Minot State adds three individuals, one team to Hall of Fame
The Minot State University Athletic Department added three individuals and one team to its Athletic Hall of Fame during a ceremony at halftime of Saturday’s football game.
Hank Hettwer, Steve Holen and Darrik Trudell along with the 2002 Men’s Cross Country Team were voted in by the MSU Athletic Hall of Fame Committee. The 2011 class was officially inducted during halftime of the Beavers football game against the University of Sioux Falls, Saturday, Sept. 24, 2011.
Hettwer coached wrestling and football at Minot State beginning in 1964 and was the head men’s tennis coach for one season. During his three seasons as the head wrestling coach, the Beavers were an impressive 35-1-1, going 14-0 in 1966. MSU captured conference championships in all three seasons and placed ninth overall at the NAIA National Wrestling Tournament in 1965-66.
He coached five NAIA All-Americans and numerous individual conference champions. The undefeated team in 1966 was the first MSU team to go undefeated since the 1946 football team. The 1965 wrestling team was inducted into the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2009.
Hettwer passed away in Little Rock, Ark., in 1999. He is survived by wife Nancy who lives in Lawrence, Kan., and four daughters, Susan Flanagin, Debbie Katzfey, Lisa Melton and Pam Owens.
Holen, from Des Lacs, N.D., was a power forward for the men’s basketball team from 1993-1997. He set the MSU single-game scoring record of 51 points as a junior in 1968 and finished his Beaver career with 1,064 points. Holen earned North Dakota Collegiate Athletic Conference All-Conference honors as a sophomore and again as a senior, despite only playing in 10 games as senior due to a knee injury at the end of his junior year. He finished his senior year with a 21.1 ppg. scoring average.
Holen earned his degree from Minot State in Mathematics Education and Mathematics in 1997. He graduated Cum-Laude with cumulative GPA of 3.59 and was twice named a NAIA Division II Scholar Athlete. Holen lives in Watford City, N.D., where he has been McKenzie County Public School District #1 Superintendent of Schools for six years. He and his wife Elizabeth have three children Ashley (9), Derek (5) and Alyssa (3).
Trudell, originally from Sidney, Mont., starred for the MSU football team from 1999-2002. Trudell, a running back, was named NAIA All-American First Team, NAIA.net First Team and Don Hansen All-American First Team in 2002 after rushing for 1,519 yards and scoring 14 touchdowns. The Beavers were 8-1 in DAC-10 play and 9-2 overall, earning a berth in the NAIA national playoffs. The 2002 Beavers set three offensive DAC-10 records and Trudell set two DAC-10 individual records including rushing touchdowns (14) and rushing yards per game (145.2). He finished his career with 2,858 yards rushing, caught 45 passes for 445 yards and scored 30 combined touchdowns
Trudell earned a degree in Social Work from Minot State in 2004. He lives in Wilmington, Del., and works for the United States Secret Service in Philadelphia since March 2007. Trudell is married to former MSU women’s basketball player Betsey (Vig) Trudell and the couple has two children, Reagan (2) and Grant (5 months).
The 2002 MSU Men’s Cross Country Team captured the university’s first team NAIA National Championship in Kenosha, Wis. The team won the Dakota Athletic Conference team title and was named the 2002-03 North Dakota Associated Press Sportscasters & Sportswriters College Team of the Year. The team captured titles at the University of North Dakota Invite, Minot State’s Wild Wiley Wilson Invite, the DAC-10 Championships and the Region II Championships. MSU was ranked No. 1 in the national rankings nine weeks, including the final eight polls. Three Minot State runners, Mike Tighe (seventh overall), Brad Tighe (10th overall) and Nolan Taylor (26th overall) were named NAIA All-Americans.
Members of the 2002 team are Gene Benacourt, Jesse Bergstedt, Zach Burdick, Dennis Eaton, Nick Glimsdahl, Eric Hanson, Steve Kirby, Brian Knowles, Josh Lane, Justin Marsette, A.J. Pederson, Nolan Taylor, Brad Tighe, Mike Tighe, Juro Trubiroha, Chad Wallin and John Wetsit. Head coach of the 2002 team was Scott Simmons.
A banquet was held in the honor of the 2011 inductees at the Grand International in Minot Sept. 24.
|
Published: 09/22/11 |