A Legacy of Excellence: Exploring Bluffton University Football History
Bluffton University boasts a rich athletic history, particularly in football, marked by outstanding individuals, team achievements, and a commitment to developing well-rounded student-athletes. From its early days to more recent successes, the football program has consistently strived for excellence, leaving an indelible mark on the university's identity.
Early Standouts and Program Foundations
The foundations of Bluffton's football program were built upon the dedication and talent of early athletes. One such figure is Collier, a graduate of Shaker Heights High School, who was encouraged to attend Bluffton by Henry Freeman. Collier became a four-year football letter winner, earning Hoosier-Buckeye Collegiate Conference and NAIA District 22 honors twice. His contributions extended beyond his playing days, as he later served as an assistant football coach at Bluffton from 1985-89.
Abraham Groves, a native of Dalton, Ohio, was the first player in Bluffton football history to collect more than 1,000 career receiving yards. From 1976-79, he was the Beavers’ aerial “go-to” player. As a senior, Groves also led Bluffton and the Hoosier-Buckeye Collegiate Conference in punt returns. That year, he also led the Beavers in kickoff returns, and his 35 receptions for 412 yards were, at the time, the second-best single-season receiving statistics at Bluffton. As a sophomore, he established himself as one of the top receivers in the HBCC, hauling in 28 catches for 394 yards and three touchdowns and picking up second-team all-conference honors. Groves was honored with the 1980 A.C. Burcky Award, given annually to Bluffton’s top senior male student-athlete. In addition to his accomplishments on the football field, Groves lettered in basketball as a sophomore and lettered twice in track. Groves earned a degree in education with concentrations in art and history. He taught and was a varsity assistant football coach at Massillon Jackson High School for two years before he entered the medical sales business in 1983.
Another notable player from this era is Mike Kelly. A three-year performer at quarterback for Bluffton, Mike Kelly steadily climbed up the list of top career passers. When he graduated in 1980, Kelly ranked third in career completions (95), fourth in career attempts (242) and fifth in career passing yardage (1,028). After graduating with a degree in health, physical education and recreation, Kelly held college coaching positions at Edinboro, Marietta, Ohio Wesleyan, Capital and San Francisco State before going to the professional ranks as offensive coordinator of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League from 1992-96. In 2001 he was the offensive coordinator of the Orlando Rage of the XFL, before joining the ranks of the National Football League as a pro scout with the Philadelphia Eagles. A native of Muncie, Ind., Kelly is a member of the Delaware County (Ind.) Athletic Hall of Fame.
Todd Hafner was a dual-sport standout at Bluffton, earning the A.C. Burkey Award as the top senior male athlete in 1984. Hafner lettered in both tennis and football all four years. He was a 1983 NAIA District 22 All-American and a 1982 and 1983 District 22 1st Team defensive lineman. In 1983, Hafner was named the NAIA player of the week three times and was named the football team’s MVP. Hafner graduated in 1984 with a degree in biology. He was the owner and operator of Hafner’s Hardwood Connection. Hafner shared his love of the game with children in the Toledo area where he coached cadet football for eight years. His team went undefeated for three seasons and was named city league champions for three seasons. Hafner passed away at the age of 49 in 2012.
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Edward B. Coleman graduated from Bluffton in 1986. He was a member of the baseball and football teams and participated in the student exchange program to Mexico. Coleman was a four-year varsity football starter and is among the all-time leading receivers at Bluffton.
These individuals, among others, laid the groundwork for the program's future success.
The 1980s: A Decade of Achievement
The 1980s marked a period of significant progress for Bluffton football. The 1985 Beavers, led by seventh-year head coach Carlin Carpenter, exploded onto the NAIA small college football scene with an 8-1 record and ended the season ranked 11th in the nation. The 1985 team broke or tied 14 season records and nine single game records. HBC and NAIA all-district awards went to offensive stars Carl Sonneberger (g), Ed Coleman (wr), Rich Gansheimer (wr), and Hugo Sandberg (k), while defensive standouts picking up the same awards were Derek Allen (dt), Bruce Gardner (lb) and Dave Hucke (db). Greg Gilcrease (rb) and John Harding (de) also picked up HBC honors while Carlin Carpenter was named the HBC coach of the year and the NAIA district 22 co-coach of the year.
