Timothy Neil Burkindine
Timothy Neil Burkindine
Attended Norview High School, Norfolk, VA. From 1962-1964. Earned five varsity letters in football, baseball, and wrestling, and was captain of each team. Attended Shawnee Mission North High School 1964-1966. Earned two varsity football letters and a track letter. Was football captain. 1965 team won State Championship. Selected All-State and All-Metro defensive first team, All-league and All-district offensive and defensive first team. Attended Hutchinson Junior College 1966-1967 and lettered in track. Attended Baker fours years, and earned four football and three baseball letters. Named All-Conference, All-District linebacker and running back. Led conference in rushing two years. Set numerous Baker rushing records. Ran for four touchdowns in one game his senior. Rushed for 977 yards senior year (197 yards and two touchdowns against McPherson). Gained 2469 yards in his career. Selected All-American running back. Led baseball team in home runs in 1969, and in home runs and RBI’s in 1970. Member of Kappa Sigma fraternity; campus guide; Student Council vice president; member of legislative board; Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Earned Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Educational Psychology in 1971. Received masters degree from University of Kansas. Involved in tryouts for major league baseball and the national football league. Taught and coached at prairie view high school (KS) and Shawnee Mission South High School, where he was assistant football coach for 12 years and head coach of swimming and diving, track, and softball teams. His SM South teams won many league and state championships. Named head football coach at Blue Valley North in 1989. 1990 team won district championship and was regional runner-up. Coaches 16-18 GCGAA Fastpitch softball. Won four metro and national tournaments. Participated in men’s touch football 1975-1986. Fifth place in national tournament in 1984. Was member of competitive slowpitch softball team that won metro championship three years and made ten trips to nationals. Co-Ed slowptich team was national champions in 1988. Married Madeleine Loftus in 1973. They have two children, Sarah and Emily.
Charlie Richard
Charlie Richard
Native of Grain Valley, Mo. Valedictorian at Grain Valley High School. Played quarterback and led the Eagles to a league championship senior season. Played quarterback at William Jewell College, where he majored in mathematics and physical education, with minor in Spanish in 1963. Led Cardinals to conference championship and national ranking senior season. Coach and athletic director at Odessa (Mo.) high School for six seasons. Odessa football teams had combined 43-16 record. Became coach and athletic director at Moberly (Mo.) High School. Led football teams to 2-10 record in four years. Coached at Central Missouri State University where he earned M.S. and Ed.S. degrees. Became head football coach, track coach, and athletic director at Highland (Kan.) Community College. Women’s track team finished third in the nation in 1976. Later coached football at Illinois State and Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College. Became fifteenth head football coach at Baker in 1980 and led Baker to first playoff appearance in school history in first year. Appointed athletic director in 1991. Guided the Wildcats to 10 NAIA playoff appearances and one bowl game in 14 years as head coach, including five NAIA semifinal appearances and one national championship appearance in 1986. His record at Baker was 123-28-1, with 10 losses coming in national playoffs. In his tenure the Wildcats were ranked in the NAIA Division II top-25 poll 129 consecutive weeks- a national record dating to 1983, the year Baker attained it’s first number one ranking. Richard had the best winning percentage (.816) of any NAIA coach at the time of his death. His teams won 10 conference championships and never finished below third. He was named conference coach of the year six times and coached over 30 NAIA All-American Scholar-Athletes and over 150 All-American, all-district, and all-conference athletes. His wife Nancy serves the University as Associate Dean of Students. Their daughter, Amy, and son, Pat, are Baker graduates.
Richard D. Hedges
Richard D. Hedges
Dick graduated from Blue Mound High school where he was active in a wide range of activities and athletics. He enrolled at Baker in the fall of 1956 and immediately made an impact on the football team in which sport he lettered all four years. In addition he was selected for an additional honors being named to the 1st team All Kansas Athletic Conference team in both his junior and senior years. On a national basis he was named to the 2nd team Methodist All-American squad. On campus he was a member of the Zeta Chi Fraternity and served as its president one year. He graduated in 1960 with a A.B. Degree in Social Science. Following graduation he began a career that would lead him from teaching and coaching in several high schools n the state of Kansas all the way to presidency of a University and to being named to the Kansas Board of Regents. His first coaching opportunity came in Baldwin City where his coaching influence turned around a mediocre program and made the Baldwin Bulldogs into a winning team. Five years later he moved into administration as assistant principal at Columbus, Kansas while maintaining his full-time coaching responsibilities as well. His program there was successful and he also sent several players from Columbus to Baker including previous Baker Athletics Hall of Fame inductee, Ken Jones ’70. He had one additional appointment with both administrative and coaching duties for two years at Hutchinson before making an important move to Fort Scott where he was named principal in 1979. In 1983 he made a jump from high school ranks to the being named president of Fort Scott Community College, a position he retained until 1991. Following two short stints away from Fort Scott, first with private industry and letter with Johnson County Technical School he was summoned once again to take the presidency of Fort Scott Community College. He remained president until 2001. During his career he was both a member and in leadership positions with numerous civic, arts related and educational associations. He additionally has served as Mayor of Fort Scott for three terms. He earned both a Masters Degree in Secondary Education Administration and later an ED. S., Degree from Pittsburg State University. In 2004, Pittsburg State named him as their outstanding alumnus. In 2007 he was appointed to a four-year term as a member of the Kansas Board of Regents by Kansas Governor, Kathleen Sebelius. He was married to Karen, his wife of many years who passed away in 2006. Together they have two grown sons, Lance and Kyle and six grandchildren.
