Greenville College Athletic Hall of Fame Recognizes Five Individuals and Two Teams

Published: April 13, 2021

Watch our coverage of the 2014 Greenville College Athletic Hall of Fame Banquet by clicking HERE!

GREENVILLE, Ill. The Greenville College Athletic Department hosted its Hall of Fame Banquet on Saturday, April, 12. Two teams and four individuals were inducted into the class of 2014. The inductees included the 1996-97 womens basketball team, team category; the 1999 mens cross country team, team category; Donna Lay Collins, athlete category; Julie Kaufmann Shultz, athlete category; John M. Strahl, Jr., coach category, and Jerry A. Malone, meritorious achievement category.

Lindsey J. Schuberth was also recognized as the recipient of the Order of the Orange and Black.

With an overall record of 18-8 and a SLIAC record of 13-1, the 1996-97 women's basketball team won the first, and thus far only, St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Regular Season championship for the women's basketball program.

Under the leadership of senior captains Susan Fischer, Laura Vanderbeck, and Doreen Symonds, the team won its invitational tournament on its home floor and reached the NCCAA district semi-finals.

The G.C. Lady Panthers took first place in the SLIAC by three games over the second place winner, Blackburn.

Fischer made the SLIAC All-Conference First Team, NCCAA All-District team, and second team NCCAA All-American. Vanderbeck was voted to the All-Conference Second Team and NCCAA All-District team. Elizabeth Reeder, a freshman, received all-conference Honorable Mention by the SLIAC coaches.

Head coach Neal Frantz earned coach of the year awards from the SLIAC and NCCAA district in his third year as G.C.s head coach.

The 1999 men's cross country team is known for its all-time best finish of seventh at the NCAA regional championships. Led by head coach Brian Patton, the team was the SLIAC champion.

Taking 13 of the top 16 places at the SLIAC championships, the team recorded a perfect score of 15 points and claimed the races top six positions. Jeff Boel led the way, earning the individual conference championship with a time of 25:48 on the 8K course. He was followed by Bean, Jared Hart, Justin Snider, Brian Weiss and Joe Niemuth. The commanding performance was the team's third of 11 straight SLIAC championships. Head coach Brian Patton was recognized as SLIAC coach of the year.

In the post season, the men returned to Augustana for the NCAA Midwest regional, and the Panthers raced to a seventh place finish their best placement in program history. The five regional teams which advanced to the championships ultimately placed first, third, fifth, sixth, and 13th at nationals.

Individually, Jeff Boel and Jimmy Bean led the team with solid NCAA all-region performances. Boel covered the 8K course in 25:24, good enough to finish seventh and earn a trip to the NCAA national meet.

For the third year in a row, Greenville College had representation at the NCAA Division III national championships. Boel's final collegiate cross country race ended with a new personal best for in the 8K of 24:48. The effort garnered a 52nd place finish in a field of 212 athletes.

Donna Lay Collins, a Vandalia native, graduated from Greenville College in the class of 1984. She received several notable awards in three sports, and two for her remarkable academic achievements.

In each of her four years at G.C. she played three sports: volleyball, women's basketball, and softball. With coaching from Lynn Adams in volleyball and softball and Phyllis Holmes in basketball, Collins led her teams to victories in two-thirds of their contests.

Collins lettered every year in all three sports. She was voted team MVP in volleyball and received the Free Throw Percentage awards in all four years of basketball. She also gathered a collection of all-district and all-conference honors in volleyball. In softball she received AIAW Division III All-Tournament Team recognition when the Lady Panther team took second at nationals in 1981.

Collins majored in physical education with a minor in mathematics. She received the Student Laureate award in 1983 for overall excellence in excellence in curricular and extracurricular activities. In 1984, she received the senior scholar-athlete award.

Upon graduation, Collins taught junior high math and coached at Medina Christian School for one year, and then she moved to a teaching and coaching position at Vandalia High School for two years. She later relocated to Florida and has taught in several schools there.

Collins has coached volleyball at Tarpon Springs in Florida since 2007 as its junior varsity coach and a varsity assistant. In 2011 the Tarpon Springs team was the District and Regional Champion, and played in the State Final Four. In 2012 her team won the District championship.

She is currently head coach at Pinellas Heat Elite Volleyball Club in Clearwater. In 2010 she was named Outstanding Female Coach by the Florida Region of USA volleyball. In 2013, she was the first coach in twelve years to take the youngest volleyball team to the Junior Olympics.

Donna and her husband Mike have four children.

Julie Kaufmann Shultz, a native of Pleasant Plains, Ill., was well known for her athletic accomplishments in women's basketball at Greenville College. She was selected four times as an all-conference player, including "Newcomer of the Year" as a freshman. She also made the NCCAA all-region team four times, the NCCAA all-tournament team, and the NCCAA All-American honorable mention list.

