WC inducts five in to Athletics Hall of Fame

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WILMINGTON — After a year hiatus due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Wilmington College recognized five individuals into its Athletics Hall of Fame Saturday afternoon.

Dick Weidner (Class of 1968), Katie Streck (Class of 2008), John Creech (Class of 2010), Callen Martin (Class of 2010) and Bud Lewis (head men’s soccer coach 1975-2017) were enshrined at halftime of the football game with Ohio Northern University.

Weidner was a two-sport standout at the college in both football as well as track and field. A four-time all-conference selection in football, Weidner played both ways, serving as running back/wide receiver and defensive back playing for both Don Pinhey and Gary Banks. He was voted team MVP as a sophomore. A five-time all-conference selection in track and field, Weidner ran the 100-, 220- and 440-yard dashes and broke two school records in a home meet with Bluffton University in the spring of 1967.

Streck, a four-time All-Ohio Athletic Conference selection including twice being named to the first team, was a member of two OAC championship teams and appeared in two NCAA Division III women’s basketball tournaments. An All-American as both a junior and a senior, Streck is third on the program’s all-time scoring list with 1,629 points as well as being in the top 10 in rebounds (714), field goal percentage (50.7), three-point percentage (36.7) and free throw percentage (84.5).

Creech, a four-year member of the swimming program and the first male swimmer to be inducted, was a seven-time All-OAC selection and one of three individuals in OAC history to win the same event (200-yard butterfly) four consecutive years. A 2010 Clyde Lamb Award winner, Creech held five program records upon graduation. Creech was featured in Sports Illustrated’s “Faces in the Crowd.”

Martin is the most decorated individual in Wilmington College women’s track and field history. A seven-time All-America athlete in sprinting events, Martin garnered four All-American honors in outdoor events and three in indoor events. At the 2010 NCAA Division III Women’s Track & Field Indoor Championships hosted by DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind, Martin became the fifth Fightin’ Quakers to claim an individual national championship, crossing the finish line of the 55-meter dash in 6.98 seconds.

Lewis, coach of the Wilmington men’s soccer team for 43 seasons (1975-2017), is one of 16 NCAA Division III coaches to achieve 500 career victories, 506 to be exact. In the NCAA era (1991-present), eight of Lewis’s teams won conference championships, five squads qualified for the NCAA Division III men’s soccer tournament and three of those teams (1996, 2000 and 2004) reached the regional semifinal (“Sweet 16”) round. Additionally, Lewis guided WC through a change in national affiliation (NAIA to NCAA Division III) as well as multiple conference changes (AMC to independent to HCAC to OAC).

Bud Lewis, Dick Weidner, Katie Streck Clingner, Callen Martin, John Creech (Photo by Kaylin Hildreth)
https://www.wnewsj.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2021/09/web1_WC_HOF2.jpgBud Lewis, Dick Weidner, Katie Streck Clingner, Callen Martin, John Creech (Photo by Kaylin Hildreth)

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