The 1987 Bluffton football team finished a superior season with an 8-2 record under Head Coach Carlin Carpenter. The 1987 squad was ranked No. 1 in NAIA District 22 and No. 10 nationally, and was the first football team to represent Bluffton in the national playoffs. The Beavers averaged 33 points per game and held their opponents to just 15 points a game. Between the 1987 and 1988 teams, more than 75 team and individual records were set at Bluffton, and three of the players continued their football careers by playing professionally in Europe and the United States.
Hall of Fame Recognition
Bluffton University's commitment to honoring its athletic heritage is evident through its Athletics Hall of Fame. Several football players and teams have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, recognizing their exceptional contributions to the program. These inductions serve as a testament to the enduring legacy of Bluffton football and the individuals who have shaped its history.
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The Broader Athletic Context
While football holds a prominent place in Bluffton's athletic history, it's important to acknowledge the achievements of athletes in other sports as well. The university has a strong tradition of excellence across various athletic programs, with individuals and teams achieving success in volleyball, basketball, softball, tennis, and more.
Janice Althaus was a Bluffton standout in volleyball, softball and basketball. She won four letters in both volleyball and basketball and three in softball, missing a fourth when she coached a high school team one spring. An education major at Bluffton, Althaus received her master’s degree in outdoor recreation from the University of Akron in 1994. She has taught high school health and physical education at Wadsworth High School. She was a varsity volleyball coach for 11 years, after coaching the junior varsity five seasons.
Matt Creamer scored 43 points in a 1979 basketball game against Manchester College. The number still ranked as the fifth most in school history, 37 years later. Creamer played at Bluffton from 1976 to 1980. He earned four letters and was selected captain for the 1978-79 and 1979-80 seasons. Creamer’s head varsity coaching career spans 29 seasons, with stops at Lafayette Allen East (1983-85), Streetsboro (1985-90), Lima Senior (1992-96) and Massillon (1996-2011). He was also the head coach of the Florida Jades (1990-92) and the assistant coach of the Youngstown Pride (1988-90) in the World Basketball League. Creamer graduated in 1980 with a degree in English education. He lives in Massillon, Ohio, and is married to Jill Creamer.
Kanagy led the Beavers to an impressive 74-41 record (.644 winning percentage) during her four years on the court. In 1979, her junior year, the team was 25-11-Bluffton’s first 20-win volleyball season. A native of Normal, Ill., Kanagy served as a captain for head coach Kim Fischer and also played three years of softball and one year of tennis at Bluffton. In 1981 she was honored with the Kathryn E. After graduation, Kanagy coached volleyball and basketball at Iowa Mennonite High School for one year before heading to Illinois State University for graduate school, where she earned a master’s degree in physical education administration in 1983. Kanagy returned to Bluffton and was a member of the health, physical education and recreation faculty from 1983-86.
Cynthia (Sindelar) Gilbert made her mark on Bluffton athletics as a four-year letter winner in three sports in the early 1980s. Gilbert was a powerful attacker for Coach Kim Fischer’s volleyball teams from 1979-82, but was exceptional at all positions on the court. In her senior season, she was named first-team All-NAIA District 22 after leading Bluffton to the 1982 district championship and a 25-7 record. On the basketball court, Gilbert was ranked as high as 14th on Bluffton’s all-time scoring list and seventh on the all-time steals list. Her 155 points as a freshman was the eighth-best point total for a first-year player in Bluffton history, and she was the 11th player to score more than 100 points in four straight seasons. A softball infielder, Gilbert twice hit over .400 and helped lead Bluffton to the Western Buckeye Collegiate Conference championship her senior year in 1983. Gilbert, who earned her master’s degree from Bowling Green State University in 1998, has taught math and computer classes and served as technology coordinator in the Elgin school system in Marion, Ohio.
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Kelly Patton-Holder was a four-year letter winner in both volleyball and softball, as well as a two-year letter winner in basketball. In 1984 she was a member of the conference-champion softball team and received the prestigious Kathryn E. Patton-Holder was twice named to the All-Western Buckeye Collegiate Conference volleyball team and, in 1983, was named to the NAIA District 22 team. After graduating from Bluffton, Patton-Holder taught health and physical education at Lexington (Ohio) High School and also coached the varsity volleyball and softball teams there. She has chaired Lexington’s health and physical education department and been a Student Council adviser.
