Four alumni inducted into Athletics Hall of Honor

Three NCAA Division III national champions and the college’s winningest men’s basketball coach were inducted into the Central College Athletics Hall of Honor as part of Homecoming and Family Weekend activities Sept. 28-30.

Central’s Hall of Honor is intended to recognize those who were exceptional performers in the athletics arena as a student-athlete, coach or administrator and who have distinguished themselves in life after graduation through service and leadership. To be eligible for consideration, a nominee must have graduated or served as a Central coach/administrator at least 15 years earlier.

 Jack Walvoord ’54

Walvoord coached men’s basketball for 29 seasons (1966-95), piloting the Dutch to 10 Iowa Conference championships while earning eight NCAA Division III tournament berths. From 1975-95, Walvoord’s clubs won more conference titles and made more NCAA tourney appearances than any other league team. He was named the conference coach of the year five times. Walvoord posted a 375-317 record, with more than twice as many wins as any other Central coach.

A standout guard and team captain for the Dutch, Walvoord was first a high school coach, and his Valley Christian (Calif.) teams qualified for the CIF tournament six times, winning the 1965 southern section championship.

He also served as Central’s head baseball coach (1966-67) and head men’s cross country coach (1966-73) and was an associate professor of physical education.

Emily Rottinghaus ’94

With a sparkling 64-14 record, Rottinghaus has the highest career winning percentage (.820) in Central softball history. A four-time NCAA Division III tournament participant, she was instrumental in Central’s 1991 and 1993 national championship runs. Rottinghaus was a two-time first-team all-conference and all-America honoree (1992, 1993) and was the 1993 league MVP.

Rottinghaus was Central’s MVP in 1994, leading the Dutch to a fourth-place national finish and posting a flashy 0.87 career earned run average.

An assistant coach at Central in 1995, Rottinghaus was head coach at Pella Christian High School in 1995 and at Grand View University from 1996-98. She was an assistant at Drake University from 1998-99 before serving as head coach from 2000-03. She was also the head volleyball coach at Grand View from 1999-2000.

Jon McGovern ’92

McGovern won back-to-back NCAA Division III wrestling championships (1991, 1992) at 167 pounds, after placing fourth at 158 pounds in 1990, and claimed conference titles all three years. He’s tied for first at Central in career wins and his 123-17-1 record gave him the school winning percentage record (.958). His 46-2 record (with 24 falls) in 1991-92 is Central’s best ever.

McGovern was Central’s 1991-92 MVP. He was captain of the 1991-92 squad that won the conference team championship.

He later placed third at the Midlands Open (1992, 1993), finished third at the 1998 U.S. national tournament and the 1998 World Team Trials and fourth at the 2000 Olympic Trials.

He served as an assistant at the universities of Chicago, Virginia and Pennsylvania and became head coach at the University of Dubuque in 2002, where he’s coached two national champs.

Tim Hackel ’87

Hackel was Central’s first wrestler to claim an NCAA Division III title, taking the 126-pound crown in 1986-87. He was the national runner-up in 1985-86 and was also a two-time Iowa Conference champ. Hackel posted a combined 72-11 record over two seasons, including a 37-4 mark in 1986-87 and set a school season mark with 57 reversals. A three-time letterwinner, Hackel was Central’s 1986-87 MVP. The Dutch finished eighth in the NCAA Division III team standings in the years of Hackel’s two national appearances.

Hackel served as a Central assistant coach from 1987-91, helping the Dutch post three national top-10 team finishes with two individual NCAA titles.

He is a production planning logistics manager at Hormel Foods Corp in Austin, Minn., where he has also served as a youth coach and AWANA volunteer.

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