Morningside to induct four athletes and 1982-83 basketball team into M-Club Hall of Fame
Morningside will induct four former athletes and the college’s 1982-83 men’s basketball team into the M-Club Hall of Fame as part of Homecoming 2014.
Morningside College will induct former standout athletes Craig Fobbe, Brooke (Niles) Happe, Dick Keith, and T.J. Sitzmann into the M-Club Hall of Fame as part of its Homecoming 2014 festivities on Saturday, Oct. 4.
In addition to the four athletes, the M-Club Hall of Fame will also induct the college’s 1982-83 men’s basketball team.
The induction ceremony will take place at the annual M-Club Brunch on Saturday, Oct. 4, at 10:30 a.m. in the Yockey Family Community Room of the Olsen Student Center, 3609 Peters Avenue. Cost for the brunch is $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Advance reservations can be made by calling (712) 274-5315. Reservation deadline is Friday, Sept. 26.
Fobbe, a 2006 Morningside graduate who resides in Annandale, Minn., was a four-year starter at quarterback for Morningside’s football team from 2002-05. He is the most prolific passer in Morningside history with school-record career totals of 851 completions in 1,504 attempts for 11,623 yards and 89 touchdowns. Fobbe is also Morningside’s career record holder with 11,693 yards total offense. Fobbe owned three of the top four single-season passing yardage totals in Morningside history at the time of his graduation.
He was a two-time first-team All-Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) selection, the GPAC Co-Player of the Year as a junior in 2004, and the GPAC Player of the Year as a senior in 2005. Fobbe was a NAIA honorable mention All-American as a junior and a second-team All-American as a senior.
As a junior, Fobbe quarterbacked the Mustangs to an 8-3 record and their first-ever post-season appearance in the NAIA Championship Series. Fobbe helped lead the Mustangs to a 12-1 record and their first-ever GPAC championship in his 2005 senior campaign. Morningside won the GPAC with a perfect 10-0 record, including a 27-26 victory against the University of Sioux Falls to snap the Cougars’ 40-game GPAC winning streak. The Mustangs’ only loss of the season came in the NAIA Semifinals against the University of Saint Francis.
Fobbe passed for a NAIA record 4,885 yards as a senior and was the NAIA national leader with averages of 375.8 yards passing and 375.0 yards total offense per game. Aside from his NAIA national record breaking passing yardage total, Fobbe also set school records with 41 touchdown passes, a 61.6 percent completion rate, and 4,875 yards total offense. He passed for over 400 yards in six of the Mustangs’ 13 games. Fobbe passed for 453 yards and a school-record six touchdowns in a 58-7 win against St. Ambrose University in the opening round of the NAIA Championship Series and then threw for a school-record 501 yards and also set school records with 31 completions and 510 yards total offense in a 54-21 victory against Evangel University in the NAIA Quarterfinals.
Happe, a 2007 graduate who resides in Ankeny, Iowa, was a standout defender and forward for the Mustangs’ women’s soccer team. She earned first-team All-GPAC honors in 2004 and 2006 and second-team All-GPAC honors in 2003 and 2005. Happe was a NAIA honorable mention All-American in 2004 and 2006, a first-team NAIA All-Region performer in 2004 and 2006, and a second-team all-region selection in 2005. She was both the GPAC and NAIA Region III Player of the Year as a senior in 2006.
Aside from her exploits on the field, Happe also excelled in the classroom as a two-time Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete and a 2006 first-team Academic All-American.
Happe scored 61 goals and 25 assists for 147 points during her career; totals that would have been significantly higher if not for the fact she played a defender position for one and one-half seasons. As a senior she set school records with 28 goals and 62 points to help lead Morningside to a 15-5-1 record, the NAIA Region III Championship, and its first-ever appearance NAIA National Tournament appearance.
Happe made an immediate impact at Morningside as a freshman when she led the team in scoring with 18 goals and nine assists for 45 points. Her scoring total dropped to seven points as a sophomore when she was a first-team all-conference and all-region defender. She led the Mustangs in scoring again as a junior despite playing a defender position for the first half of the season. Happe finished the season with 10 goals and nine assists for 29 points, which all came over the final 12 contests after she made the position change from defender to forward.
