Aug. 6, 2024 - North Central College has announced the list of inductees, to include six individuals and five teams, which will comprise the 2024 induction class to the North Central Athletic Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony will take place Saturday, Oct. 19, in conjunction with the College's Homecoming festivities.
The newest honorees will join 140 individuals who have been selected to the previous 18 induction classes, while the five teams will join the four inducted in 2023, which was the first class to feature team inductees.
This year’s team inductees are the 1961, 1962 and 1963 men’s swimming NAIA national champions and the 1978 and 1979 men’s cross country NCAA Division III national champions.
Individual inductees include Amanda Laesch ‘10/M ’12 Spain (women’s cross country/track & field), Josh Delancy ’10 (football), Dominic Sulo ’10 (football), Johnny Crain ’14 (men’s cross country/track & field), Madison Renfro ’16 Houser (women’s track & field) and a special inductee, longtime North Central athletics photographer Steve Woltmann.
Team Inductees
Individual Inductees
Amanda Laesch ‘10/M ‘12 Spain earned five All-America awards and won seven College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) team championships, setting new North Central varsity records in four events. Spain set new North Central records in the indoor 5,000-meter run and distance medley relay in 2007 before establishing the current 5,000-meter record of 17:05.32 as a senior in 2011. Spain also established new outdoor program records in the 5,000- (17:02.84) and 10,000-meter (35:28.44) events.
Spain earned all five All-America awards in her final year of competition, placing 15th at the national cross country championships, sixth in the 5,000 and seventh in the distance medley at the indoor finals and third in the 5,000 and 10,000 at the outdoor championship.
Josh Delancy ’10 was a three-year starter and First Team All-CCIW selection at right tackle for the Cardinals’ football team from 2006 to 2009, during which time the Cardinals posted an overall record of 37-9 with a 25-3 record in conference play. Delancy was a D3football.com Third Team All-America honoree and American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Coaches’ All-America selection as a senior in 2009, becoming just the fourth North Central player to be so recognized by the AFCA.
Dominic Sulo ’10 was a four-year starter at running back for the Cardinals, graduating as the program’s all-time leader in points scored (284) and rushing touchdowns (46) while ranking second in rushing yards (3,697) and all-purpose yards (4,448). Sulo rushed for over 1,000 yards in 2006, 2007 and 2008, becoming the first in the team’s history to do so more than once.
Sulo was a three-time First Team All-CCIW selection and All-North Region honoree as well as a finalist for the Gagliardi Trophy, the premier individual award in Division III football, in 2008.
During Delancy and Sulo’s tenure with the football program, the Cardinals won four CCIW championships and made three appearances in the Division III Football Championship.
Johnny Crain ’14 was a seven-time CCIW champion and 10-time All-American from 2010-2014, during which time North Central won four straight CCIW championships in cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field. The Cardinals won national titles in cross country in 2011 and 2012 before a national runner-up finish in 2013. Crain contributed to North Central’s indoor national championship in 2012 before winning an individual national championship in the outdoor 5,000-meter run in 2013.
As a senior, Crain became the first Division III competitor to win the 3,000- and 5,000-meter events at the indoor national championships and prevailed in the 10,000-meter run outdoors. Crain graduated ranked second in Division III history in the indoor 3,000 and 5,000 and outdoor 5,000 and 10,000.
Madison Renfro ’16 Houser won nine CCIW individual titles and claimed eight All-American awards in sprinting and hurdling events, helping the Cardinals win four conference team trophies (2013 and 2014 indoor and outdoor). Renfro helped lead the women’s track and field program to its second-highest finish (sixth) at the outdoor national championships in 2015 before winning an individual title in the 60-meter hurdles at the 2016 indoor finals. Renfro established new North Central records in the indoor 55-meter dash, 55-meter hurdles and 60-meter hurdles and the outdoor 100-meter hurdles, and finished her career ranked fifth in Division III history in the 60-meter event.
Steve Woltmann has been the primary photographer for the athletic department since 1980, during which time Cardinal teams have won 36 of their 44 national championships and 201 of 252 conference titles. Providing coverage of more than 4,000 athletic events during that time, Woltmann has chronicled the careers of 111 Athletic Hall of Famers as well as multiple conference, regional and national championships in Naperville and around the nation.
In addition to servicing the sports photography needs of several other colleges and universities in the Chicagoland area, Woltmann has spanned a diverse array of subjects including five NBA Championships, five Super Bowls, the Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup Championship Parades, and numerous major professional sporting events in baseball, basketball, hockey, football, golf and auto racing.
More information on each inductee will be made available in a twice-weekly profile series to be released on northcentralcardinals.com beginning in early September.
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