Polar Bears welcome six new members to the Ohio Northern Athletics Hall of Fame

By Steven Wright

| All-Time Hall of Fame Inductees |

ADA ­— Six members of the Ohio Northern University athletics family will be inducted into the university’s Athletic Hall of Fame on Friday, Oct. 9, as part of ONU’s Homecoming weekend.

Lori Kane, James Ricketts, Brad Rogers, Mary Bouic Schmidt, Cortney Roof Simpson and Matthew Wolf will be will be inducted at a banquet that evening at McIntosh Center and introduced Saturday at halftime of the Polar Bear football game with Heidelberg at Dial-Roberson Stadium.

Lori Kane

After an outstanding high school athletic career at Newark Catholic High School, including a Class A State Championship in volleyball in 1980, Lori Kane starred for the Ohio Northern volleyball team for four years.

Kane earned her BS in business administration/marketing from ONU in 1985.

As a four-year starter for the ONU volleyball team from 1981-84, Kane helped her team compile a cumulative record of 149-31-2 (.824) and never won fewer than 34 matches in a season.

During Kane’s senior season with ONU, she led the team to that Ohio Athletic Conference Regular Season and Tournament Championships and a trip to the NCAA Regional Finals.

As a junior in 1983, she led the team with 297 kills and was named First Team All-CAC and First Team All-Ohio.

She also earned First Team All-OAC and First Team All-Ohio honors as a senior in 1984.

Kane was a two-time volleyball team MVP (1983-84) and was also a member of the ONU women’s basketball team for two seasons.

Kane is currently the vice president of administration at MedBen in Newark, Ohio, where she resides.

James Ricketts

James G. Ricketts, Ph.D. was a record-breaking three-year letterman for the Ohio Northern men’s basketball team after coming to ONU from Belle Center High School.

He graduated from Northern in 1960 with his degree in health and physical education.

Ricketts then went on to earn his master’s of education in physical education and administration from Bowling Green State University in 1963 and his Ph.D. in physical education and sociology from The Ohio State University in 1971.

He also received specialized training in correctional management from the Wharton School’s behavioral science program at the University of Pennsylvania.

As a member of the Polar Bear basketball squad in 1958, Ricketts led the team in scoring with 356 points and steals with 27.

For his career, Ricketts is ninth all-time at ONU in both free throws made and free throws attempted.

His 1,176 career points made him the all-time leading scorer at ONU upon his gradutation, and he is now 21st on Ohio Northern’s all-time list.

Ricketts has a diverse professional background in the fields of education, government and various positions in the private sector. He has worked as a correctional consultant since 1985 and has been the CEO of Technology Systems International, Inc. since 1994.

He and his wife, Judy, live in Scottsdale, Arizona, and have three grown children: Robin, Daniel and Kimberly.

Brad Rogers

Brad Rogers was a model student-athlete at Sidney High School who carried on his excellence at Ohio Northern from 1987-90.

Rogers graduated from ONU with high distinction and a BS in mechanical engineering in 1990. He then went on to earn both a master’s degree in manufacturing systems engineering (1992) and a master’s degree in civil engineering (1997) from North Carolina State University.

Perhaps his finest moment as a wrestler at Ohio Northern came as a sophomore in 1988 when he was an NCAA All-American after finishing sixth in the 126-pound weight class at the NCAA Championships.

That was only his first of three appearances in the NCAA Championships, as Rogers earned trips back in 1989 and 1990.

From 1988-90, Rogers earned Academic All-America accolades three consecutive years to honor his strong performance on the mat and in the classroom.

As a senior in 1990, Rogers set an ONU single-season record with 118 takedowns and was awarded the Clyde A. Lamb Award for being the top male student-athlete in the Ohio Athletic Conference.

His 34 victories in 1990 are tied for the eighth most in school history, and he is currently in 10th-place on ONU’s all-time wins list with a 98-30-1 career record.

