RELEASED: Thursday, September 21, 2006

UW-Whitewater Athletics Hall of Fame Adds Eleven

Whitewater, Wis.--The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Athletics Hall of Fame will induct eleven new members at the 2006 ceremony. The annual Hall of Fame celebration, and official induction, will take place Saturday, October 14.

The class of 2006 includes Tom Bonlander, Dave Haluska, Barb Lynch Handel, Steve Melzer, Pat Miller, Bev Podewils Ruch, Beth St. Thomas-Thompson, Dave Vander Meulen, and Kelly Wesley Link. Karl and Doris Zahn will receive the Distinguished Service Award.

The Hall of Fame's 2006 class will be honored at halftime of the UW-Whitewater home football game versus UW-La Crosse. A reception for the honorees will follow the game and the formal induction ceremony will take place at 5:00. Both events will be held in the Kachel Gym of Williams Center.

For additional information about the UW-Whitewater Athletic Hall of Fame, or for ticket information or dinner reservations, contact Jim Miller, Intercollegiate Athletics, Williams Center, UW-Whitewater, Schwager Drive, Whitewater, Wisconsin 53190. Miller can also be reached at (262) 472-5649 or millerjb@uww.edu.

A section of notes on each of the inductees follows.

Tom Bonlander
Bonlander, an outfielder, compiled hitting statistics that place him among the top ten in eight categories in the UW-W record book, including second in runs (163), third in home runs (36), fifth in runs batted in (128), and fifth in hits (175). In 1988 he clubbed 13 home runs, fifth in the record book, while hitting .418. He also tied the school record with five hits in a game versus Pomona Pitzer College (CA) that season. The '88 season culminated in First Team All-Midwest Region and All-American honors. Bonlander was a First Team All-Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference pick in 1987 and 1988, and earned honorable mention recognition in 1989 and '90. UW-W had a winning record all four years he played, and earned berths in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III tournament in 1989 and 1990, with the '89 team advancing to the World Series for the first time in school history, where the team eventually placed fifth. Bonlander is employed by RB Royal and resides in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

David Haluska
Dave Haluska played defensive back for UW-Whitewater from 1985 to 1988. He was a team captain and co-MVP of the 1988 team, which went 9-3, advancing to the second round of the NCAA III playoffs. The 1987 and 1988 team won WIAC championships. Haluska earned All-WIAC Second Team recognition in 1986, and first team honors in 1987 and 1988. He was a Football Gazette Third Team All-American in 1988. Haluska's name is also scattered throughout the Warhawk football record book. He is fifth in career interceptions (11) and third in interceptions, yards returned (200). In 1987 he intercepted six passes, fourth in the school record book, and returned the picks for 142 yards, third best in school history. He was credited with 48 solo tackles in 1987, the sixth best season total at UW-W. Haluska also contributed on special teams, winding up sixth in career kickoff returns (35) and tenth in yards returned (621). In 1987 he returned 22 kickoffs, second in the school record book, for 391 yards (ninth). Haluska works for Nalco Company of Naperville, Illinois and lives in Waukesha, Wisconsin.

Barbara Lynch Handel
Barbara Lynch Handel led UW-Whitewater to four consecutive NCAA III championship tournament berths (1986-89) and WIAC championships in 1988 and 1989. The 1988 team finished fourth in the NCAA III championship. In the process of aiding the team's success Lynch (Handel) also earned first team all-conference and first team all-region honors in 1987, '88, and '89. She culminated her career with American Volleyball Coaches Association First Team All-American recognition in '89. Lynch (Handel) is still UW-W's single season record holder for service aces (116 in 1988), and she's second in career aces (273). The record book also proves that Lynch (Handel) is one of the most versatile and talented players in school history. In addition to her serving prowess, Lynch (Handel) is also among the top twenty in career assists (third, 3,559), digs (ninth, 1,159). kills (eighteenth, 802), and hitting percentage (eighteenth, .259). Her 1988 season totals for assists (1,477) and digs (431) rank fifth and eighteenth, respectively, in the school record book. Lynch (Handel) works for the Lake Geneva Cruise Line and lives in Elkhorn.

