in Kansas City. Bartak led Chadron State in scoring as both a sophomore (13.1 points per game) and a junior (18.3), when the Eagles were 19-5. He averaged 17.5 points as a senior to rank second in scoring to Jim Rhodes’ 24.4-point average. He scored 1,389 points, third-highest on the Eagles’ career list when he graduated and still is the 11th best. He was a member of the Nebraska College Conference all-star team as both a junior and a senior and was an NAIA District 11 choice and honorable mention All-American as a senior. He also was recognized as an NAIA Scholar-Athlete that season. Bartak was a teacher and coach at Newhall, Calif., for a number of years before going into private business. His wife, the former Connie Mehrer of Gering, also attended Chadron State. 27 Larry Baumann Robert Isham Lee Baumann Joe Johnson He was both a basketball and a track standout in the 1960s. During his three years as a varsity basketball player for Coach Mack Peyton, the Eagles won 59 games and lost just 16. He was a valuable alternate on the great 1966-67 team that went 22-6 and played in the NAIA National Tournament. He averaged 11 points as a starter the following year when he was a senior and the Eagles went 18-5. Baumann shot better than 50 percent from the field both of those seasons. He made 37 of 44 (84.1 percent) of his free throws as a senior. In addition, he held the school records in both the 120-yard high hurdles (14.6 seconds) and the 220-yard low hurdles (24.5) and was the conference champion in the highs in 1966 and ’67 and the 440-yard intermediate hurdles in ’67. His father, Bob, was a charter inductee into the Hall of Fame. A native of Chadron, Baumann is an attorney in North Platte, Lee is Larry’s younger brother. He was a three-sport letterman at Chadron State. He was a three-time all-conference quarterback who completed 154 passes for 2,860 yards and 21 touchdowns. In 1970 against Peru State, he completed all six of his passes for a school record that stood before Joe McLain broke completed all eight that he threw against Western State in 2006. In 1971 against Black Hills State, he teamed with Mike Dority for a 91-yard touchdown pass that is the longest in CSC history. Baumann earned all-district honors as an outfielder on the baseball team as a senior in 1974, when he had a .345 batting average (20 hits in 58 at bats). He also averaged 10.2 points as a starting guard on the basketball team as a sophomore in 1971-72, but was forced to give up that sport after dislocating his shoulder while playing football the following fall. Baumann received Chadron State’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2002 and is on the board of the Chadron State Foundation. He lives in the St. Louis area and is one of 13 senior vice presidents for State Farm Insurance. He oversees a fivestate area made up of Arkansas, Kansas, Louisana, Missouri and Oklahoma. Rex Cadwallader A native of Merriman, Cadwallader was a standout in both football and basketball prior to World War II. After serving in the military, he returned to the college and resumed his basketball career. The CSC basketball team was 65-12 during his four years on the team, and he was a three-time all-conference selection at forward. He was the Eagles’ second leading scorer with averages of 13.7 and 11.8 points in 1940-41 and 1941-42, respectively. He then led the team in scoring at 17.2 points a game in 1945-46. He was the Eagles’ all-time leading basketball scorer with 772 points when he graduated. He lettered in football in 1940 and ’41. One of the highlights of his career was catching a 43-yard end-around pass from Bill Bruer to set up the Eagles’ winning touchdown during a 12-9 victory over the University of Wyoming in 1940. He was serving as assistant superintendent for personnel for the Bellevue Schools at the time of his death in June 1974. 28 He was the first person to be inducted into the CSC Athletic Hall of Fame for meritorious service. That was a token of thanks for the financial and moral support he had given the Chadron State athletic program after he became close friends with Athletic Director Brad Smith. Isham, who was a rancher and a banker, was considered Chadron’s best high school athlete of the 1940s and was the starting fullback on the Eagles’ conference championship football team in 1947, the only year he attended the college. Isham died in 1994, but his widow, Joy, and their children continue to support the college and its activities. In 2003, the Ishams donated the large eagle that is perched on a pole in the southwest corner of Elliott Field. The eagle, which has a 16-foot wing span, once flew over the American Heritage Bank that the family owned in Colorado Springs. Big Joe, a 6-foot-6, 220-pound center, made an immediate impact on the Chadron State College basketball program after graduating from Bridgeport High School. He was a four-year starter, scoring 1,277 points and grabbing 920 rebounds for the Eagles. He averaged between 16.5 and 16.8 points each of his final three seasons, when the Eagles were 59 -16. He led the team in rebounding all four years, averaging 9.5 per game during his career. His 14.2 rebounding average his sophomore year is the second highest in school history. He had more help around the glass the next two years, but still averaged at least eight a game. Joe Johnson is Chadron Sadly, Johnson died in 1988 at age State’s all-time leading 42 after falling from a house he was rebounder. painting in North Platte. He was a brakeman for the Union Pacific Railroad at the time of his death. Carol Bachmann Marxsen Although volleyball was in its infancy at Chadron State when Carol Bachmann enrolled at Chadron State, she is still regarded by long-time observers as one of the outstanding hitters the Eagles have had. In fact, she set the standand by which future CSC hitters were judged. Few, if any, have ever been able to jump higher, had more “hang time” or hit harder that this Crawford High School product. A newspaper story in 1974 said: “Bachmann is regarded as perhaps the best spiker and all-around player in the state. The 5-7 blonde has great leaping ability and Carol Marxsen timing, and has the uncanny ability of staying out of the net.” She was selected to the all-tournament team when the Eagles won the Nebraska State Tournament championship in 1972 by defeating, among others, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Kearney State. She was chosen the college’s outstanding volleyball player in both 1973 and ‘74. After graduating, she continued for play volleyball in city leagues into her 50s, giving her 40 years of competition in the sport. Bachmann also was the second leading scorer on the first two women’s basketball teams at Chadron State. She averaged 7.6 points in 1973-74 and 9.2 the following year. She received the college’s outstanding basketball award the first year. While attending CSC, Carol and met her husband, Bruce Marxsen. They lived in North Platte, where she was active in the Civil Air Patrol, until 1993, when they moved to Lincoln. She now works in the business office of a family practice medical residency. Bud Murray Murray led Scottsbluff High School to the Class AA state basketball title in 1955 by scoring 33 points, including the winning shot from about 20 feet away with 16 seconds left, as the Bearcats defeated Creighton Prep 63-61 in the championship game. Scottsbluff had trailed 61-52 with four minutes left before staging its winning rally. In his book, “Nebraska High School Sports,” published in 1980, the late Jerry Mathers called the Scottsbluff rally as the greatest comeback in the history of the Nebraska State Basketball Tournament. Murray’s “shot heard round the state” was just one of his many athletic accomplishments. Others included playing minor league baseball, playing basketball at Chadron State and ringing up an amazing 516-178 record as a baseball coach in California high schools. He signed a baseball contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1955 shortly after graduating from high school. He was beginning his third year as a pitcher in the minors when he tore a muscle in his back and was forced to give up the sport. He then enrolled in college and earned all-conference honors and led Chadron State in scoring with a 15.2-point average as a senior in 1959-60. He also earned his master’s degree from CSC. Most of his coaching career was at William S. Hart High in Newhall, Calif. During 22 years there, his teams won 16 conference championships. His final season in 1999 was the best. His Hart Indians won their final 13 games to finish with a 27-4 record and capture the Southern California Division championship. The patrons of the school gave Murray and his wife, Dori, a $3,500 retirement gift, the baseball field was named in his honor and he was the recipient of the California Coaches Association’s High School Baseball Coach of the Year Award. The Murrays live in Huntington Beach, Calif. Jack Needham A native of Imperial, Needham was one of Chadron State’s outstanding long and triple jumpers. He won the Nebraska College Conference triple jump championship in 1966, ‘67 and ‘68, setting the conference record of 46-8 ½ in 1968. His winning jumps the other years measured 46-3 ¼ and 45-2 ¼. He set the school record of 46-11½ in ‘68. It was finally broken in 1982, but is still the fifth longest in CSC history outdoors. Needham also long jumped 24 feet long in 1968. That mark lasted until 2000 and is still the third longest in Chadron State history. He was selected as the Eagles’ outstanding track and field athlete as both a junior and a senior. Needham and his wife, Bonnie, also a CSC graduate, owned a printing business in Garden City, Kan., for several years. He later lived in Wichita and established a Christian ministry. He is an ordained minister and is now teaching Spanish in the Arthur and South Platte Schools in Nebraska. Gwen Reed A native of Gillette, Wyo., she was the leading scorer all four years and was selected as the outstanding player on the CSC women’s basketball team three times. She established several marks that still rate high on Eagles’ lists. She is the only CSC woman to score more than 40 points in a game. She tallied 41 against Nebraska Wesleyan in 1975-76 and scored 42 against Mount Marty College of South Dakota the following year. Her 20.6-point scoring average as a senior in 1977-78 ties her with Mary Perrien as the best in school history. She also averaged 20.3 points in 1975-76 and 15.6 points in 1976Gwen Reed 77, when she was slowed by mononucleosis. The 1,492 points that she scored in her career is fourth in CSC annals. She also averaged 11.3 rebounds as a senior. A 5-foot-8 athlete with outstanding agility and lots of determination, Reed also was selected as the Eagles’ outstanding volleyball player in 1976 and ’77. After graduating, Reed played pro basketball two years. She was with the All-American Red Heads, a barnstorming team, one year and with the New York Stars, one of the founding teams in the Women’s Basketball League and the first professional women’s team to play in Madison Square Garden. the second year. She also played semi-pro basketball for five years at Hartford, Conn. Gwen works in the office for an oil and gas operation firm in Gillette. She also is a paramedic for Campbell County Hospital and a volunteer fireman. Don Reel He was the playmaker and a defensive standout on Chadron State’s excellent basketball teams in 1966-67, when the Eagles were 22-6, and 1967-68, when they went 18-5. He averaged 13.1 and 10.7 points, respectively, while shooting better than 51 percent from the field and 75 percent from the free throw line both seasons. He earned Nebraska College Conference and honorable mention All-American honors following his senior year. A native of Wolcott, Ind., Reel had graduated from Northwest Community College at Powell, Wyo., before coming to Chadron State. After working at the Pine Ridge Job Corps Center near Chadron while he was in college, he spent a portion of his career with the U.S. Forest Service. He later worked for the Veterans Center Medical Center at Pearland, Texas. He is retired and divides his time between Texas and Wyoming. 29 John Sides Even 40 years after he competed, times posted by Sides prove that he was one of the outstanding middle distance runners in CSC history. He won the 440-yard dash at the Nebraska College Conference Meet in both 1966 and ’67, setting the record of 48.6 seconds in 1967. He also set the school record of 1:56.4 in the 880 in 1966. When converted from yards to meters, those marks translate to 48.3 in the 400, sixth best in CSC annals, and 1:55.7 in the 800, second best on the all-time list. Sides also ran the 440 indoors in 50.6 for the school record that stood until Joel Duffield eclipsed it earlier this decade. Sides’ time is 50.3 when converted to meters. Duffield is the only CSC athlete to run the event under 50 seconds indoors. In addition, Sides ran 600 yards indoors in 1:12.07 for a school record that still stands. (The event has seldom been run in the last 20 years.) Sides graduated from Edgemont (S.D.) High School. He and his wife, Carol, operate the ranch where he was born and raised near Smithwick, S.D. Their son, Jack, set the school record of 7- ½ in the outdoor high jump in 2006 and is tied for third in the event indoors at 6-11. 1991 Inductees The 1991 inductions into the CSC Athletic Hall of Fame included thse nine gentlemen. In front, from left, are Gary Decker, Brad Bartlett, Ted Erlewin and Louis Peters. In the back are Rod Borders, Bill Baker, Bill Giles, Rick Watson and Tim Turman. Bill Baker He was one of three former CSC coaches to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1991. Baker was just 28 years old when he initially came to Chadron State as head football and track coach in 1955, but left after one year to enter private business. After being gone a year, he returned to lead the Eagles to new heights in both of the sports that he coached. Baker is best remembered for coaching the 1958 football team to a perfect 8-0 record. After switching the Eagles from the T-formation to the single-wing, they won their first game by a 26-20 score and the rest of them by at least three touchdowns. The 1959 team that Baker coached went 6-2. Baker also led the track team to second-place finishes at the Nebraska College Conference Meet, which featured all the small colleges in the state, in both 1958 and ’59. His ’58 team with just 14 members came within seven points of beating Kearney State’s 30 58-man squad for the title. After leaving CSC in 1962, Baker was an assistant football coach for nine years at the University of Wyoming, where he played football, and two years at the University of Arizona . After that, he was a scout for several pro football teams during the next 25 years. He now lives in Tuczon, Ariz., and organized a 50-year reunion of the ’58 football team this fall. Tom Blundell, right, received the trophy he was awarded as the outstanding lineman in the Nebraska College Conference in 1958 from CSC football coach Bill Baker, who was named the conference’s Coach of the Year in ‘58. Brad Bartlett Once called the “Chadron Boy Champ” by the Omaha WorldHerald, Bartlett had a brief, but brilliant, collegiate tennis career, and is the only tennis player to be inducted into the CSC Athletic Hall of Fame. He is a Chadron native who grew up on Main Street, only a half block from the northern edge of the Chadron State campus. He credits his mother for teaching him how to play on the courts that were where the Nelson Physical Activity Center is now located. Bartlett won the Nebraska Intercollegiate Athletic Association singles tennis championship in 1941 when he was a sophomore at CSC and won nine of the 10 matches he played while he was in college. Tennis, like all other sports at the college, was discontinued at the end of 1941 because of World War II. Bartlett played tennis for many years afterwards. In the early 1980s, he returned to his hometown to play in several tournaments, including a couple that were inside the NPAC. Bartlett has been a successful insurance agent in Denver for many years. Rod Borders Borders scored 1,050 points while playing basketball in the mid-1950s at Gordon High School. He then earned four letters at guard for Chadron State beginning in 1957. His scoring average was in double figures each of the three seasons he started. He hit 48.5 percent of his field goal attempts during that span for one of the best shooting percentages by a CSC guard. He was the Eagles’ leading scorer in 1958-59, when he earned all-Nebraska College Conference honors, and was more of a playmaker the rest of his career. He set the school record for most assists in a game when he dished out 13 against Hastings College in 1960-61. The mark stood until 1990-2000 when Bret Bondegard had 14 against Nebraska-Kearney. Borders spent most of his career as a teacher, coach and school administrator. He retired in 2004 after serving as superintendent at Gordon for 12 years. He also was a basketball official evaluator for the Nebraska School Activities Association for seven years. His wife, Marilyn, is also a CSC graduate. Marge Burkett Burkett was another of the former CSC coaches who were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1991. Burkett coached the CSC volleyball team 1978-85, compiling a 14193-5 record, by far the best of any volleyball coach in the college’s history. Four straight years beginning in 1980, her teams qualified for the NAIA District 11 Tournament. They won the championship in 1983 and advanced to the bi-district finals. She also coached the CSC women’s basketball team for three years in the early 80s. After leaving Chadron State, Burkett was Marge Burkett the head volleyball coach at Mankato State in Minnesota for 12 years. Her teams there had a 211-181 cumulative record. She led the Mavericks to five 20-win seasons, was the North Central Conference Coach of the Year in 1989 and took them to their first-ever NCAA Division II postseason appearance in 1990. She received an NCC Honor Award (equivalent of the Hall of Fame) in 2005. She retired from coaching in 1997, but remained at Mankato as a physical education instructor for several years. She now lives near Limon, Colo. Gary Decker Decker helped pioneer the sport of wrestling at Chadron State after coming to college from Newcastle, Wyo., High School, where he began wrestling as a junior and placed second at two Wyoming State Tournaments. He was a member of the first wrestling team at CSC in 1958-59. His college coach, Harry Simonton, once recalled that Decker “was usually a winner when we would find a team to wrestle in those days.” His high school and college record was 41-9, including an 18-4 mark with the Eagles. He qualified for the NAIA National Tournament as a senior in 1961. After graduating, Decker helped manage a variety of family-owned businesses in Wyoming communities. He now lives in California. Ted Erlewine Erlewine was another outstanding wrestler in the early years of the sport at Chadron State. A native of Lusk, Wyo., he was a three-time Nebraska College Conference champion and was selected the Eagles’ outstanding wrestler four straight years. He concluded his college career in 1964-65 with a 39-8-2 record and then was a Third Armored Division champion while serving in the military. He spent five years as the head wrestling coach at Douglas High School near Rapid City. He also was the Douglas Middle School activities director 22 years and the principal five years. He retired in 1999, but remains active in motorcycle riding and safety training. His wife, the former Karen Downen, also graduated from CSC. Bill Giles When Giles became the Eagles’ head football coach in 1967, they had won just 12 games the previous seven years and only four games in the last four years, including a 0-10 record in 1966. He inherited just 11 players with college experience, but the Eagles went 3-6 that season. Giles led the Eagles to four straight winning seasons, including an 8-1 record in 1968. Overall his record at CSC was 27-18. Although born in Chicago, Giles graduated from Alliance High School and was an All-American baseball player and a starting end on the Bill Giles football team at the University of Nebraska in the early 1950s. After leaving Chadron State, Giles, who was highly respected by his players, coached football for eight seasons at Fort Hays State in Kansas and then was an NFL scout in the Midwest for approximately 15 years. He was one of the instigators of the annual CSC Golf Classic to raise funds for the Eagles’ athletic program. He, his two sons and a son-in-law were on their way to play in the tournament in May 1998 when he suffered an aneurysm and died suddenly. 31 Louis Peters A native of Rushville, Peters was a track and football standout at Chadron State in the late 1940s after sports were resumed following World War II. He won the 440 and the mile at the Nebraska College Conference Track and Field Meet in 1946, won the 880 in 1947 and anchored the winning mile relay team in 1948. He also was a starting guard on both offense and defense while playing football in 1945 and 1946. He played nearly every minute of all 10 games in ’46. In 1953, he moved to California, where he taught high school math and science at Coalinga High School for 16 years before spending the rest of his career as a math professor and counselor at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton. Tim Turman Turman and Rick Watson were among the players who helped Bill Giles turn the Eagles’ football fortunes in the right direction in the late 1960s. Turman, who is married to Watson’s sister Dianne, also has had an exceptional high school coaching career. A graduate of Alliance St. Agnes, Turman alternated at quarterback with Mike Winchell, often every other play, his first two years at CSC and then was the starter his final two years, although he missed a total of five games those seasons because of injuries. He still owned virtually every school passing record when he concluded his career in 1970. He completed 177 of 380 passes for 3,307 yards and 28 touchdowns. He also earned his master’s degree at CSC in 1976. Since 1980, Turman has been the head football coach at Bishop Neumann High School at Wahoo, where his teams had a 201-86 cumulative record entering the 2008 season. His Cavaliers have reached the state playoffs 17 times, were the Class C-1 state champions with 13-0 records in both 2002 and ’03 and have played in the championship game three other times. Rick Watson Watson was on the receiving end of many of Turman’s passes from 1967-70 and was a threat to score every time he touched the ball. He intercepted eight passes in 1968 while playing in the secondary. The next two years, he primarily played offense. 