2013 Carthage Athletic Hall of Fame Inductees Photo Gallery

Event Photo Gallery

Carthage College inducted eight former student athletes into its Athletic Hall of Fame on Friday, Oct. 11 in a banquet and ceremony.

Kelly Bauer, 2008
Women's Volleyball
Setter Kelly Bauer, a native of Brookfield, Wis., was named American Volleyball Coaches Association first-team All-America in 2007, AVCA honorable mention All-Midwest Region in both 2005 and 2006, first-team all-region in 2007, College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin "Newcomer of the Year" in 2004 and CCIW "Player of the Year" in 2007. She was named All-CCIW all four years, first team in 2004, 2005 and 2007 and second team in 2006. Bauer is ranked second on Carthage's career list for assists (3,688), third for service aces (233) and fourth for kills (1,170).

T.J. Bellei, 2008
Men's Volleyball
From Lake Forest, Ill., T.J. Bellei was named American Volleyball Coaches Association All-America three straight years, second team in 2005 and first team in both 2006 and 2007. He is ranked third on the Carthage career list for attack percentage (.377), seventh in kills (620) and sixth in blocks (229).

Nathaniel Chapman, 2007
Men's Swimming
A Columbus, Ind., native, Nathaniel Chapman became Carthage's first College Swimming Coaches All-America All-American in over a quarter century when he finished eighth in the 200 backstroke at the 2005 NCAA Division III Swimming Championship. Over the course of his career, Chapman earned eight All-American certificates, won 10 CCIW titles, earned All-CCIW honors in thirteen events and broke school records multiple times in four individual and three relay events. Chapman was named the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin's "Most Valuable Swimmer" and the WGTD Radio/Frank Falduto "Athlete of the Year" in 2005 and was named a CSCAA All-Academic award winner four times between 2003 and 2006. He was a second team CoSIDA/ESPN District 5 All-Academic selection in 2005 and 2006 and also named a CCIW/Jack Swartz All-Academic award winner in 2006.

Adam Husing, 2004
Baseball
From Iron Mountain, Mich., Adam Husing was named a third-team American Baseball Coaches Association All-American second baseman in 2004. He was a four-time first-team All-CCIW pick and a College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) district all-academic selection in 2004. Husing is Carthage's career leader in triples (15), ranked second for base hits (255), fourth in RBI (177), sixth in batting (.381), seventh in both doubles (53) and home runs (29), tied for seventh in runs scored (164), ranked eighth in slugging percentage (.634) and 10th in on-base percentage (.434).

Trisha (Melendy) Krull, 1999
Women's Soccer
From Park Ridge, Ill., Trisha (Melendy) Krull was named National Soccer Coaches Association third-team All-America in 1996 and was a first-team All-CCIW selection four times between 1995 and 1998.

Amanda (Leitzen) Pointer, 2005
Softball
Amanda Leitzen, a native of Marengo, Ill., was named the 2005 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin "Softball Player of the Year," as well as National Fastpitch Coaches Association first-team All-Great Lakes Regional. In 2004, she was named NFCA third-team all-regional and second-team All-CCIW, She earned first-team all-conference honors in 2002. Leitzen is ranked fourth on the Carthage career list for base hits (156), third in triples (11), seventh in doubles (27), ninth in batting average (.362), 10th in RBI (74), 11th in on-base percentage (.406), 15th in runs scored (72) and 12th in slugging percentage (.510). In pitching, she's second in wins (50), while ranked third in earned run average (1.69), fourth in innings pitched (459.1), fourth in complete games (58), fourth in shutouts (13) and sixth in strikeouts (271). Leitzen set season records in 2005 for base hits (60), doubles (14), wins (18) and innings pitched (156.0) and tied a season record with 22 complete games.

Jori Simmons, 2008
Women's Volleyball
From Frankfort, Ill., Jori Simmons was named American Volleyball Coaches Association All-America three times, honorable mention in both 2005 and 2006 and second team in 2007. She earned AVCA first-team All-Midwest Region honors all three years, was a first-team All-College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin selection four-straight years from 2004 to 2007 and the CCIW "Women's Volleyball Player of the Year" in 2006. In addition, Simmons was named CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine third-team Academic All-America® in both 2006 and 2007. She is Carthage's career leader in both attack percentage (.357) and total blocks (663), while ranked second in block assists (489), fifth in block solos (174) and seventh in kills (1,106). Simmons set a Carthage season record in 2007 with a .407 attack percentage.

Don Welke, '65
Baseball
Don Welke, a native of Harvard, Ill., lettered four times in baseball between 1961 and 1965 and played on two Carthage campuses. After graduation, Welke coached at the high school level in Tigerton, Wis., before landing at Eastern Michigan University as a graduate assistant coach. He later served as the baseball and men's basketball coach at Concordia College (Michigan) from 1971 to 1976. In 1976, he became athletic director at Evart High School in Evart, Mich., where he also scouted Michigan baseball prospects for the Cincinnati Reds.

In 1976, he went to work full-time for the Toronto Blue Jays as an advance scout, and in 1977, Blue Jays general manager Pat Gillick named Welke the team's Midwest Scouting Director. Welke held that position until 1993 when he accompanied Gillick to Baltimore after the Orioles named Gillick their general manager. Welke's immediate supervisor with Orioles, scouting director Gary Nickels, also had a CCIW background. Nickels played for Illinois Wesleyan in the late 1960s.

In 2005, Welke worked as a cross-checker for the Texas Rangers. He reunited with Pat Gillick in 2006 as a special assistant to the Philadelphia Phillies general manager. Welke has been a senior special assistant to Texas Rangers general manager Jon Daniels since 2007.

Welke was featured in a July 13, 1996, New York Times article entitled, "Proving Himself Again," a piece primarily about former Blue Jays first baseman John Olerud. Welke was the scout who recommended that Gillick draft and sign John Olerud out of Washington State University in 1989. Olerud played for the Blue Jays from 1989 to 1996 before being traded to the New York Mets in December 1996. Welke was also responsible for the Blue Jays selecting Augie Schmidt IV in the 1983 draft, 1996 Cy Young Award winner Pat Hentgen in the 1986 draft, and he recommended that Gillick draft Jim Abbott out of high school in Flint, Mich., in 1985.