7 Culver Academies greats, spanning more than a century of competition, inducted into Athletic Hall of Fame

 

More than a century of Culver Academies athletics shared the limelight Saturday as a beloved coach and six alumni were inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame amid laughter, memories and heartfelt tribute.

The Class of 2026 inductees reflect the breadth of Culver’s athletic legacy, from the academies’ earliest graduate ever inducted to the hall to its most recent graduate to be honored – with inductees ranging from roughly just about 5 feet tall to 6-foot-4, and graduates from as far away as California and Canada to an alumna who grew up on the Culver campus and an alumnus who was a war hero, underscoring the varied paths and eras that helped shape the Culver sports tradition and the school’s reputation as an elite leadership-oriented boarding school.

The late Adm. Jonas Ingram, Class of 1903, known for his fierce football play and military heroism, became the earliest alumnus to join to the hall while 6-foot-4 wide receiver Juwan Brescacin ’11, who played in the Canadian Football League, became the hall’s most recent member. The ceremony at the Legion Memorial Building also honored canoer Rob Mitchell ’67; hockey player Emily Quizon ’02; golfer Caroline Haase ’03; Indiana’s most decorated long-distance runner Alex Banfich Menendez ’08 W’03; and Al Clark, who started the Culver hockey program and turned it into a national power.

“This slate of inductees is arguably one of the most accomplished groups and certainly the most diverse of any that have come before,” said Jim Gault ’70, the emcee for the night, a longtime Culver Educational Fund trustee, a Hall of Fame member and a member of the Hall of Fame selection committee. “Tonight’s honorees are truly the best of the best.”

Gault told the crowd of more than 100 supporters that it was the first class inducted into the hall in 13 years and the selection committee picked the honorees from a slate of more than 40 candidates. The evening’s ceremony showed not only how much Culver loves its athletes, but how much its athletes love Culver.

Jonas Ingram 1903

Ingram, who is one of five Culver alumni to receive a Medal of Honor for their service to the country, excelled in football, rowing and track. He went on to the U.S. Naval Academy, where he continued to play football as a 5’11”, 177‑pound fullback and linebacker. His style of play was described as “fierce” and “thrashing.”

Ingram served as Navy’s head football coach from 1915-1916 and later spent four years as director of athletics. In recognition of those contributions, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1968.

His naval career included earning the Medal of Honor as a lieutenant during the 1914 Battle of Vera Cruz in World War I. He attained the rank of admiral and commanded the U.S. Atlantic Fleet during World War II. He also earned the Navy Cross, a Distinguished Service Medal with two Gold Stars, and a Purple Heart.

“He was a man of exceptional accomplishment on the field and in the service of this country,” said Doug Bird ’90, Ed.D, Culver’s head of schools.

Accepting the honor on behalf of her grandfather, Shelly deButts reflected not only on his public achievements but also on the man she came to know through family stories. DeButts told the audience she never met her grandfather, who died before she was born, but said those stories painted a vivid picture of an Indiana farm boy who remained grounded despite a global career.

She described Ingram’s love of sports, gardening and animals, recalling rose gardens he tended in retirement and the menagerie he kept during wartime service in Brazil. Within the family, he was simply known as “the Admiral.”

DeButts credited Culver with shaping the habits and values that defined her grandfather’s life. Culver remained a place her grandfather considered home, she said. He returned to campus later in life as superintendent of the summer camps, and his family visited often.

“My grandfather felt at home here, nurtured, loved and respected. It was a familiar and comforting place. So it's safe to say Culver really made the man,” she said.

 

Rob Mitchell ’67

Mitchell, who competed in the 1972 Olympics, was inducted by athletic director Kevin Cox. Cox noted that like many, Mitchell would only canoe once or twice a year before arriving at Culver. Mitchell competed in wrestling, track and soccer at Culver but was inspired by canoe coach Kalman Blaho. Blaho had been a U.S. Olympic and Kayaking coach and had competed in the 1948 Olympics. Unfortunately, Blaho died of a heart attack just seven months after arriving at Culver.