32 Tim Turman (left) and Rick Watson formed a potent passing attack at CSC. They became brothers-in-law when Turman married Watson’s sister, Diane. He concluded his career with 96 receptions for 1,792 yards and 15 touchdowns. As a senior, he ranked eighth nationally among NAIA receivers with 56 catches for 978 yards and 10th in punt returns with 10 for 206 yards. Against Kearney State in 1970, Watson set a school record for most all-purpose yards (319) that stood for 19 years. In that game, caught 11 passes for 182 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown reception that at the time was a school record, scored on a 34-yard run with a reverse and returned three punts for 79 yards and a kickoff for 24 yards. He also lost a 70-yard punt return for a touchdown when a teammate committed a clip long after Watson had broken into the clear. At the end of his senior year, Watson owned nine CSC football records. He was an all-district and honorable mention All-American choice that season. His brother, George, earned similar honors that season at Hastings College and has been a criminal justice professor at CSC since 1976. After earning his master’s degree at CSC in 1977, Watson has been on the faculty at North Bend High School, including about 25 years as the activities director. 1992 Inductees These were the inductees into the CSC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1992. They are, from left, Harry Simonton, Paul Colgate, Don Schmaderer, Bill Pile, Kathy Hanshew Runyan, Ken Ottoson, Kevin Kirwin and Don Meter. Paul Colgate Colgate was the starting center for the Chadron State football teams 1966-68. The Eagles were 0-10 the first year he played and 8-1 his final year. He was a team captain and a second-team all-District 11 selection as a senior. After graduating in 1970, Colgate was a high school head football coach for 31 years, compiling a 174-105 record, and also coached track and field, usually as an assistant who worked with throwers, for 38 years. He was named the Colorado Class 4A football coach of the year in 1979 after his team at Buena Vista was the runner-up in the state playoffs. He became the winningest coach in the history of Campbell County High School at Gillette, Wyo., in 1994. While at Wasson High in Colorado Springs in the late 1990s, he was the Metro League’s nominee for coach of the year in Colorado three times. He also was selected as Campbell County High’s Teacher of the Year in 1995. He is married to the former Patty Fitzgibbon, daughter of longtime CSC coach and registrar, L.J. Fitzgibbon. Their sons, Tim and Andy, attended CSC and participated in athletics. Kevin Kirwin Kirwin was a three-time all-Nebraska College Conference selection and received all-District 11 honors and was placed on the state college all-star teams chosen by the Omaha WorldHerald and Lincoln Journal-Star as a senior in 1969. He was voted the Eagles’ outstanding defensive player that year. Kirwin was a teacher, coach and administrator at several Nebraska schools during his career. He compiled a 70-35 record as the football coach at Butte, Neb., his hometown, early in his career. After that, he went into administration and has been at Banner County High at Harrisburg, Fairbury, Ainsworth and Spalding Academy, all in Nebraska. His wife, Darla, ran the switchboard at CSC while he was a student. Kirwin’s parents were among the many who were ardent supporters of the Eagles while their offspring was playing. They attended 34 of his 37 football games, and calculated that they traveled 9,500 miles just to watch him play the 18 games that were in Chadron. Don Meter Meter was among the first rodeo participants at Chadron State and then really put the program on the map in 1956, when he became the national intercollegiate calf roping champion. It was 23 years before CSC had another national champion in the sport. Both of Meter’s daughters also were rodeo standouts at CSC. Martee placed fifth in the national collegiate standings in barrel racing in 1979, and Shelley was the national all-around cowgirl in 1987. After graduating from college, Meter taught and coached basketball for 13 years. One of his teams at Albin, Wyo., won state championship. He also continued to compete in rodeos and has been in the livestock business. He lives near his hometown of Minatare. Ken Ottoson Ottoson was a hard-throwing pitcher for some of the fine baseball teams Chadron State had in the late 1960s. He was an all-district selection in 1968, and ranks second on the college’s career victory list with 14. He was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in 1967 and played for the Valentine Hearts in the highlyrespected Basin League that summer. After graduating, Ottoson was a recreation director at Winnetka, Ill., until 1975 when he returned to his hometown of Potter, Neb. He worked for a number of years in the automobile business in the southern Panhandle. 33 Bill Pile A native of Banner County, Pile was an excellent football player and javelin thrower for the Eagles and then excelled as a wrestling coach. After transferring to CSC from North Platte Community College, Pile was a starting defensive end for the Eagles in 1970 and averaged 39.5 yards as the punter. That spring, he won the javelin at several track and field meets, including the Nebraska College Conference Meet with a throw of 194-feet, 10 inches. After graduating, Pile taught and coached wrestling at Sioux County High in Harrison, Neb., where his teams won 22 consecutive regular season tournament championships and won the Class D state tournament championship in 1976. For more than 30 years after that, he has been an admininistrator at Nebraska and Colorado schools. He was the secondary principal at Mullen for 16 years, the superintendent at Leyton, located at Dalton and Gurley, for 11 years, also was the superintendent at Potter-Dix for four of those years, and is in his fifth year as parttime superintendent at Revere High School at Ovid, Colo. He and his wife, Lila, who also graduated from CSC, live near Gurley, Neb. Kathy Hanshew Runyan After graduating from Ansley High School in 1970, Kathy Hanshew came to Chadron State and helped inaugurate women’s athletics at the college. She was a standout in both volleyball and softball, serving as a volleyball captain three years and being recognized as CSC’s outstanding softball player in 1974. Perhaps her career highlight occurred in 1972, when she was named to the all-tournament team after the Eagles won the state volleyball tournament by defeating, among others, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. After graduating in 1974, Kathy was the head volleyball coach 14 years at St. Mary’s High in Colorado Springs where her teams compiled a 244-74 record and advanced to the regional tournament 13 times. The Pirates reached the state tournament eight times. She was selected as a coach for the Colorado AllStar Match in 1985. She was the school’s athletic director the final three years she coached, and continued to fill that position through 1999. She is now the head of the science department at St. Mary’s. This is her 30th year of teaching at the school. Don Schmaderer Schmaderer was a freshman on the Eagles’ undefeated football team in 1958 and was the team captain as a senior in 1961. After earning second-team all-conference honors as a junior, he was a first-team defensive back and led the Eagles in rushing with a 5.7-yard average his senior year. He also was the Student Senate vice president and was elected to Who’s Who Among American University and College Students. After teaching and coaching one year, he became a certified physical therapist, but returned to his hometown of Stuart to become a banker 1967. He served as president of the Tri-County Bank for nearly 30 years and is still chairman of the board. He also is president of the community foundation and has been involved in many activities in north-central Nebraska 34 Harry Simonton Simonton taught physical education and coached at Chadron State for 33 years before retiring in 1991. He was the college’s first wrestling, men’s golf and gymnastics coach. He also had many other talents. One of his first duties when he came to Chadron State in 1958 was to start a wrestling team. He coached that sport for 12 years. He also helped coach football during his early years at CSC and coached the men’s golf team from 1966 into the early ‘80s when the sport was discontinued. Simonton also began the gymnastics program in the 1960s and continued working with gymnasts at CSC and other places in some form the rest of his life. Some of his gymnasts were in competition, but more often they provided entertainment at halftime of basketball games and for special events. In addition, Simonton often coached and sponsored the cheerleaders, organized the Eaglettes, a drill team that existed several years, staged a Miss Posture Pageant one year and frequently helped with the choreography at fine arts productions. He also was an outstanding artist. He died Nov. 4, 1998 at age 70. Loy Young Young was one of Chadron State’s most successful coaches. He was the Eagles’ head basketball coach for five years, compiling a cumulative record of 84-37. Each of his teams had a winning record, going 18-7 in 1951-52, 17-7 in 1952-53, 14-12 in 1953-54, 19-6 in 1954-55 and 16-5 in 1955-56. His .692 winning percentage is the best in CSC men’s basketball history. His first team at CSC won the District 11 championship and represented Nebraska at the NAIA National Tournament in Kansas City. Three of his four remaining teams qualified for the district playoffs. A majority of the players were from western Nebraska. During a reunion in 1992 when Loy Young he was inducted into the Hall of Fame, they contributed about $4,000 for a scholarship to be awarded in his name. Now 85, Young was a four-year basketball letterman at what was then known as Mankato State Teachers College. His playing career was interrupted by World War II. He spent four years as a pilot in the Army Transport Command, including 13 months flying a C-47 from India to China. He earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and an Air Medal with an Oak Leaf Cluster. After graduating from college in 1947, he coached at two Minnesota high schools and was the head football coach at Dickinson State College in North Dakota for one year before coming to Chadron State so he could coach basketball. He left Chadron State to join the physical education department and serve as an assistant football and basketball coach at his alma mater, now known as Minnesota State-Mankato. He and his wife, Jan, who had up to 125 dance students when the family lived in Chadron, live along Lake Washington near Kasota, Minn., during the summers and spend the winters in Tucson, Ariz. 1993 Inductees The 1993 inductees into the CSC Athletic Hall of Fame included these Eagles. They are, from left, Mike Parks, Nancy Cozad Newman, Ken Parks, Rod Cook, Walt Stoeger, Jim Prell, Dale Hendrickson and Charlie McGaw. Rodney Cook A native of Thermopolis, Wyo., Cook was the first swimmer to be inducted into the CSC Athletic Hall of Fame. He was selected as Chadron State’s outstanding swimmer in 1968 and shared the honor in 1971. He was a member of two conference and district championship teams and consistently was a high placewinner in the backstroke and individual medley. He set the school record in the 200 individual medley and was on the 400-yard freestyle relay team that owned the school record. He qualified for the NAIA National Swimming Meet as a senior in 1971. Cook put his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in industrial arts from CSC to good use during his career. He initially lived in California, where he owned a plastics injection molding company. In 1996, he and his family moved to Fort Worth, Texas, where he was involved in several phases of manufacturing. He retired in the fall of 2008. the motorcycle incident he pitched for Braves’ minor league teams a couple more years but not as effectively as before. Altogether, he played seven years of pro baseball. A graduate of Gering High School, Hendrickson never played baseball at Chadron State, but was an excellent guard for the basketball teams in the late 1950s. He scored 860 points during his career, which was cut short a couple of seasons because he had to report to spring training in February. Hendrickson averaged 12.5 points as a junior and 15.8 as a senior. Both ranked second on the team to his backcourt partner, Jim Hampton. After teaching and coaching at Morrill for nine years, he spent 24 years as a coach and activities director at Kimball before retiring in 1996. He is a past president of the Nebraska Athletic Directors Association. His wife is the former Gayle Babue, a Chadron native. Dale Hendrickson Nancy Cozad Newman Hendrickson is probably best remembered as a left-handed pitcher who signed with the Milwaukee Braves during a tryout camp in Rushville. Before hurting his arm in a motorcycle mishap, Hendrickson was a rising star in the Braves’ farm system. He had a 24-8 record, including three victories in playoffs at Lawton, Okla., in 1955. That season he pitched 39 consecutive scoreless innnings and went 75 innings without permitting an earned run. He had an 11-2 record the next year at Evansville, Ill., and then really drew attention in the spring of 1957 while pitching against the Yankees in an exhibition game. That’s when he struck out Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Bill Skowran in the same inning and fanned Tony Kubek and Hank Bauer later in the game. Later in the spring, he gave up just one hit during three innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers, but after giving up two homers in a game at Chatanooga, he was sent back to the minors. After Nancy was a member of the first volleyball, softball and women’s basketball teams at CSC in the early 1970s. She grew up on a ranch in the Wood Lake area east of Valentine and remembers “about wearing out the boards on our barn” while throwing a volleyball or a softball against them while she was in high school and during the summers while she was in college. She was the starting setter on three Chadron State volleyball teams that had a cumulative record of 41-8. During her sophomore year in 1972, the Eagles won the state championship by defeating the University of Nebraska-Lincoln along the way. However, she remembers that beating Kearney State seemed like an even bigger victory at the time. The Eagles handed UNL its first defeat in 1974 during a tournament in mid-October. She was accorded the team’s outstanding player award in 1973 and shared the honor with Carol Bachmann the following year. She believes she was the team’s leading server all three years. 35 Nancy played second base for the softball team. A highlight was starting a triple play by catching a line drive, tagging a runner who was running from first and then flipping the ball to shortstop Kathy Runyan, who stepped on second base to retire that runner. Basketball was a challenge, because none of the Eagles had played it before, Newman remembers. “We didn’t even know what double-dribble was when we started,” she said. Nancy has been director of the Student Health and Wellness Center at Nebraska Wesleyan University since 1985. Charles McGaw McGaw grew up in Sheridan, Wyo., and played football at the University of Wyoming one year before joining the Navy. When he was discharged he came to Chadron State because the Eagles’ coach was Bill Baker, who had been a senior on the Wyoming team the year McGaw was a freshman. McGaw was a starting guard on the CSC football team that went 8-0 in 1958. He earned second-team all-Nebraska College Conference honors that year and was a first-team choice the next year when the Eagles were 6-2. He spent most of his career at Hot Springs, S.D., where he was a biology teacher, coach and administrator for 20 years. Two of the football teams he helped coach were undefeated. He and his wife also owned a floral shop and a farm. He died Aug. 31, 2005. Ken Parks Parks was recruited from Compton, Calif., by Jack McBride in 1965 and started at fullback four years. As a junior in 1968, he blocked for Larry Gold, who became CSC’s first 1,000-yard rusher that season. The following year, Parks led the Eagles in rushing with 611 yards and scoring with 12 touchdowns. He also scored six times as a junior. After graduating, Parks played two years each for the Joliet Chargers in the Continental Football League and the Rockford Rams in the Midwest Football League. He also had a tryout with the Washington Redskins. He’s also had a successful business career. He earned several salesmanship awards. About 25 years ago, he became a clothing consultant and founded his own firm, KEMA (Keeping Everyone Moving Ahead in Style) and sells clothing by appointment only. He and his wife, Annette, whom he married while he was attending CSC, live in Joliet, Ill. Mike Parks Mike followed his older brother to Chadron State and was a two-time all-conference and all-district selection at defensive end. He also received NAIA All-American honors as a senior in 1971. Bill Giles called him “the best defensive lineman I ever coached.” Parks became associated with the U.S. Forest Service while working at the Pine Ridge Job Corps Center as a student at CSC. His tenure with the forest service included serving as a personnel staffing specialist in the Washington, D.C., office, four years. He transferred to the regional office in Denver in 1995 and served as the human resources officer for the 19 Forest Service Job Corps centers across the nation. He retired in 2006 and continues to live in the Denver area. 36 Jim Prell Prell, who graduated from Anselmo High School, had served in the military before coming to Chadron State. He started at guard opposite Charlie McGaw on the Eagles’ outstanding football teams the final two years in the 1950s. Prell also played defensive tackle and was an all-conference choice both years. He also was honorable mention All-American in 1958. He was a short, but powerfully-built player who had excellent speed. He spent much of his career in banking. He was a bank examiner for the State of Nebraska eight years and for the Norwest Corporation two years. He was the chief operating officer of a bank in Hay Springs in 1969-70 and later owned a bank in Worland, Wyo. He and his wife also owned a motel in Sheridan, Wyo., where he was a city councilman. He died March 27, 2006. Walt Stoeger A native of Boelus, Stoeger played third base for the Eagles in the 1960s. He had a career batting average of .345, getting 92 hits in 267 at bats. He hit .463 (32 of 69), the second best seasonal average in CSC history, in 1965. He was a three-time all-conference and two-time all-district selection and received honorable mention All-American. Stoeger continued to play semi-pro baseball for 25 years after graduating from college and was twice named to the allstate team. He has worked for the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality in Lincoln since 1975. Larry Riley In late November 1993, Larry Riley was inducted into the Chadron State Athletic Hall of Fame. Because of his duties with the Milwaukee Bucks, he had not been able to attend the induction ceremony earlier in the fall during Homecoming, but was inducted during halftime of a basketball game. He is in his 21st year affiliated with NBA teams this season. A native of Whitewater, Ind., Riley earned four letters in baseball, three in basketball and two in cross-country at CSC during the 1960s. He had a career batting average of .305. He was named the college’s outstanding senior majoring in physical education when he graduated in 1966. Ten years later, Riley was back at CSC as the basketball and baseball coach. His basketball teams had identical 17-9 Larry Riley records. He is pleased that 11 of the 12 players who were on those teams graduated from CSC. His baseball team in 1979 was one of just two to qualify for the District 11 playoffs. After leaving CSC, Riley coached basketball 10 years at Eastern New Mexico before joining the Bucks as an assistant coach and advance scout. After six years with the Bucks, he was director of player personnel for the Vancouver Grizzlies for six years and was the No. 2 assistant for the Dallas Mavericks for six years before going to the Golden State Warriors as the top assistant under Don Nelson in 2006. 1994 Inductees The 1994 inductees into the CSC Athletic Hall of Fame are shown with a group of previous members. The new hall of famers, in front, from left, are Rick Brown, Kevin Emanuel, Mike Kinnaird, Wanda Rainbolt, Larry Ruzicka, Chad Emanuel and Randy Bauer. Those in the second row are Bob Burden, Lyle “Moose” Colerick, Larry Gold, Rod Ehler, Len Kaiser and Wilmer Planansky. In the back are Bob Baumann, Bill Stephenson, Verne Lewellen, Tom Alcorn, John McLain, Louis Peters, J.C. Sollars and Glen Groves. Randy Bauer Bauer followed his friend and fellow 1994 Hall of Fame inductee Larry Ruzicka from North Bend to Chadron State. Both had played football in high school under CSC graduate Danny Knight. Bauer played safety and set the Eagles’ single-season interception record as a senior in 1973, when he swiped 10 passes. Ron Brooks intercepted nine passes in 1975 and Cody Gamble picked off eight in 1992, but no other CSC players have ever intercepted more than seven in a season. Bauer finished his career with 16 interceptions, which was a school record at the time. Since then, five CSC defensive backs have exceeded that total. Bauer earned Nebraska College Conference and NAIA District 11 honors as a senior and also was a second-team Academic AllAmerican. After graduating, he worked at Randy Bauer Chadron State for nine years, serving as an admissions counselor, director of student life and as the college’s first director of admissions the final five years. He became a State Farm Insurance agent in Chadron in 1983. For the last 20 years, he has been the president of the Eagles Booster Club and is currently president of the Chadron State Foundation’s board of directors. His wife, the former Lorrie Johnson, also is a Chadron State graduate. Their son, Aaron, is a senior linebacker on this year’s CSC football team. Rick Brown Without question, Brown was one of the outstanding “pure shooters” in Chadron State basketball history. His linedrive jumpers from long range were a thing of beauty. He played at Chadron State in 1970-72 after transferring from Casper College. Brown scored 1,133 points, an average of 21.8 points, those two years while shooting 50 percent from the field and 75 percent from the free throw line. He averaged 21.2 points the first year and 22.3 points the second season. He was a two-time all-conference and all-district choice. Brown lives in his hometown of Lebonon, Ind., where he has been a truck driver, worked in a manufacturing plant and a substitute teacher. Chad Emanuel The youngest of three brothers from Dodge, Neb., to star in athletics at Chadron State, he broke into college football with a bang—by kicking a 49-yard field goal with just 17 seconds remaining to give the Eagles a 10-7 win over Doane College 1974. His field goal came in his second college game when he was still 17 years old. That was the first of four game-winning field goals that Emanuel kicked for the Eagles. Altogether, he booted 15 of them at CSC, including those of 50 and 56 yards. The latter, which came against Northwest Missouri State in 1976, has been exceeded only by a 57-yarder by Aaron Turner in 2000. Although no records for such are kept, he undoubtedly put a higher percentage of his kickoffs in the end zone than any other CSC placekicker. In addition, Emanuel also started at offensive guard three years, and was an all-district selection and honorable mention 37 All-American as a senior in 1977. Since graduating, he has been in the construction business, often serving as the superintendent for large projects throughout the Midwest. He and his wife, the former Cheryl Ziska, whom he met at CSC, live in Winterset, Iowa. He has received Chadron State’s Distinguished