By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Toledo, Ohio---The Owens Community College athletic department will induct its second annual athletic hall of fame class on Sept. 30 in the Audio Visual Classroom Center on the Toledo campus. This year's inductees include former men's basketball head coach Jim Welling, former women's basketball student-athlete Amy Amstutz, former college president Daniel H. Brown and the 1992-93 men's basketball national championship team.
The day will start with a breakfast at 9 a.m. and the induction ceremony will follow. Once the induction ceremony concludes, the No. 2 ranked Owens volleyball team will host Edison State Community College at 11 a.m., and the inductees will also be honored there.
Tickets for the breakfast and ceremony are available for $12. Please RSVP to Ann LaVoy at 567-661-7973 or by email at ann_lavoy@owens.edu.
JIM WELLING
1986-2006
Welling led the Owens men's basketball program to heights it had never seen before by winning two National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II national titles, seven Region XII tournament championships, eight Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) championships and nine OCCAC state tournament championships.
In his 20-year career, Welling compiled a 550-127 (.812 winning percentage). He also led Owens to a national runner-up finish in 1993-94, a third-place finish in 1995-96 and a pair of fifth-place finishes in 1998-99 and 1999-00.
AMY (AMSTUTZ) ZUERCHER
1997-99
Amstutz Zuercher, a 6-0 forward, became the single game, single season and career scoring leader during her tenure with the Owens women's basketball program. All three records still stand, and she led the program to a pair of NJCAA Division II national tournament appearances. In her time, the program won its first Region XII tournament championship and made its first NJCAA D-II national tournament appearance.
Amstutz was the program's very first NJCAA First Team All-American. Her records include 36 points in a single game, 759 points in a single season and 1,198 points in her career.
MEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM
1992-93
The 1992-93 men's basketball team at Owens compiled a 35-1 record overall and a 14-0 mark in OCCAC play. The team won the OCCAC regular season championship, the OCCAC state tournament championship, the Region XII tournament championship and the NJCAA Division II national championship.
In the Region XII tournament, Owens averaged 107 points over three contests and routed Muskegon 118-86 in the championship game. At the national tournament, the team averaged 103 points per contest and won the title with a 109-85 win over Northeast Christian College.
That year's team became the first in NJCAA Division II men's basketball history to win back-to-back national titles.
Members of the team included: J.C. Ehmann, Kashif Phillips, Brad Delventhal, Jason Wade, Corey Allison, Feisal Crumby Jr., Jeff Massey, Martin Gottfried, Shane Bechtel, Ken Samuel, Jason Walker, Quincy Cloud, Jim Amstutz, Milan Simon and Carey Fouty. Jim Welling was the head coach, and he was assisted by Paul Svatik and Curt Connor.
DANIEL H. BROWN
1984-2001
Brown served as the college's president from 1984-2001. During his tenure, the college added women's basketball, baseball, women's volleyball, men's soccer and softball. At the time his tenure started, the college only had men's basketball.
Brown also was in charge when Owens moved from a technical college to a state community college. Enrollment at the college grew by 80 percent to 17,000 students during his era.
NOTES
This is the second class of the Owens Express athletics hall of fame. The inaugural class included Stephanie Champine (women's volleyball student-athlete); Jim Penix (men's basketball student-athlete); Cot Marquette (athletic director, head men's basketball coach); Jeff Massey (men's basketball student-athlete); Michael Rickard (athletic director); and the 1991-92 men's basketball national title team.
For more information on the hall of fame, visit here.