North Central College Cardinals

North Central College's first team national championship in collegiate athletics came in 1958, as the Cardinals' men's swimming program emerged victorious in just the second National Intercollegiate Athletics Association (NAIA) National Championship to be contested, easily outdistancing the assembled field at Ball State Teachers College (now Ball State University) in Muncie, Indiana. 

North Central won six of the 10 contested events, setting NAIA national records each time, and finished with 88 points. Runner-up Central Michigan University was a distant second with 54.5 points, followed by Detroit Institute of Technology (34.5), the defending national champions from East Carolina University (29) and the hosts from Ball State (25). 

John Molitor won the 220-yard and 440-yard freestyle events in record times of 2:17.9 and 5:06.2, respectively, while joining with Jim Rank, Dan Stump and Harry Morris to set a new national record in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:41.5). Rank placed first in the 50-yard (23.7) and 100-yard (53.5) freestyle events, while Ernie Alix won the first of three straight national crowns in the 200-yard butterfly (2:25.6). Alix is the first swimmer in NAIA history to win three straight championships in a single event. 

The victory began a six-year stretch which saw the Cardinals place second in the 1959 and 1960 championships before winning three straight national titles in 1961, 1962 and 1963. North Central’s four NAIA national titles rank as the third-most all-time to this day. 

Coached by Dr. Eggert Giere ’48 and advised by Dr. Harold W. (Hal) Henning ’41, North Central also won the College Conference of Illinois (CCI) championship and the prestigious Midwest Invitational, held at Merner Field House, where the Cardinals registered one of two victories that season over the University of Notre Dame. North Central’s CCI title was the ninth in a 17-year period from 1950 to 1966 which saw the Cardinals win the title every season. Henning coached the program’s first six championship victories from 1950-55 before Giere took over from 1956-60. Molitor took over as coach following the 1959-60 campaign and coached North Central to six more CCI victories from 1961-66. 

Henning was inducted into the North Central Athletic Hall of Fame as a charter member in 2004. Alix was inducted in 2007, followed by Rank in 2009 and Giere in 2014. 

Full Roster: Ernie Alix, Ed Bloomgren, Ron Hamilton, Jim Hickman, Andy Kelly, Dick Lambrecht, Bill Lavelie, Larry Lewis, Phil Lockwood, John Mizanin, Bill Molitor, John Molitor, George Pichotta, Jim Rank, Gerd Renner, Dave Stuart, Dan Stump, Paul Wenz (manager), Dr. Eggert Giere (head coach).