Alumni Award and is a member of the board of directors of the Chadron State Foundation. Kevin Emanuel Chad’s older brother, Kevin Emanuel, was a fullback and linebacker for CSC football teams and a catcher for the baseball team in the 1970s. He set the school record for most home runs with 15 and ranks second on the Eagles’ all-time list in runs batted in with 75. He was honored as CSC’s oustanding senior athlete in 1976. Since 1981, he and his wife, the former Kate Roe, who also graduated from CSC, have lived in Osceolo, Iowa, where he owns and operates a petroleum distribution service and they have 200 storage units. As a footnote, the Emanuel brothers’ parents, Eugene and Elsie, were outstanding supporters of the CSC football program while their sons were in college. Twice the entire football team and coaching staff stopped at their dairy and hog farm near Dodge for a noon meal while en route to a game the following day in eastern Nebraska. Scott Jones “Brown and Jones” formed a terrific backcourt duo for the Eagles 1970-72. There wasn’t a better tandem in Nebraska and few better nationally. Ironically, they scored exactly the same number of points—1,133—in 52 games, giving them an average of 21.8 per game. Jones averaged 21.0 the first year and 22.5 as a senior. No opponent dared play a zone against the pair, both of whom could “shoot lights out.” Jones, who transferred from Western Nebraska Community College in Scottsbluff, also averaged nearly eight rebounds a game. Although Jones was only 6-foot, Coach Mack Peyton sometimes posted him up near the basket to take advantage of his driving and leaping abilities. For many years after leaving CSC, Jones worked at the airport at Simpsonville, Ky., not far from his hometown of Shelbyville. Michael Kinnaird Kinnaird also was a terrific basketball player who transferred from Nebraska Western College, and is one of the few athletes in the Hall of Fame who played for the Eagles just one year. His short career was not by design. He was sidelined by a serious knee injury early in the 1967-68 season, but made up for lost time the following year when he averaged 24.4 points and 11.6 rebounds. His scoring average ranks third and his rebounding average is fourth on the Eagles’ single season lists. He shot 54.5 percent from the field and earned all-NAIA District 11 honors during his remarkable season at CSC. Kinnaird also became a star in educational circles. In 1997, he was selected as the Nevada Principal of the Year by the National Association of Secondary Principals and Met Life Insurance while serving as principal of Advanced Technologies Academy, a $10 million state-of-the-art high school that he helped design in Las Vegas. Later that year, he received the prestigious Milken Foundation Award that included a $25,000 cash prize. A native of Jeffersonville, Ind., Kinnaird was appointed by the 38 governor as chairman of the Commission on Educational Technology for Nevada in 1997. He received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Chadron State in 1999. He is retired and lives in Las Vegas. Wanda Rainbolt A graduate of Alliance High School and Chadron State, she was the Eagles’ first volleyball coach. Her achievements included a pair of victories over the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, arguably the nation’s leading volleyball program in the nation the past 20 or so years. Rainbolt led CSC’s first team in 1972 to the Nebraska collegiate championship. The Eagles also had winning records each of the next three years that she coached. After taking a one-year hiatus to do graduate work, she returned in 1977, when the Eagles went 12-12. Her career record at CSC is 63-29. Because volleyball was so new, the championship in 1972 probably did not receive the attention it deserved. The Eagles hosted the state tourney—officially known as the Nebraska Women’s Intercollegiate Volleyball Tournament— and defeated the University of Nebraska-Omaha in two sets, and Peru State, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Kearney State, all in three sets, to win the title. In the finals, Kearney won the first set 15-3, but the Eagles caught fire, the rambunctious crowd cheered them on and they took the next two 15-6, 15-13. Following the awards presentation, Rainbolt, who was wearing a wool suit, was tossed into the swimming pool by her ecstatic players. The Eagles finished the season with a 14-3 record. The Eagles went 10-1 the next year. They defeated Dana and UNO, but lost to Kearney State, all in two sets, to finish third at the state tourney. In 1974, the Eagles won their first 11 matches, including 15-11, 15-12 victories over previously undefeated UNL. The Cornhuskers avenged the loss late in the season, and the Eagles finished the year at 16-4. CSC was fourth at the state tournament, which featured 16 teams, beating Doane, Midland Lutheran and John F. Kennedy College, but losing to Kearney State and UNL. UNO and Creighton also beat CSC during the regular season in ’74. With most of the standouts from the first three teams graduated, CSC dropped to 11-9 in 1975, After leaving CSC, Wanda earned a doctorate from Texas Woman’s University and has been a professor and academic adviser at California State Polytechnic University at Pomona since 1989. She married long-time acquaintance Jim Deaver, a 1968 CSC graduate, in 2006. She plans to retire at the end of the 2008-09 school year. Larry Ruzicka Ruzicka was one of the leaders on the Chadron State football teams in the early 1970s. He played cornerback and set a school record that still stands when he returned an interception 96 yards for a touchdown against the University of South Dakota-Springfield in 1971. He also recovered eight fumbles during his career and was named CSC’s outstanding senior athlete in 1972-73. He was a two-time Academic All-American. Corey Campbell and Danny Woodhead are the only other CSC football players who have received the honor more than once. Ruzicka also was the first runner-up nationally for the Stan Musial Sportsmanship Award given by Sigma Tau Gamma Fraternity. He was president of the CSC chapter of Sig Tau his senior year. After graduating, he joined two brothers in a large farming operation near North Bend, his hometown. 1995 Inductees Those entering the Hall of Fame in 1995 included, from left, Dale Williamson, Rex Jones, Kent Halley and Terry Statton. Kent Halley A native of Sidney, Halley was a three-year starter and earned all-NAIA District 11 honors at cornerback in both 1971 and ’72. He also earned three letters in track and was the Nebraska College Conference 440-yard intermediate hurdle champion in 1971 and ’72 with times of 56.2 and 56.1 seconds, respectively. He also placed third in the high hurdles at both of those meets. Halley, who also earned his master’s degree from CSC, has spent most of his career in education. He was a teacher and coach at Morrill, Riverton, Wyo., and Potter-Dix, before becoming a principal at Pawnee City. He was the high school principal at Mitchell for 10 years before becoming the superintendent in 2001. He also is the western Nebraska representative on the Nebraska School Activities Association’s board of control. Rex Jones After earning all-state quarterback honors on Chadron High School’s undefeated football team in 1954, Jones enrolled at Chadron State and was a member of the Eagles’ 8-0 team in 1958. After graduating, he coached football at Hemingford, Rushville and Chadron, where his teams had a 70-37-5 record. His 1966 team at Rushville went 11-0 and was recognized by the media as the Class C state champions. After serving three years as principal at Chadron High, Jones was associate director of the Nebraska School Activities Association from 1975 until his retirement in January 2002. In that position, he was a member of the National High School Football Rules Committee 25 years and served on the national wrestling rules committee 12 years. He was chairman of both committees. He also was on the track and field committee. During most of his tenure with the NSAA, he was director of the football, cross-country, wrestling and track and field state championships. He was inducted into the Nebraska Scholastic Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2003. In March 2009, he will be one of three recipients of the National Wrestling Coaches Association’s Dan Gable “America Needs Wrestling” Award for his support and promotion of the sport. Following his retirement, Rex and his wife, the former Sharon Franey of Crawford, moved back to Chadron. Kathy Kennedy A native of Channing, Texas, Kennedy was a tremendous breakaway roper and a member of the greatest rodeo team in Chadron State history. Joining with Jean Fuchs and Martee Meter, Kathy helped Chadron State win the women’s team trophy at 14 of 23 rodeos and the regional championships during both of her years at the college. The team finished fourth in the national team standings in 1978-79. Kathy was the Great Plains Region’s breakaway roping champion in 1978-79 and also was the national breakaway champion in that year, when her times at the finals rodeo were 5.45, 2.87 and 3.47 seconds. The following year, Chadron State switched to the Central Rocky Mountain Region, and Kennedy again was the regional breakaway champion. She also frequently placed in goat tying. Kathy was the youngest person to be inducted posthumously into the Hall of Fame. She died of breast cancer on Aug. 22, 1981 before she had graduated. She was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Texas, in June 2002. Jean Fuchs Poythress At the urging of Kelvin Sharp, then a team roper at CSC and now the president of South Plains College at Levelland, Texas, Jean enrolled at Chadron State after graduating from Thedford High School in 1977. As a freshman, she won the breakaway roping, was second in team roping and was the all-around cowgirl in the Great Plains Region, which spanned eight states. She also won the national breakaway roping championship that year, when her times at the finals rodeo were 3.9, 4.2 and 3.1 seconds. 39 Perhaps just as important, Jean recruited Kathy Kennedy and Martee Meter to Chadron State, and the trio formed an outstanding team the next two years. They won the women’s team trophy at 11 of the 13 rodeos in the Great Plains Region in 1978-79 and at four of 10 rodeos in the Central Rocky Mountain Region the following year. They were regional team champions both years and placed fourth in the final national standings in ’78-’79. As a sophomore, Jean was second to Kennedy in breakaway roping in the region. She also was the Great Plains Region’s allaround cowgirl and was the region’s runner-up in goat tying that year. Jean also was the Central Rocky Mountain Region and national breakaway champion in 1980-81 after transferring to the University of Wyoming to earn a range management degree. CSC did not have the degree then. Jean and her husband Gary Poythress now live near Stephenville, Texas, where they raise cattle that are used for team roping and steer wrestling. Martee Meter Pruitt Martee transferred to Chadron State from Eastern Wyoming College at Torrington in 1978-79. Besides being on some great teams the next two years, she was the barrel racing champion in the Great Plains Region and placed fifth in the final national standings in 1978-79. Her individual winnings that year included first in both the barrel race and goat tying and the all-around cowgirl honors at the CSC rodeo. A native of Minatare, Martee also placed frequently in both the barrels and goats and even won the breakaway roping at a rodeo her senior year. After graduating, Martee competed on the pro rodeo circuit several years and qualified for the PRCA National Finals in the barrel race three times before focusing on training and selling barrel racing horses. Her father, Don Meter, was the national intercollegiate calf roping champion in 1956 while attending CSC, and her sister, Shelley, was the national intercollegiate all-around cowgirl in 1986-87 while she was at CSC. In addition, Martee’s husband, Troy Pruitt, was the PRCA calf roping champion in 1990. Terry Statton Statton initially enrolled at Chadron State in 1965 after graduating from Finney High in Detroit. He then joined the Army, but returned to CSC in 1970 and was an all-district and honorable mention All-American offensive lineman for the Eagles in 1972. He earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degree from CSC. After teaching and coaching in Nebraska and Iowa several years, he was a school administrator at Sturgis, S.D., and at Riverton, Wheatland and Cody in Wyoming. He was selected as the Wyoming Principal of the Year by the National Association of 40 This Chadron State trio won the women’s team championship at 11 of the 14 rodeos in the Great Plains Region in 1978-79. They are, from left, Martee Meter Pruitt, Jean Fuchs Poythress and Kathy Kennedy. Secondary Principals in 1997 while working at Cody. His wife, the former Patti Schmiedt, also graduated from CSC. After their two sons had graduated from high school, the Stattons spent two years in Egypt and two years in Bahrain with the American International Schools. They returned in 2004, and he was the principal at Big Piney, Wyo., when he died on Dec. 9, 2007. Dale Williamson Williamson won at least a third of the golf tournaments he entered during his four years at Chadron State. He broke into the sport at CSC with a bang. He won the first tournament his freshman year before he had met the coach, Harry Simonton, or practiced with the Eagles. The tourney was at Rapid City, S.D., and the CSC contingent swung by his home in Custer, S.D., to take him along. “That was great coaching,” Simonton remarked several years afterwards. Williamson’s collegiate career was highlighted by winning first place at the NAIA District 11 Tournament in 1974 with a 141 total over 36 holes. After graduating, Williamson won countless tournaments in the region. He qualified for the U.S. Golf Association’s MidAmateur Tournament in Dallas in 1987, and won the Nebraska Amateur Golf Championship in 1994 by shooting eight strokes under par and five strokes better than the runner-up. He has been the Chadron State registrar since 1992. 1996 Inductees These men were inducted into the CSC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996. In front, from left, are Fran Wrage, Dale Timperley, Clint Belden and Kelvin Sharp. In the back are Doug Brandt, Dale Drahota, Rick Nave and Lue Graesser. Clinton Belden A 1970 graduate of Chadron State, Belden won both the calf roping and steer wrestling championships and was runnerup to the all-around cowboy in the Central Plains Region of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association as a senior at CSC. The region consisted of all the colleges and universities in Nebraska and Kansas. He was president of the CSC Rodeo Club in 1968-69 at a time when the club contained nearly 100 members. He has been involved in farming and ranching near his hometown of Bayard for many years. Doug Brandt By all accounts, Brandt was too small to play defensive tackle, but he started at the position four years and ranked among the top three in number of tackles on the team three of those years. He was just 5-foot-8, 180 pounds, but was strong, quick and tenacious. Coach Bill Giles said he tabbed the Bridgeport, Neb., native a starter as a freshman in 1968 when the varsity offense couldn’t run its plays during scrimmages against the scout team when Brandt was on the field. Brandt was elected a co-captain of the Eagles his senior year. He has spent his career as a teacher and coach at Bayard. Dale Drahota A native of Pierce, Drahota was a tall, rangy athlete who lettered in both football and track all four years he attended Chadron State. He caught 40 passes for 894 yards and five touchdowns while earning NAIA District 11 all-star honors as a senior in 1976. During his career, he caught 75 passes for 1,455 yards. He also long jumped 22-3 ½ and ran the 100-yard dash in 10.0 seconds and the 220 in 22.1. He was selected Chadron State’s outstanding athlete as a senior 1977-76. Drahota has been a district manager for Pepsi-Cola in northeast Nebraska since 1986. He lives in Norfolk. Lue Graesser Graesser won 18 cross-country races for the Eagles during the mid-1970s, including the Nebraska College Conference championship twice and the District 11 championship once. He won the latter race by 25 seconds. Nicknamed “Short Wheels” by his CSC track coach, Don Holst, Graesser owned the school records of 4:21.3 in the mile and 14:21.6 in the three-mile when he concluded his career in 1975. When converted from yards to meters, his time in what became the 1500 meters stood until Joe Schultz broke it in 2007. He still owns the Eagles’ 5000-meter record of 14:52.62. He also ran the 880 in 1:57.0. That mark is the fifth best in school history when converted to 800 meters. Graesser also ran the anchor leg on some excellent distance relay teams for the Eagles. Graesser taught and coached track Keya Paha County High in his hometown of Springview for 14 years, winning the Class D state championship in 1989. He then was at Wausa High for 12 years and has been at Lawrence-Nelson in south-central Nebraska the past seven years. He has always been the head track coach at these schools and was the head football coach about half his tenure at Wausa. His wife, the former Jeri Jo Blundell, is a Chadron native. 41 Sheryl Myers Levi A native of Callaway, Sheryl followed her brother, Terry Myers, to Chadron State. He was a wide receiver on the football teams in the early 1970s. Sheryl was a four-year letterwinner and a three-year starter in the front row for the CSC volleyball teams in the mid-1970s. The Eagles had a cumulative 50-21-3 record while she played. She was selected the team’s outstanding player her senior year in 1976, when the Eagles were 13-7-3. Stories from that era often indicate that her hitting was one of the team’s strengths. Sheryl also was the college’s homecoming queen in 1976 and was crowned the Ivy Day queen the following spring. She was the first CSC coed to receive both honors. Assisted by her husband, Kent Sheryl Myers Levi Levi, who played offensive guard for CSC football teams during the mid-1970s, Sheryl had exceptional success coaching volleyball at Campbell County High School at Gillette, Wyo. During the 19 years she was the head coach, the Camels had a 370-154 record, won 11 district, seven regional and six state championships. They also were the state tournament runners-up three times. She is now the associate principal at a junior high in Gillette. The Levis’ daughter, Stephanie, is a redshirt on the 2008 Chadron State volleyball team after transferring from Metro State in Denver. Rick Nave Nave said he probably ranked “about 100th”on the squad of 101 as a freshman in 1970, but he developed into a three-year starter at defensive end with a knack for making things happen. Just 5-11, 180 pounds, he was “the knife” while the Eagles’ other end, Tom Alcorn, was referred to as “the hammer.” Nave was second on the team in tackles with 118 as a junior and led the Eagles the following year with 122, 11 of them behind the line. He also recovered four fumbles and blocked three punts as a senior. He earned all-conference honors three times and gained all-district status as both a junior and a senior. A native of Pierce, he has been a project manager for a construction company in Lincoln for more than 20 years. Kelvin Sharp Sharp was an exceptional team roper while attending Chadron State in the late 1970s. A heeler, he was the regional runner-up in 1976 and was the regional champion in 1977 and ’78. At that time, Chadron State was a member of the Great Plains Region that included the Dakotas, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and Wisconsin. He also finished eighth in the nation in the intercollegiate team roping standings in 1976 and was fifth in both 1977 and ’78. Sharp must also get credit for helping Chadron State have an outstanding women’s team in 1978-80. That’s because Jean Fuchs came to CSC after he promised to team rope with her in college. She then recruited Kathy Kennedy and Martee Meter and a short, but sweet, dynasty was born. 42 Originally from Texas, but a graduate of McPherson County High School at Tryon, Sharp taught math and served as the rodeo coach and dean of instruction at Clarendon College in Texas and at West Texas A&M before going to South Plains College at Levelland, Texas, in 1999 as dean of arts and sciences. He was promoted to vice president of academic affairs in January 2000 and named president of the college, which has an enrollment of about 19,000, in November 2004. Sharp has won about 25 saddles during his roping career, including one since he became a college president. He also suffered a broken collarbone in the summer of 2008 when one of his horses bucked him off. Both are experiences that few college presidents have had. One of his proteges at West Texas A&M was Trevor Brazile, who is seeking his fifth PRCA all-around cowboy title in 2008. Dale Timperley Like Dale Drahota and Rick Nave, Timperley came from Pierce to play football at Chadron State and were inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996. Timperley started at inside linebacker three years. He led the team in tackles as a junior with 101 and as a senior with 127. He earned all-district honors and was an NAIA All-American honorable mention as a junior in 1971. He played just as well the following year, but shared the spotlight with fellow linebacker Don White, who recovered eight fumbles that season. Timperley was the track and field coach and an assistant football coach at Hastings College and chairman of the Health and Physical Education Department at Morningside College before moving with his wife, the former Leanna Scott of Hay Springs to Santa Fe, N.M., a few years ago to raise Arabian horses. Leanna was a Chadron State cheerleader and is a medical doctor. Francis Wrage The Chadron Record called Wrage “the sparkplug” on a couple of excellent basketball teams at CSC in the late 1950s. A native of Valentine, Wrage was an exceptional ballhandler and was usually assigned to defend the opponent’s best outside shooter. He led the Eagles in assists and free throw shooting, making 61 of 78 for .782 percent, as a senior in 1958-59. He also was the team’s second leading scorer, averaging 10.8 points a game. After compiling a 148-102 record as the basketball coach at Hart High School in Newhall, Calif., Wrage has been associated with Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. for more than 30 years. 