Kelly Wesley Link
Kelly Wesley Link ran distance events for UW-Whitewater, competing in the fall in cross country and on the track in the spring. Wesley (Link) placed sixteenth, eighth, and twelfth in the WIAC Cross Country Championship her sophomore, junior and senior years, respectively. She was the top UW-W finisher all three years. She was UW-W's MVP all three years, as well as team captain in 1989. She also qualified for the NCAA III Women's Cross Country Championship all three years, finishing as high as 34th her senior year, sixth best ever by a Warhawk woman. She still holds the fourth fastest 5,000 meter time in school history (18:07 in 1987), as well as the twelfth fastest time by a UW-W runner on Whitewater's home course (19:29 in 1989). Wesley led the 1988 team to eleventh place in the 1988 NCAA III Women's Cross Country Championship. On the track Wesley (Link) held UW-W's 1500 meter record indoors and 3000 meter record outdoors when she graduated. She was UW-W's captain as a junior and senior, the team's Top Distance Runner all four years, Whitewater's MVP indoors in 1990, and the outdoor MVP in both 1989 and '90. She capped her track career by qualifying for the NCAA III Outdoor Track and Field Championship in the 3,000 meters in 1990. Wesley (Link) is a resident of Zionsville, Indiana.

Steven Melzer
Steve Melzer was a three time WIAC champion and three time NCAA III All-American for the Warhawk track and field team. Melzer gave a glimpse of his promise with a four place finish in the 600 meters in the WIAC indoor championship his freshman year. He moved up to the 800 outdoors, and earned points in the conference meet six of the seven meets remaining in his career. He won the 880 (yards) indoors in 1987 and the 800 (meters) at the '88 indoor meet. He also claimed a WIAC championship as a member of the 4x400 relay team outdoors in 1987. He placed third in the 800 meters at the 1987 NCAA III indoor meet, helping the team finish seventeenth. He added a sixth place outdoors the same year to his resume, then climbed to second at the 1988 NCAA III indoor championship. Aided by Melzer's points, UW-W finished seventh in the '88 team standings. In 1989 Melzer was a member of a school record-setting 4x400 relay outdoors, a group that qualified for the NCAA III championship. However, an injury to a relay member during the preliminaries at the national meet ended their run. The time that quartet established, 3:13.90, stood until this May when another UW-W relay broke the mark at the NCAA III outdoor championship. Melzer still holds the school indoor 800 record of 1:52.70, set in 1988. He was named UW-W's Most Valuable Runner, indoors and outdoors, three times in his career. Melzer also lettered four times, 1985-88, in cross country. He is a marketing and business education teacher, as well as vocational coordinator, at Arrowhead High School in Hartland, Wisconsin. He lives in Delafield.

Patrick Miller
Pat Miller was a guard on the 1988-89 men's basketball team, the second UW-W men's team to win a national championship. That edition of the Warhawks shared the WIAC championship, went 29-2 to set school records for wins (29) and winning percentage (.935), and won the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III title, defeating Trenton State College (NJ) in a game played in Springfield, Ohio. Miller, one of the team captains, earned Honorable Mention All-WIAC recognition in the championship year. Although he only played three years at UW-W, after transferring from UW-Platteville, Miller ranks among the top twenty in the UW-W record book in several categories. He is seventeenth in assists (183) and eighteenth (.499) in field goal percentage - but it is his three point shooting that was a key element in Whitewater's championship. Miller ranks fourth in career three point field goals attempted (371), third in three pointers made (178), and third in three point percentage (.480). His 107 three pointers attempted in 1988-89 is third on the single season list, and his accuracy of .480 that year is fifth all-time. He owns three of the top ten games, for three point percentage, in school history - and they all came during 1988-89. Miller helped the 1988-89 Warhawks average a school record 94.3 points per game, while also setting the mark for scoring margin (+17.6). The championship team also set a school record for three point field goals made (263) and compiled the second best accuracy mark (.477). The three years that Miller played saw the Warhawks put up the first, second and third best single season three- point shooting statistics. Again, with Miller's help, that special team set the school record for steals (309) as well as assists (703, 22.7/game) and blocked shots (161, 5.2). Miller, a resident of Fort Atkinson, is UW-W's head men's basketball coach and a lecturer in the department of health, physical education, recreation, and coaching. He has compiled a 104-35 record in his five years as a coach, including two WIAC championships and the twice earning the honor as the league's coach of the year in men's basketball. In 2006 Miller guided UW-W to a berth in the NCAA III Championship Tournament.

