UW-Oshkosh Hall Of Fame Inducts 10 New Members
The UW-Oshkosh Athletics Hall of Fame increased its membership to 231 with Sunday's (Oct. 2) induction of former student-athletes Ellie (Sitek) Bogdanske (women's track & field), Rachel (Heitkamp) Chaney (women's swimming & diving), Steve Jorgensen (football), Andy Kimball (baseball), Christina (Cahoon) Kremel (women's volleyball), Dijouvne (D.J.) Marsh (men's basketball), Abe Mendoza (men's cross country/track & field), Esrold Nurse (men's track & field), Whitney Tornow (softball) and contributor Bob Harrington.
The ceremony was held at the Culver Family Welcome Center on the UW-Oshkosh campus.
Ellie (Sitek) Bogdanske is one of the most decorated alumnae of the UW-Oshkosh women's track & field program, earning three National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III titles, 12 All-America accolades and three Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships from 2007-10.
A four-time letterwinner in both indoor and outdoor track & field, Bogdanske was named the Outstanding Field Performer at the 2009 WIAC Outdoor Championship before being selected as the Division III Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year, Division III Midwest Region Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year and Outstanding Field Performer at the Division III Outdoor Championship in 2010.
Bogdanske earned three Division III outdoor titles with her winning measurements of 157-3 in the discus and 175-10 in the hammer throw at the 2009 national championship and 166-1 in the discus competition at the 2010 national meet. She is one of only four Division III discus champions in UW-Oshkosh history.
Bogdanske also won the 20-pound weight throw at the 2009 WIAC Indoor, shot put at the 2010 WIAC Indoor and discus throw at the 2010 WIAC Outdoor championships.
Bogdanske, a Marinette High School graduate, achieved Division III All-America accolades eight times during the outdoor season and four times indoors. Her other outdoor All-America performances were in the 2008 discus throw (sixth place), 2008 hammer throw (seventh), 2009 shot put (fifth), 2010 shot put (sixth) and 2010 hammer throw (fourth).
Bogdanske's Division III indoor All-America citations were achieved in the 2009 20-pound weight throw (third), 2009 shot put (sixth), 2010 20-pound weight throw (sixth) and 2010 shot put (fifth).
During Bogdanske's four seasons, UW-Oshkosh won the 2007 Division III outdoor title and added four other national top-three finishes as the Titans were the 2009 and 2010 outdoor runners-up, the 2010 indoor runners-up and 2009 indoor third-place team. Bogdanske and her teammates celebrated their 2007 national title in front of a hometown crowd as the Division III Championship was held at the Oshkosh Sports Complex.
Bogdanske, a member of the 2009 and 2010 WIAC Scholastic Honor Rolls, is the owner of seven WIAC Athlete of the Week awards. She was selected to the WIAC All-Centennial Women's Track & Field Team in 2012.
Bogdanske earned a bachelor's degree in 2012 from UW-Oshkosh and is a production manager of frames at White House Custom Color in Eagan, Minn. She previously worked for Under Armour and held coaching positions at Lawrence University, Lourdes Academy in Oshkosh, and Appleton East and Ripon high schools.
Bogdanske lives in Maplewood, Minn., with her husband, Taylor, and son, Jaxxon.
Rachel (Heitkamp) Chaney was a two-time NCAA Division III champion, eight-time All-American and five-time WIAC champion as a standout diver on the UW-Oshkosh swimming & diving team from 2001-04.
Chaney won the 1- and 3-meter diving titles with scores of 387.05 and 457.05, respectively, at the 2004 Division III Championship in St. Peters, Mo. Chaney, who remains the lone diving national champion in program history, was named Diver of the Meet at both the 2003 and 2004 Division III championships.
Chaney earned Division III All-America honors in the 1- and 3-meter diving all four seasons. Off the 1-meter board, the Homestead High School alumna also finished third at the national meet in 2001, 10th in 2002 and second in 2003. In the 3-meter category, Chaney was ninth in the country in 2001 and 2002 and fourth in 2003.
Chaney dominated her WIAC rivals by winning 1-meter diving titles at the league championship in 2001, 2003 and 2004 as well as 3-meter crowns at the conference meet in 2003 and 2004. Chaney was named Diver of the Meet at both the 2003 and 2004 WIAC championships.
Chaney ranks first in UW-Oshkosh history with her two Division III individual titles and eight All-America awards, and second in school archives with her five WIAC individual titles.
Chaney still holds a pair of UW-Oshkosh records after producing scores of 283.25 for six 1-meter dives on October 31, 2003, and 428.25 for 11 1-meter dives on February 20, 2004.
