FORT WAYNE, Ind. — The University of Saint Francis will welcome six individuals into its Athletic Hall of Fame class this April.
This year’s induction will take place at 7 p.m. on Sat., April 27, in conjunction with the CASPYS (Cougar Achievement in Sports Performance Yearly) at the USF Robert Goldstine Performing Arts Center, 431 W. Berry Street.
USF alumni chosen for induction as the 25th class includes Q Owens, who helped USF to the 2010 NAIA Championship, Luther Stroder (football) and Nick Adams (track and field). Longtime USF Athletics patrons Mr. Doug McKibben and Mr. Tom Jehl (posthumously) along with former USF women’s basketball coach of the 2014 undefeated NAIA Champion Lady Cougars, Gary Andrews, will also be honored and inducted.
Owens scored what proved to be the winning basket for the Cougars in their 67-66 win over Walsh University for the 2010 NAIA Championship title. He also helped USF back to the NAIA Championship game in 2011 and graduated from USF as the No. 3 career scorer with 1,862 points. Owens was a two-time NAIA All-American (second team). USF won 79 games during his three seasons playing guard for USF.
An Indianapolis native and Lawrence North High School graduate, Owens scored 227 points in 13 NAIA Championship games and was No. 9 on the NAIA Division II Championship scoring list after the 2011-12 season. He averaged 15.7 points in three games in the 2012 Championship leading unseeded USF to the Elite 8 with upsets over ninth-ranked Jamestown College (N.D.) and seventh-ranked Bellevue (Neb.) before the Cougars lost to eventual champion Oregon Tech in a quarterfinal clash on Saturday, March 10.
Owens tied the USF record for consecutive double-figure scoring games with 45 and finished second on the USF single season list with 36 double figure scoring games in 2011-12. Owens scored in double figures in 98 of 110 games he played in for USF.
Luther Stroder, an Indianapolis native and Northwest H.S. graduate, is a 2004 USF graduate who set records for USF career yards rushing (2,311), career rushing TDs (44), career receiving yards by a running back (1,614 yards) and career receptions 127. Stroder was the first to record two career 200-yard games and is still one of just two USF backs to rush for more than one career 200-plus yards game. Stroder finished No. 2 on the USF career all-purpose yards list with 4,475 yards. He is the only USF back to lead USF in receiving yards one season and rushing in the next season. He was the 14th running back in Mid-States Football Association history to rush for 2,000-plus yards in a career and finished. Stroder was a multi-sport athlete for USF qualifying for the 2003 NAIA Indoor Championship 55-meter dash with a time of 6.59 seconds. He also competed for USF on the 4×100 relay team (set USF record at the time 43.48) and in the long jump (5.90 meters, USF No. 4 best at the time).
Adams was a double NAIA All-American in 2010 outdoor track and field in the hammer and discus. He still holds the USF hammer record at 55.59 meters and has the No. 2 discus effort at 52.50 meters. The 2011 USF graduate also holds USF’s second best weight throw distance at 17.40 meters and was a 2009 NAIA All-American (indoor track). Adams, a Northrop H.S. grad, won three consecutive Mid-Central College Conference Championship Meet discus competitions.
Gary Andrews, a Decatur, Ind., native, holds the USF record for career wins with 322 in 14 seasons and he is USF’s only three-time conference Coach of the Year. His teams qualified for nine NAIA Championship berths. In 2014 his Lady Cougars finished 38-0 capped with a 75-68 win over College of the Ozarks for USF’s first women’s basketball national championship. USF also made it to one semifinal game. Andrews was named NAIA Phyllis Holmes Coach of the Year and coached NAIA Player of the Year Skylarr Shurn. His teams also won five conference tournament titles and four conference regular season championships. USF had 12 NAIA All-American honors during his tenure as USF head coach from 2001-02 to 2014-15. He posted a .694 winning percentage as the 13th USF head coach of USF women’s program, which started in 1975-76. Andrews just finished up his first year as boys head basketball coach at North Side High School.
Doug McKibben, a 2018 Mad Anthonys Red Coat recipient, is an honorary USF alumnus (2013) who served as chairman of the USF Athletic Committee from its start in 1998. He worked closely with USF Hall of Fame football coach Kevin Donley to help bring college football to Fort Wayne and has been a dedicated patron of USF athletics for more than 20 years. McKibben founded what would grow into the Glenbrook Automotive Group 40 years ago when he opened Glenbrook Dodge in Fort Wayne in 1978. Today, Glenbrook Automotive Group is one of the largest dealership groups in northern Indiana. Doug worked closely with Tom Jehl to help bring Tom’s vision of the Lifetime Sports Academy to life while serving on a number of boards and in various leadership roles in Fort Wayne and surrounding communities.
Tom Jehl was a land developer and co-founder of the Lifetime Sports Academy who shared Donley’s vision of a collegiate football program in Fort Wayne. He was a major patron of the USF football program serving on the USF Athletic Board, in the Fort Wayne Sports Corporation and on the Fort Wayne Parks Foundation. The Central Catholic High School graduate and Syracuse University alumnus was a benefactor of Memorial Baseball Stadium, Georgetown Little League and Bishop D’Arcy Stadium. The USF locker rooms and offices under the stadium are named in honor of Tom. He was a land developer with projects including Georgetown Square Shopping Center and Georgetown North, which he owned from 1967-1997. Tom was awarded the Sagamore of the Wabash, Notre Dame Man of the Year, the Junior Achievement Leadership Award and the Fort Wayne Community Foundation Lending Tree Award. He passed away in September 2006.
This is the 25th class of USF AHOF inductees, which started with a class of one in 1989 – founder of the then Saint Francis College athletic program, athletic director and Coach Terry Coonan. The USF AHOF will expand to 89 individuals and seven teams with the addition of the 2018-19 class.
Founded in 1890 in the Catholic Franciscan tradition, the University of Saint Francis offers more than 70 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs through the School of Health Sciences, School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Keith Busse School of Business and Entrepreneurial Leadership and School of Creative Arts. In addition to its traditional programs, USF designs focused curricula for working adults in Fort Wayne, Crown Point and online. In 2016, the University of Saint Francis expanded its presence to downtown Fort Wayne. USF Downtown houses the university’s business and music technology programs while offering enhanced internship and networking opportunities for students. The University of Saint Francis campus experience includes 16 athletic programs boasting two individual and three team NAIA national championships, and is recognized as an NAIA Five-Star Champion of Character institution. Approximately 2,300 students from a broad geographic region attend USF.