by Reece Rutland RLC Public Information
It was a night full of laughs and tears as three more plaques were placed on the wall of the Rend Lake College Aquatics Center lobby following the 18th Annual induction ceremony for the RLC Sports Hall of Fame. This year’s batch joins the ranks of 45 individual athletes and 14 teams to receive the honor.
In total, 20 were enshrined during last Saturday’s event. Those honored included RLC golf standout Danielle Kaufman of the 2003-05 women’s golf team, prolific baseball coach Rich Campbell (1992-2001) and the iconic 1983-84 Warrior men’s basketball team.
Kaufman was the first to receive the nod, as her former coach and friend Cindy Corn took the podium to honor an athlete that battled tremendous pain on her way to becoming one of the most successful golfers in RLC’s history.
Former RLC golfer and hall of famer Danielle “Ace” Kaufman (All photos by Reece Rutland, RLC pubic information)
“I’ve never worked so hard to recruit someone,” Corn joked to those gathered. “Danielle is my best friend. She is a tremendous athlete. We are very fortunate that she decided to come here. She has the most beautiful smile and the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever met.”
“Goose” as she was known to her teammates and coach, Kaufman’s links success was almost cut short when it was discovered that she suffered from compartment syndrome in her legs, making it extremely painful to compete. Corn had to write a letter on her player’s behalf to request that Kaufman be allowed to utilize a cart to finish up her freshman season of play.
Kaufman’s accomplishments include recording just the second hole-in-one in the history of the National Junior College Athletic Association Women’s Golf Championships en route to Second-Team All-American honors as a freshmen. She also claimed Region XXIV Medalist distinction during the 03-04 season while battling her leg pain.
After off-season surgery, she was Region runner-up by two strokes as a sophomore behind an All-American teammate and helped Coach Corn’s more balanced entry to a No. 4 showing in the Nationals, an improvement by one position and the best showing ever for a program with a dozen Top Ten performances. Kaufman was 20th in the nation. Her 2004-05 Lady Warriors earned induction into the RLC Sports Hall in 2014.
She also holds the honor of setting the Rend Lake Golf Course’s Women’s records with a 68 from the Gold Tees (5,922).
Following her career at RLC, Kaufman signed with SIUE, later playing for SIUC. Professionally, she returned to RLC. Kaufman now serves as the RLC softball assistant coach and held a stint as the women’s golf team’s assistant coach (2009-12). She also manages the RLC Golf Outlet at the MarketPlace in Mt. Vernon.
For her part, Kaufman was quick to turn the attention back to her coach.
“I’m sorry, I want to take a moment to recognize Cindy. She’s retiring this year. She deserves so much credit. She has always been there for me. I couldn’t ask for a better friend or a better coach. Playing here was amazing,” Kaufman expressed.
She also took the time to highlight the importance her family held, thanking her family and giving them the credit for her start in the sport.
RLC hall of fame baseball coach Rich “Soup” Campbell
Saturday night’s second inductee was a man tasked with keeping RLC’s history of stellar baseball play on track, and Rich “Soup” Campbell did not disappoint.
Campbell set himself apart from a cavalcade of successful Warrior coaches by being the only head coach to guide the baseball team to a pair of Region XXIV Championships and three Sectional titles. He boasts a 302-225 (.573) overall record covering nine seasons (1992-01).
RLC Athletic Director Tim Wills recalled starting in 1992 alongside Campbell. “We were both newbies that year. He was a great friend and a great coach,” Wills said. “The thing that always stuck out to me about Soup was the work ethic. He did everything he could all the time to get the program where he wanted it. He took care of the details. That baseball field was always pristine. You could count on it, and he knew down to the penny what his budget was for the season.”
With a program that ran like clockwork and a distinctive leadership style, Campbell did more than fill the shoes of Warrior coaches past. In fact, retired RLC Director of Marketing and Public Information and Sports Information Director Bob Kelley couldn’t help but remind Soup that he would have been the winningest coach in college history if he had just stuck around one more year.
As an example of that coaching style, Campbell shared a story with those gathered about a standout player for him arriving to practice a minute and a half late. It didn’t matter that this particular player was a star and an excellent student, his coach made him run sprints for 30 minutes.
“I lived for moments like that,” Campbell expressed. “It was such a great chance to teach a variety of lessons. I got to show that no one was above the rules. It proved to my other players that everyone was held to the same standard. I wasn’t always loved in the moment, but I get calls from guys now saying ‘I didn’t see it back then, but thanks for being tough.’”
He also thanked those close to him and said the baseball teams of 1997 and 1999 will always hold a special place in his heart.
“I will be forever grateful to my teams and this institution. These memories are embedded in my soul permanently.”
The final inductee of the night was known just as much for their comradery as their success.
Members of the 1983-84 RLC Warrior Basketball team possessed a chemistry that was still evident in 2017.
Nine team records were theirs when they left town. A 10th belonged to nine of those same players as freshmen.
Members of the 1983-84 Warrior Basektball Team. FROM LEFT: Jeff Cochren, Todd Stoermer, Dean Merder, Myron Hawkins, Jamie Raley, Coach Mitch Haskins, Travis Helm, Robby Jones, Jeff Wilkinson, Tim Wills, Kevin Riggan, Derrick Leonard and Mark Kerley.
Mitch Haskins coached a team-record 22 wins out of this close-knit group their first campaign and a 25-7 mark the next, his third at the helm. Eight of their 20 losses in two seasons were to teams which advanced to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) National Finals in Hutchinson, Kan. Their three conference setbacks in 1983-84 were by a total of five points.
In addition to the standard for wins and winning percentage (.781), the 1983-84 Hall-of-Fame Gang established new marks for consecutive wins (nine); free throws made (587), attempted (790) and percentage (.743); greatest average point differential per game (16.0); greatest margin of victory (74 vs. Earle C. Clements Job Corps Center, 108-34), and greatest margin of victory over community college opponent (57 vs. Oakton, 97-40).
An equally impressive average defensive yield of 63.3 points per game was just 1.0 higher than the record set by their 1982-83 predecessors.
All nine sophomores who grew close together for two years on the Ina campus, plus one late addition, accepted offers to continue their playing careers following their departure from the Juco (Junior College) ranks, the most from one class in 50 seasons of Warrior basketball.
“Talk about a team that stood together, played together and had each other’s backs,” said Haskins as he reminisced about the team. “I had never seen a tighter-knit group. It was a very balanced team. We had a lot of players make contributions. I’ve said it before, but a team is like a pyramid. It has to have a solid base. We had guys step up in practice to push our starters and lots of depth.”
The RLC Sports Hall of Fame is located in the Aquatics Center lobby and is open to the public. For more information on Kaufman, Campbell, the 1983-84 Basketball team, the 2017 Sports Hall of Fame Induction, and all things athletic at The Lake, visit www.rlc.edu/athletics.
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