Bev Podewils Ruch
In the three years Bev Podewils (Ruch) was a Warhawk the women's basketball team earned a berth in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (prior to UW-W women's athletics affiliating with the NCAA) Division III playoffs each year (1985, 1986, 1987). The '86 team advanced to the quarterfinals of the national championship. Podewils (Ruch) also helped Whitewater capture the WIAC title with a perfect mark, 16-0, in 1986. She earned First Team All-WIAC honors in 1985 and 1986, coupled with first team all-region both years. Her three year totals put Podewils (Ruch) among the top ten in points (fourth, 1,066), scoring average (fourth, 14.2), blocked shots (ninth, 44), blocks per game (ninth, 0.60), and steals per game (sixth, 1.66). She is also eighteenth in career rebounds (421), fifteenth in rebounding average (5.6), sixteenth in steals (106), and twentieth in free throw accuracy (.710). The 435 points she scored in the 1984-85 season is third in the school record book, and her 15.0 average that season is ninth best. Her 18 blocked shots and 0.68 blocks per game in 1985-86 are ninth and twentieth, respectively, and her average of 2.37 steals in 1986-87 is the ninth best single season average.
The 1984-85 Warhawks went 24-4, the second most wins and third best winning percentage (.857) in school history. That team set the school record for fewest turnovers, while also putting up second place number in the UW-W record book for points (2,032) and rebounds (1,314). Podewils (Ruch) is a veterinary technician at the Elmbrook Veterinary Clinic and a resident of Milwaukee.

Beth St. Thomas-Thompson
Beth St. Thomas-Thompson was the first individual national champion in UW-Whitewater women's athletics history, leading the Warhawks to the first team championship, male or female, in school history. She was the individual medalist at the 1985 National Golf Coaches Association Division III Championship played in Tallahassee, Florida when UW-W also took home the team title. One year later St. Thomas-Thompson a fifth place finish at the national meet and Whitewater placed third in the same meet, this time in Wilmington, North Carolina. Over the span of her four years on the course, St. Thomas-Thompson helped Whitewater win ten invitationals, earning team MVP honors in both 1985 and 1986. The strength of the teams St. Thomas-Thompson played on is evidenced in the UW-W record book, where St. Thomas-Thompson is on the foursome that holds the stop six 18-hole rounds, led by a 315 in October 1984. She also contributed to the top two 36-hole scores (best of 641 September 1-2, 1984), and the top four 54-hole scores (led by 982 April 15-17, 1985). Individually, St. Thomas-Thompson's best rounds were 77 strokes, which ties for the ninth best round in the record book. She is also tied for sixth best at 36 holes (157), and is second (240), third and fifth on the list of 54-hole scores.

Note: Women's golf was not a WIAC sponsored sport until 1996.

David Vander Meulen
Dave Vander Meulen took over the reins of the UW-Whitewater men's basketball team for the 1978-79 season and went 10-17 his first year. That losing record, one of just two in his twenty-three years at Whitewater, would not happen again for twenty years. Vander Meulen's teams won twenty-plus games nine times, totaling 440 wins and 182 losses, a .707 winning percentage. Included in those figures is a 240-128 record, .652, in WIAC play. When he retired from coaching Vander Meulen was second in the number of victories in WIAC men's basketball history, and second in number of national tournament victories (record of 21-11) by any WIAC men's basketball coach. He coached coached teams to WIAC championships (1984, 1989, 1994, 2001) in four different decades, and also directed the Warhawks to twelve NCAA III championship tournament berths (1983, '84, '85, '86, '88, '89, '92, '93, '94, '95, '96, '97). Included in that string are three final fours ('83, '84, '89) and NCAA III championships in 1984, the first for any sport at UW-Whitewater, and 1989. UW-W was ranked among the top twenty teams in the final Division III poll of the season fourteen times under Vander Meulen. While he was the coach players earned a total of 63 all-WIAC honors, 25 all-region honors, and players totaled 25 All-American awards. Vander Meulen was recognized as WIAC Men's Basketball Coach of the Year five times ('84, '89, '94, '97, 2001), NCAA III regional coach of the year five times ('84, '86, '89, '94, '97), and national Division III coach of the year in 1984 and 1989. Vander Meulen is a member of the Madison (WI) Sports Hall of Fame and the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame. He now lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

Doris and Karl Zahn
Doris and Karl Zahn are the 2006 recipients of the UW-W Athletic Hall of Fame Distinguished Service Award. The Zahns were charter members of the UW-W booster clubs for football, men's basketball, women's basketball and baseball, donating both time and money to each. Both are also frequent spectators at many Warhawk events, both in Whitewater and following teams on the road. They graduated from UW-W, Karl in 1956 and Doris in 1959. Karl later served the university as a professor in the College of Education and Doris worked as an elementary teacher in the Whitewater school district. Doris has guided numerous UW-W student teachers through their first moments in a classroom and also served a stint as president of the UW-Whitewater alumni association, where Karl has also been an active member. The Zahns, residents of Whitewater, have continued their commitment to UW-Whitewater with an annual scholarship.

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