Chaney, who is the owner of seven WIAC Athlete of the Week awards, was selected to the WIAC All-Centennial Women's Swimming & Diving Team in 2012.
A 2006 graduate of UW-Oshkosh, Chaney is a home educator in Warrenville, Ill. She also was employed as a healthcare recruiter and hairstylist.
Chaney and her husband, Adam, are the parents of sons Jack, Sam, Levi, and Luke.
Steve Jorgensen was a star defensive end on the UW-Oshkosh football team from 1980-83 and went on to have an illustrious career as a high school football coach in the State of Wisconsin.
Jorgensen, an Oshkosh North High School graduate, started all four seasons for UW-Oshkosh. He led the WIAC in tackles as a Titans captain during his senior campaign.
Jorgensen totaled 36 tackles, including 10 solo and four for loss, in 1980. He then tallied 66 tackles, including 12 solo and two for loss, in 1981; and 82 tackles, including 34 solo and seven quarterback sacks, in 1982.
Jorgensen's 1983 season was his best as a Titan. He received All-WIAC First Team honors after totaling a league-leading 119 tackles with 35 solo stops, 11 tackles for loss, five quarterback sacks, one fumble recovery and one blocked kick.
Jorgensen finished his UW-Oshkosh career with 303 tackles, including 91 solo and 12 quarterback sacks.
After earning a bachelor's degree from UW-Oshkosh in 1985 and a master's degree from Idaho State University in 1986, Jorgensen embarked on a football coaching career that included a Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 1 title at Oshkosh North High School in 2000 and a pair of WIAA Division 2 championships at Kimberly High School in 2007 and 2008. He also led Kimberly High School to a WIAA Division 2 runner-up finish in 2009.
Jorgensen compiled a 164-58 combined record in 20 seasons as the head football coach at Oshkosh North (1992-2003), Kimberly (2004-10) and Fond du Lac (2018) high schools. He guided his teams to nine Fox Valley Association titles while receiving the league's Coach of the Year award on eight occasions. Jorgensen was named Wisconsin's Associated Press Coach of the Year in both 2000 and 2007.
Jorgensen was the 1984 recipient of the UW-Oshkosh John Taylor Senior Scholar-Athlete Award and the 2016 receiver of the UW-Oshkosh Russ Young Football Leadership & Achievement Award. He was inducted into the Oshkosh North High School Hall of Fame in 1990.
Jorgensen, who currently serves as an assistant football coach at Neenah High School, lives in Oshkosh with wife, Kelly. The Jorgensens are the parents of sons Steven, Matthew and Drew.
Andy Kimball was an elite pitcher for the UW-Oshkosh baseball team from 1995-97 before being selected by the Oakland Athletics in the fifth round of the 1997 Major League Baseball First-year Draft.
Kimball was a NCAA Division III All-American twice during his three seasons with the Titans, earning Second Team honors in 1996 and First Team accolades
in 1997. Kimball, the 1997 WIAC South Division Pitcher of the Year, was voted to the Division III All-Region First Team and the WIAC South Division First Team in both 1996 and 1997.
Kimball pitched in 30 contests for UW-Oshkosh and compiled a 23-2 career record with 225 strikeouts, 20 complete games and a 2.40 earned run average in 202.2 innings pitched. He currently ranks seventh in WIAC history in earned run average, ninth in complete games, 13th in strikeouts and 16th in victories.
Kimball appeared in seven games in 1995 and tallied a 5-0 record with 29 strikeouts and a 2.48 earned run average in 40 innings pitched. The following season he pitched in 14 contests and posted an 11-1 record with 97 strikeouts and a 2.41 earned run average in 89.2 innings of work. In 1997 Kimball appeared in nine games and registered a 7-1 record with 99 strikeouts and a 2.34 earned run average in 73 innings pitched.
Kimball is the owner of five career shutouts, including a nine-inning, two-hit victory (4-0) over California Lutheran University during the 1996 Division III World Series.
Kimball, an Oshkosh West High School alumnus, helped UW-Oshkosh produce a 101-21 record from 1995-97 as the Titans won the WIAC South Division all three seasons and reached the Division III World Series twice, finishing third in the nation in 1995 with a 39-5 record and fourth in 1996 with a 35-6 mark.
Kimball, who was selected to the WIAC All-Centennial Baseball Team in 2012, compiled a 29-29 record with 364 strikeouts in 392.2 innings pitched during five minor league seasons with the Oakland Athletics (1997-2000) and Milwaukee Brewers (2001) organizations.
