Jeff Stiles '99
Cross Country/Track & Field

The path to competitive success at the collegiate level may have been a little longer than Jeff Stiles '99 might have anticipated, but persistence, perseverance, and commitment led him to excel across a wide range of distances as a member of the North Central College men's cross country and track and field programs.

Despite initially knowing little about the Cardinals' program, Stiles became convinced North Central was the place for him quickly after his initial meeting with head coach Al Carius (H) '16.

"Meeting him for the first time was overwhelming, in a positive way," Stiles said. "I remember walking into Al's office, and I was sold. We spent about an hour just talking, and I could tell there was just something different about him that was magnetic, that made you feel good about yourself."

Entering college with a considerable pedigree at the high school level, Stiles quickly realized a different level of effort would be required to succeed in the collegiate ranks. During his freshman cross country season, he struggled to keep up with the pack.

"I thought I was pretty good, and I was one of the slowest guys on the team," he recalled. "It was very humbling to go from being the best guy on my high school team to being literally last, but by the end of my freshman year I definitely saw some improvement.

"It's easy to buy in when you've seen improvement and are having fun. I really felt a part of something bigger. I think everyone in life wants to be a part of a community. We're hard-wired that way, and I was hooked."

By his sophomore year, Stiles had improved enough to earn All-America honors indoors in the 5,000-meter run and win a College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) championship in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. He repeated as the CCIW's steeplechase champion and earned outdoor All-America honors in the event as a junior, flourishing as he was allowed to play a leading role in his own development.

"Al gives so much ownership to athletes so that you're steering the ship, so you're excited about it," he said. "He allowed you to grow your confidence by putting you in situations where you could be successful."

Stiles opened his senior year by claiming All-America accolades in cross country, helping lead the Cardinals to a national title. He posted a second-place finish in the 5,000 at the indoor national championships, then won CCIW titles at 1,500 and 5,000 meters before placing second in the steeplechase and third in the 5,000 at the outdoor national championships, propelling North Central to another team title.

"I wanted to be a contributor and an All-American, but the biggest draw for me was to be a part of the team," Stiles said. "As I grew and matured, I became way less self-focused and by the end I was motivated much more about the team. I wanted to be on teams that won national championships."

The focus on unity and teamwork in what is commonly regarded as an individual endeavor is a key teaching point for Stiles now that he is a coach in his own right.

"One of the main things I talk about with my teams is the idea of being part of something bigger than yourself," he said. "If it's just about yourself, when things go poorly, you're likely just to give up. For us, it's about building culture, chemistry and family, fostering intangibles and focusing on relationships."

Tyke Spencer '06
Football

In a dynamic two-year tenure which saw him take his place atop virtually every receiving record in the history of the North Central College football program, Tyke Spencer '06 certainly saw a vast amount of on-field success as he helped the Cardinals elevate themselves up the ranks of the NCAA Division III landscape.

The most lasting benefit, however, came from what initially led him to transfer from the large sprawling campus of Indiana University. A Naperville native who grew up attending North Central events of all kinds, Spencer sought an environment which would provide enrichment in all areas of a college education.

"I was enjoying my time (at Indiana) from a football standpoint," he said. "But when you're at a large university, it doesn't have that closeness you get when you know a lot of the students. I didn't know that was going to be important to me, but I realized I was missing that a little bit.

"North Central had always been home. Growing up around the College and going to events, we were practically raised there, so it was very comfortable to come home to."

Spencer established rapport quickly with the rest of the Cardinals' roster, participating in drills and informal practice prior to the start of the 2004 season and enjoying the camaraderie which had eluded him at the Division I level.

"God works in mysterious ways, and everything fell into place and I started loving playing football again," Spencer said. "We had plenty of time leading up to the start of the season, and I think that time was important, more in terms of building relationships."

Spencer showed what an indelible mark he would leave with the Cardinals early in the 2004 campaign, catching 14 passes for 288 yards in just his third game in uniform, setting single-game records which stand to this day. He went on to set still-standing single-season records for receptions (81) and receiving yards (1,306), earning First Team All-College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) and Football Gazette First Team All-America honors.

