Working at the University of Notre Dame, Craig Cheek has drawn upon a value that was instilled in him 20 years ago as a college undergraduate at Bluffton.

As an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Notre Dame, he helps enhance student-athletes’ physical development so they can perform at a higher level, Cheek said at his alma mater Oct. 21. And helping to facilitate that improvement is a form of service—an enduring Bluffton value whose importance he learned, among other lessons, en route to a bachelor’s degree in health, physical education and recreation in 1997.

“Ultimately, I’m called to serve,” said Cheek, who, in his eighth year at Notre Dame, works with members of the baseball, track and field and women’s basketball teams.

The Clyde, Ohio, native recalled coming to Bluffton primarily because he was able to continue playing football and running track. But another draw was what he called “the strong sense of community” on campus, explaining that “you knew you were part of something a lot bigger than yourself.”

Even five years after Cheek graduated, Don Schweingruber, then vice president and dean of student life, knew what he was doing professionally, reinforcing the feeling that students were human beings, not numbers, at Bluffton, he added.

“My coaches were really good about showing people they cared,” he remembered, listing “care” among a group of important personal qualities that, in several cases, Bluffton taught him.

Character was also among the attributes on that list, as was commitment—a quality underscored, Cheek noted, by the “Beaver Pledge,” which his head football coach, Carlin Carpenter, introduced to Bluffton. The pledge says, in part, that “I believe in setting attainable goals and working with the dedication needed to achieve these goals. I believe in the ability to adjust to and overcome adverse situations."

Cheek said the commitment he learned at Bluffton helped give him the courage to move his family twice for distant jobs. The first was as assistant strength coach at the University of Minnesota-Duluth for one year, followed by two years as head strength and conditioning coach at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, La., southwest of New Orleans.

Discussing competence—another of his listed qualities—he said it starts with a philosophy and includes striving to be great regardless of the job and having high expectations. And harking back again to his college experience, he tied those elements to two influential teachers. Guy Neal, an assistant professor of what is now health, fitness and sport science, taught about the need to develop a philosophy, Cheek recalled, and Tami Forbes, now an associate professor and chair of the education and sport science division, specified on course syllabi that “excellence is required.”

Neal, also Bluffton’s men’s basketball coach, introduced Cheek, whose wife and fellow 1997 graduate, Sheri (Knife), returned to campus with him, joined by their daughter, Kennedy, and son, Carson. Calling Cheek “a great example for all Bluffton students,” Neal also noted that he has “given back” by revising and updating the strength and conditioning program for the men’s basketball team.

“I don’t remember scores of games,” said Cheek, who also holds a master’s degree in developmental kinesiology from Bowling Green State University. What he does remember, he continued, are the Notre Dame student-athletes who have expressed their gratitude for his help in various ways. “Those are the stats that matter to me.”

Building on what was instilled at Bluffton, “Notre Dame allows me to serve others and experience growth I never would have imagined,” he said.

For more on Cheek, see the story about him in the new issue of Bluffton magazine, online at www.bluffton.edu/blufftonalumni/magazine/fall2014/craigcheek.html