Shultz set the career records in free throws made, assists, and steals. She still holds the record in assists with 467, but is second in free throws and steals. She is fourth on the All-Time scoring list with 1,393 points.

Shultz led her team to an NCCAA regional championship, the only one in G.C. history. She also led her team twice to an NCCAA National Tournament, an achievement that still stands in G.C. history. The team went 67-44 over four years, an average of over 16 wins each season.

Although she played all four years on the basketball team, her versatility was displayed as she added volleyball to her rsum for her junior and senior years. She managed to win all-conference honors after those seasons, too.

Shultz received the John Strahl award in her senior year for excellence in Physical Education. She also received academic awards from the SLIAC and NCCAA and the "Order of the Orange and Black" from Greenville College in 2006.

Shultz moved to Springfield, Ill., in 2005, where she coached volleyball, softball, and basketball at Pleasant Plains Middle School.

Shultz has since taken a break from teaching but continued to coach basketball until 2010. Her teams won second and third places in the state tournament in 2009 and 2010. She also received the region Coach of the Year award from the Illinois Elementary School Association in 2009 and 2010, and she was inducted into the Pleasant Plains Hall of Fame in 2010.

Shultz and her husband, Kyle, are the parents of three children.

John Strahl, Jr., a current resident of San Antonio, Texas, and originally of Greenville, has coached high school tennis in Texas for over 30 years.

In 1974, Strahl helped his father, John, coach the G.C. summer school tennis class while John, Jr., was still in high school. Eventually John played for his father at Greenville College and was recognized as team most valuable player.

Strahl took his first coaching position at Big Spring High School from 1983 to 1988. In 1989, Churchill High School hired him as head tennis coach. In 31 years of team coaching, his teams have accrued a record of 682-63.

Strahl has coached two state finals teams and teams making eight final four appearances. His squads have ten regional championships and twenty-two district championships.

In individual competition, there were two state championships, four championship finals, six state championship semi-finals, thirty-five regional finalists, and 60 district champions.

Strahl's personal achievements include both the 1998 "Texas Tennis Coach of the Year," and the Wilson Texas Tennis Coach Association's "Tennis Coach of the Year." In 1999 he received the National Federation of Inter-scholastic Coaches Association Section 6 "Coach of the Year" for Girl's Tennis and was a finalist for the National Federation of State High School Associations girls tennis coach of the year award. In 2012, he was the San Antonio Express News 'Tennis Coach of the Year."

Strahl and his wife Deanna have three children.

Jerry Malone came to Greenville College after two years at Central College in McPherson, Kan. He graduated from G.C. in 1970.

Originally from Ames, Okla., Malone married Nancy, and their three sons Michael, Rodney, and Brett all graduated from G.C. Each son played soccer for G.C.s mens team and eventually all three received the H. J. Long Award as G.C.s top male senior student-athlete.

With a passion for the sport of soccer, he has founded, organized, directed, promoted, and improved numerous soccer teams at Central College, in the city of McPherson, and throughout Kansas. An award-winning soccer coach, he has twice received the Prairie Junior College Conference Men's Soccer Coach of the year award and National Little College Athletic Association Mens Soccer national coach of the year award. He was a two-time coach of the NLCAA mens soccer national champions.

The city of McPherson built a community athletic complex and named one of the soccer fields in honor of Malone for his many years of service to the community. From 2000 to 2004 he was the athletic director at Central, and led the now four year college into the NCCAA and the NAIA. He also served Central College as vice president of student development.

The Malone family received the McPherson Kiwanis Family of the Year Award in 1993, and he has also received a meritorious service award from the National Christian College Athletic Association.

As a lifetime member of the Free Methodist church, Malone has led or participated in a wide variety of Sunday School projects, youth organizations, musical productions, and missionary endeavors with traveling service groups. He currently works with the NCCAA as director of membership and compliance.

Malones family now includes their three sons, three daughters-in-law, and five grandchildren.

Lindsey Schuberth, a class of 2012 Greenville College graduate, came to campus from Blue Springs, Mo., and became an athletic, academic, and campus standout.

Schuberth had an impressive softball career at Greenville College and collected numerous awards and honors over the four years. While at Greenville, she was SLIAC softball pitcher of the year in 2010 and a member of the all-conference team on three occasions. She was also a team captain.

Schuberth was named to the academic all-conference team, the NCCAA academic all-American team, Whos Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges, two academic honor societies (Tri-Beta and Lambda Pi Eta), and Alpha Kappa Sigma. She was active in theatre, performing in a multitude of productions at the Factory Theatre.

Schuberth was involved in service projects in Greenville, Dominican Republic, and Guatemala. She also served in leadership capacities in churches, the athletic department, classes on campus, and honor societies.

Schuberth is currently in the midst of the start of her career as a professional actress in Hollywood.