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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, September 28, 2007
CONTACT Aubrey Streit, (785) 227-3311, ext. 8274
BETHANY TO HONOR ALUMNI DURING HOMECOMING FESTIVITIES
LINDSBORG, Kan.—Five Bethany College alumni will be honored during Homecoming 2007 for their contributions to school, sports and society.
Honorees will be presented with awards at the Fall Awards Dinner on Oct. 12. They will also be recognized at half time and the fifth-quarter reception following Bethany’s Saturday football game.
Shawn “Bergie” Bergstrom ’94 will be posthumously awarded the Alumni Gold Award, which recognizes a Bethany graduate of the last two decades for his/her achievement in service to humanity. After serving as Youth Director at Trinity Lutheran Church in Great Bend, Kan., Bergstrom worked in youth and family ministry in Seattle, Wash. There he was instrumental in forming LYONS: Lutheran Youth of North Seattle, a cooperative youth and family ministry among 10 congregations.
In 2003, Bergstrom proposed a week-long service trip for youth in congregations of the Central States Synod to travel to Seattle and “become immersed in a way of life different from their own.” Although he passed away in 2005, his idea became reality last June in the form of the “Bergie Bus Tour,” in which 32 youth, eight sponsors and five Bethany leaders traveled to service learning sites at Oaks Indian Mission, Oaks, Okla., and the Metropolitan Lutheran Ministry in Kansas City.
Marcus Newsom ’92 will be named “Alumni Coach of the Year.” This new award recognizes a Bethany alumnus who has coached a secondary or collegiate varsity sports team to outstanding results.
Newsom, Waverly, Iowa, has led Wartburg College track teams to 38 indoor and 80 outdoor Division III All-American performances since 1998. Over 15 individual events have earned national championship honors under his direction. During his tenure, Newsom has been named women’s Coach of the Year nine times in the Iowa Conference and six times in the USTCA Division III Central Region. In 2004, he was the U.S. Track Coaches Association Division III Indoor Women’s Coach of the Year. In addition to his coaching duties, Newsom is an assistant athletic director and Wartburg’s diversity issues coordinator.
While a student at Bethany, Newsom earned all-conference honors in both football and track. He has been a strength and conditioning coordinator and assistant football coach at Bethany, and an assistant football and track coach at Mid-America Nazarene College in Olathe, Kan.
Richard Hahn ’52, Charles Wanamaker ’67 and Curtis Griffin ’89 will be inducted into the Bethany College Athletic Hall of Honor in recognition of their noteworthy performances in athletics while attending the college.
Hahn, Manhattan, Kan., participated in football, basketball and track while at Bethany. His senior year, he was named All-Conference Honorable Mention in football and Unanimous All-Conference in basketball.
After earning his Ph.D., Hahn worked in agri-products research and development and headed the Kansas State University Department of Grain Science and Industry. He has served as President of the International Association of Cereal Chemists and of the Children’s Christian Concern Society. A past member of the Bethany Board of Directors, Hahn received the Bethany College Alumni Award of Merit in 1982.
Griffin, Lynd, Minn., was a four-year letter winner in football at Bethany. In his senior year, he was captain of the football team and was selected as an NAIA All-American. He also lettered in three years of basketball at Bethany.
Following graduation, Griffin played one year of minor league football for the Seattle Express in Snohomish, Wash. He returned to the Salina area to help coach junior high and high school athletic teams at his alma mater, Ell-Salina High School in Brookville, and to work for the United Parcel Service. Griffin currently is a sales representative for Specialty Wines and Beverages of Brooklyn Park, Minn.
Wanamaker, Gravios Mills, Mo., played both football and baseball at Bethany. In the 1963-1964 season, he was named football tri-captain, NAIA District 10 First Team Defensive End, First Team All-Conference Defensive End, and Honorable Mention All-Conference Offensive Center. In his senior year, he was again won NAIA District 10 First Team and First Team All-Conference honors as a defensive end and was named a First Team All-Conference outfielder in baseball.
Wanamaker, a second lieutenant and field supervisor for troopers in WaKeeney and Oakley, retired from the Kansas Highway Patrol in 2000 after serving for over 26 years. In 1994, he received the Bronze Award of Merit for police service from the Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police and the Kansas Highway Patrol Superintendent’s Award for distinguished performance in duty for saving the life of Megan Johnson.
Bethany College will celebrate Homecoming 2007 with four days of activities Oct. 11-14. Highlights include the 13th Business Career Conference, Fall Awards Dinner, Talent Show with the crowning of Homecoming royalty, Homecoming football game versus Ottawa University and All-Alumni Breakfast Buffet.
Bethany College, established by Swedish Lutheran immigrants in 1881, is a college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The mission of Bethany College is to nurture and challenge individuals in their search for truth and meaning as they live lives of faith, learning and service. Bethany College is on the Web at www.bethanylb.edu.
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