The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Hall of Fame will welcome five new members when Dave Luedtke (’86), Pat McDonald (’90), Christina Southward (‘03), Holly Spoo (’99) and R. Toby Bares are inducted on May 1.
These four former athletes and one coach will be honored at the school’s annual Hall of Fame & Senior Awards Banquet in Reeve Memorial Union.
The UW Oshkosh Hall of Fame, established in 1974, gives tribute and deserved recognition to former athletes, coaches and friends of the University. It is also intended to enhance school tradition by honoring people who have shown exceptional ability while on the UW Oshkosh campus and since graduation.
UW Oshkosh’s Hall of Fame grows to 163 members with this year’s induction of Luedtke, McDonald, Southward, Spoo and Bares.
Luedtke, a men’s tennis standout from 1980-83, took the skills he refined at UW Oshkosh and passed them along as a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I coach. During his four years at UW-Oshkosh, Luedtke won a total of 150 singles and doubles matches and qualified for postseason activity in both the NCAA Division III and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). He captured Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) doubles titles in both 1982 and 1983 while winning the league’s singles championship in 1983. Luedtke then coached the Baylor University (Texas) women’s tennis squad to six NCAA Division I postseason tournaments and a record of 212-136 from 1987-2002. Luedtke was named the Big 12 Conference Co-Coach of the Year in 1997. The Green Bay Preble High School graduate is teaching physical education classes and serving as the director of athletics at Waco Montessori School in Texas.
One of three WIAC baseball players to accomplish the feat, McDonald was a three-time NCAA Division III All-American from 1987-89. He helped UW Oshkosh to a 128-32 record, four WIAC championships and second-place finishes at the NCAA Division III World Series in both 1987 and 1988. He played in 140 games for the Titans and compiled a career batting average of .409 with 22 home runs and 129 runs batted in. His career batting average is the seventh-highest in WIAC history. McDonald, a graduate of Eau Claire North High School, is the head coach of the boys golf and hockey teams at Lincoln High School in Wisconsin Rapids. At Lincoln High School, McDonald has guided the hockey program to four Wisconsin Valley Conference titles and seven appearances in the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association State Tournament.
Southward is the WIAC’s all-time women’s volleyball leader in assists (6,122) and hitting percentage (.436). Her 508-set career from 1998-2001 featured three NCAA Division III All-America selections, including a pair of first-team mentions. The four-time All-WIAC first team honoree was named the league’s Co-Player of the Year in 2001. Southward helped UW Oshkosh to a 90-57 record, including marks of 30-9 in 2000 and 32-5 in 2001 when the Titans finished ninth in the country. In 1999 and 2000, she led the NCAA Division III in hitting percentage with marks of .464 and .472, respectively. In 2005, the St. Anthony High School (Minn.) graduate was selected to the NCAA Division III Women’s Volleyball Silver Anniversary Team. Southward is a member of the accounting staff at Trident Medical Center in North Charleston, S.C.
Spoo transferred to UW Oshkosh from UW-River Falls and played three seasons of women’s basketball for the Titans from 1996-98. She was a member of the Titans’ 1996 squad that posted a 31-0 record and captured the NCAA Division III title in front of fans in Kolf Sports Center. The best of Spoo’s three seasons at UW Oshkosh was 1998, when she was named the WIAC Player of the Year and collected NCAA Division III All-America first team honors. Spoo, who helped the Titans to an 80-6 record, counted 1,063 career points at UW-Oshkosh and 519 at UW-River Falls to rank as the 14th-leading scorer in WIAC history. Following her playing career, Spoo went on to serve as an assistant women’s basketball coach at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, Wayne State College (Neb.) and UW-Milwaukee. The New Richmond High School graduate lives in Burlington, where she is the director of two basketball services, Recruit Wisconsin and Wisconsin Impact.
Bares coached the UW Oshkosh men’s soccer team for 26 seasons after beginning the program in 1984. Bares guided the Titans to a 344-99-38 record and a .755 winning percentage that ranks him among the all-time coaching leaders in all NCAA soccer divisions. UW Oshkosh made 11 NCAA Division III postseason appearances under Bares, including Final Four visits in 1994, 2000 and 2003. The 1994 NCAA Division III National Coach of the Year led UW Oshkosh to a winning record in each of his last 25 seasons at the helm and mentored five All-Americans, seven Academic All-Americans and 50 all-region performers. The Merrill High School and UW-Stevens Point graduate is currently the assistant director of operations at UW Oshkosh’s Student Recreation and Wellness Center.
Individual tickets to the 5 p.m. Hall of Fame & Senior Awards banquet are available for $20. To purchase tickets, contact Susie Gustke at (920) 424-1383 by April 26.
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