Tribe of Vikings announces new honorees

The Augustana Tribe of Vikings will induct its 23rd class into the college's Hall of Fame on homecoming weekend Oct. 6. Seven inductees will be honored.

The induction will take place in the Gävle Room at the Gerber Center. There will be a social hour beginning at 6 p.m. and the dinner will start at 6:45 p.m. Tickets are $35 and can be ordered online or by emailing or calling Dave Wrath, associate director of athletics, 309-794-7265.

The class also will be presented at halftime of the football game. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.

The former student-athletes being inducted are: 

John Stanek (1976 track & field). Stanek won an NCAA title and was the school record-holder in the high jump.

Lance Hofer (1983 football). Hofer was named the CCIW's Most Valuable Offensive Player in 1982 and he led the Vikings to the Stagg Bowl that year.

Deb Rogiers Slothower (1983 basketball). Slothower was a valuable member of Head Coach Paulette Stein's teams of the early 1980s that participated in both the AIAW and NCAA national tournaments.

Mary McGivern (1990 volleyball and basketball). McGivern was a two-sport standout who still holds the school record for most points scored in a single basketball game.

Mark Zemke (1996 track & field). Zemke was a multiple All-American and school record holder who won the 1996 NCAA title in the 400 hurdles.

Bryan Welder (1997 baseball). Welder was the Academic All-American of the Year in 1997 and when he graduated his name was all over the Vikings baseball record book.

Jamie Pales (2001 wrestling). Pales was an All-American in wrestling and finished his career with 126 victories.

The Tribe of Vikings Hall of Fame was the brainchild of former Augustana Director of Athletics Vince Lundeen and the first class was inducted on Feb. 19, 1977. That charter class consisted of Dr. Emil Lofgren (class of 1897), Dr. Felix Hanson (1900), Dr. E.F. Bergren (1907), Flavius Sten (1914), Knut Erickson (1916), Art Swedberg (1917), the Rev. Paul Randolph (1918) and the Rev. David Ekstrom (1918).

There were six inductions from 1977 through 1982. Lundeen drew up a charter that broke the individual classes into decades so as to better compare athletes within workable time frames. The "Hall of Honor", as it was formerly known, inducted classes by decades until 1982 when it came time to move into the 1960s. At that time, the selection committee decided to cut the 1960s in half, inducting seven athletes who graduated between 1960 and 1965.

For 20 years, from 1982 until homecoming weekend of 2002, the number of members in the Tribe of Vikings Hall of Honof stayed the same. An induction on Feb. 20, 1982, of a class that included Jan Jamison, Tom Tingle, Terry Shockley, Lloyd "Chief" Powless, Bob Karlblom, Curt Cook and George Strombom brought the number of inductees to 49. At the time, nobody could foresee that it would be 20 years until the elite of Augustana athletics would swell past 50.

Lundeen retired after the 1981-82 school year and with his retirement the Hall of Honor went into a dormant period. It was reinstated in 2002 and with it came a name change as well, as the honorees would now be inducted into the Tribe of Vikings Hall of Fame.

Upon reinstatement in 2002, six athletes from 1966-69 and one honorary member (Jane Brissman) were brought on board. Brissman was joined by the Rev. Bill Lee (1966), Fred Johnson (1967), Steve Snow (1969), Jim Braet (1969), Jim Ogan (1969) and Paul Ander (1969) to make up the seventh class of inductees.

The Hall of Fame now inducts a class each year at homecoming and there have been 135 total inductees since the process was resurrected in 2002. Of the 184 total members, 170 were student-athletes, eight are honorary individual inductees, and six are honorary teams. The eight individual honorary members are Dr. C.W. Sorensen in 1978, Jane Brissman in 2002, Bob Reade and Jim Borcherding in 2004, and John Farwell and Paul Olsen in 2005, Tom Schmulbach in 2012 and Lundeen in 2017.

There are 10 members of the Hall of Fame committee, nine voting and one administrative. Plans are already underway for the next class. Next year's class will include student-athletes who graduated from Augustana between the years of 2005-2009.