Two alumni and one team from the 1990s, along with the 1972 football team, comprise the Bluffton University Athletics Hall of Fame class of 2012-13.
David Sheldon
David Sheldon, a 1998 graduate, and Jennifer (Warren ’97) Quirk are being honored for their achievements on the basketball and tennis court, respectively. They will be inducted alongside the 1995-96 women’s basketball team and the 1972 football team—each a conference champion—during a Jan. 26 dinner and ceremony in Founders Hall.
Sheldon came to Bluffton from Wynford High School in Bucyrus, Ohio, and in his first college basketball season was the Association of Mideast Colleges’ Newcomer of the Year. He went on to become one of four Bluffton men’s basketball players to record at least 1,000 points—he scored 1,085—and 250 assists in their careers. He led the team in assists each of his four years and remains atop the career assists list with 463. The two-year captain is also Bluffton’s leader in three-point field goals made in a game, twice with nine, and in a career, with 234.
Sheldon won the A.C. Burcky Award in 1998 as Bluffton’s outstanding senior male athlete and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a second major in sport management. He became director of ticket sales for the NBA’s Orlando Magic from 1998-2000, then corporate sponsor sales consultant for the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2000-01. He moved into education as a teacher and athletic director in Bucyrus City Schools and, since 2005 in nearby North Robinson, has been dean of students, athletic director and head boys’ basketball coach at Colonel Crawford High School. The District 6 and Northwest District Coach of the Year in 2009, Sheldon holds a master’s degree in educational administration from Ashland University. He and his wife, Amy, live in Bucyrus with their daughter, Caroline.
Jennifer (Warren ’97) Quirk
Quirk, a graduate of Lakeland High School in LaGrange, Ind., was an all-conference singles player in all four years of tennis at Bluffton, where she had the highest winning percentage of any four-year women’s tennis athlete. She was team captain in 1996 and 1997, when she received the Kathryn E. Little Award as Bluffton’s outstanding senior female athlete. Off the court, she was a C. Henry Smith Scholar, a resident adviser and editor of Witmarsum, the student newspaper.
In 1998, Quirk earned a master’s degree in kinesiology from Indiana University—with concentrations in athletic administration and higher education personnel administration—and for the last 12 years, she has been an administrator at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, N.J. After three years as an academic adviser, she has spent the last nine years as assistant athletic director for academics. During that time, the NCAA Division I school has had 15 Northeast Conference Scholar-Athletes, having the highest grade point average of anyone in their sport in the conference; multiple Academic All-Americans in baseball and bowling; and, in 2010, the highest GPA for an athletic department in the conference. Chair of the Northeast Conference Academic Advisors from 2006-08, Quirk lives in Oakland, N.J., with her husband, Brian, and their children, Braden “Brady” and Cameron “Cammi.”
1995-96 women’s basketball team
Bluffton’s 1995-96 women’s basketball team holds the school record for women’s basketball wins in a season, with 16, and is one of two teams in the university’s 44-year women’s hoops history to claim a conference title. The Michelle Durand-coached squad, which had only one returning starter and nine sophomores on the roster, won the Association of Mideast Colleges championship while posting a 16-9 record overall.
Joining its 1981-82 counterpart as the only women’s basketball teams in the hall of fame, the 1995-96 team also holds school records for most points in a half—57 versus Wilmington—and best three-point field goal percentage in a game—71.4 percent on 10-of-14 shooting against Albion. Becky (Reineke ’98) Boblitt was the team’s top scorer, averaging 13.8 points a game while making a school-record 69 three-point field goals, and Lisa (Wieging ’98) Smith was the leading rebounder, averaging 7.2 per game.
With a 5-2 conference record, the 1972 football team won the outright Hoosier-Buckeye Collegiate Conference title—Bluffton’s only championship in its 15-year affiliation with the HBCC. In the process, the team’s defensive unit set a still-standing school record by holding Taylor to 15 net yards of offense in a game. The Beavers finished 5-4 overall under head coach Roger Bixel.
1972 football team
Four members of the team have been inducted into the Bluffton hall of fame—Sylvester Moore, an NAIA All-American later in his career; Everett Collier, who later earned NAIA All-American honorable mention; Mike Richards; and Lou Stokes. Stokes was also one of eight Bluffton players who earned all-conference honors in 1972. Joining him were fellow offensive tackle Jim Myers, defensive end Steve Sommer, nose guard Bob Bowerman, linebacker Jim Saneda, defensive back Myron Ware, running back Tim Clark and offensive end Hal Krotzer. Stokes, Sommer, Ware and Chip Hollenback were the team captains.
