An almost 50-year span of Bluffton athletics is represented in the university's Athletics Hall of Fame class of 2010-11, which will be inducted during a Jan. 29 dinner and ceremony in Marbeck Center.

Inductees are J. Roger Howe '49, Charles Stapleton '78, Louis Stokes '73 and the 1992 softball team.

Roger Howe

Howe, who died in 1986, enrolled at Bluffton in 1946 after serving in World War II. The Bluffton native played basketball, football and tennis, earning multiple varsity letters. He was named the outstanding athlete of 1947 at Bluffton, where he was also involved in music and theatre, among other campus activities.

After receiving his bachelor's degree in sociology in 1949, Howe embarked on an education career, working as a teacher, coach and principal in Ohio; as superintendent of schools in Ohio and Illinois; and as a faculty member at universities in Arkansas, Illinois and Missouri. Along the way, he earned master's and doctoral degrees in education from Bowling Green State University and Ohio State University, respectively. He and his wife, the late Elizabeth (Brand '49) Howe, had two sons and a daughter.

Charles Stapleton

Stapleton was a four-year letterman in basketball and a team captain his final three years. When he graduated in 1978 with a degree in education, he was Bluffton's leader in career assists (306) and among the top 10 in career scoring (1,192 points). He now ranks third in assists and 14th in scoring, as well as second in career steals (155). He is the only player in Bluffton history with at least 1,000 points, 300 assists and 150 steals.

A graduate of Brookside High School in Sheffield, Ohio, Stapleton is senior vice president of Motorists Insurance Group and chief operating officer of Iowa Mutual Insurance Group and Phenix Mutual Fire Insurance Co. The New Albany, Ohio, resident has been a member of the Central Ohio Red Cross board and president of the Pickerington, Ohio, Youth Athletic Association. He and his wife Vicki have three daughters and two grandsons.

Louis Stokes
Stokes, a Belle Center, Ohio, native, was a standout offensive lineman on Bluffton football teams of the early 1970s. In 1972, the four-year letterman helped lead the Beavers to a conference championship and was named first-team all-NAIA District 22. He also lettered one year each in basketball and baseball. A high school coach from 1973-87, he returned to Bluffton as offensive line coach from 1988-2006 and is now the Beavers' running backs coach and director of academic support. He has been an adjunct instructor at Bluffton as well.

Stokes received a bachelor's degree in health and physical education from Bluffton and, in 1983, a master's degree in educational administration from the University of Dayton. He and his wife Melanie live in Ottawa, where he also taught at Ottawa-Glandorf High School from 1979-2005 and was athletic director for three years. He has four daughters and one son.

1992 softball team

Coached by Kim Fischer, Bluffton's 1992 softball team posted a 16-6 record and won the Association of Mideast Colleges tournament after placing second in the conference during the regular season. In winning 11 of its last 12 games, Bluffton outscored its opponents 102-44.

Bluffton batted .331 as a team, led by senior Mary Spain's .465 average. She posted a .634 slugging percentage, drove in 20 runs and scored 32. The team also stole 58 bases in 60 attempts and had a .952 fielding percentage-tied for the best in program history-and a 3.06 earned run average. Senior Kristie Conley posted the best ERA, at 2.29.