Roger Anderson Farmer
Roger Anderson Farmer
Roger Farmer was born on the island of Barbados in the East Indies of the Caribbean. As a young buy he moved with his family to Brooklyn, New York where he attended Thomas Jefferson High School. There he participated in and lettered in football as a wide receiver. Following high school he attended Eastern Arizona Junior College in Thatcher, Arizona. He played one year of basketball at Eastern and two years of football where he started as a wide receiver. At the conclusion of his junior college career he received offers to play football at several universities, including NCAA division I schools. He elected to attend Baker after being aggressively recruited by a former Arizona High School Coach who was then coach of the Baker Wildcats, Joe Girardi. At Baker, Roger continued to grow and improve as a wide-out. According to former assistant coach Keith Hackett. Roger had a unique blend of speed, moves and great hands all leading to his being one of the most outstanding wide receivers ever to done a Baker jersey. In his senior year he caught 59 passes for 1,014 yards. For his efforts, he was voted to the All-Conference first team. The All-District first team and became one of the first players from Baker to receive designation as a NAIA First Team All-American. Following graduation on 1978 he went on to pursue a career in football and signed with the Baltimore Colts of the national football League. In addition to Baltimore he also was on the roster of the New York Jets for a time. At the conclusion of his NFL career he returned to the Midwest and took a position as the wide receiver coach at former Heart of America Conference rival, Tarkio College. At the insistence of his agent, he signed briefly with Montreal of the Canadian Football League before deciding to conclude his professional football career in favor of other career opportunities. Through his career he had worked as a Clinical Child Care worker and as a fire-fighter and Emergency Medical Technician where he received citations for meritorious service. He retired from firefighting due to injuries he received in 2000. Since 2001 he has worked with the city of East Providence, Rhode Island on an alternative-learning plan. In the past seven years he has continued to work with youth and athletics as a volunteer varsity football receivers coach. During that time those teams have won four championships. He also is an avid volunteer to numerous charitable activities with agencies. He has three children, Krista, and twins Marcus and Breana.
George Stuart Bretnall
George Stuart "Pop" Bretnall
Born September 11, 1895 in Blairstown, Iowa. He served in the medical corps in France during World War I. He captained the track team at Cornell College, graduating in 1921 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. While a student at Cornell he was a member of the United State track team, which competed in the 1920 Olympic games held in Antwerp, Belgium. Coach Pop came to Baker in 1922 and was named Head track coach. He was also named assistant football and basketball coach. Has head track coach his teams won the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference championship 9 consecutive years, from 1928 to 1937. Was hired by Iowa State University in 1937 as head track coach. His teams won five championships in track and cross-country. He retired from Iowa State in 1967. Was a charter member of the Cornell College Sports Hall of Fame (1972). Coach Pop passed away March 20, 1974. Was inducted into the Iowa Track Coaches Hall of Fame in 1977.
Jessica Walters Ohlde
Jessica Walters Ohlde
Jessica Walters Ohlde is regarded as one of the greatest female athletes in University history. A leader in several statistical categories, Ohlde was an NAIA All-American in volleyball and lettered in track.
Brad and Terry Roepke
Brad & Terry Roepke
Brad and Terry Roepke, brothers from Waterville, Kan., transferred to Baker after successful football careers at junior colleges. Brad was a standout at Highland and Terry at Coffeyville. At Baker they anchored a stingy defense for Coach Charlie Richard. The Roepkes enjoyed numerous conference, district and national honors as Wildcat players.
Fred Purvis
Fred Calvin Purvis, Jr.
Fred Purvis was a four-year letter winner in football and baseball. He started on defense at safety in football. He had a career .400-plus batting average and was a four-time all-conference selection and all-district 10 and NAIA All-American his junior and senior years. He enjoyed a long career in amateur softball, where he played on numerous local championship teams, participated in national tournaments and was a member of a national championship coed team. He worked as an assistant for home football games in the press box for more than 20 years at Baker.
William D. White
William D. White
Bill White came from a successful junior college career at Chanute and lettered for two years in football, basketball and track at Baker. In football, White played quarterback and led the Wildcats to the 1958 conference championship. He was named to the All-Methodist All-American first team. He spent much of his career in coaching and school administration.
Robert V. Courtney
Robert V. Courtney
Bob Courtney was a four-year letter winner in basketball and track. He ran the high and low hurdles and was the conference champion in the high jump as a senior. Courtney spent most of his career teaching math at Baker University, serving several years as the University’s athletic representative.