In his acceptance remarks, Mitchell credited his faith, family and mentors for his success. Mitchell said Culver was transformational for him, saying wrestling coach Colin Stetson, Battery C Counselor Al Nagy and Blaho were all tremendous influences. He said Stetson was “a great coach and encourager who demanded excellence from the athletes.” He said he wouldn’t have made it through Culver without Nagy “who always was there to lift me up and encourage me whenever I was down.” He called Blaho an “amazing inspiration” and recalled his widow encouraging him by giving Mitchell her husband’s workout uniform and told him: “Go to the Olympics.”

He went to Georgia Tech through the Navy ROTC program, majored in industrial engineering and began training for the U.S. team during the summers. He qualified for the national team. When he graduated in 1971, the Navy let Mitchell train full time for the Olympics.

Emily Quizon ’02

Quizon was a member of Culver’s girls inaugural hockey team in 1988 and went on to be a standout in college and played in a pro league in Sweden. She also played soccer at Culver and was part of its inaugural lacrosse team that won the 2002 state championship.

Kelly Wiedeman, who coached Quizon, said she had an enormous passion for hockey.

“As a freshman, she quickly provided energy, enthusiasm, offensive firepower, becoming one of our go-to players, especially in the tight games,” she said. “We knew quite quickly what we had in Emily.”

Reflecting on her return to campus, Quizon emphasized that the Culver experience was ultimately about relationships.

“There are so many things that make being a Culver student-athlete special, but at the end of the day for me, it was all about the people, which is very self-evident by who is here in this room,” she said.

Quizon played at Middlebury College in Vermont, where she led the team to three straight Division III national championships and was named conference player of the year as a junior and was named captain her senior year. She was inducted in Middlebury’s Hall of Fame in 2023.

“I honestly feel like I wouldn't have achieved what I did unless I came to Culver,” she said.

 

Caroline Haase ’03

Haase was inducted by Clark, who watched Haase grow up because he was best friends with her father, Culver’s longtime golf coach, the late Fred Haase.

Clark described Haase’s athletic versatility, including her time as a quick, left-handed point guard for Culver, and said that because of her athleticism she developed a natural, fluid, powerful golf swing.

Haase compiled an extraordinary record at Culver, winning all-state honors all four years, capturing sectional and regional titles each season, finishing runner-up at the state championship in 2000 and winning the title in 2001 by four shots.

She went on to star at Purdue University, helping the Boilermakers win the 2006 Big Ten Championship and advance twice to the NCAA finals. She was an assistant coach at Purdue from 2010-15, and coached Augusta University to three consecutive Southland Conference titles and was named coach of the year in 2023 when she led the Jaguars to the NCAA championships for the first time in program history.

Haase said she felt nostalgic being back on campus. She said she was grateful to be a Culver graduate but she was more grateful to be a “Culver kid.”

“I grew up here. I grew up in the dining hall and then playing football outside afterward. I grew up in the gym watching basketball games, hanging out with the students who would come over to our house for dinner. Patrick Thornburg ’04 and I used to throw paper airplanes in Gignilliat Hall from the second floor down to the first. But that golf course was my playground, and without it, I wouldn't be here.”

She said she was appreciative and humbled to be selected for the hall but said she thinks they picked the wrong Haase.

“I think it's my father, Fred, who should be honored here today. I've got one state championship; he had two, myself and Berry Sewell ’93. He coached the men's team his entire career here. He founded the women's team two years after I was born. I don't think that was by chance,” she said. “He gave his life to his students and to his athletes, and he excelled at coaching and teaching. And so I thank you, but I accept this in honor of my father.”

 

 

 

Alex Banfich Menendez ’08 W’03

Culver’s longtime track and cross-country coach Mike Chastain inducted Banfich Menendez but started by commenting on Haase’s speech.

“I don't know how Caroline got through that because I was crying more than you were,” he said.

Chastain remained emotional talking about Banfich Menendez, the most decorated distance runner in Indiana high school history – male or female. In her first race at Culver, a relay race, she kept pace with Culver’s top runner. Chastain always writes notes to runners after races. After that race he wrote her: “You did a decent job of keeping tempo even. I see the beginnings of a good career. I like the competitive display that you exhibited.”

Chastain quickly realized that behind her calm demeanor and easy smile was a fiercely competitive, disciplined, strong-willed athlete. Banfich Menendez only lost two races over the next four years in cross country. She finished third in state as a freshman and finished second at a meet in Fort Wayne after she had been sick. She won three cross country championships and five track state championships in the 1,600 meters and 3,200 meters. She was named Indiana Best Female Athlete by the South Bend Tribune.