1997 Inductees These were among the inductees into the CSC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1997. In front, from left, are Bob Brown, Bunny Pisacka Bolden, Shari Fisher Kopp and Vern Chicoine. In back are Duane Fritz, Gene Emanuel, Dean Churchill and Dennis Schmitz. Bunny Piscka Bolden Bunny was a rodeo standout at Chadron State during the early 1980s. She was the all-around cowgirl and the goat tying champion in the Central Rocky Mountain Region of the NIRA as a junior in 1982-83. She won the all-around cowgirl title at five regional rodeos that year. She also was second in the region in goat tying the following year and tied for first in the first goround of goat tying at the national rodeo in 1984. After her college career ended, Bunny was a consistent goat tying and breakaway roping winner as well as a frequent all-around winner at South Dakota Rodeo Association and Northwest Ranch Cowboys Association rodeos. Bunny and her husband, Roy Bolden, ranch in the neighborhood where she grew up near Buffalo Gap, S.D. Bob Brown Bob Brown became a college football standout the hard way. He was just 16 years old and weighed only 120 pounds as a senior at Chadron High School so he played only with the reserves. He then served two years as a paratrooper and communications specialist during World War II. He nearly died when he was hit by German mortar fire in February 1945 in southern Belgium. A medic, whose name he never knew, dragged him out of danger, tended his wounds and gave him a shot of morphine. He then was placed in a stretcher on the hood of a Jeep (the seats and the back were already filled with wounded GIs), and the driver sped to safety. He later discovered that his canteen, which was strapped to his waist, had holes the size of his thumb at both the top and the bottom. After recovering from his wounds, Brown enrolled at Chadron State and played football three years. He started at guard on both offense and defense in 1947 and ’48, when the Eagles were 7-1-1 and 7-1 and tied for the conference championship both years. He was elected captain of the 1948 team. Brown spent nearly 35 years in education, most of it as the high school principal or superintendent at Harrison, Kimball and Morrill. His son, Bill, also played football at CSC in the 1980s. Bob died on April 15, 2007. Vern and Frances Chicoine The Chicoines were inducted into the Hall of Fame for meritorius service. They were longtime Chadron-area residents and strong supporters of Chadron State College and its programs for many years. Specifically, they were honored for contributing $116,000 toward the construction of a new pressbox at Elliott Field in the mid-1960s. The pressbox was named in honor of Con Marshall, long-time director of information and sports information director at CSC. Frances Chicoine was Marshall’s aunt. Previously, the Chicoines had established an endowment 43 that provides funding for several scholarships to CSC students through the Chadron State Foundation. The couple received the college’s Distinguished Service Award in 1994 and the Friend of Education Award in 1996. Mrs. Chicoine died at age 82 in January 1997. Chicoine married Madge Fortune the following year. In 2000, they gave $161,000 for the construction of the Vernon and Madge Fortune-Chicoine Atrium that is attached to the Mari Sandoz High Plains Heritage Center at CSC. Vern Chicoine died at age 89 in February 2003. Dean Churchill Churchill won the team roping championship in the Great Plains Region that was made up of eight states in the Upper Midwest in 1975-1976 and was first in calf roping and second in team roping to his Chadron State teammate, Kelvin Sharp, in the region in 1977-78. During the fall of 1975, he placed first, second, third and fourth in team roping at regional rodeos to take the lead in the national standings that were being kept at that time. In the spring of 1978, he was the all-around cowboy at four consecutive rodeos—those at the University of Illinois, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the University of Nebraska School of Technical Agriculture at Curtis and Chadron State Churchill was president of the Chadron State Rodeo Club and was the Great Plains Region’s student director in 1977-78. After graduating in 1978, he attended South Dakota State University where he earned a master’s degree. In 1978-79 he was the student president of National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association. Since he had not rodeoed at Chadron State as a freshman and was a national officer, he was granted two more years of eligibility while at SDSU and won the regional team roping championship again in 1979-80. Churchill and his wife, the former Cathie Jaggers of Hay Springs, who also attended Chadron State, are involved in the family’s Rocking Arrow Charolais Ranch south of Valentine. Gene Emanuel Emanuel was a three-year starter at offensive tackle for the Eagles. He earned all-conference honors twice and received all-district honors as a senior in 1974. He was the first of three brothers from Dodge, Neb., to play football for the Eagles. Kevin, who also played baseball, and Chad were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1994. Gene had been invited to join the Hall of Fame that year, but was living in Tennessee at the time and couldn’t attend the ceremonies. In 1995, he and his family moved to Monticello, Minn., where they still reside. He has been in school and commercial bus sales and management since 1984. Duane Fritz A native of Bassett, Neb., Fritz was a tremendous punter for the Eagles in the mid-1970s. During his career, Fritz averaged 40 yards on 181 punts. He earned NAIA District 11 honors after averaging 42.3 yards on 65 punts as a junior in 1975 and 41.3 yards on 40 punts as a senior. Those averages are second and third on Eagles’ seasonal chart. He was selected as the first-team NAIA All-American punter in 1975. He holds the CSC record for best punting average in a game, 49.7 yards on nine punts against Wayne State in 1975. In addition to punting, Fritz started at tight end for the Eagles 44 three years, catching 42 passes for 498 yards. After teaching math in Cozad for nearly 20 years, Fritz is employed by the telephone company in that community. Shari Fisher Kopp Shari placed second in barrel racing in the final National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association standings in 1982-83 and joined with Bunny Pisacka to earn enough points so Chadron State finished fifth in the women’s team standings that year. At the national rodeo in ’83, Shari and her horse, Tonto, won the second go-round and placed second in the finals. Shari also was the national high school pole bending champion as Shari Kopp a senior at Chadron High School in 1980 and was a runner-up in both the poles and the barrels at the National Little Britches Rodeo before that. She has been an escrow system specialist for a title insurance company in Phoenix, Ariz., for a number of years. Dennis Schmitz A native of Lyman, Schmitz caught 45 passes for 696 yards while starting at tight end three years for Chadron State football teams in the early 1970s, but he is best known for his baseball exploits. For his career, he compiled a .357 batting average, collecting 109 hits in 305 at bats. His average ranks as the fourth best in CSC history and his number of hits is the fifth highest. A first baseman, Schmitz also drove in 74 runs during his career, third highest on the CSC list. He earned all-district honors as a junior in 1972, when he hit .456. He also had averages of .439 and .339. His top batting averages are the third and fourth highest in CSC history. After graduating in 1973, Schmitz spent 32 Dennis Schmitz years in education, mostly in northeast Nebraska. He taught and coached 12 years at Hartington, was the K-12 principal four years at Newman Grove, the superintendent and elementary principal three years at Newcastle, the superintendent two years at Morrill and the superintendent and elementary principal 11 years at Pender. He also coached basketball at each of the schools and was the head football coach at Hartington. Schmitz retired from education in 2005 and lives in Lincoln. His wife, the former Janice Couch, also of Lyman, attended CSC. 1998 Inductees Composed largely of World War II veterans, Chadron State College had three outstanding football teams in the late 1940s. The Eagles were the Nebraska College Conference co-champions in 1947 and ’48 and played in the Bean Bowl in Scottsbluff in 1949. Their records those years were 7-1-1, 7-1 and 7-2, respectively. This is the 1948 team. The players, in front, from left, are Lyle Colerick, Harry Hull, J.C. Sollars, Chester Dady, Stanley Peterson, Keith Race, Bill Trotter, Bob Craft, Bill Stephenson, Verne Lewellen, Clayton Brown and Jack Barker. Second row, Head Coach Ross Armstrong, Foster Taylor, Dale Hammer, Bob Scott, Jim Ratelle, Fred Lawrence, Morse Burley, Harold “Pepper” Martin, Joe Folsom, Bob Dugger and Bill Holub. Third row, Bob Brown, Wally Calvert, Paul Phillips, Dave Barker, Al Butterfield, Doyle Dudney, Glenn Groves, Bob Clapham, Jim Schuemaker and Assistant Coach Ed Puck. Back row, Dick Schwartz, Jack McNutt, Gerald Eastwood, Dick Speer, Lawrence Wax, Max Schlepenbach, Don Buckingham and Don Trueblood. Editor’s Note: In 1998, at the suggestion of Dr. Sam Rankin, then president of Chadron State, three football teams that were observing milestone anniversaries, were inducted into the Hall of Fame. Kearney State until 1996 as the Antelopes won 31 games from the Eagles in the next 48 years (there was a 10-10 tie in 1978). However, entering the 2008 season, CSC has won nine of the last 12 games with Kearney. 1948 Football Team 1958 Football Team The 1948 football team was the second of three great teams coached by Ross Armstrong. The 1947 team had a 7-1-1 record, the ’48 Eagles were 7-1 and the ‘49 team was 7-3. That produced a three-year record of 21-5-1. Both the ’47 and ’48 teams were Nebraska College Conference co-champions and the ’49 team played in the Bean Bowl in Scottsbluff on Thanksgiving Day. All three teams were made up largely of World War II veterans. They were athletic, mature and tough. The only loss in 1948 was to Wayne State (17-14) in the season-opener. The difference was a 24-yard field goal late in the game. The team had 24 returning lettermen, including all but one player (the late Gene Alcorn) who had started the final two games in 1947. Following the loss to Wayne, the Eagles downed York 21-0, tripped Kearney State 20-7, squeezed past Peru State 13-6 on two Wally Calvert touchdowns, rolled over Midland Lutheran 27-7, outscored Black Hills State 35-26, knocked off Hastings 24-6 in a game that featured a 93-yard kickoff return by Jack Barker and topped Doane 14-7. The ’48 team was the last one from Chadron State to defeat The Eagles had a perfect 8-0 season in 1958 and frankly could have stood a lot stronger competition in most of the games. The ’58 team was just the second Chadron State football team to go unbeaten and untied. The great season was certainly not foreseen. The previous year, the Eagles were 2-6 and only 14 lettermen returned. It looked like another long season to most observers. However, Coach Bill Baker blended some new talent with the veterans and produced a winning formula. Several valuable transfers joined the team and most of the returnees had the best seasons of their careers. The first game was a supreme test. CSC won a difficult 26-20 decision over Southern State College at Springfield, S.D. That was the only close call. The Eagles won all of the other games by at least three touchdowns. The remaining scores were CSC 35, Concordia 0; CSC 34, Doane 13; CSC 27, Wayne State 7; CSC 45, Dana 6; CSC 26, Midland Lutheran 7; CSC 26, Peru State 0; and CSC 32, Nebraska Wesleyan 13. The team featured a crushing ground attack and enough 45 passing to keep the opposition honest. The defense was overpowering most of the time. Because of the vast amount of talent on the team, those selecting all-star teams at the end of the season had difficulty agreeing on who should be honored. Only three or four made everybody’s first team, but 14 Eagles received at least honorable mention. 1978 Football Team Chadron State’s 1978 football season was highlighted by winning the Boot Hill Bowl in Dodge City, Kan., allowing the Eagles to forge a 7-2-2 record and finish 16th in the NAIA Division II rankings. The win was CSC’s first in the postseason until the 2006 team defeated West Texas A&M in an NCAA Division II playoff game. It was anticipated that 1978 would be a good year for the Eagles. The 1977 team had an 8-2 record and much of the cast was returning. An exception was Coach Sparky Adams, who moved to Bemidji State in Minnesota. He was replaced by Jerry Welch, a starter on Arkansas’ national championship team in 1964. Many of the games were close and the Eagles lost twice late in the season, but the rousing 30-19 triumph over Baker University in the Boot Hill Bowl erased most of the negative memories. The team was noted for its potent passing led by quarterback Brad Fults, who completed 186 of 350 tosses for 2,109 yards. That season, he became just the second player in Nebraska collegiate history to amass more than 6,000 yards in career Coach Jerry Welch holds high the Boot Hill Bowl trophy that the Eagles won in 1978. Players shown, from left, are Bob Scott, Mark Mosier, Bill Ryan, Mark Bauder and J.D. Carr. total offense. Fults’ favorite target was Bill Ryan, who caught 65 passes for 868 yards and nine touchdowns. The pair and offensive tackle Terry Mastny, who went on to earn All-American honors, were selected to the Nebraska NAIA all-star team at the end of the season. The longhorn trophy that CSC earned at the Boot Hill Bowl still hangs in Armstrong Gymnasium. The 1958 Chadron State football team won all its game, most of them by a wide margin. In front, from left, are John Van Newkirk, LeRoy Cundall, Don Schmaderer, Don Overfield, Don Mathis, Pete Mirelez, Gale Ibach, Don Osborn, Lonny Wickard, Bill Mowry, Roger Krening, Bob Pedrett, Jim Prell and Chuck McGaw. Second row, Head Coach Bill Baker, Athletic Director Ross Armstrong, Roger Nielson, Ron Mercure, Bill Groves, Junior Johnson, Virgil Meyer, Chuck Murray, Rex Jones, Dick Colerick, Guido Santero, Richard Deben, Jim White, Wally Sande, Orval Borgialli, Jerry Rowe and Assistant Coach Dudley Draxton. Back row, student managers Ron Pinney and Larry Lemons, Don Hanks, Don Mahlman, John McLane, Chuck Cogdill, Pete Beckman, Mel Stuckey, Don Parsons, Tom Blundell, Dennis Thompson, Roger Hengen, Fran Trenholm and Don Koraleski. 46 1999 Inductees The 1999 inductees into the Hall of Fame incuded these ex-Eagles. In front, from left, are Brad Fults, Bill Ryan, Laurie Wickard Janicek and Rick Mikelson. Back row, Sam Perkins, Doug Jones, Ron Hoffman and Monty Reher. Brad Fults Fults was both a football and baseball standout who became the first Chadron State athlete chosen as the Nebraska State College Athlete of the Year by the Omaha World-Herald. He was inducted into the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame in 2006. Sometimes referred to as the Beaver City Bomber, Fults was a three-time all-conference and all-district selection and earned NAIA honorable mention All-American as a senior in 1978. During his career, he completed 407 of 830 passes for 5,658 yards and 34 touchdowns. He also rushed for 918 yards, by far the most for a CSC quarterback. That gave him 6,603 yards of total offense. He was just the second Nebraska collegiate Brad Fults player at any level to accumulate at least 6,000 yards in total offense. Marlin Briscoe of the University of Omaha was the first. One of Fults’ best games was the Boot Hill Bowl at Dodge City, Kan., his senior year in 1978, when he led the Eagles to a 30-19 victory over Baker University. He completed 16 of 36 passes for 306 yards and two touchdowns and carried 12 times for 119 yards and another TD. He was awarded a set of mounted longhorns as the game’s outstanding offensive player Fults also was one of the Eagles’ all-time great baseball players. He had a .335 career batting average (111 hits in 331 at bats) and was the winning pitcher 16 times, the most in the program’s history. As a senior, he had a 5-2 record and a 1.98 earned run average. He was placed on the all-district team twice. Fults is in the cattle business near his hometown of Beaver City, Neb. Ralph Gill Without question, Gill was one of the Eagles’ all-time great defensive ends. He was a two-time all-district choice and earned NAIA second-team All-American honors as a senior in 1977. The opponents averaged just 239.5 yards and 9.5 points against Chadron State that season. He also scored several touchdowns or laid blocks that allowed others to score while playing fullback on the Eagles’ power I formation when they neared the goal line. Gill, who was 6-foot-2, 230 pounds, was so strong and agile that he was almost impossible to knock down while playing either 47 offense or defense. He was living in Kentucky, not far from his home at Athens, Ala., when he died unexpectedly in 1994. Ron Hoffman Hoffman was a hard-nosed fullback for the Eagles in the late 1970s and was one of the key members of the Boot Hill Bowl champions in 1978. His rushing statistics weren’t spectacular, but he was noted for getting tough yards and was a punishing blocker. He also was the team’s placekicker. As a senior in ’78, he led the Eagles in scoring with 66 points. Included were four touchdowns, eight field goals and 18 extra points. His 43-yard field goal with 66 seconds left gave the Eagles a 14-13 win over Rocky Mountain College that year. He also threw the discus for the track and field team with a best of 155-feet-3. A native of Stuart, Ron is a farmer-rancher near Bayard. His wife, the former Sharon Arthur of Rushville, also graduated from CSC. She has had an outstanding career as a vocal music teacher at Bayard, and was a charter inductee into the CSC Music Hall of Fame. His brother, Ray, also played football at CSC and went into the Hall of Fame in 2001. Laurie Wickard Janicek Laurie was Chadron State’s first All-American in any sport. She earned the honor in track and field by placing fourth in the shot put at the NAIA National Indoor Meet in 1981 with a mark of 39-10 ½. The following year, she set the District 11 record while winning the shot with a throw of 42-2. She also set the Eagles’ discus record of 143-6 in 1981. That mark stood until Mandy Kubo broke it in 2001. Laurie is a native of Bayard and the daughter of Lonny and Dee Wickard. Her father was a football standout at CSC and was a charter inductee into the Hall of Fame in 1983. They are one of two father-daughter duos in the Hall of Fame. Laurie is married to Larry Janicek and is a teacher at Kimball. Doug Jones Jones was a three-time Nebraska College Conference and NAIA District 11 wrestling champion. He had a 58-10-1 career record, going 15-3-1 in 1975-76, 22-4 in ’76-’77 and 21-3 in ’77-‘78. He went 2-2 at the NAIA National Tournament each of those years, meaning that six of his 10 career losses were on the national level. As a senior, he was selected the outstanding wrestler at the Dana and Yankton College Tournaments. A native of Chadron, Jones is a teacher and coach at the Elgin, Neb., Schools. His wife, the former Deb Uttecht, is a Chadron native and a CSC graduate. Rick Mikelson Mikelson teamed with Ralph Gill to give the Eagles two big, strong and capable defensive linemen in the mid-1970s. He was a three-year starter at tackle, although he missed much of his junior year with a shoulder injury that required surgery. He earned all-district and honorable mention All-American honors as a senior in 1977. He led the team in tackles in 1975 and ’77 with 104 and 101, respectively. Mikelson also threw the shot as a junior and senior. While he never beat teammate Monty Reher, he often placed close to him. He was second or third at 10 meets his senior season. He lives near his hometown of Julesburg, Colo., and works for the Deuel County Roads Department at Chappell. 48 Sam Perkins At least until bullriders Will Farrell and Dustin Elliott won national championships earlier this decade, Sam Perkins was king of the Chadron State cowboys. He qualified for the National College Finals Rodeo three straight years while attending CSC. He was the Great Plains Region bullriding champion as a sophomore in 1973, was second on the saddle broncs in ’74 and won the bareback title as a senior in ’75. In addition, he was runner-up all-around cowboy in the region as a sophomore and a senior and was third as a junior. After graduating, he was among the 15 qualifiers for the PRCA National Finals in bareback riding six times. In 1979, when he finished second in the standings, he became just the third bareback rider to earn more than $50,000 in the event. No cowboy ever rode barebacks better than Sam rode them the last half of the ’79 season, when he was first in the event at 32 rodeos. A graduate of Oelrichs, S.D., High School, Perkins has been a horse trainer in Texas the past 20 years. Monty Reher Reher was Chadron State’s first athlete to crack 50 feet in the shot put. His best throw of 55-7 as a senior in 1980 was the school record for 17 years and still ranks second on the CSC list, just four inches shy of Doug Lytle’s mark. Originally from Pine Bluffs, Wyo., Reher placed sixth at the NAIA National Indoor Meet in 1980 with a throw of 53-6 ½. He was a two-time District 11 indoor shot put champion and won his pet event 16 times as a junior and senior. Reher lives in Boise, Idaho, where he is a senior account executive for Federated Rural Electric Insurance Corp., and is in charge of all insurance matters involving electric utilities in five western states. In the summer of 2008, Reher won the shot put, was second in the discus and third in the javelin at the Idaho State Games in the 50-55 age group, qualifying him for the national competition next summer. His wife is the former Kari Lemen, a native of Chadron and a CSC graduate. Bill Ryan Ryan is a Chadron native who lettered in three sports at CSC, and was a particularly outstanding wide receiver and kick returner for the football team. He earned all-district honors as a junior and senior in 1977 and ’78 and was honorable mention All-American as a senior. During his career, “Billy the Kid,” caught 134 passes for 2,134 yards and 19 touchdowns. All three marks were school records until the mid-1990s and still rank among the top five in each category. During the Boot Hill Bowl his senior year, when he played with an a strip of innertube attached from his belt to his heel on the outside of his pants to help compensate for a pulled hamstring, Ryan caught eight passes for 191 yards, then a school record. Included was a toss of about 20 yards that Ryan carried to the Baker end zone for an 88-yard touchdown. It is the second longest scoring pass in CSC annals. Ryan also averaged 10.6 yards on 50 punt returns and 24.8 yards on 42 kickoff returns during his career. He also pole vaulted 15 feet, which is just an inch shy of the school record, and lettered in tennis when it became a varsity sport briefly in the mid-1970s. He has spent his career as a science teacher and coach at Sheridan, Wyo., High School. 