As a senior, Spencer caught 59 passes for 1,137 yards and set career records for receptions (140), receiving yards (2,443) and receiving touchdowns (28) while helping lead the Cardinals to a 9-2 record and the program's first appearance in the Division III Football Championship.

"I never had any doubts we were going to do that," Spencer said. "All that hard work we put in and the bonding we experienced, you see it start to pay off when you can take the lead in taking a program in a direction it wants to go and had never been. It was really special to be part of the team that took us to the playoffs for the first time."

In Spencer's view, the rise in the fortunes of the Cardinals' football program is inexorably tied to its abiding philosophy of developing character in individuals before focusing on competitive success, which he believes he has benefited from since his time as a student-athlete.

"It's pretty special to play for a program where they took what typically happens and turned it upside-down and said, 'let's make ourselves better men, and we'll become a better team after that.' I think it's paid dividends for the program and anyone who's played in it."

Alyssa Gaudio '11/M'13
Women's Golf

As the author of a series of firsts in the history of the North Central College women's golf program, Alyssa Gaudio '11/M '13 certainly placed a high priority on personal improvement as a student-athlete.

That focus, however, was always rooted in a desire to be the best teammate she could be, and it helped her lead the Cardinals to new heights as a group as well.

Gaudio made an impact right away her freshman year, winning the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) individual championship and qualifying for the NCAA Division III National Championship, becoming the first in the program's history to do both. She went on to become the first Cardinal to sink a hole-in-one in tournament play and the first to earn All-American Scholar honors from the Women's Golf Coaches Association (WGCA).

During Gaudio's senior year, North Central began to break new ground as a team, setting new school records for the lowest 18-, 36- and 54-hole rounds as well as a new record for stroke average in a single season. While each player's individual expectations rose during this time, the team dynamic remained steadfastly the same.

"Being on the road is one of the most fun things about college athletics," Gaudio said. "(Golfers) get to be with each other so much more than a lot of other sports because you spend three to four days, all day, together, and you try to help each other and learn from one another.

"It grows within everyone, and I'm still really close with a lot of the players I played with, and that's from a special bond that was created, especially since we accomplished some firsts in the program together."

Gaudio was able to close her career with a return trip to the national championship, this time as part of a qualifying team, and earned the program's first All-America award as well.

"I remember, going (to nationals) my freshman year, we were at the banquet after the practice round, and I said, 'this is just not as much fun on your own,'" she said. "At that moment, I made it my goal to come back with the team, and it was so much more enjoyable. To be able to have another first for the program's history again, it was very special to cap off my career with the whole team."

The recipient of the College's Cleo Tanner Award in 2018 for her contributions to women's sports at North Central, Gaudio extols the importance of individual improvement for the betterment of her team now as a collegiate head coach in her own right.

"That's something you don't always realize when you're a player, that you need to be the best you you can be," she said. "Not that you shouldn't put your team first, but if you're not a good you academically and athletically, you're not going to be good for your team.

"It's pretty amazing to see how much anyone can accomplish with just a desire to get better."

Ron & Hank Guenther
Special Inductees

In the pursuit of competitive excellence, athletes are frequently reminded of the importance of earnest self-belief, commitment to a common goal, and fearlessness in the face of adversity as the fundamental tenets of achieving performance at the highest level.

Such qualities form the core of the thriving nature of the North Central College athletic department more than 40 years after Hank and Ron Guenther arrived in Naperville. By attacking each day with vigorous enthusiasm, identifying and capitalizing on opportunities, and disregarding convention, the brothers led an effort to erect a stadium out of thin air, lifting a department and an institution to new heights in the process.

After a one-year stint as an assistant football coach at North Central in 1970, Hank was offered the position of head coach by then-athletic director Al Carius (H) '16 prior to the start of the 1972 season. Guenther inherited a program comprised of 30 to 40 players, which had won just one game in three years, at an institution that saw enrollment dip to 848 students that fall.

"The team was very discouraged because they had such a losing streak going," Hank said. "Al thought I could turn it around through recruiting, and he was convinced that being able to recruit an additional 50 to 75 kids would help the overall enrollment."