Banfich Menendez said Culver provided an environment that allowed her to flourish.

“The commitment to developing the whole person, the mind, spirit, body, the commitment to leadership, character, values is something that's just so incredibly unique and special,” she said.

She also talked about how important Woodcraft Camp was to her.

“I started running track in the wing track meets. I found that I was pretty good at it. I enjoyed doing the longer distances that nobody else wanted to do. But I also began to find my confidence there through the leadership program, teaching younger girls how to make their beds and pass inspections. I went on to become a wing leader there.”

She said she even learned a lesson when she wasn’t chosen to be regimental leader.

“It's such a reminder that in failure you often learn so much more about yourself, you build resilience, and I think Culver creates an environment where it's safe to fail. And you can grow through that. It's such a beautiful thing that this campus and all the staff here create for us,” she said

Banfich Menendez went on to captain Princeton University’s women’s cross‑country and track teams.

She ended by thanking every teacher, coach and administrator at Culver.

“Thank you for making this possible for me and for countless other students whose lives have been quietly and profoundly shaped by your investment in them. The work you're doing here on this campus, it dribbles outward into the world in ways that none of us can fully see, but I can confirm that the impact is truly enormous.”

 

 

Juwan Brescacin ’11

Andy Dorrel, CMA football coach and director of Culver Summer Schools & Camps, described Brescacin as a rare Culver athlete whose influence extended far beyond statistics.

Dorrel said it is uncommon for a Culver athlete to leave a lasting impact on one team — let alone three — and that Brescacin managed to do so in football, basketball and track in just two years at the school.

Dorrel recounted memorable moments from Brescacin’s career, including setting nearly all of CMA’s receiving records, a decisive jet sweep touchdown against North Judson, a last-second dunk that sent CMA basketball to the state finals and a second-place finish in the long jump at the state meet.

“A three-sport superstar, leader in Battery A, a strong classroom performer, Juwan, your Culver family is proud of you,” Dorrel said.

Brescacin focused less on accolades in his speech and more on gratitude, crediting his family, coaches and mentors for shaping his life.

“When people ask me about Culver, I tell them you have to go there to experience it,” he said. “What makes Culver so special is the people who come into your life and don’t expect anything in return.”

He thanked Dorrel for modeling passion, basketball coach Mark Galloway for teaching him leadership, assistant football coach Andy Strati for helping him gain confidence beyond athletics, and Chet Marshall ’73, whom he called his “American dad,” for providing stability and a sense of home when he arrived from Canada.

Brescacin closed by encouraging those in attendance to recognize their own capacity for influence.

“Everyone in this room has the opportunity to have an impact on someone,” he said. “We all have experience and knowledge to offer. I encourage you all to coach, mentor, teach, or lend a helping hand to someone. They may just end up in the Hall of Fame.”

Hockey coach Al Clark, 1976-2015

Clark, hired to start Culver’s hockey program in 1976, offered a candid and humorous reflection on its unlikely beginnings. He said that when he arrived, a third of the team had played hockey before, a third had skated but never played hockey and a third had never skated. He had no recruiting budget in a state not known for hockey. Rather than selling hockey, Clark said his strategy was simple: sell Culver.

“There had to be families out there who would appreciate everything that Culver had to offer. And I was right,” he said. “And fortunately, a number of those families had sons who would be world-class athletes, winning Stanley Cups and playing in the Olympics and playing college hockey.”

Clark led Culver to 22 Indiana state championships and coached 22 NHL draft picks and 70 Division I college hockey players. He credited Culver’s culture, his players and the many coaches and support staff who shared the vision.

“It would not have happened without Culver being Culver,” he said.

Culver Chairman Emeritus Jim Henderson ’52 W’47 told how when he first offered the job to start a hockey program at Culver, Clark all but hung up on him. When he called a second time, Clark was more receptive. When he finally got Clark and his wife, Blair, on campus, they were sold and both accepted jobs as teachers.

Henderson described Clark as a rare coach whose impact extended well beyond wins and losses. Over a career spanning nearly four decades, Clark won more than 1,000 games and consistently fielded disciplined, unselfish teams that reflected Culver’s values in the classroom and on the ice. That connection with his players, Henderson said, was evident this past summer when more than 100 former athletes returned to campus for a reunion in Clark’s honor.