Since 2011 Kimball has been a machine programmer/operator at Mathfab LLC in Oshkosh. He previously spent 10 years as an account merchandiser for the Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of Oshkosh.
Kimball lives in Appleton with wife, Kimberly, and daughters Ryann and Emerly.
Christina (Cahoon) Kremel was a NCAA Division III Player of the Year and three-time All-American for the UW-Oshkosh women's volleyball team from 2007-10. Kremel is the only libero to ever be named National Player of the Year by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.
Kremel received Division III All-America First Team laurels in 2008 and 2009 before being selected to the All-America Honorable Mention Team in 2010. She is among four players from the UW-Oshkosh women's volleyball program to earn three All-America awards.
Kremel and UW-Oshkosh produced a 135-26 record from 2007-10 with three straight WIAC regular season titles (2008-10), one conference tournament championship (2008) and four consecutive trips to the Division III postseason. The Titans placed third at the Division III Championship in 2009, fifth in 2008, 17th in 2007 and 33rd in 2010.
Kremel, an AVCA All-Region First Team performer from 2008-10, was also voted to the All-WIAC First Team and WIAC All-Defensive Team in 2008, 2009 and 2010. She is among nine players from UW-Oshkosh to collect three All-WIAC First Team decorations.
Kremel played in 150 career matches for the Titans and totaled 2,753 digs, 192 assists, 189 service aces and 38 kills. Her digs total is still a WIAC record.
Kremel appeared in 37 matches in 2007 and accumulated 414 digs with 55 service aces and 35 assists. The following year she played in 43 matches and counted a WIAC-leading 860 digs with 60 service aces and 50 assists.
Kremel enjoyed her best season at UW-Oshkosh in 2009, when she compiled a WIAC-record 928 digs with 50 service aces, 49 assists and 13 kills in 41 matches played. She posted a career-best 40 digs during the Titans' 3-1 victory over Christopher Newport University (Va.) in the quarterfinal round of the Division III Championship.
The Watertown High School graduate participated in 29 matches during the 2010 season and totaled 551 digs, 58 assists and 24 service aces.
A WIAC Scholastic Honor Roll member in 2009 and 2010, Kremel was voted to the WIAC All-Centennial Women's Volleyball Team in 2012.
Kremel, who graduated from UW-Oshkosh in 2012, has spent her entire career in real estate development, primarily in the Milwaukee area. She is currently in her fourth year as a Transaction Manager at MLG Capital.
Kremel and husband, Andy, a former UW-Oshkosh football player, live in Hartland with their sons AJ and Hank.
Dijouvne (D.J.) Marsh is one of the most prolific players in UW-Oshkosh men's basketball history, earning several national, regional and conference honors as a Titan from 2007-10.
A starter in all 105 games for UW-Oshkosh, Marsh received three NCAA Division III All-America awards, four All-Region accolades and three All-WIAC First Team citations.
Marsh, the 2009 WIAC Co-Player of the Year, ranks third in UW-Oshkosh and 17th in WIAC history with 1,800 career points. He also ranks sixth in WIAC archives with 480 career free throws made, eighth with 576 career free throws attempted and 14th with a career free throw percentage of .833 (480-576). Marsh additionally ranks 11th in UW-Oshkosh accounts with 681 career rebounds.
Marsh, a Nicolet High School alumnus, was voted a Second Team All-American in 2009 by the National Association of Basketball Coaches and in 2010 by D3hoops.com, which also selected him to the 2009 All-America Third Team.
An NABC and D3hoops.com All-Region First Team performer in both 2009 and 2010, Marsh was named to the All-WIAC First Team during his final three seasons in 2008, 2009 and 2010.
Marsh paced the WIAC in scoring during the 2010 season at 22.3 points per game and led the league in rebounding in 2009 at 8.9 per contest. The six-time WIAC Player of the Week award winner recorded 17 career double-doubles, including a 38-point, 14-rebound performance during UW-Oshkosh's 90-87 loss to the University of Puget Sound (Wash.) on November 27, 2009.
Marsh averaged 17.1 points and 6.6 rebounds per game in 2008 before averaging 19.1 points and 8.9 rebounds per contest with 95 assists, 39 steals and 26 blocked shots in 2009. He averaged 22.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game while totaling 60 assists, 39 steals and 16 blocked shots in 2010.
Marsh scored in double figures 82 times during his career, including a 37-point performance to help UW-Oshkosh defeat Silver Lake College, 100-51, in his last game as a Titan on February 20, 2010.
UW-Oshkosh compiled a 65-40 record during Marsh's career, including a 21-6 mark in 2007.