2000 Inductees Don Beebe Beebe was an athlete at Chadron State just one year, but he definitely helped put the school and its athletic program on the map. After having a sensational season with the CSC football team in 1988, Beebe spent nine years in the National Football League. Six of those teams—four at Buffalo and two at Green Bay—went to the Super Bowl. He was the first NFL player to be a member of six Super Bowl teams. While at Chadron State, Beebe demonstrated Super Bowl prowess. He was the first Chadron State player to score a touchdown in every game until Danny Woodhead did it in 2005 and ’06. He also was the first to score five TDs in a game and set the school’s singleseason records for most touchdowns with 15, most points with 90 and most allpurpose yards with 1,663. Breaking down the latter yards, he caught 49 passes for 906 yards, carried the ball 10 times for 81 yards and returned 27 kickoffs for 676 yards, an average of 25 yards. The following winter while running indoor track, Beebe set the NAIA District 11 record Don Beebe of 6.32 seconds and then placed fifth in the race at the NAIA National Meet in 6.31 seconds. After the latter meet, Beebe concentrated on becoming a pro football player. He was invited to the NFL Combine, where he had the fastest time of 4.40 seconds in the 40-yard dash among the 45 receiver prospects, had the best time in the fourcorner agility drill and demonstrated a 36-inch vertical jump. After the Combine, representatives of 21 of the 28 NFL teams came to CSC to check him out. He left CSC before graduating to play for the Buffalo Bills, who made him their No. 1 choice in the draft. Overall, he was the 82nd player drafted and wore that number throughout his pro career. In the spring of 1989, he was named the Omaha WorldHerald’s “State College Athlete of the Year.” Beebe played for Buffalo six years, catching 197 passes for 2,962 yards and 21 touchdowns. He then spent one injuryplagued season with the Carolina Panthers before signing with the Green Bay Packers, and helped them make two trips to the Super Bowl. The Packers won the championship in 1996, but probably would not have reached the Super Bowl if Beebe hadn’t caught 11 passes for 220 yards during an overtime victory at San Francisco during the regular season. For his career, including postseason competition, Beebe caught 254 passes for 3,882 yards and 26 touchdowns. Perhaps his most memorable play occurred in the 1993 Super Bowl against Dallas when he came from about 25 yards behind to knock the ball out of Leon Lett’s hands before the Cowboys’ defensive tackle, who had recovered a Buffalo fumble, could score. Beebe’s biography, “More Than a Ring,” written by Bob Schaller in 1998, was well-received and accomplished both of its purposes—to share Beebe’s Christian faith and to raise money for the CSC athletic program. All proceeds went to CSC. After numerous delays caused by his pro career and particularly the Super Bowls, Beebe and his family returned Don Beebe was an NFL player for nine seasons and played in six Super Bowls. to Chadron in the spring of 1996. He carried 21 hours that semester, earned all A’s and graduated in May. During homecoming 2000 at Chadron State, the college’s renovated football stadium was named in his honor and he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. CSC’s annual golf tournament is called the Don Beebe Classic. With the help of his brother, Dan, who played and coached basketball at CSC, Beebe runs “The House of Speed,” which is designed to help athletes improve their speed and agility. He also coaches football at Aurora Christian High School not far from his hometown of Sugar Grove, Ill. Steve Coon A four-year starter and a three-time all-NAIA District 11 basketball selection, Coon graduated as Chadron State’s alltime leading scorer with 1,646 points. That still ranks second on the list. He shot 53.1 percent from the field and 78.9 percent from the free throw line during his career. He played before the 3-point line was added. About 6-foot-3 and 170 pounds, Coon could definitely shoot the ball. He made at least 51.2 percent of his field goal attempts each season with the Eagles and sank 39 consecutive free throws as a sophomore for a school record that still stands. As a senior in 1978-79, Coon averaged 20.0 points and 7.0 rebounds. Steve Coon Coon, a graduate of Holy Family High School in Denver, has been involved in several successful business ventures in the Denver area since graduating from CSC. He also helped coach the basketball teams while his three sons were playing at Faith Christian High School. He is now the athletic director at the school, in addition to other business activities. His wife, the former Theresa Hand of Douglas, Wyo., was the 1980 homecoming queen at CSC. 49 Rick Daniels Daniels helped Chadron State win the NAIA District 11 swimming championships in both 1969 and 1970. In ’69, he won both backstrokes, was second in the 200-meter individual medley and was a member of the 400-meter freestyle relay team. The relay victory allowed CSC to nip Kearney State 140-137 for the title. The following year, Daniels set new district records while winning both backstrokes and he also won the 200 individual medley. He scored seven points at the NAIA National Meet that year, and was the only CSC swimmer to ever place at the national meet. Rick Daniels A native of Cheyenne, Daniels owned an auto detailing business in Blackhawk, S.D., for 27 years. He now has a sign and logo printing business there. Butch Lehmkuhler A graduate of Stapleton High School, Lehmkuhler became an excellent gymnast while at Chadron State under the guidance of the late Harry Simonton. He used those skills to become the NAIA District 11 three-meter diving champion for Chadron State as a sophomore in 1974, the year before swimming was discontinued at the college. That was just the start in a long line of honors for Lehmkuhler. After graduating, he became a leading pro rodeo clown and bullfighter. He was selected the PRCA Clown of the Year in 1989, ’90, ’91, ’93 and ‘97 and was chosen the Coors “Man in a Can” in both 1989 and 1992. When he was inducted into the CSC Hall of Fame, he had received more top honors than any active rodeo clown. For 31 years, Lehmkuhler entertained Butch Lehmkuhler rodeo crowds with a trampoline act that had its beginnings at Chadron State. He believes he sustained “enough injuries to say I did my job,” while helping rescue bullriders. After a 10-year hiatus from teaching to spend full-time on the rodeo circuit, Lehmkuhler returned to teaching drafting, construction and woodworking at North Platte High School in 1997. However, he still works at rodeos as far away as Texas during the summers. Nowadays he says he’s mostly “a rodeo comedian” who entertains audiences with stories and antics that don’t include too many physical risks. Barb Zurn Rangel Barb Rangel 50 Barb will long be remembered for her energetic, enthusiastic play on both the volleyball and basketball courts and, in particular, for her ability to blast a volleyball. A slender 6-footer from Alliance, Barb earned all-conference and all-district volleyball honors both as a junior and a senior. All four of the volleyball teams for which she played had winning records, going 1513. 19-16-1, 21-14-1 and 22-16-1. She was selected as the team’s outstanding player each of the final three seasons. During Barb’s senior season in 1982, she led the Eagles in hitting with 348, including 183 aces, and a team-high 253 digs. Barb also earned three letters in basketball. She was the second leading scorer and rebounder in 1979-80, when she averaged 11.2 points and 8.4 rebounds. Since her marriage to Trini Rangel, the family has lived in all four U.S. time zones, but has spent the last 11 years at Houghton, N.Y., where he is a physical education professor and coach at Houghton College. Barb has been a substitute teacher and an assistant volleyball coach. Phil Sanders Sanders was a wrestler who had placed first and second at the conference tourneys for Imperial Valley College in his native California before coming to CSC. He had two excellent years with the Eagles. He was a Nebraska College Conference and NAIA District 11 champion in both 1975-76, when he had a 16-4-2 record, and in 1976-77, when he went 22-3-1. He qualified for the NAIA National Tournament both years. During most of his career, Sanders has been the campus life coordinator at American River College at Phil Sanders Sacramento, Calif. Dick Steinke A native of Denver, Steinke was an exceptional baseball player for the Eagles in the mid-1970s. He ranks second in career base hits with 118, second in career doubles with 24 and is the leader in career triples with seven. He had a .430 batting average in 1976, when he had 43 hits in 100 at bats, and had a .322 career batting average. Steinke has worked at the Port of Long Beach, one of the two busiest seaports in the nation, since 1990. He was the properties director the first five years, became the Dick Steinke deputy executive director in 1995 and was promoted to executive director in 1997. The port encompasses about 3,000 acres, has 350 employees and handles merchandise worth $100 billion annually while accommodating ships from around the world. He also received the college’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2000. Ken Thompson Ken Thompson Thompson is the all-time leading hitter for the Chadron State baseball team and he also was a football standout. During his baseball career that spanned from 1978-81, he collected 154 hits in 410 at bats for a .376 average. His lowest batting average during his four years at CSC was .349. He holds CSC records for most hits in a game (5), most hits in a season (57), most career hits (154), most career doubles (28) most career runs batted in (83), most stolen bases in a season (35) and most career stolen bases (76). Ed Sparling, his coach during much of his college career, said Thompson was such a complete player he could have played for any college team in the country. He joined the football team as a sophomore and had 16 interceptions while playing safety the next three years. That tied him for the school record when he graduated and now ties him for fourth on the all-time list. A native of Lyman, Thompson has been a loan officer for Farm Credit Services in Alliance most of his career. His wife, the former Kathy Richards of Rapid City, S.D., was the CSC homecoming queen in 1981. Bart Voycheske Voycheske was a football and wrestling standout for the Eagles in the early 1980s. He was a three-year starter in the defensive line and earned first team NAIA District 11 and NAIA honorable mention All-American in 1982. The Eagles yielded just 225.3 yards and 6.6 points a game that season. On the wrestling mat, he compiled a 74-34-1 record. He had a 24-9 record and became an All-American by placing sixth at 189 pounds at the NAIA National Tournament as a senior in 1983-84. A state champion wrestler while attending Chadron High School in 1978-79, Voycheske Bart Voycheske has been the wrestling coach at Ogallala High School most of his career. His teams have finished among the top 10 in Class B at the state tournament nine times and were the state tourney runners-up in 1995 and ’97. Bob Wood Wood remembers that he barely escaped being cut from the basketball team as a freshman at Chadron State in 1975-76, but he got to play in the final 11 games that season and averaged 11.6 points. The next two years he was a stalwart on a pair of 17-6 teams that were coached by Larry Riley. The Eagles went 15-10 his senior year in 197879 when he teamed with Steve Coon to form a dynamic duo. Wood averaged 19.6 points, shot 54.7 percent from the field and 75 percent from the free throw line that season. He earned all-district honors and was selected to play in the first Nebraska Collegiate All-State Game at the end of that Bob Wood season. Wood finished his career with 1,130 points, 10th best on the all-time list at the time. He later coached the Eagles for 10 years. His 1993-94 team tied for the RMAC championship and he was chosen the conference’s coach of the year. In 1997, Wood returned to his hometown of Buena Vista, Colo., where he taught math and coached the boys’ basketball team to a 283-72 record, nine conference championships and won two state championships in 1999 and 2001. In the summer of 2008, Wood was named head coach at Mountain Vista High at Highlands Ranch, Colo. His wife, the former Terri Jaggers of Hay Springs, is a CSC graduate and taught business at the college while the couple lived in Chadron. 2001 Inductees Richard (Sparky) Adams Adams coached the Chadron State College football team for five years, beginning in 1973. During that span, the Eagles had a 31-17 record. Only one other CSC coach, Brad Smith, now the Eagles’ athletic director, had a better winning percentage after coaching the Eagles for five or more years. He was well-known for his passing-game strategies and was a tireless recruiter. Adams was an outstanding football player at Lawrence University in his native Wisconsin and coached football and other sports at high schools in that state for several years before becoming an assistant at Drake in 1969. He then came to CSC and later coached at Bemidji State in Minnesota Sparky Adams and Dubuque University in Iowa. Until retiring in the late 1990s, Adams was a high school activities director and principal at Wisconsin high schools. He also helped coach football at Carroll College for four years and at Lawrence one year before becoming a full-time fan. In the spring of 2001, Adams was inducted into the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He and his wife, Inge, live in Eagle, Wis. Dan Barent A native of Ogallala, Barent was the youngest of three brothers to wrestle for the Eagles in the early 1980s. He had a 104-43 career record and was the first Chadron State wrestler to exceed 100 wins. As of 2008, he is tied for third on the school’s all-time victory list. He was an NAIA Area Tournament champion in both 1983 and ’84 and placed fourth at 177 pounds at the NAIA National Tournament in 1983 to earn All-American honors. Barent has taught and coached at Buffalo, Wyo., High School since 1985. While coaching, he had two state championship wrestling teams and one state championship soccer team. He has been the Wyoming Coach of the Year in both sports. He has coached 18 state Dan Barent champion wrestlers. Dan fully recovered from a harsh bout with a plastic anemia in the early 1990s. He had to be isolated for 30 days and was given a bone marrow transplant from his brother Dean at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. 51 Maureen Cooney O’Dell Maureen scored 1,247 points to rank second on the Lady Eagles’ basketball scoring list when she graduated in 1982. Her total is still the fifth highest in CSC annals. She averaged between 11.6 and 14.8 points each year. A native of Pine Bluffs, Wyo., she made more than 75 percent of her free throws her final three years and set the record for most assists in one game with 10. She was selected as the team’s outstanding player Maureen O’Dell all four years. She now teaches physical education at a middle school in Cheyenne. J.D. Hill A scatback from Johnstown, Colo., Hill rolled up 3,899 allpurpose yards during four years with the Chadron State football team. He averaged 9.4 yards every time he touched the ball for the Eagles while playing both receiver and tailback. He holds the school records for longest kickoff return for a touchdown (99 yards), longest kickoff return that wasn’t a touchdown (97) and highest career kickoff return average (27.3 on 49 returns). Hill was explosive. Late in the game at Peru State during his senior season in 1980, he carried a short pass from quarterback Scott J.D. Hill Wickard 37 yards for the winning touchdown in a 22-21 victory over the previously unbeaten Bobcats. Hill’s 28-yard average on 23 kickoff returns that season ranked sixth in the nation in NAIA circles. That was a school record until Brandon Harrington averaged 31.3 yards on 13 returns in 2007. Hill is married to former CSC cheerleader Renea Langer and is the director of the ski patrol and the professional for a golf course at Keystone Resort near Dillon, Colo. Randy Jarzynka A native of Cairo, Neb., where he still resides, Jarzynka won the NAIA District 11 marathon championships in both 1981 and ’82. He placed sixth at the national event in 1981 to earn All-American honors. He ran both track and cross-country for the Eagles. He placed second twice and third once in the 10,000 meters at district meets, and qualified for the NAIA National CrossCountry Meet three times. Jarzynka has Randy Jarzynka continued to run, participating in at least 10 distance events annually, including the Chadron Fur Trade Days’ 10-kilometer race, which he has won five times. He has kept a log of his running and had exceeded 77,000 miles as of mid2008. He works for a distributorship in the Grand Island area. Willy Long After transferring to CSC at the start of his sophomore year, Long played fullback for the Eagles three years. He rushed for 775, 731 and 718 yards those years, giving him a total of 2,224 yards on 497 carries for an average of 4.5 yards per carry. He also scored 27 touchdowns and earned NAIA District 11 honors all three years. He coached football and basketball in Colorado high schools and was a teacher and the girls’ golf coach at Ponderosa High School in the Denver area at the time of his induction. Willy attended Willy Long Arthur High School three years before graduating from Morrill High. Ray Hoffman Hoffman was hard-nosed player who was a running back his first two years at CSC, but really blossomed after he was moved to linebacker. He set a school record for most tackles in 1980 with 147 and also reached triple digits the following season. He was first-team NAIA District 11 both years, and was a starter on the CSC basketball team one year. The Eagles’ coach his final two years, Jerry Welch, said Hoffman “throws his body around like he’s got another one at home.” His brother, Ron, who played fullback Ray Hoffman and was a placekicker for the Eagles, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999. They are from Stuart. Ray is a general contractor at Boulder City, Nev. 52 Willy Long scores a touchdown while quarterback Scott Wickard celebrates. 2002 Inductees Dennis Breing He was a hard-nosed, four-year starter at defensive end. The only games he didn’t start during his career were a couple after he hurt his knee as a senior in 1979. He participated in 199 tackles and recovered four fumbles during his career. He also did most of the Eagles’ kicking off his final two years and occasionally kicked field goals and extra points, scoring 24 points. He earned alldistrict honors as a junior in 1978, when the Eagles won the Boot Hill Bowl. After graduating, he returned to the family’s ranch Dennis Breing at Arapahoe, Neb., and has been one of the nation’s leading Charolais breeders. Jerry Carder Carder was an outstanding scholar-athlete who excelled at tight end for the Eagles. At 6-foot-5, 205 pounds, he was an inviting target. During his career, he caught 79 passes for 1,003 yards and had a particularly outstanding senior year in 1979, when he grabbed 38 for 460 yards. No one could remember him dropping a pass that season and he was chosen the team’s outstanding offensive player. He also was an Academic All-American, graduating with a 3.73 GPA. Since then, he has farmed in partnership with his parents near Albion. Jerry Carder His wife, the former Lisa Bartels of Chadron, also graduated from CSC and has received several honors as a high school business teacher. Dr. Pat Colgate He was associated with Chadron State College for 37 years before retiring on June 30, 2002. He was an assistant football coach and the head swimming coach from 1965 through 1971. His swimming team won the NAIA District 11 championship in both 1969 and ‘70. He also served as Chadron State’s athletic director 1980-81 and 198387. After giving up his duties as a coach and an athletic director, he remained closely associated with Chadron State athletics in his positions as dean of the School of Education and Physical Education 1987-93 and dean Pat Colgate of the School of Education and Graduate Education 1993-2002. For instance, he served as Chadron State’s official administrative representative at the NCAA Division II football playoffs in 2000 and 2001. In addition, he has been the confidant of many coaches. Carolyn Williams Hovendick A native of Eustis, Neb., Carolyn earned All-American volleyball honors at Mid-Plains Community College at North Platte before she transferred to Chadron State in 1983. While playing for the Eagles, she was a twotime NAIA District 11 selection and was the district’s leading vote-getter as a junior in 1983, when she led the Eagles to the district championship. As a senior, she was an Academic All-American and remains the only CSC volleyball player to earn that honor. The Eagles were 26-11 her first year on the team and 24-13-2 her senior year. After graduating from Chadron State in Carolyn Hovendick 1985, she taught and was the head volleyball coach for 12 years at Tri-County High School at DeWitt, Neb. Two of her teams qualified for the state tournament.Since 1998, she has taught and coached middle school volleyball at Beatrice. She is married to Steve Hovendick. Terry Mastny He undoubtedly ranks as one of Chadron State’s all-time outstanding offensive linemen. He was 6-foot-4, 220 pounds and moved well. He was a two-time all-district selection, earned NAIA second-team AllAmerican honors in 1977 and was a Kodak first-team All-American as a senior in 1978, when the Eagles won the Boot Hill Bowl and he provided protection for quarterback Brad Fults’ record-setting season. Jerry Welch, a starting offensive guard on Arkansas’ national championship team in 1964 and the Eagles’ coach Mastney’s senior year, called him “as good a combination pass and run blocker as I have ever seen.” After Terry Mastny completing his career, he signed a free agent contract with the Buffalo Bills. A native of Clarkson, Mastny is a paramedic with the fire department in Shreveport, La. Joe McKay A native of Bridgeport, McKay set the Chadron State high jump record in 1961 when he cleared 6-4 ½ using what he called the belly roll. He graduated the following year and taught and coached for five years at Rushville, where he met his late wife, Ruth. She was from western Montana, and they went from Rushville to Flathead High School at Kalispell, Mont., where he had remarkable success as a girls’ track and field coach. His teams won 20 divisional and 12 Class AA state championships. McKay received the Montana Girls’ Track and Field Coach of the Year Award 12 times Joe McKay and in 1991 was inducted into the Montana Coaches Association Hall of Fame. In 2000, he was selected the National Girls’ Track and Field Coach of the 53 Year and in 2001 he was inducted into the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame. It is believed that he is the only Chadron State graduate to be in the latter hall of fame. Creighton Miller A native of Alaska, Miller was promptly nicknamed “Eskimo” when he arrived at Chadron State in the fall of 1971 after playing baseball the previous year at Western New Mexico. He was a picture of consistency at the plate for the Eagles. He had batting averages of .338, .333 and .336 at CSC. His career batting average of .336 (89 of 265) is ninth on the CSC all-time list. He struck out just 14 times during his career. He played third and first base most of the time. Creighton Miller After serving as a fireman in his hometown of Douglas, Alaska, for about 25 years, Miller and his wife, the former Kathleen Sillesen, a native of Ogallala who also attended CSC, live in North Platte. Charlie Mitchell He was one of the Eagles’ top football players in the early 1980s. He started at cornerback three years and was an excellent kick returner. During his career, he participated in 121 tackles, intercepted seven passes, including five as a senior in 1983, and averaged 10.2 yards on 55 punt returns. He holds the CSC record for longest non-touchdown with punt return—79 yards. The return was cut short when a wasp flew into his helmet, causing him to slow down and get caught from behind just shy of the goal line. He also ran middle distances for the CSC Charlie Mitchell track and field team and was the college’s Charlie Mitchell averaged 10.2 yards on 55 punt returns during his career. He also was an outstanding cornerback. 