Keith, a 1971 graduate, was a standout sprinter for Morningside’s track & field team as well as a running back, defensive back, and kick return specialist for the college’s football team.
Keith was a three-time North Central Conference (NCC) champion in track & field. He was the 1969 NCC Indoor champion in the 60-yard dash with a time of 6.4 seconds and the 1971 NCC Outdoor champion in the 220-yard dash with a time of 21.8 seconds. Keith was also part of a Morningside 440-yard relay team that won the 1971 NCC Outdoor championship with a time of 41.5 seconds to set a new conference record.
As a football player, Keith led the NCC in punt returns as a sophomore in 1968 with five returns for 75 yards for an average of 15.0 yards per return. Keith had seven pass receptions for 112 yards and two touchdowns for an average of 16.0 yards per catch and 14 kickoff returns for 304 yards, including an 82-yard touchdown, for an average of 21.7 yards per return as a junior. He was moved to the defensive backfield for his senior season.
Sitzmann, a 1991 graduate, was a four-year starter and two-time All-NCC outfielder for Morningside’s baseball team. Sitzmann batted over .300 in each of his four seasons. He graduated with a career batting average of .342 with 162 hits in 473 at-bats to go along with career totals of 30 doubles, one triple, 27 home runs, and 114 RBIs. His 27 career home runs is the second highest total in the Morningside record book.
He made an immediate impact as a freshman when he led Morningside in hitting with a .351 batting average and was third on the team with seven home runs. Sitzmann earned first-team All-NCC honors for the first time in his career as a sophomore when he hit .348 and led the team with 10 home runs and 37 RBIs. His 10 home runs tied Morningside’s single-season record. He hit .307 with a team-high 27 RBIs as a junior.
Sitzmann’s greatest season came as a senior when he was named the 1991 NCC Most Valuable Player after he hit .439 with 19 RBIs and a league-high six home runs in Morningside’s 14 conference contests. He won Morningside’s hitting Triple Crown with a .363 batting average, seven home runs, and 31 RBIs and also topped the team with a career-high11 doubles.
Morningside’s 1982-83 men’s basketball team was coached by Dan Callahan. His assistant coach was Doug Iglehart. Callahan was named the NCC Coach of the Year after he guided the team to a 26-6 record for a .813 winning percentage. Morningside won the NCC championship with a 15-3 record for its first NCC title since 1951 and made what is still the longest men’s basketball post-season run in school history when it advanced to the NCAA Division II Final Four. The team’s 26 victories established a school record for wins in a season that stood until the 2007-08 campaign.
Morningside was one of the most improved teams in the nation in 1982-83 after it had posted a 10-17 record and finished seventh in the NCC with a 3-11 league mark the previous season.
Morningside’s 1982-83 team led the NCC in scoring with an average of 78.6 points per game in its 18 league contests. Morningside finished the regular season with a four-game winning streak before it won three games in the post-season tournament, all by margins of two points or less. Morningside edged NCC rivals University of Nebraska-Omaha 80-79 and North Dakota State University 79-77 in the NCAA II Regional Tournament and then edged Jacksonville State University 91-90 in the NCAA II Quarterfinals. That sent Morningside to the NCAA II Final Four in Springfield, Mass., where the season came to an end after a 92-77 loss against District of Columbia.
Bob Beneke was Morningside’s leading scoring and rebounder with averages of 14.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. Beneke was named first-team All-NCC, as was teammate Steve Brandsma, who averaged 13.9 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. David Krantz averaged 11.3 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, while Vernon Simmons (5.9 ppg) and Paul DeBey (5.8 ppg) completed the starting lineup. Brent Aden averaged 8.1 points per game to lead a deep bench that also featured Rick Egli (5.9 ppg), Daryl Schnoes (4.5 ppg), Bob Conaway (4.4 ppg, 3.8 rpg), Baron Hannah (3.3 ppg), and John Kelzenberg (2.4 ppg). The rest of the roster was comprised of Scott Schroeder, Vince Tillo, and Kevin Klatt.
Read more:
All News