A 2010 UW-Oshkosh graduate, Marsh served in the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division from 2011-18. He is currently a second-year pharmacy student at Concordia University Wisconsin.
Marsh and his wife, Maria, live in Mequon with son, Vincenzo.
Abe Mendoza was a two-time NCAA Division III champion as a member of the UW-Oshkosh men's track & field team and a three-time All-American with the Titans men's cross country program during an outstanding career from 1997-2000.
Mendoza claimed Division III outdoor titles in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with times of 9:01.06 and 8:55.09 at the 1999 and 2000 championships, respectively. His time in the event at the 2000 national meet remains the UW-Oshkosh record.
One of UW-Oshkosh's three two-time Division III individual outdoor champions, Mendoza earned his first All-America award in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a fifth-place finish at the 1998 national championship.
On the indoor track, Mendoza achieved All-America honors with this fourth-place finish in the 5,000-meter run at the 1999 Division III Championship. He also was a member of the Titans' 1999 team that captured the fourth WIAC indoor track & field title in program history.
Mendoza totaled 10 letters across his three sports seasons, including four consecutive letters with the cross country team from 1997-2000.
In cross country the Appleton East High School alumnus earned All-America honors with his Division III national finishes of 29th in 1997, 21st in 1999 and 11th in 2000. He is one of only four three-time cross country All-Americans in UW-Oshkosh history.
Mendoza also finished fourth in 1997, ninth in 1998, 11th in 1999 and third in 2000 at the Division III Midwest Regional and sixth in 1997, third in 1998 and ninth in 2000 at the WIAC Championship. His performance at the 2000 WIAC Championship helped the Titans to their seventh league title in program history.
Mendoza was named to the WIAC Scholastic Honor Roll in 1999 and 2000. He ran in the 2014 Boston Marathon and won the Master's 5,000-meter run title at the 2021 USA Track & Field Championship in Ames, Iowa.
Mendoza lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., and has been retired since 2018. The 2016 Appleton East High School Hall of Fame inductee previously worked eight years as the Operations Manager at the Community Clothes Closet in Menasha.
Mendoza, the father of sons Calvin and Micah, is married to Joann.
Esrold Nurse was a nine-time WIAC champion as a member of the UW-Oshkosh men's track & field program before embarking on a distinguished professional career in higher education.
Nurse competed for UW-Oshkosh from 1973-76 and was extremely successful on the WIAC indoor tracks, winning league individual titles in the 300-yard run in 1974 and 1976 and the 440-yard run in 1973 and 1976.
Nurse also added conference titles as a member of the Titans' 1974 indoor 800-yard relay team; 1973, 1974 and 1976 indoor mile relay squad; and 1974 outdoor 440-yard relay unit.
Nurse was co-captain of the UW-Oshkosh indoor and outdoor teams in 1975 and 1976. He additionally was named the Titans' Most Valuable Track Performer during each of his four seasons of both indoor and outdoor track & field.
Nurse set the WIAC record with a time of 49.7 seconds in the indoor 440-yard run in 1976 and helped the Titans establish a league mark in the indoor mile relay with a time of 3:23.3 in 1973.
Nurse, who helped UW-Oshkosh win the team title at the 1973 WIAC Indoor Championship, went on to qualify for the 1976 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Indoor Championship in the 440-yard run.
A native of Trinidad and Tobago, Nurse graduated from UW-Oshkosh in 1976. He then earned a master's degree from Western Michigan University in 1978 and a doctorate degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1994.
Nurse began his career in higher education at UW-Parkside as an admissions counselor and director of minority student services from 1979-86. He then joined the staff at the University of Wisconsin and held titles of assistant dean and deputy associate dean of the College of Letters and Sciences, and associate director of undergraduate admissions from 1986-95.
Most recently Nurse was at the University of Michigan from 1995-2020 in several roles, including executive director of the Advising Center for 23 years and a term as the director of Student Academic Affairs. Nurse was presented with the University of Michigan's Distinguished Diversity Leaders Award in 2014.
Nurse met his wife of 44 years, Patricia, during his first class at UW-Oshkosh in 1972. Retired since 2020, Nurse lives in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Nurses are the parents of daughters Abigail and Angela and son Dale.
Whitney Tornow was an award-winning softball player who earned a pair of All-America awards and three All-Region citations while also playing tennis at UW-Oshkosh from 2006-10.
On the softball diamond, Tornow received NCAA Division III All-America First Team honors in 2010 and All-America Second Team accolades in 2009 as an outfielder.
