The 20th Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be held during homecoming week as former Augustana athletes Mark Shafer, Norm Ayer, Fred Whiteside, Jill Rednour Guth, Darren Linton, and Kiersten Madden Stanzel will be inducted.
It takes the Hall of Fame selection committee three months to filter through the athletic information provided by the Sports Information Office to determine what group of athletes will have a plaque in the designated Hall of Fame area.
Athletes only have to earn a letter in one of their participating sports to be qualified to enter the Hall of Fame, as well as what they accomplished at Augustana.
“The selection is based on what they did at Augustana.” said Sports Director Dave Wrath. “Fortunately at Augustana, we have a great number of qualified athletes so our talent pool isn’t dry.”
This group only has six spanning over five decades
“This is a small class, and six is a small group.” said Wrath. “We’ve had ten to twelve before. We have inducted teams before, and we’ve also inducted honorary people. This is a very good group.”
Schafer was in track and field and a four-year letter winner in track and cross country.
Ayer is a 1968 graduate who participated in football, wrestling, and soccer and earned 11 letters in all three sports combined.
Whiteside graduated from Augustana in 1974. He was school record holder in the mile and 3200 meter relay In addition, he was the school’s first All-American in cross country.
Linton placed third in the NCAA Division III wrestling championship as a junior, won four CCIW individual titles, and was the league’s Most Outstanding Wrestler as a senior during his time at Augustana.
Guth played basketball until she graduated from Augustana in 1987 with a degree in geography. Guth had a major role in Augustana’s first women’s conference team title when she helped lead the Vikings to the 1986-87 CCIW women’s basketball championship.
Stanzel played volleyball and graduated in 2002. She earned All-American, Academic All-American and CCIW MVP honors during her senior year at Augustana, leading the Vikings to the school’s only NCAA appearance in volleyball and to a CCIW title.
All six inductees will join other Augustana legends above the basketball court where their pictures will be hung to commemorate the achievements during their time as a Viking.