Two Dedications and an Anniversary Celebrated During Homecoming

Published: November 07, 2025

Author: Dave Bell

While many events during Greenville University’s homecoming weekend focused on nostalgic memories, others emphasized forward-looking themes. Three events blended nostalgia with new beginnings.

The first two were the dedication of the Robert E. “Ish” Smith Museum and the Coach David Altopp Fieldhouse, both housed in a building constructed last year, 2024, next to the University’s baseball field in the Strahl Athletic Complex.

Another landmark celebrated on homecoming weekend was the 50th anniversary of the Richard W. Bock Sculpture Museum. Since 1975, the expansive Bock collection has been housed in the historic Almira College House on the GU campus.

Photo by Dewayne Neeley

Smith Museum dedication

The Smith Museum contains displays of memorabilia that Smith – GU’s former baseball coach and then president from 1993 to 1999 – accumulated during his years as a worldwide advocate for baseball. He and others eventually succeeded in having the sport included in the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain.

His daughter, Cyndi Oglesby, spoke of her late father’s passion for the game. “Baseball was his life,” she said. “He wanted to give these materials to Greenville University so they could be displayed and preserved. Greenville University coaches Lynn Carlson and David Altopp, and so many others at the University, helped turn his wishes into reality. I know he’d be pleased with this project.”

Coach Carlson added, “I’m so glad we’ve been able to put this space together to honor Ish and properly display his memorabilia. We’re dedicating this space to the Lord in the name of Robert Smith.”

Joining in the ceremony was Greenville University President Suzanne Davis, who shared that she and Smith had discussed ways to display his materials before he died in 2021 at the age of 85. “This collection is just amazing,” she said. “He wanted this place to honor the relationships and the players that were so special to him during his years at GC. He also wanted to make this a place where people gather, where relationships are formed, and where lives are changed.”

“Lord, we commit this space to you,” Davis prayed. “May it be a place that furthers our mission of preparing students for lives of character and service. We give thanks to you, and we honor your servant Robert ‘Ish’ Smith.”

Rex Bennett ’75 was a shortstop on the GC baseball team, playing under Smith. “After Coach Smith stepped away from coaching, he got into administrative positions at GC, and eventually became president,” Bennett said. “But he never left our game. He was president of the International Baseball Association from 1981 to 1992 and worked for years to secure baseball’s inclusion in the Olympics. He knew every luminary in baseball and was revered for his integrity, warmth, and generosity. I got to travel around the world with him, and he became the older brother I never had.”

photo by Dave Bell.

Altopp Clubhouse dedication

The program then shifted to dedicating the Coach David Altopp Clubhouse, located in the southern part of the Smith building. The clubhouse will house the Panther Baseball Team’s locker room, showers, laundry facilities, and restrooms.

Altopp ’66, who succeeded Smith as the Panther baseball coach, won 295 games in his 16 seasons at the helm.

“I can’t say enough about the example Coach Altopp was to those of us who played for him,” Carlson said. “He had a passion for his athletes to know Christ. And since I’ve become the coach, he has been such an encouragement to me.”

Another former player, Ritchie Ware ’91, spoke by a video message. “I can’t think of anyone more deserving of this honor than Coach Altopp,” Ware said. “He taught us to compete – but in the right way. Above all, he wanted us to be good men, good husbands, and good fathers.”

As Altopp toured the fieldhouse facility, he expressed his gratitude to Smith. “He was my coach, my mentor, and my friend. I owe my career to him. And to have my name mentioned anywhere near his is more than humbling.

“We always taught our athletes to play hard,” Altopp continued, “but we also wanted them to know that there is life beyond baseball. A relationship with Christ will guide your life in every way.”

Photo by Dave Bell.

Bock Sculpture Museum anniversary

As the new facilities in the athletic complex were dedicated during Homecoming weekend, the Richard W. Bock Sculpture Museum, located at 315 E. College Avenue, hosted an open house to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its founding.

Since 1975, some 300 of Bock’s sculptures, drawings, and photographs have been housed in a historic building on the GU campus. Constructed in 1855, it was the original building of Almira College for Women, which in 1892 was sold to the Free Methodist Church and became Greenville College. In addition to Bock’s creations, the structure also features memorabilia from Almira College, works by renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright (a friend and collaborator with Bock), and several paintings by Harry Wallace Methven.

Though Bock himself did not have a connection to the college, his family agreed – after his death – to give his collection to Greenville College in exchange for a guarantee that his works would be permanently displayed here.

The first curator of the museum was Donald P. Hallmark, a professor of art at Greenville College. He was instrumental in working with the Bock family to relocate the collection to Greenville. Hallmark was replaced as director of the sculpture museum in the early 1980s by Guy Chase, another GC art professor. When he left in 1999, Sharon Grimes was appointed as the new director, and she remains in that role today. The museum is open on Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to noon.