Presently, Rogers is a senior engineer at M&M Mars, Inc. in Columbus, Ohio.

He and his wife, Maureen, live in Dublin, Ohio. They have three children: Chris (22), John (16) and Kira (6).

Mary Bouic Schmidt

Mary Bouic Schmidt had an excellent career at Fairbanks High School, including a track & field state championship, before continuing that success as member of the Ohio Northern volleyball team.

Schmidt graduated in 1994 with her BSPh from the Raabe College of Pharmacy.

She began her playing career at ONU by being a starter on the 1989 team that was the NCAA Runner-Up.

Schmidt went on to lead her teams to OAC Regular Season Championships in 1990-92 and OAC Tournament Championships in 1990-91.

For her efforts as a sophomore, junior and senior, Schmidt was named First Team All-OAC and the OAC Player of the Year in 1991.

She was also a back-to-back All-Midwest Region honoree in 1991 and 1992.

Schmidt was a powerful force at the net, both offensively and defensively. She was the team leader in kills and hitting percentage in 1991 and 1992 and total blocks in 1989 and 1990.

On ONU’s all-time lists, Schmidt is fifth in total blocks (361), fifth in solo blocks (91) seventh in kills (1,212) and 10th in hitting percentage (.288).

Schmidt is currently a pharmacist for Medco Health Solutions in Columbus, Ohio. She and her husband, Michael, live in Plain City, Ohio, with their five-year-old son, Zachary, and two-year-old daughter, Zoe.

Cortney Roof Simpson

Cortney Roof Simpson was a standout athlete at Shawnee High School in Springfield, Ohio, before a stellar volleyball career at Ohio Northern.

Simpson earned her degree in elementary education from Ohio Northern in 1998 and received her master’s degree in educational leadership from Dayton in 2003.

As the team’s setter from 1994-97, Simpson dished out an impressive 4,153 assists, the fourth most of any Polar Bear in school history.

She was also a force from the service line with the third-most aces in ONU history with 216.

Simpson led her squads to four OAC Regular Season Championships, four OAC Tournament Championships and a near-perfect conference record at 35-1.

Her team’s also made the NCAA Tournament all four years and made back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Quarterfinals in 1996-97.

As a junior in 1996, Simpson was named All-Great Lakes Region and Second Team All-OAC.

She followed that up her senior year by being named All-Great Lakes Region, First Team All-OAC and Second Team Academic All-OAC.

Simpson led the Polar Bears with 75 aces in 1997 and led the team in assists from 1995-97, with a career-best 1,551 in 1996.

Currently, Simpson is a teacher for Clark-Shawnee Local Schools and lives in Springfield, Ohio, with her husband, Christopher, and their daughters, Reagan (6) and Maura (2).

Matthew Wolf

Matthew Wolf was an all-state track star at Freedom High School in Freedom, Pennsylvania before attending Ohio Northern.

Wolf graduated from Northern in 1998 with his BSPh. In 2005, he completed his MBA from Penn State.

In 1995, Wolf earned All-America honors twice, once for indoor track & field in the 55-meter dash and once for outdoor track & field in the 4x100-meter relay.

Wolf would go on to earn the achievement twice more. In 1997 he was an All-American in the outdoor 400-meter dash and in 1998 he was an All-American in the 100-meter dash.

Wolf was dominant in the Ohio Athletic Conference, winning an amazing 14 OAC Championships during his four-year career. That number ranks second all-time at Ohio Northern.

Aside from winning OAC Championships, Wolf also set OAC records in the 400-meter dash outdoors and the 300-meter dash indoors.

Wolf helped Northern win its first OAC Indoor Track & Field Championship in 1996 due in large part to his victories in the 55-meter and 300-meter dashes.

Matt and his wife, Nicole, reside in Palmyra, Pennsylvania with their children, Caden (3) and Carson (2).

He is currently a managing consultant with Pharmacy Healthcare Solutions in Chesterbrook, Pennsylvania.