54 homecoming king, won the Clyde Bond Memorial Award and graduated with a 3.67 cumulative grade point average while majoring in art. He was named the college’s outstanding scholarathlete his senior year and was on the District 5 (nine states) allacademic team. He was the recipient of CSC Outstanding Young Alumni Award in 1996 and is a highly successful artist living in the Atlanta area. He designed the official CSC logo in 2000. Charlie and his twin brother, Clark, were born in Chadron, moved to Colorado with their parents as toddlers, returned when they were in middle school and remained in Chadron through their sophomore years at Chadron High. After their mother remarried, they moved to Texas for the remainder of high school, but returned to attend Chadron State. Clark also was an excellent athlete. He played football and baseball at CSC two years, but transferred to Nebraska-Kearney, when the Eagles dropped baseball. Dave Smith He suffered a badly broken leg as a freshman in 1979, received a medical hardship, but came back to start for four years for the Eagles at defensive end. He concluded his career with 86 unassisted and 186 assisted tackles. He was selected as the Eagles’ outstanding player as a senior in 1983 and was an all-district choice that fall. Eight of his 77 tackles his senior season were for losses totaling 61 yards. Altogether, he made 22 tackles behind the line of scrimmage for the Eagles. His coach, Jerry Welch, said if Smith had grown to over 200 pounds they have had to outlaw him Dave Smith because he’d have been a lethal weapon. (He played at about 190). Smith is a concrete contractor in the Denver area, where he grew up. He graduated from Alameda High School. 2003 Inductees Phil Haberman Haberman was a three-year starter at linebacker for the Eagles after transferring from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He was one of CSC’s top three tacklers each of those years. He was selected as Chadron State’s outstanding player his senior year in 1982, when the Eagles were 6-2. During his career, he participated in 276 tackles, recovered two fumbles, intercepted two passes and broke up eight more. His father, the late Rex Haberman of Imperial, was a state senator during Phil’s playing days at CSC, and was a major contributor to the CSC football program, both financially and Phil Haberman through his enthusiatic support. Phil is now a pathologist living in Cheyenne, Wyo., where he also has a large equestrian center. Terry Hillman A native of Gering, he was definitely one of Chadron State’s outstanding players in the early 1980s. He was a three-year starter who played outside linebacker and end, depending on the Eagles’ alignment. He participated in 199 tackles during his career. He earned all-district recognition as a senior in 1982, when the Eagles yielded just 225.3 yards and 6.6 points a game. CSC shut out five of its eight opponents and gave up just a field goal in another game. CSC had excellent defenses when Haberman and Hillman played.Their senior year, the Eagles shut out five of the eight opponents, gave up just a field goal in another game. Joyce Hillman, Terry’s mother, served as a state senator from the Terry Hillman 48th District in the 1990s. He lives in Rapid City is now a sales manager for a firm that distributes products over a wide area. His daughter, Stephanie, will be a junior on the Chadron State softball team this spring. Rich King “King Richard” was one of the Eagles’ better basketball players in the early 1980s. For his career, he shot 50.3 percent from the field and 79 percent from the free throw line, including 81.8 percent (81-99), as a senior in 1984-85. He averaged 14.8 points and 5.2 rebounds as a junior and 15.4 points and 5.8 rebounds as a senior. King drew raves during his junior season in December 1983 when the Eagles played Indiana State in Terre Haute. King poured in 22 of the Eagles’ 38 points in the first half. During the radio broadcast, the Indiana State announcer said, “Who says Hakeem Olajewon of Houston is the best basketball player in America? I say it’s Rich King of Chadron State.” Later, the sportscaster Rich King said, “There’s another basket by the world’s greatest player, Rich King.” King finished with a career-high 32 points in the Indiana State game and also scored 25 points the next night against IllinoisChicago, one of the nation’s top NAIA teams. He is affiliated with the family’s auto parts store in his hometown of Craig, Colo., where he also raises horses. Randy Lotton After playing two years at a Missouri junior college, Lotton transferred to Chadron State in 1982 so he could play basketball and study agriculture. His juco team was guard-oriented and he hadn’t scored a lot. It took him a while to blossom offensively at CSC. He averaged 11.5 points his first year. But the following year, he averaged nearly 18 points and 8.0 rebounds. He shot 51 percent from the field those years and 85 percent from the free throw line, including 85.7 percent (108126) his senior year to set the school record that stood for 14 years. He also set the CSC single-game scoring record of 45 points against Colorado College. Lotton received Randy Lotton CSC’s outstanding player award both of the years he played. He was smooth and was an outstanding leaper with a 36-inch vertical jump. He operates the family farm near Bellflower, Mo. Don Mathis At just 5-foot-7, 158 pounds, Mathis was a mighty mite for the 1958 CSC football team that went 8-0. He was the center for the Eagles’ single-wing attack. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame at the insistence of his coach, Bill Baker. “It all started with the center,” said Baker, “and Don was a good one. I don’t think I ever had a better one. He was small, but he was mighty.” Mathis played fullback and did the placekicking for Chadron High’s undefeated football team in 1954. He averaged eight yards a carry and scored 110 points his Don Mathis senior year. The latter was a school record for 34 years. After graduating from CSC in 1959, Mathis taught and coached at Taylor, Neb., for two years, at Hot Springs, S.D., for eight and Fort Dodge, Iowa, for 10 before going into administration. In the early 1980s, he moved to Meridian, Miss., to become head master, or principal, at a private school, then joined his brother in a variety of business ventures. Don’s wife, the former Wyoma Brown, is also a Chadron native. During his career as a teacher and coach, Mathis led teams at Hot Springs and Fort Dodge, Iowa, to undefeated seasons. 55 Deb Spickelmier Noble Deb and her identical twin sister, Donna, helped put the Hayes Center Cardinals in the spotlight during the mid-1980s and then had outstanding collegiate track careers. Both initially enrolled at what was then Kearney State College, but Deb transferred to Chadron State after her freshman year to major in family and consumer science. While at CSC, Deb set school records both indoors and outdoors in the 800 and 1500. Her outdoor time of 2:11.34 in 1987 still stands. Her best time of 4:51.8 in the 1500 in 1989 stood for 18 years before it was broken by Stacy Girard. Deb earned All-American honors at NAIA National Track and Field Meets four times. Indoors, she was fifth in the 800 in 1987, fourth in the 800 in Deb Spickelmier, right, edges ’88 and third in the 1,000 in her identical twin sister, Donna, ’89. She also was seventh in during a race when both were the 800 outdoors as a senior seniors. in 1989. In addition, she won three medals at the national meet for Kearney State as a freshman. As a high school athlete, Deb scored 1,234 points for the basketball team and won 15 medals and scored 80 points at the state track meet in individual events. She still holds the Class D state meet record of 2:13.45 in the 800 meters. With the Spickelmier twins leading the way, Hayes Center won state championships in both basketball and track and field and was the runner-up in volleyball when they were seniors in 1984-85. Hayes Center also was the Class D state champion in track and field the previous year. After graduating from Chadron State, Deb married her CSC track coach, Scott Noble. They now live at Atwood, Kan., where he is the high school athletic director and football coach and she is a middle school teacher and coach. They have three children. Todd Pierce Todd Pierce 56 He was one of the Eagles’ outstanding offensive linemen in the 1980s. He was a three-year starter at center and earned NAIA District 11 first-team honors as a senior in 1983. He was a leader, both on and off the field, serving as a member of the Student Senate all four years he was in college. He now teaches physical education and is an assistant football coach at Natrona County High in his hometown of Casper, Wyo. His wife, the former Patti Kinney, also graduated from Chadron State. Jenifer Durbin Proud She was a standout in both volleyball and track and field for the Eagles in the late 1980s. A 1985 graduate of Golden, Colo., High School, Jenifer was a four-year starter and a three-time all-conference volleyball selection at Chadron State. As a junior, she made the all-tournament team at all six tournaments the Eagles entered. The following year, she was selected the most valuable player at the Mesa State Tournament and earned NAIA District 11 all-star honors. Proud was a four-time All-American in track and field, besides earning NAIA Scholar-Athlete honors. She set NAIA District Jennifer Proud 11 records in the heptathlon with 4,609 points and the 100 meters of 11.80 seconds in 1988. That year, she scored 64 points at the district meet by winning those events as well as the 200, 100-meter hurdles and javelin and placing second in the shot put and third in the long jump. At the NAIA national meet that spring, Proud set national heptathlon records in the 200 meters (25.19) and the shot put (41-71/4) before she was injured and could not complete the competition. When Proud graduated from Chadron State, she owned the school records in eight events. The indoor records were in the 60 meters (7.11), 60-meter hurdles (8.19) and long jump (18-101/2) and the outdoor records were in100 meters (11.80), 200 meters (25.11), 100-meter hurdles (14.74), long jump (18-71/4) and heptathlon (4,764 points). She still holds the Chadron State indoor record in the 55 meters and the outdoor records in the 100 and 200. In most instances, only one CSC athlete has eclipsed the records she once possessed While at Chadron State, Jenifer married another member of the track team, Larry Proud. Their oldest son, Lincoln, is a freshman hurdler at CSC Dean Rickard Dean Rickard Coach Don Turner said Rickard was the best offensive guard he’d ever coached. Rickard played at CSC in 1985 and ’86 after transferring from Eastern Oregon State, where he also played for Turner. He was a tough hombre. He was 6-foot-2, 275 pounds, was timed in 4.9 seconds over 40 yards and bench pressed 460 pounds. He earned alldistrict honors both years he was at CSC and was second-team All-American as a senior. After graduating, he returned to his native Hawaii and is involved in law enforcement. Duane Smith Smith was a dynamic athlete who set records in both football and track and field at Chadron State after transferring from Riverside City College in his native California in 1984. Although just 5-foot-8, 150 pounds, he set CSC records for most receptions in a game (13), most yards receiving in a game (255), most receptions in a season (71), most yards receiving in a season (1,264) and most touchdown receptions in a game (4) as a senior in 1985. He still holds or shares each of the records. Smith’s yardage, per catch average (17.8) and his per game average (140.4) that Duane Smith season were the best in NAIA Division II. He also returned punts and kickoffs. He was second-team NAIA All-American as a senior. Smith also was a jumper for the CSC track and field team. He had bests of 23-3 1/4 in the long jump and 48-3 ½ in the triple jump. The latter mark is the second best indoors. He also went 48-1 1/2 outdoors to rank third on the all-time list. He was the district champion in the long jump as a senior in 1986. After graduating, he returned to California and is a technical specialist for an organization called Worldwide Support. 2004 Inductees Carrie Roberts Antonovich She is a native of Casper who transferred from Casper College and played on Marge Burkett’s outstanding volleyball teams in 1982 and ‘83. The Eagles won the district championship and advanced to the bi-district finals her senior year. She was selected by her teammates as the most valuable player at the end of the season. Carrie played in the bi-district match with a badly sprained ankle, two sprained knees that were heavily taped and a dislocated finger. Afterwards, CSC trainier Sue Kennedy called Carrie “the most courageous athlete I’ve ever seen.” Carrie Antonovich Carrie is married to her high school sweetheart, Paul Antonovich, who played baseball at CSC and graduated from the college in 1984. They moved to the state of Washington in 1986 where both teach and coach. Carrie teaches health and physical education and is the department head at Hanford High School. Kerry Becker Kerry Becker A graduate of Hyannis High School, Becker was an outstanding breakaway roper for the Chadron State rodeo team in the mid1980s. She won the Central Rocky Mountain Region’s breakaway championship in both 1984 and 1986 and finished fourth in the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association standings as a senior in 1986. She placed first or second in her pet event at five of the Gregg Stephens After transferring from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he played football, Stephens started at center on the CSC basketball team for 2 1/2 years. He tallied 1,009 points, an average of 13.5 a game, and grabbed 451 rebounds, an average of 6.0. He switched schools and sports so he could play for Bob Davis, who had been his high school basketball coach at Central City, Neb. He was a hard-nosed, aggressive player. He averaged 14 points each of his first two years at CSC. His scoring average dipped to 12.7 points his senior year in 1983-84, largely because Randy Lotton Gregg Stephens became more of an offensive threat. Stephens poured in 39 points during a 9588 victory over Wayne State during the final game of the 198182 season. Stephens also hit .299 and belted five home runs for the CSC baseball team in 1981, the final year the sport was played at CSC. He lives at Olathe, Kan., and is an air traffic controller. He also participates in eight to 10 triathalons a year and has completed four Ironman competitions, which include a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bicycle ride and a 26.2 mile marathon. 10 rodeos in the region her senior year, and won first at three consecutive rodeos near the end of the season. Altogether, she won the breakaway roping at seven rodeos during her career. As a freshman in 1982-83, she was a member of the Chadron State team that won the regional title and finished fifth in the nation following the national rodeo. She operates a landscaping business in Riverton, Wyo. Rod Bussinger Bussinger was a versatile athlete who did a lot for the Eagles. He started at defensive end for the football team three years, taking part in 214 tackles. He made seven tackles for losses totaling 42 yards as a senior in 1985. He also played in the offensive line much of the time the last two years and was the Eagles’ punter for 3 ½ seasons. He averaged 38 yards a punt during his career and was selected by the Omaha World-Herald as the punter on its state college all-star teams in both 1984, when Rod Bussinger he averaged 38.6 yards, and ’85, when he averaged 39.8. He was selected the all-District 11 punter in 1984. Bussinger was the Class B state champion discus thrower his senior year at Gordon High School, and threw the discus for the Eagles his first two years in college. After teaching and coaching at Kimball High School for eight years, Bussinger was employed by the Farmers’ Cooperative Elevator in Kimball several years and now is the battalion career counselor covering the western half of the state for the Nebraska National Guard. 57 John Flynn A native of Blair, Flynn was an outstanding offensive lineman for the CSC football team in 1979, ‘80 and ‘81. As a senior, he was selected by his teammates as the Eagles’ outstanding player. Offensive linemen don’t rack up statistics, but the Eagles’ fullback the last two years Flynn played was Willy Long, a three-time all-district selection. Prior to Flynn’s induction into the Hall of Fame, Long said Flynn was the lineman he knew he could depend upon the most to block well for him, and added that he missed Flynn’s presence in the line his senior year. John and his wife, Lisa (see next profile), John Flynn live near Sutherland, where he is an associate research scientist for Syngenta, Inc., a large seed corn firm. He formerly was a product development agronomist for Golden Harvest Seeds. Lisa Brott Flynn John and Lisa Flynn are the only husband and wife duo in the CSC Athletic Hall of Fame. She was a product of the outstanding volleyball program at Ogallala High School. At Chadron State, she was second-team all-conference as a junior and first-team all-district as a senior in 1982. Her coach at CSC, Marge Burkett, later the head coach at Mankato State in Minnesota, said Lisa may have been the best back row player she ever coached. Burkett also said Lisa may have been the Eagles’ most consistent player her senior Lisa Flynn season, when CSC won its most matches ever while going 22-15-1. Lisa had just five serving errors in 237 attempts and had 86 ace hits and only 30 hitting errors in 294 attempts as a senior when she made the NAIA District 11 all-star team. Lisa has been a “stay at home” mom and is a part-time rural mail carrier at Sutherland. Leonard Hawkins “The Hawk” was a Marine Corps veteran from Omaha when he arrived at CSC in 1983. His best sport was wrestling. He was a four-time Area Tournament champion and placed fifth at the NAIA National Tournament as a sophomore in 1985. He finished his wrestling career with a 101-33-1 record. His victory total ranks fifth on the CSC’s list. He also played football. He was a starting offensive guard in 1983, although he admitted he did not enjoy playing the position. The next year he shifted to running back and led the team in rushing with 108 carries for 525 yards (4.9-yard average). He Leonard Hawkins skipped the sport in 1985, but returned in 1986, was injured much of the season and wound up carrying the ball 33 times for 145 yards (4.4 average). He is a probation officer in Sarpy County near Omaha. 58 Mike Max Max was a two-time state champion and an all-state football player at Burwell High School, graduating in 1980. He didn’t enroll at Chadron State until 1984, but it didn’t take him long to make his mark as a college wrestler. He had a 27-5 record as a freshman with several of his losses occurring while Mike Max was a two-time All American he was injured. heavyweight wrestler at CSC. He placed eighth at heavyweight at the NAIA National Tournament that season and was selected by Amateur Wrestling News as the outstanding freshman heavyweight in the nation regardless of the school’s classification. The following year, Max had a 31-5 record, won the heavyweight title at the NAIA Area Tournament and placed third at the NAIA National Tournament, where he won six of his seven matches. After the 1986 season, a 275-pound limit was placed on heavyweights. When the ruling was made, Max weighed about 125 pounds over the limit and he was forced to sit out the 1986-87 season. He was determined to wrestle again, lost weight and returned to action in 1987-88. Despite needing arthroscopic knee surgery during the season, he finished second at the Area Tournament and wrapped up his career with a 73-23-2 record. His winning .744 winning percentage ranks among the top 10 in Chadron State annals. He was inducted into the Nebraska Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2004. His wife, Kelly, was a “dorm mom” while he attended Chadron State. He has taught and coached at Ainsworth High School most of his career. Jeff Parke Parke did well as both a football player and a wrestler for the Eagles in the mid-1980s. He started much of the time as a sophomore and a junior at cornerback for the football team and was a regular at outside linebacker as a senior in 1986. He participated in 103 tackles, recovered two fumbles and intercepted two passes during his career. As a wrestler, he was a three-time Area Tournament champion and placed seventh at the NAIA Tournament at 177 pounds as a senior in 1987. The Area Tournament in those days was a substantial event. It consisted of teams such as Black Hills State, Dana College, Fort Hays State, Kearney State, Jeff Parke Northwestern and Westmar Colleges of Iowa and William Jewell College of Missouri. Parke and Leonard Hawkins helped the Eagles win the Area Tournament championship in 1985 and 1987. Parke is a teacher and assistant wrestling coach at Kelly Walsh High School in his hometown of Casper, Wyo. 2005 Inductees Steve Aggers A native of Laramie, Wyo., Aggers played basketball at Chadron State two years after transferring from Mid-Plains Community College at North Platte. After graduating in 1971, Aggers spent 25 years as a college head basketball coach, compiling a 369-360 career record. He was the head coach at Mid-Plains, College of Great Falls in Montana, Wayne State in Nebraska, Eastern Washington and Loyola Marymount in California. He was the NAIA District 12 Coach of the Year at Great Falls in 1981-82, the NAIA District 11 Coach of the Year at Wayne State in1988-89 and the Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year at Eastern Washington in 1997-98 and 1999-2000. His teams won nine conference championships and made 13 postseason playoff appearances. Aggers also was an assistant coach at the Steve Aggers University of Nebraska-Omaha, University of Wyoming, Pepperdine and Kansas State. He earned all-conference honors and was co-captain of the Chadron State basketball team his senior year in 1969-70, when he averaged 11.7 points. While at CSC, Aggers was president of Sigma Tau Gamma Fraternity and a member of the Student Senate. His wife, the former Frankie O’Donnell of Chicago, was the first woman to be elected president of the CSC Student Senate. Aggers is now the athletic director at West Los Angeles College. Corey Anderson An 8-man player at Sandhills High School at Dunning, Anderson was an All-American linebacker for the Eagles. He was among Brad Smith’s first recruits, and served notice that he would be a terrific college player when he made tackles “sideline-to-sideline” and earned the Most Valuable Defensive Player Award at the West Nebraska All-Star Game in Scottsbluff in 1987. That was his first 11-man game. Anderson played just three years at CSC because he missed his junior year in 1989 with a pulled hamstring. Still, he finished his career as the Eagles’ all-time leading tackler Corey Anderson with 398 and is still second on the list. He claimed 17 turnovers—nine fumbles and eight interceptions, the most ever for a linebacker—during his career. He was a first-team NAIA Division II All-American as a senior in 1990 and earned Nebraska all-state college honors from the Omaha