In 1984-85, Glenn Snyder’s 14th and final season as head coach of the Bluffton men’s basketball team, the Beavers posted an 18-10 record and were ranked fifth in NAIA District 22. Bluffton won a school-record 12 road games that season and set another Bluffton record with 475 assists. Sophomore Pete DuMonte was named all-conference, all-district and honorable mention All-American as he led the team in scoring with 21.2 points per game and rebounding with 9.6 boards per game.
A four-year standout at both the offensive and defensive ends of the court, Suzanne (Brown ’85) Hollabaugh was an integral part of Bluffton women’s basketball in the early 1980s. A native of Antwerp, Ohio, Hollabaugh scored 687 points and grabbed 421 rebounds in her career at Bluffton. Her point total ranked fourth when she graduated and her rebound total ranked third. As a sophomore, Hollabaugh was a first-team All-Western Buckeye Collegiate Conference selection as she led the Beavers in scoring, free throw percentage, assists and steals-a feat accomplished by few other players in Bluffton women’s basketball history. Following her graduation in 1985, Hollabaugh taught physical education in the DeKalb Eastern school system in Butler, Ind., for four years before moving on to the Edon school system in northwest Ohio.
In basketball, Stone is tied for second in career assists (335) and is first in assists per game (7.3). She also holds the season assist record (198 as a senior in 1984-85) and the single-game assist mark of 15, which she reached twice that season, when she received NAIA District 22 honorable mention.
The 1985 volleyball team was the first Bluffton team with 30 wins in any sport, finishing 35-6 overall and 6-0 in the Western Buckeye Collegiate Conference. Coach Kim Fischer’s team won 11 of its first 12 matches, dropping only three sets in the process. After a pair of losses, Bluffton won seven in a row before dropping a close match to archrival Ohio Northern. Tina Verhoff ’85 returned to the Athletics Hall of Fame in 2000 after being inducted in 1998 as a member of the 1981-82 women’s basketball team. Verhoff lettered four years for Bluffton and helped lead the Beavers to a .500 or winning conference record each year. Her junior season, in 1983-84, was arguably one of the greatest ever recorded by a Bluffton women’s basketball player. She set school records for points (368), points per game (16.0), rebounds (200) and assists (137). All those marks still rank high in the record book. On Feb. 21, 1984, against Siena Heights in Founders Hall, Verhoff connected on 11 of 12 field goal attempts, good for a .917 field goal percentage that still stands as the best single-game shooting display in Bluffton women’s history. Verhoff’s 535 career rebounds are seventh all-time and her 953 points rank eighth. She was also an Academic All-Ohio selection her senior year and went on to earn a master’s degree in education from Wright State University in 1991.
Janice Bruner was described by her coach, Kim Fischer, as “one of the best pure shooters among women’s basketball players at Bluffton.” Bruner, who was also a standout in volleyball, had the most career points (1,121), field goals (497) and field goal attempts (1,135) at the time of her graduation in 1986. In 1985-86 she set the season mark-also still standing-for field goals made (165) while earning first-team Western Buckeye Collegiate Conference honors. The previous year she was second-team All-WBCC and honorable mention all-district.
The 1986 men’s tennis team consisted of a group of hard-working individuals who came together in an amazing season to achieve what no other Bluffton tennis team has been able to repeat.
Terri Blosser graduated from Bluffton in 1987 with a bachelor’s degree in health, physical education and recreation. She earned four letters as a standout volleyball player from 1983-86. Blosser’s 1985 volleyball team was enshrined in the Athletics Hall of Fame in 1996. Blosser received the Kathryn E. Little Award her senior year for her athletic achievements. She was also honored with the HPER Outstanding Scholar Award upon graduation from Bluffton.
John S. Mast of Millersburg, Ohio, graduated from Bluffton in 1987 with a bachelor’s degree in art. A four-year letter winner in baseball, Mast earned all-district honors twice. He is Bluffton’s career leader in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. While on campus, Mast was the intramural sports director for two years, a member of the senior art show and the 1987 May Day king. Mast continued to play ball after graduation, participating on a team that won Class C slow-pitch softball titles at the United States Specialty Sports Association (USSSA) state and national levels, as well as the Amateur Softball Association world title in Atlanta, Ga., in 1987. He was named Most Valuable Player of the USSSA nationals that year. From 1984-90, Mast played with the Akron AA Amateur League.
These athletes exemplify the diverse range of talent and dedication that has characterized Bluffton University athletics.
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