Tornow collected All-WIAC First Team recognition in 2008, 2009 and 2010 and was named the league's Position Player of the Year in 2009. She also was selected to the Division III All-Region First Team in both 2009 and 2010 and the All-Region Second Team in 2008.
Tornow owns WIAC season records with a .500 batting average and 40 walks during the 2010 season while maintaining the league lead for more than a decade with 89 career walks. The Neenah High School alumnus also paced the WIAC in home runs (12) in 2009 as well as batting average (.500), doubles (19) and total bases (107) in 2010.
A three-time WIAC Softball Player of the Week honoree, Tornow currently ranks among the top eight in league history in several career offensive categories, including slugging percentage (second), doubles (fifth), runs batted in (sixth), batting average (eighth) and home runs (eighth).
Tornow, who was selected to the WIAC All-Centennial Softball Team in 2012, started all 152 games that she played in as a Titan and hit .420 (185-440) during her career with 31 home runs, 48 doubles, eight triples, 146 runs batted in and 122 runs scored.
Tornow is one of just three UW-Oshkosh players to register five hits in a game. She accomplished the feat by recording three doubles, a home run and a single during the Titans' 31-1 victory over UW-Superior on April 16, 2008.
Tornow helped UW-Oshkosh compile a 110-60 record from 2007-10 as the Titans won WIAC regular season and tournament titles in 2007 and 2008, respectively, on the way to playing in the Division III postseason both seasons.
On the tennis court, Tornow earned records of 33-17 in singles play and 29-31 in doubles action. She was a member of the UW-Oshkosh tennis program in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010.
Tornow, a 2013 UW-Oshkosh graduate, was named the head softball coach at Lakeland Union High School in Minocqua this past July. She was an assistant softball coach at UW-Oshkosh from 2011-13 and at UW-Green Bay in 2015.
Tornow lives in Sayner and is a personal trainer at Lakeland Fitness & Golf in Minocqua.
Bob Harrington is being enshrined following more than 50 years of support of UW-Oshkosh athletics.
Harrington was a UW-Oshkosh Titan Booster Club member from 1970-2011 and has served the university's athletics program through committee involvement and participation in numerous fundraising activities.
Harrington held the title of president of the Titan Booster Club and been a member of the UW-Oshkosh Athletics Hall of Fame committee since 1980. He was also on UW-Oshkosh's search and screen committee for the head football coach position in 2007.
Harrington, an Oshkosh High School alumnus, is a regular attendee at UW-Oshkosh home sporting events and has watched the Titans in person from a variety of venues, including baseball from Menominee Park, basketball from Merrill School and football from the New York Avenue Athletics Facility.
Harrington has witnessed several great moments in the history of the UW-Oshkosh athletics program. Among them he says is the women's basketball team's 66-50 victory over the University
of Mount Union (Ohio) in the final of the 1996 NCAA Division III Championship held in Kolf Sports Center. The Titans played the game before a tournament-record 4,001 fans and concluded a perfect 31-0 season with the win.
Harrington has been active in the Oshkosh community, serving numerous organizations as chairman, commissioner and president. Harrington was president of Chamco, Inc.; Kiwanis Club of Oshkosh; Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce; and Oshkosh Community Players in addition to a chairmanship of the Oshkosh chapter of the American Red Cross and district commissioner of the Boy Scouts of America's Twin Lakes Council.
Harrington earned a bachelor's degree from Carnegie Institute of Technology (Pa.) in 1959.
An Oshkosh resident, Harrington currently works in sales for EnvisionInk Printing Solutions in Neenah. He previously served as president of Globe Printing Company in Oshkosh from 1959-95 and worked in sales for Rogers Publishing from 1995-2011.
Harrington and wife, Bev, are the parents of sons Greg and Jeff.
The UW-Oshkosh Athletics Hall of Fame was established in 1974 to pay tribute and give deserved acknowledgement to former athletes, coaches and friends of the University. It is also intended to enhance school tradition by honoring those people who have exhibited exceptional ability or given distinctive recognition to the UW-Oshkosh athletics program while on campus or since graduation.
The first UW-Oshkosh Hall of Fame induction ceremony was held April 28, 1974, at The Pioneer Inn & Marina in Oshkosh. The five inductees were Edward Boguski, Ed Hall, Burton Karges, Robert Kolf and Robert Williams.
Four venues have hosted UW-Oshkosh's Hall of Fame induction ceremony – The Pioneer Inn & Marina (1974-2001), Hilton Garden Inn (2002), UW-Oshkosh's Reeve Memorial Union (2003-13) and UW-Oshkosh's Culver Family Welcome Center (2014-Present).
2022 UW-Oshkosh Athletics Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Program