Over the course of three years, dogged recruiting efforts yielded a roster of close to 100 players annually, and the College's enrollment rose to 984 students by fall 1975. Returns in the win column, however, were slow in coming, though a 2-7 finish in 1973 matched the Cardinals' highest win total in six years. During this time, Hank literally tripped over the first stage of what would be a sweeping change to the College's outdoor athletic facilities.

"I used to jog with the cross country team on their morning run," he said. "One morning, I tripped over some weeds and discovered these long, white light poles. They had been paid for by the Pop Warner football league, and I cut a deal with them that if we could have the lights and light poles, they could play games on our field."

The installation of the lights depended heavily on the involvement of Larry Gregory, Don Deetjen and Dick Wehrli '56, who would lend their expertise and resources, often with creative means, to nearly every aspect of the renovations that followed.

"Larry really appreciated the way we worked, and decided we would be able to use the poles and the lights," Hank said. "We had a deal that we would provide the labor and he would provide the expertise. That was the first interaction with Don Deetjen, who dealt in construction and concrete. He got in touch with Dick to get us the concrete. When there was extra concrete after a job, instead of dumping it somewhere, these trucks would bring it here. I'd be teaching a class, and see a truck coming down the hill, and have to grab my work boots and get out there to pour concrete."

Ron Guenther joined his brother as co-head coach prior to the 1975 campaign after a brief tenure as an assistant coach at Boston College, giving North Central another determined recruiter and a gifted offensive strategist. Their first season coaching together yielded a 5-3-1 overall record, matching the program's win total from the previous seven seasons combined. The improved on-field product, coupled with the ability to host night games, led to a standing room-only crowd that laid bare the need for an improved stadium setting.

The makings of a solution began to take shape in the winter of 1975-76, when football and wrestling alumnus Eric Avery '66 alerted Hank to the possible availability of the grandstand at the recently-closed Meadowdale International Raceway in Carpentersville. Hank was able to secure the materials at no cost, but needed to move them to Naperville in just three weeks. At this point, the Guenthers' accelerated recruiting efforts bore fruit in unexpected fashion, as the Cardinals' football players mobilized and assisted with the loading and transportation of the stands to campus.

"It was a remarkable experience, because the kids that we recruited had such great passion for the game," Ron said. "The amount of time and effort those guys, and all of us, put in carrying a stadium down here and putting it back together again, you can't even describe it. Kids would come between classes to work, and we had different schedules for everybody. It just fell into place. It was maybe the biggest highlight of my professional career."

The stadium reconstruction was completed in time for the 1976 football season, followed shortly thereafter by a new press box and all-weather track. At each point, coaches, athletes and students volunteered the labor, with Deetjen, Gregory and Wehrli providing operational guidance and sourcing materials. In June 1977, Wehrli arranged for the American Concrete Paving Association to hold its convention at North Central, which included a demonstration of new paving techniques. The result was a new parking area in front of Merner Field House at no cost. Although initial fundraising for the projects netted just $18,000, a swell of sweat equity and determination yielded facilities valuing close to $1,000,000.

The Guenthers' efforts caught the attention of the Chicago Tribune, which termed the effort an '$18,000 Miracle' in its May 1, 1977 edition.

"We didn't know what we didn't know," Ron says about the unique means used to achieve such a feat. "We didn't know we couldn't do it and we didn't know what we didn't know about it. You have to have people that have a vision.

"We did get down at times, wondering if we knew what we were doing, but it just kept rolling forward. I just think we stumbled forward with great enthusiasm and hope that we would be able to pull it off, and we did."

The Cardinals followed with a second straight 5-3-1 campaign in 1976 before going 6-3 in each of the next two seasons, the Guenthers' final years in coaching. North Central achieved a seven-win season in 1982, matching a school record at the time, then ascended to a new level in the early 2000s, beginning a string of 10 College College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) championships in 12 years in 2006.

"It takes athletes and attitude," Ron said. "The young people we recruited came to school with the hope that we could get it done, and we started doing things that the program hadn't done before.

"Some of it was the stadium, and some of it was that we were absolutely confident we could turn North Central into a contender. It was the right group of people with the right vision. So much of what you get done has to do with having the attitude that you can get it done."

Click here to view past inductees.