Two former athletes and a coach who combined to win 12 Iowa Conference team championships were inducted into the Central College Athletics Hall of Honor as part of homecoming festivities Oct. 4.
Rick Sanger ’96
A 1995 Gagliardi Award finalist as Division III football player of the year, Sanger was a two-time all-America linebacker and NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship winner. He helped Central post a 38-4 record with three NCAA playoff berths and two Iowa Conference titles (1994, 1995). Sanger racked up 373 career tackles, including 129 in 1994 and a record-tying 24 tackles against Loras on Oct. 15, 1994. He received the 1994 Lankelma Award as Central’s outstanding underclassman and the Heerema-Schilder Award as 1995 team MVP.
Sanger was a team co-captain in both football and in track and field, where he was a three-time conference discus champ and six-time league placewinner in the discus and shot put. He was the team’s 1996 most valuable field event performer. An information technology specialist, Sanger earned a master’s degree at Iowa State University. He began working for Alliance Technologies in Des Moines in 1996 and became director of partner product support.
Sanger and his wife, Danielle, have two children: twins Kenley and Avery, 6.
Megan Clayberg
Clayberg piloted Central through one of the most successful eras in Division III volleyball history. Clayberg was head coach from 1991-2002, compiling a 370- 107 (.775) record. She guided the Dutch to eight
conference titles, seven NCAA tournament berths, four consecutive final four appearances and three national championships (1998, 1999, 2000). The 1999 squad was among the all-time best, posting a 41-0 record with only one fiveset match. Central rolled up an NCAA record 60-match win streak. Clayberg was a three-time league coach of the year, winning regional honors five times and the national award in 2000.
A Wayne State University (Neb.) graduate, Clayberg was a two-time all-league player and was inducted into the school’s hall of fame (2002). She received a master’s degree at Fort Hays State University (Kan.).
Clayberg served as associate head coach in 2003, then returned as junior varsity coach in 2008 before becoming an instructor/coach at Pella High School.
Clayberg and her husband, Brett ’85, have four children: Nathan, 19, Noah, 16, Natalie, 13, and Nolan, 10.
Jeff Schneekloth ’86
Schneekloth was a key cog in Central’s men’s tennis dynasty that saw the Dutch reel off 11 consecutive league crowns from 1977-87, becoming the only player in school history to be a four-time league champ in both singles and doubles. He captured titles at No. 3 singles (1983), No. 2 singles (1984) and No. 1 (1985, 1986), while winning the No. 1 doubles championship all four years. Schneekloth was the conference MVP in 1985 and 1986. He was an NCAA Division III national tourney qualifier in doubles in 1983 and 1984, then was chosen in singles in 1985 and 1986.
After spending two years as a tennis teaching professional in Arizona and California, Schneekloth became an educator, teaching for six years before becoming an administrator, earning a master’s degree at the University of Northern Iowa in 1995. In 2010 he began serving as associate principal at Taft Middle School in Cedar Rapids.
Jeff and his wife, Sonya, have two sons: Skyler, 19, and Riley, 17.
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