World-Herald three times. He is the general manager of the Cabela’s distribution center at Prairie du Chien, Wis., supervising approximately 900 employees. Lee Crawford Crawford died in an airplane crash near Billings, Mont., in October 1991, just a year after he had completed his athletic career at CSC. A native of Greybull, Wyo., he was a rugged 6-foot-2, 230-pound fullback that opponents hated to see coming their way. A native of Greybull, Wyo., he helped open holes for tailback David Jones and was an excellent ball carrier himself. As a senior, he rushed 107 Lee Crawford times for 725 yards, an average of 6.8 yards per carry, and scored 10 touchdowns. Crawford also was an excellent calf roper who was named the CSC rodeo team’s outstanding contestant his senior year. His accomplishments that year included winning the calf roping at the Colorado State University rodeo. He was rodeoing full-time when the plane crash occurred. Murray Johnson Johnson was four days shy of his 90th birthday when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. He was born in Canada on Oct. 12, 1915, and graduated from Rushville High School in 1934 and from Chadron State in 1942 with a degree in physics. Johnson spent three years in the Army in the South Pacific during World War II. In the 1950s, he and his wife, the former Beth Rogers in Rapid City, S.D., who earned a teaching certificate at CSC, purchased a store on the Spirit Lake Indian Reservation in North Dakota. They operated the store for 20 Murray Johnson years and was the postmaster at Fort Totten, N.D., for 28 years. He lived at Devils Lake, N.D., when he was inducted. Johnson played center on offense and linebacker on defense for the CSC football team four years, earning all-conference recognition at least twice. He was a co-captain his senior year. He was a campus leader, serving as the president of both the Junior Class and Blue Key National Honor Fraternity, was a member of the Student Council, an officer of Psi Beta Sigma Fraternity and was selected to Who’s Who. He was still going strong at age 93 when this was written. David Jones Until Danny Woodhead became college football’s all-time leading rusher while playing at Chadron State, “The Casper Comet,” David Jones, was the Eagles’ rushing leader. He gained 4,533 yards while playing tailback. He rushed for more than 100 yards in 19 games and went over 200 yards six times. Just 5-foot-8, 170 pounds as a freshman, some believed he was too small to be a running back in college. He was not particularly fast in the 40-yard dash, but he could change 59 directions at full speed and had outstanding balance, vision and courage. It did not take Jones long to make his mark as a college back. He rushed for 917 yards, then the second highest total in CSC history, his freshman year in 1987. A knee injury limited him to just 532 yards his sophomore year, but he ran for 1,458 David Jones holds the plaque he received as a junior and 1,625 his senior year as the leading rusher in NCAA Division II rusher his senior year in 1990. He also led in 1990. NAIA that season, when he gained 1,625 He received an yards on 245 carries. array of honors following his final season. He led both NAIA and NCAA Division II in rushing, earned first-team All-American honors from both NAIA and the Associated Press and was a finalist for the Harlon Hill Trophy that is awarded to the outstanding player in NCAA Division II. A graduate of Natrona County High in Casper, Wyo., Jones received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Chadron State. After working as a drug prevention educator for the Casper schools for eight years, Jones is a subcontractor who frames residential and commercial structures. Interestingly, Jones nearly always ate a cheeseburger that an assistant coach, trainer or sportswriter would sneak to him just prior to kickoff. Danny Moore A native of Rushville, Moore is one of CSC’s all-time outstanding track athletes. He placed fourth in the NAIA decathlon in both 1987 and ’88, scoring 6,628 and 6,624 points, respectively. Early in his career, he concentrated on the high hurdles and the long jump. Only five CSC athletes have run the hurdles faster than his best time of 14.7 seconds and only six have long jumped farther than his top mark of 23-foot-4. Moore won the NAIA District 11 indoor long jump and the decathlon as a junior in 1988. While training to be a decathlete, Danny Moore he learned to throw the javelin. His best of 206-7 is third on the CSC list with the current javelin. He placed seventh in the “open” javelin at the NAIA National Meet in 1988 and was third in 1989, when he also won the district championship. He lives in Denver and travels 70,000 to 80,000 miles a year as a field services representative for a water treatment firm based in California. 60 Mary Perrien Mary scored 1,493 points during her four years at CSC, an average of 18.2 points a game. Twice she was the leading scorer in NAIA District 11, made up of 11 colleges in Nebraska, and was named the district’s Player of the Year in 1987-88. Her 20.6 per game scoring average that season is the second best in CSC history. Perrien holds the CSC career records for best 3-point shooting of 42.5 percent (147346) and free throw shooting of 82.5 percent (284 of 344), and has the record for most consecutive free throws with 33. She was chosen an NAIA Scholar-Athlete and earned Mary Perrien honorable mention All-American in 1988-89. She is a rural mail carrier for the Ovid post office in her native Michigan. Rick Samuels Like Steve Aggers, Rick Samuels is a native of Laramie, Wyo., and attended Mid-Plains Community College before coming to CSC. Both became highly-successful college coaches. Samuels was a guard on CSC basketball teams three years, graduating in 1971. He was a starter the first two years and was an alternate his senior season after Rick Brown and Scott Jones, both CSC Hall of Fame members, joined the team. Samuels began his coaching career at Chadron High. The Cardinals won the Western Conference championship in 1973-74, his second year there. He was an Rick Samuels assistant coach at Eastern Washington and Iowa State before serving as the head coach at Eastern Illinois University for 25 years. His career record at EIU was an even-Steven 360-360. When he resigned in 2004 his length of tenure was second nationally among Division I coaches, exceeded only by Jim Boeheim’s 29 years at Syracuse. In 2000-01 after his team won 21 games, he was selected by the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association as the state’s Division I Coach of the Year. Also, 64 of the 72 seniors who completed their eligibility while Samuels was the coach, graduated, placing the Panthers among the top 10 percent of the teams in the nation in graduation rate. He was the first captain of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes huddle at CSC and was tapped by Blue Key National Honor Fraternity. He is now the development officer for Lincoln College in Illinois. His wife, the former Jan Fisher of Rapid City, S.D., also is a CSC graduate. The Samuels live at Mattoon, Ill. 2006 Inductees Roxie Boehm Arens A native of Indianola, Neb., Roxie was a four-year starter at outside hitter for the CSC volleyball team. She led the Eagles in both hitting and digging each of her final three years. As a senior in 1991, she was placed on three all-tournament teams and on both the NAIA District 11 (all the Nebraska small colleges) and the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference first teams. She finished second in District11and third in the RMAC in kills per game that season and was fifth and sixth, respectively, in digs per game. She was selected to three all-tournament teams as a senior. For her career, Roxie had 1,928 kills and Roxie Arens 2,052 digs. She still ranks third in kills per game and fourth in digs per game on the Eagles’ alltime lists. She and her husband, David Arens, and their two sons live in London, Ohio. Scott Blachly Blachly scored 1,565 points, still fifth best on the Eagles’ all-time list, while playing guard for the CSC basketball teams in the mid-1980s. The 3-pointer was adopted in 1986-87, his junior year, and he definitely Scott Blachly (left) averaged 23 points and Ted Niemann averaged 24.8 as se- cashed in. That season niors in 1987-88, making them the high- Blachly was 51 of 112 est scoring duo in Chadron State men’s from 3-point range basketball history in a single season. for 45.5 percent. As a senior, he was 56 of 119 from behind the arc for 47.1 percent. The latter mark is still the school record for best percentage in a season. He averaged 23.0 points as a senior, seventh best on the CSC alltime list. That season, the University of Denver coach, the late Dick Peth, told CSC Coach Bob Wood that Blachly was the best outside shooter the Pioneers had played against. He lives in his hometown of Fort Morgan, Colo., where he is an assistant manager of Dahl Plumbing. Dennis Fitzgerald Dennis Fitzgerald A native of New Jersey, Fitzgerald was an All-American at Indian Hills Community College in Iowa before coming to Chadron State to play football in 1973 and ‘74. He had a terrific senior year, when he won alldistrict honors and was a Kodak All-American at linebacker. That season, Fitzgerald led the Eagles in tackles with 94, blocked three punts, intercepted three passes and recovered a fumble. The latter resulted in CSC’s only touchdown in a 10-7 victory over Doane. His blocked punt versus Wayne was recovered by a teammate for a touchdown, leading to CSC’s 14-7 win. After working in the Job Corps program 27 years, including several years at the Pine Ridge Job Corps south of Chadron, he is now a prevention specialist for the Loudoun County Mental Health Center at Shepherdstown, W. Va. Jay Masek A graduate of Chadron High, Masek was a tremendous placekicker the first four years that Brad Smith was the Eagles’ head football coach. He concluded his career in 1990 with eight school records. They were most extra points in a season (43) and a career (116); most field goals in a game (5), a season (15) and a career (47); and most points kick scoring in a game (21), season (88) and career (256). Travis Atter has broken several of Masek’s records while doing the Eagles’ placekicking since 2006, but the most field goals and points in a game and the career-scoring marks still stand. Jay Masek Altogether, Masek made 47 of 67 field goal attempts and 115 of 130 extra points. As both a junior and a senior, he received NAIA second-team All-American honors and as a senior was a first-team selection by C.M Frank, a Pennsylvania history professor who chose small college All-American teams. Jay is married to the former Nikki Rein of Chadron. They live in Kearney where he is a sales representative for a Coors distributorship. Todd McIntyre He had a particularly outstanding senior year in 1980-81 for the CSC rodeo team. That year, he won the saddle bronc riding at five rodeos in the Great Plains Region, finished second in the event in the regional standings and also was the saddle bronc runner-up at the National College Finals Rodeo. McIntyre really put on a show at the Chadron State rodeo his senior year. He won the steer wrestling and team roping and was second in saddle bronc riding to easily win the all-around cowboy title. In shades of Monty “Hawkeye” Henson, one of pro rodeo’s top saddle bronc riders in the 1970s, McIntrye usually “bailed” off his Todd McIntyre saddle broncs at the end of the ride instead of waiting for the pickup men. At a rodeo in Rapid City, he won a Bailey hat in what was called “The Bailey Buck-Off Contest.” A native of Thedford, McIntyre now lives at Douglas, Wyo., where he works at a coal mine. 61 Ted Niemann Niemann and Scott Blachly were classmates who were a formidable duo for the Chadron State basketball teams. Niemann finished his career in 1987-88 with 1,490 points, ninth best on the all-time list. He averaged 16.5 points as a sophomore, 15.0 as a junior and 24.8 points as a senior. The latter average was the best among Nebraska collegiate players that season and is the highest in CSC history. Niemann made 61.7 percent (246 Ted Niemann is the ninth leading scorer in CSC of 399) of his field goal shots his history. His 24.8 points per senior season for a school record game average as a senior that stood 15 years. Although just is the best in CSC history. a shade taller than 6-foot-4, he also averaged 7.7 rebounds his final year season. He was an NAIA District 11 first-team choice in both 1986-87 and 1987-88. A graduate of Hot Springs, S.D., High School, Niemann is a certified public accountant and is CEO of Privacy Networks, which provides e-mail support services to large companies. He lives in Fort Collins, Colo. Dr. Sam Rankin Rankin was president of Chadron State College nearly 12 years beginning in September 1986, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame for meritorious service Rankin exerted the leadership that brought many positive changes for CSC athletics. The achievements included obtaining membership for the Eagles in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and NCAA Division II, expanding and improving the stadium and press box at Elliott Field, increasing support for athletics and hiring Brad Smith as the football coach and then elevating him to athletic director. Also during Rankin’s tenure as president, the Eagles added women’s golf and took steps that improved the track and field Sam Rankin program. Rankin stepped down as president in June 1998 and was on the college staff full-time as Board of Trustees Professor of History through the 2005-06 school year. He and his wife, Sharon, now live near Dayton, Ohio, their hometown. 62 Toby Spence Spence transferred to Chadron State after playing baseball two years at El Camino Community College in his native California. He played well for the Eagles. He collected 38 hits in 99 at bats for a .384 average as a junior in 1976 and had 29 hits in 86 at bats for a .337 average as a senior. His career average of .362 (61 hits in 168 at bats) ranks third in the history of the Chadron State baseball program. Spence also was an Toby Spence excellent third baseman. The 1976 team that Spence played on had a 19-12 record, the best in school history. He is married to former CSC cheerleader Cathy Davey. They live in Douglas, Wyo., where he works for the Burlington-NorthernSanta Fe Railroad. Chris Stein Stein played quarterback for teams coached by his father, Dick Stein, at Chadron High School, but played tight end at Chadron State in the late 1980s. During his four years at CSC, he caught 107 passes for 1,281 yards (12.0 average) and 14 touchdowns. That tied him with Hall of Famer Dean Palser as the all-time reception leader among CSC tight ends. Stein also was known as an exceptional blocker, held for the placekickers and snapped for punts. The “big” play of his career was in the regular season finale at Mitchell, S.D., during his senior year in 1989, when the Eagles edged Dakota Wesleyan 38-34. Chris Stein Stein caught the winning touchdown pass from quarterback Steward Perez on about the 10-yard line and carried two Tigers into the end zone for the winning touchdown with 90 seconds to play. The Eagles needed that victory to qualify for the NAIA playoffs. Stein finished that game with nine receptions for 112 yards. Stein was named to the Omaha WorldHerald’s all-state team and also received Chris Stein honorable mention NAIA All-American his senior year. He was coaching the Wyoming Cavalry of the National Indoor Football League when he resigned to become a full-time member of the Chadron State football coaching staff in January 2005 after Bill O’Boyle was promoted to head coach. He is now the Eagles’ passing game coordinator and quarterback coach. He and his wife, the former Nancy Nitsch of Chadron, have five children. 2007 Inductees Dean Barent Barent was a wrestler and bullrider at Chadron State in the early 1980s. He was the 142-pound champion at the NAIA Area Wrestling Tournament as a junior and a senior after placing second his sophomore year. He had an 82-43-1 career record, including a 26-9 mark as a senior in 1982-83 when one of his losses was by an 11-9 score at the national tournament to Ronnie James of Central Oklahoma, who was on his way to his third national title. In rodeo, Barent placed in bullriding six times during his college career, including a pair of firsts as a senior. The 2008-09 school year is his 18th year as an industrial technology teacher and wrestling coach at Worland High School Dean Barent in Wyoming. His teams won the Class 3A state championship in 2000 and 2001 and annually ranked among the top five at the state tournament during a 10-year stretch. In 2005 he took a leave of absence from his teaching and coaching duties to serve as a platoon sergeant with the Wyoming National Guard in Iraq. He and his wife, Kerri, who also graduated from CSC and teaches in the Worland Middle School, have two sons, including Cody, a former wrestler for the Eagles and a CSC graduate. Dean’s younger brother, Dan, was the first CSC wrestler to win 100 matches for the Eagles and was inducted into the CSC Hall of Fame in 2001. Their older brother, DeWayne, also wrestled and played football at CSC. Bill Boness Boness earned four letters as a football player for the Eagles. He began his career at linebacker, but switched to the offensive line after his freshman season. He was a three-year starter, playing one year at guard and two at tackle. As a junior in 1990, he was named to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference’s first-team and was a second-team NAIA All-American. The Eagles led NCAA Division II in total offense at 480 yards a game and David Jones was the nation’s leading rusher with 1,625 yards that season. The following year, Boness was second-team RMAC and was first-team Nebraska NCAA Division II as selected by the Omaha World-Herald. He Bill Boness played semi-pro football in England for a year after concluding his eligibility at CSC. His father, Dick Boness, who played football and was a track standout at Chadron State, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1985. Bill lives in his hometown of Alliance and is an engineer for the Burlington and Santa Fe Railroad. Kail Bowman Bowman was a four-time All-American in the shot put in the early 1990s. He was fourth at the NAIA National Indoor Meet in both 1990 and 1991 with marks of 52-4 ½ and 54-8 ¼. Outdoors, he was seventh in 1990 at 52-3 and third in 1991 at 55- ¼. His all-time best marks came at the national meets his senior year in 1991. Both rank fourth on the Eagles’ alltime lists. He placed second in the shot both indoors and outdoors at the RMAC Meets his junior year and won the event at both meets as a senior. As a senior at Chadron High in 1987, Bowman was the Class B shot put champion Both Dawn Brammer and Kail at the state meet and was Bowman earned All-American second in the all-class honors in the shot put four times standings with a throw of 58- in the 1990s. 8. He also placed third in the Class B discus with a throw of 160-7. In both high school and college, he had a knack for nearly always having his personal best marks at the big meets. He is a biology instructor at Western Nebraska Community College in Scottsbluff. Dawn Brammer Brammer was an excellent thrower for the Eagles in the early 1990s. She won the NAIA District 11 discus championship in 1990 with a mark of 131-feet. She was the RMAC shot put champion both indoors and outdoors in 1991 and earned AllAmerica honors four times in the shot put in NAIA competition. Indoors, she was second in 1990 at 44-2 ¾, fourth in 1991 at 44-5 and second in 1992 at 45-2 ½. Outdoors, she was seventh in 1992 at 43-8. Her best shot put marks were 45-7½ indoors and 44-2½ outdoors. She owned the school records in the event when she graduated. Her best discus mark was 141-10. She also lettered in volleyball, coached the CSC volleyball team eight years and helped coach the track and field team six years. She now teaches physical education at CSC. Brammer and Bill Boness were classmates at Alliance High School. Mike Sorensen Sorensen was the Eagles’ starting right guard three years. He was selected to the Omaha World-Herald’s state college all-star team in both 1989 and ’90 when he blocked for David Jones, who rushed for more than 3,000 yards, averaged 6.8 yards a carry and scored 27 touchdowns those seasons. At the end of the ’90 season, CSC Coach Brad Smith was quoted as saying Sorensen may have been the best guard for his size (6-0, 220 pounds) in the nation. “He played like a 250-pounder. What he got done was amazing. He’s been a great worker and a great technician,” the coach said. A native of Wheatland, Wyo., he’s now the principal at Mike Sorensen 63 Chase County High School at Imperial, Neb. His wife, the former Nancy Schnell, is an Alliance native and a graduate of CSC, where she played volleyball. Josh Robinson Robinson is Chadron State’s all-time leading men’s basketball scorer with 2,041 points, nearly 400 more than any other CSC player has tallied. He earned the admiration of both fans and foes because of his tremendous work ethic and hardnosed play. Although just 6-foot-4 and a post player, he found a way to take the ball to the basket for a variety of layups against taller opponents. Besides his career scoring record, Robinson also holds the school records for most points in a game (51), most field goals (762) and most free throws (515). He averaged 18.7 points and 8.4 Josh Robinson rebounds as a four-year starter 1988-92 and posted double-doubles 34 times during his final two seasons. His many honors included being a two-time NAIA All-American Scholar-Athlete, an NAIA second-team All-American and an Academic All-American his senior year. He is the only CSC basketball player, male or female, to receive the latter two honors. Josh was followed to CSC by his brothers Jason and Jeremy. During the eight-year span, the Robinsons scored 5,081 points and grabbed 2,138 rebounds, making them one of the most successful brother trios in college basketball history. Josh has a woodworking business in his hometown of Loveland, Colo. Bob Waldner Waldner is Chadron State’s only three-time All-American wrestler, finishing fourth at 177 pounds in 1988, seventh at 177 in 1989 and sixth at 190 in 1997 at the NAIA National Tournament. His 96-33 career record gives him a .745 winning percentage, the second best in Chadron State history behind only 1972 national champion Bob Lynch. Waldner was both an NAIA Area Tournament champion and a RMAC champion in 1990, his senior year. During his career, he pinned 37 of his opponents and was pinned just twice. Waldner holds the Bob Waldner Chadron State record for fastest pin, in nine seconds. He was the team’s Outstanding Wrestler three times. While attending CSC and immediately afterwards, he won several “tough man” competitions, often against much larger opponents. “His head was made of concrete,” said Darold Andrist, who was Waldner’s first wrestling coach at CSC. After he worked several years at the Pine Ridge Job Corps Center south of Chadron following graduation from CSC, Waldner is a social student supervisor at the Mingo Job Corps Center at Puxico, Mo. Waldner and his wife, Kim, a 1993 CSC graduate, have five children. Bob Waldner is Chadron State’s only three-time All American wrestler. He finished with a .745 winning percentage, second best in CSC history. 