Click HERE to view Tyke's video presentation and acceptance speech.
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.”