2008 Inductees Wendy Grint Alexander She played volleyball at Chadron State two years after transferring from Eastern Wyoming College, where she had been a first-team All-American and Academic All-American. She had similar success at CSC. As a junior in 1992, she led the Eagles in hitting (.270), kills (478) and digs (440) and was second-team all-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. As a senior, Wendy led the Eagles to a 22-8 record and a 10-2 record in the RMAC. She set the school records and led the RMAC in kills per game (4.5) and hitting percentage by a front row player (.324). Wendy was named first-team allWendy Alexander conference and all-region and was selected as a first-team Academic All-American by the College Sports Information Directors of America at the conclusion of her senior season. She graduated from CSC with a 3.97 GPA, receiving just one B and all the rest A’s during her 64 college career. A native of Sargent, Wendy is now a teacher and coach at Ord High School. Her volleyball team won the Class C championship at the Nebraska State Tournament in 2007. Her husband, Jason Alexander, a native of Lusk, Wyo., also graduated from CSC. They were married while attending CSC. Russ Anderson Russ Anderson A native of Anselmo, Anderson was an excellent linebacker for the Eagles in the late 1980s and early ’90s. He became a starter as a sophomore in 1989 when his cousin, Corey Anderson, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2006, was sidelined by a hamstring injury. Russ responded by leading the Eagles in tackles with 142 and was selected the team’s best defensive player. After Corey returned in 1990 and earned All-American honors, Russ took part in 43 tackles while alternating with Corey and Jason Irvine, a senior that fall. During his senior year in 1991, Russ again led the Eagles in tackles with 132, was first-team RMAC, first-team Nebraska NCAA Division II and honorable mention NAIA All-American. He concluded his career with 131 unassisted and 196 assisted tackles, including seven tackles for losses of 40 yards, three fumble recoveries and three interceptions. He also broke up 10 passes. Russ is married to the former Cheryl Bolen, a native of Alliance and a CSC graduate. They are ranchers in the Hyannis area. Tricia Lukawski A graduate of East Chicago (Ind.) Central High School, Tricia is Chadron State’s all-time women’s basketball leading scorer and possessed 12 school records when she graduated in 1993. She poured in 1,869 points in 100 games for the Eagles. She averaged 16 points as a freshman, 20.3 as a sophomore, 18.3 as a junior and 19.7 as a senior. She was a three-time Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference first-team selection and was an unanimous choice as the player of the year as a senior in 1992-93. She also was a third-team NCAA Division II All-American as selected by the American Women’s Sports Tricia Lukawski Federation her senior year. At least since 1970, Tricia and Josh Robinson are the only CSC basketball players to be placed on an All-American team. The school records that she still possesses include most career points (1,869), most points in a half (30), most field goals in a career (667), most 3-pointers in a game (8), most 3-pointers in a season (78) and most 3-pointers in a career (238). She also is tied for most assists in a game (10) and most field goals in a season (191). She graduated with a 3.83 cumulative grade point average and is in her 14th year as a physical education teacher and coach at schools in the East Chicago area. She was inducted into the East Chicago Sports Hall of Fame in 2007 and was elected to the RMAC’s 12-member all-time women’s basketball team in late 2008. Con Marshall Con Marshall, who served as Chadron State College’s director of information services and sports information for more than three decades, is inducted into the CSC Hall of Fame for meritorious service. Although Marshall stepped down as a fulltime employee at CSC, he has stayed highly involved with the activities on campus. Marshall, a native of Chadron and a graduate of Chadron State, has completed 37 years as a CSC employee. During that time, he has produced volumes of news stories and photographs, in addition to frequently Con Marshall serving as a resource for anyone looking for information about Chadron State, its athletic programs and the history of the surrounding region. In the late 1990s, Chadron State named a facility, the Elliott Field pressbox, in Marshall’s honor, making him one of only a few people to have that distinction while still employed at the college. Marshall has been recognized numerous times by the College Sports Information Directors of America throughout his career for his writing and publications efforts. In recent years, Marshall has received distinguished service awards from the Nebraska Athletic Directors, Nebraska Coaches Association, the Chadron Chamber of Commerce and the Chadron Youth Baseball Program. In 2004, he was presented the first Chadron Basketball Tradition Award. He also has received a 25-year award from the CoSIDA and serves on the selection committee for the Harlon Con Marshall was the Hill Award, presented annually to Sports Information Directhe outstanding player in NCAA tor at CSC for more than Division II football. Perhaps one of Marshall’s biggest three decades. honors came in late September 2008 when he was inducted into the Nebraska High School Sports Hall of Fame as a contributor. In 1986, Marshall authored and compiled “The History of Chadron State College,” a 232-page publication to commemorate the college’s 75th anniversary. He also wrote the majority of this publication. Marshall’s knowledge of the northwest Nebraska and the state’s Panhandle goes far beyond sports. After earning a bachelor’s degree from Chadron State in 1963 he worked three years each as a sports and news reporter at the Chadron Record and farm and feature reporter for the Scottsbluff Star-Herald. He returned to Chadron in 1969 to become Chadron State’s first fulltime director of information. He left Chadron State in the 1970s to become editor of the Sidney Telegraph for a year and was editor of the Chadron Record for 16 months before returning to the staff of his alma mater. In addition to his journalistic endeavors, he is active in the Chadron Christian Church, Kiwanis, and helps in the preparation and reporting of a number of community events. Marshall’s wife Peggy helps prepare elementary education teachers at Chadron State. They have three adult children -Tyler, Sara and Perry – and seven grandchildren. David McCartney David McCartney McCartney is one of the Eagles’ all-time great running backs. He succeeded David Jones as the Eagles’ primary running back as a sophomore in 1991, when he carried 159 times for 840 yards and 14 touchdowns. McCartney had a particularly outstanding junior season, when he rushed 267 times for 1,359 yards and scored 25 touchdowns and two 2-point conversions to lead NCAA Division II in scoring with 154 points. He rushed for at least 100 yards in nine of the 65 10 games that season and earned first-team RMAC and third-team Associated Press Little All-American honors. A native of Wright, Wyo., he also began his senior year well, rushing for a career-high 209 yards against Black Hills State before suffering a sprained ankle that forced him to miss considerable playing time. He still finished that season with 127 carries for 679 yards and eight touchdowns. For his career, he carried 568 times for 2,947 yards, an average of David McCartney 5.2 per carry, and 48 touchdowns. He ranks fourth in career rushing at CSC behind Danny Woodhead, David Jones and Corey Campbell, and is second in scoring behind Woodhead. McCartney is married to the former Stacy Drabbels, a Hay Springs native and a CSC volleyball player and graduate. They live in Chadron, where he is employed by Great Plains Communications. Steward Perez Perez started every game for the Eagles at quarterback all four years he was at CSC, and was one of the major factors in the success the team achieved under coach Brad Smith. He played with lots of moxie. When Perez concluded his career in 1991, he owned nearly every CSC passing and total offense record. He completed 594 of 1,086 passes (54.6 percent) for 8,574 yards and 73 touchdowns. The TD total is still a school record. He also rushed for 213 yards and 15 touchdowns. Steward Perez Entering the 2008 season, Perez’s passing yardage and total offense yardage figures were second only to Trevor Moon’s career totals. He threw 63 interceptions, a fairly high number, but 21 of them came his freshman year. With Perez running the show, the Eagles were 8-2 in 1989 and 9-2 in 1990 and went to the NAIA playoffs both years. A graduate of Converse High School in Texas, Steward lives in San Antonio and works for a health care facility. Felix Sanford Felix Sanford 66 While compiling this book, it became evident that a major oversight had been made by not inducting Felix Sanford into the Athletic Hall of Fame years ago. Sanford is tied for sixth on the Eagles’ career scoring list with 1,532 points in 77 games for a 19.8 average. His 24.5-point average as a senior in 1963-64 ranks second to Ted Niemann’s 24.8 average in 198788. Sanford’s rebounding statistics are incomplete, but in the 48 games that records are available he averaged 15.2 per game. He tallied 39 points three times and 41 against Southern Colorado in 1963-64 during a 112-111 double overtime victory over Southern Colorado for the school record at that time. He also pulled down 31 rebounds in that game for a CSC record that likely will never be broken. A slender 6-foot-6 Chicagoan, Sanford was recruited by Mack Peyton with help Marques Haynes, player-coach of the Harlem Magicians. Sanford was CSC’s first black athlete. He was placed on the Omaha World-Herald’s state college all-star team all four years he was at CSC, including his junior year when he played in just eight games after missing the first semester because of academic problems. He was a graceful athlete who seemed to glide down the floor. He had a variety of hook and jump shots, outstanding leaping ability, a long reach and great stamina. He often played the entire game. Through Vester Van, who came to CSC with Sanford to CSC in the fall of 1960, it was learned that Sanford died of sickle-cell anemia when he was middle-aged. Cory Shinkle A native of Jackson, Wyo., Shinkle had played basketball at Northwest College at Powell, Wyo., two years and had not competed in track and field since high school when he enrolled at CSC. Upon the recommendation of his high school coach and at the urging of CSC coach Scott Noble, Shinkle worked hard to become a decathlete after joining the Eagles. He placed fourth at the NAIA District 11 decathlon with 6,195 points his first year at CSC. But his efforts paid off handsomely his senior season in 1990, when he won the NAIA District 11 decathlon with 6,613 points. Two weeks later, he placed third at the NAIA National Meet with 6,879 points to earn AllCory Shinkle American honors. His total at the national meet is still the Chadron State record and would have placed fourth at the 2008 NCAA Division II Meet. Shinkle’s marks at the national meet were: 100—11.09, long jump—21- ¾, shot put 39- ¾, high jump—6-4, 400—50.59, 110 hurdles—15.08, discus—96-10 ½, pole vault—13-8, javelin—159-0, 1500 meters—4:37.36. Shinkle is a math curriculum and advanced placement coordinator at the Glendale Union High School District in Arizona. Caryn Martin Ziettlow A multi-talented person, Caryn excelled in both track and field and music while attending Chadron State. She was a two-time state meet low hurdle champion while attending Chadron High School and developed into a terrific allaround track athlete for the Eagles, earning All-American honors seven times. Her first All-American laurels were at the NAIA National Indoor Meet in 1992, when Caryn Ziettlow she was fifth in the 60-yard hurdles in 8.44 seconds and fifth in the long jump at 17-11¾. In addition, she was the runner-up in the NAIA District 11 heptathlon as a freshman in 1990 and won it as both a sophomore and a junior. She placed seventh in the heptathlon at the NAIA National Meet as a sophomore with 4,490 points and was third as a junior with 4,967 points. Prior to her senior year in 1993, the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, which the Eagles had recently joined, switched to NCAA Division II. That year, she won the 55-meter hurdles in 8.34 seconds and the high jump at 5-4 at the RMAC Indoor Meet and the 100-meter hurdles in 14.71 seconds and the long jump at 18-7 ½ at the outdoor meet. Also in ’93, she also was fourth in the long jump at 18-9 ¼ and fifth in the high jump at 5-5 at the NCAA DII National Indoor Meet. But her greatest achievement came at the National Outdoor Meet that spring when she tied for second in the heptathlon by scoring 5,151 points. Her national marks that season: 100 hurdles—14.76, high jump—5-6 ½, shot put—35-5, 200—25.51, long jump—18-5, javelin—95-9, 800—2:22.42. When Caryn graduated, she owned the CSC school records in five indoor and four outdoor events. She still has eight of the nine records. In addition to her track and field accomplishments, Caryn was the piano accompaniest for the CSC concert choir several years, often sang the National Anthem at CSC athletic events and was the college’s homecoming queen in 1991. After graduating, she taught at the Antelope School in Dawes County two years. She then moved to Hemingford, where she taught music three years, sixth grade two years and was the elementary principal four years. She is now Caryn Ziettlow still holds the CSC long jump records of 20-0 (indoors) and 19-3 (outdoors). She also holds the 55-meter high hurdle record of 7.95 seconds and the 100-meter high hurdle record of 14.40. She also holds the heptathlon record of 5,151 points. in her fourth year as the elementary principal at North Bend. She earned her master’s degree from CSC in 2001 and is scheduled to earn a doctorate from the University of Nebraska in December. She is married to Todd Ziettlow, a native of Ekalaka, Mont., who was a football and track and field athlete at CSC and teaches math at North Bend. 2009 Inductees Russ Crafton Russ was an outstanding off-guard for the Eagles, starting three years and earning all-RMAC first-team honors as both a junior and a senior. He averaged 19.5 points a game both seasons, and finished with 1,520 points, eighth best on CSC’s all-time list. He holds both the Chadron State and the RMAC records for most 3-pointers in a game with 12. He sank 40.7 percent of his 3-point attempts during his career, and scored as many as 48 points in a game, second high in CSC annals. He also tallied 40 points once and 38 twice. Russ also was a capable defender. He came up with 62 steals as a junior and 58 as a Russ Crafton senior. Russ lives in Overland Park, Kan., and is an accounting manager for an advertising agency. His wife, Emily, works for the same agency. He has two boys, Ryder and Avner. J.J. Feddersen Another four-year starter for the CSC basketball team, J.J. was a point guard who could score. Like Russ Crafton and Jason Robinson, he helped the Eagles rise from the bottom of the RMAC to the top during his career. He was the Eagles’ point guard and finished with 307 assists, third highest on CSC’s all-time list, and also scored 1,242 points that ranks 15th on CSC all-time list. J.J. averaged about 12 points a game each of his four years on the team. He ranked second in the RMAC in free throw J.J. Feddersen shooting as a senior, when he made 91 of 117 attempts for 77.8 percent. He also hit 39.3 percent of his 3-point attempts that season and finished his career by making 178 of 480 treys for 37.1 percent. J.J. lives in Cheyenne, Wyo., and sells medical equipment. His wife, Saralyn, works for Great Lakes Airlines. They have three children, Kalli, Cole and Cooper. 67 Cody Gamble Cody started three years at safety for the Eagles. He completed his career with 176 tackles, including 112 that were unassisted. He also had 21 interceptions, a CSC record at the time, and now second on the list. He returned the interceptions 324 yards. In addition, he also broke up 34 passes and averaged nine yards on 54 punt returns. Cody was first-team all-RMAC as a junior in 1993 and a senior in 1994. He was a secondteam selection his sophomore season. He was placed on the World-Herald’s Nebraska NCAA Division II first-team all three years. Cody also participated in track and field as a freshman at CSC and won the NAIA District Cody Gamble 11 decathlon. Cody is an elementary teacher and coach in the Leyton Schools. His wife, the former Julie Guzzy, was a track standout at CSC and is a creative manager at Cabela’s. They have two children, Scout and Shawnee. Shauna Smith Golembiewski Shauna initially attended UNL, but transferred to CSC at the end of the first semester and was immediately put in the starting lineup. She was an impact player the next three seasons. As a sophomore, she shot 48.6 percent from the field and averaged 11.4 points and 8.6 rebounds. As a junior, she shot 50.7 percent from the field and 67 percent from the line while averaging 13.2 points and 5.8 rebounds. During her senior year, she shot 50.4 percent from the field and 75 percent from the line while averaging 17.8 points and 6.3 rebounds. Shauna was second-team all-conference as a junior and was placed on the first team as Shauna a senior. The Eagles went 18-9 overall both Golembiewski seasons and were 10-2 in the conference in 1992-93 and 9-3 in 1993-94. She finished her career with 1,215 points, sixth best on the Eagles’ all-time list, and 614 rebounds, which ties her for first on the list. She also earned first-team Nebraska NCAA Division II all-star honors from the Omaha World-Herald as a senior. Shauna and her husband, Eric, a public safety officer for the city of Sunnyvale, Calif., live in San Jose and have two children, Leo and Vivian. Chad Johnson Chad Johnson 68 Chad was an outstanding middle linebacker for the Eagles. He led the team in tackles each of his final three seasons, finishing with a total of 371. That was the Eagles’ second highest total when he graduated and now ranks third on the alltime chart behind only Kevin Homer and Corey Anderson. He was named to the Omaha World-Herald’s Nebraska NCAA Division II all-star teams in both 1992 and 1994 and was selected by his teammates as the team’s outstanding defensive player as a senior in 1994. He was placed on the RMAC second-team all-conference team each of his final three years. Chad is a partner in the family’s ranching operation in southern Sioux County. He is married to a neighbor girl, the former Carlyle Laucomer. They have two children, Quincey and Sullivan. Joe Planansky Joe was a four-year starter and a three-time unanimous allconference selection at tight end. He also was placed on the Omaha World-Herald’s Nebraska NCAA Division II first-team three times. He was a second-team All-American as a junior and a first-team selection as a senior. He caught 154 passes for 1,879 yards during his career, and was the first Chadron State player to be selected to play in the Snow Bowl in Fargo, N.D. His coach, Brad Smith, called him “probably the best blocker I ever coached.” Joe was invited to the Pro Combine in 1995 and signed a contract with the Miami Joe Planansky Dolphins. He spent most of the 1995 season on the Dolphins’ developmental squad before being activated for two games. He was inducted into the RMAC Hall of Fame in 2005 and this past July he was one of two CSC players selected for the 12-man RMAC All-Time Offensive Team in observance of the conference’s 100th anniversary. Joe is a chiropractor in Windsor, Colo. His wife, Kim, was a volleyball standout at Nebraska Wesleyan and is a part-time consultant for a Dallas, Texas, firm while caring for their two children, Kaley and Jensen. Angela Woodworth Rhoades Angela came to Chadron State in 1993 after playing volleyball two years at Northwest Community College in Powell, Wyo. She was a setter and is the only CSC volleyball player to earn all-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference firstteam honors twice. In 1993, Angela led the RMAC in assist average at 12.10 per game and in hitting percentage at .417, coming on 64 kills and only nine errors in 132 attempts. As a team, the Eagles led the conference in hitting percentage (.279) and kill average (15.20), undoubtedly, in part, because of Woodworth’s setting and hitting abilities. Chadron State was 22-8 that season and 10-2 in the RMAC to finish second in the Angela Rhoades conference standings. In 1994, Woodworth was fifth in the conference in assist average at 10.66 per game and ranked fourth in hitting percentage at .383, coming on 118 kills and 13 errors in 274 attempts. Chadron State was 22-10 for the season and 11-3 in the conference to finish in third place, one game behind Mesa State and Fort Lewis. After graduating, Angela married Jay Rhoades, a CSC football player. She has been a high school English teacher and volleyball coach, first at Chadron and now at Douglas, Wyo. She was an excellent student at CSC, compiling a 3.85 GPA during her three years of undergraduate work. Jay Rhoades Jay was a three-year starter at wide receiver for the Eagles and caught 108 passes for 2,137 yards and 22 touchdowns during his career. Both the yardage figure and touchdown totals were career records at CSC when he graduated. The yardage figure now ranks third and the touchdown total is tied for first on the all-time lists. His 13 touchdown receptions as a senior in 1991 tied the single-season mark set by Don Beebe in 1988. Jay was a first-team All-Nebraska choice by the Omaha World-Herald in his senior year and was second-team all-conference that season. He compiled a 35-13 record as head Jay Rhoades football coach at Chadron High from 2001 through 2005 and is now the head football coach at Douglas High School in Wyoming. His team won the Class 3A state championship in 2008 and 2009. Jay and his wife, Angela, who is also being inducted into the Hall of Fame, have two children, Harley and Haedyn. Jason Robinson Jason was the second of three Robinson brothers to play basketball for the Eagles. His older brother, Josh, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007. Jason was a four-year starter and averaged in double figures in scoring all four years. He made 48.1 percent of his field goal attempts and 67.3 percent of his free throws during his career. He finished with 1,581 points, fourth highest on CSC’s all-time list. He also averaged 4.9 rebounds during his careers and ranked second in the RMAC in steals with 56 his senior season. Jason earned first-team all-RMAC honors Jason Robinson and was first-team on the World-Herald’s Nebraska NCAA Division II all-star team as a senior in 1993-94. The Eagles finished at 17-10 overall and were 9-3 and tied for first in the RMAC that season. He is married to the former Tresha Hill, also a CSC graduate. She is a veterinarian and he is a farrier at Queen Creek, Ariz. They have three children, Ty, Truitt and Tanner. The 2009 inductees into the Hall of Fame incuded these ex-Eagles. In front, from left, are Jay Rhoades, Angela Woodworth Rhoades, Shauna Smith Golembiewski, Cody Gamble. Those in the back, from left to right, are Russ Crafton, J.J. Feddersen, Jason Robinson, Joe Planansky and Chad Johnson. 69
