Two elite distance runners, a multiple-time conference golf champion and a volleyball record holder will be enshrined in Cornell College’s Athletics Hall of Fame Saturday, Oct. 15 during Homecoming weekend.
The 2011 Hall of Fame Class features Jackie Clark ’83 (women’s cross country, track and field), Tina Naaktgeboren Brooker ’91 (volleyball), Tony Every ’91 (men’s cross country, track and field) and J.D. Wagner ’92 (men’s golf). The former Ram standouts all experienced conference championships during their distinguished careers on the Hilltop.
The Induction Ceremony will be held in conjunction with the Alumni “C” Club Breakfast starting at 8 a.m. in The Commons on Cornell’s campus. The four new inductees will join 163 current members in Cornell’s Hall of Fame, which was established in 1971.
Clark, a native of Fort Dodge, was named Cornell’s Outstanding Senior Female Athlete of the Year in 1983, stamping a running career in which she claimed three Midwest Conference individual titles while pacing the Rams to three conference team crowns.
Clark earned four varsity letters in cross country and was voted team MVP two years. As a sophomore, she was crowned individual cross country champion at the 1980 Midwest Conference meet. Clark guided the Rams to back-to-back conference team titles in 1981 and 1982, marking the program’s first two league championships in cross country. She added an individual second-place conference showing and was part of two runner-up team finishes in the league.
Clark was an asset on the track, claiming conference titles in the 3000 (1980) and 800 (1981). During the 1981 campaign, she help Cornell win its first Midwest Conference team title in women’s track and field. At the 1981 Drake Relays, Clark set school records in the 800 (2:26.01) and 1500 (5:16.36). She still holds the school mark in the two-mile run of 12:16.00, set in 1981.
Brooker was a dynamic server and setter for Coach Ellen Whale’s volleyball team. The Cedar Rapids native is one of two Rams in program history named first team all-conference three years (1988-90). Brooker was recipient of Cornell’s Russell Landis Award in 1991.
Brooker holds Cornell’s all-time record for serve percentage, converting 1,242 of 1,243 career attempts for a glowing 99.9-percent success rate. She owns the top three single-season serve percentages, firing a perfect 712 serves in a row during the 1988 (311-of-311) and 1989 (401-of-401) seasons. Brooker also stands fifth on the school’s career list for assists with 1,946.
Brooker was a key member on Cornell’s 1988 Midwest Conference championship team that finished 21-7. In one of the most successful eras of Cornell volleyball, Brooker helped the Rams compile 82 victories and a 65.6 winning percentage from 1987-90. The 1989 squad posted a 22-9 overall mark.
Every, a four-time all-American and 15-time all-conference performer, left an indelible mark on Cornell’s cross country and track and field programs. The Colesburg native is believed to be the only athlete in Midwest Conference history to earn all-America accolades in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track.
Every garnered all-conference cross country honors every year he competed, winning back-to-back Midwest Conference individual titles in 1989 and 1990. He qualified for the NCAA meet three years (1988-90), capped by an all-America fifth-place finish in 1990.
Every secured three all-America medals in track and field during a record-setting senior season. He doubled at the 1991 NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships, placing second in the 10000 and sixth in the 5000. Every scored a sixth-place finish in the 5000 at the 1991 national indoor meet. He won seven Midwest Conference titles on the track – 3-time outdoor 5000 (1989-91), 2-time outdoor 10000 (1990-91) and 2-time indoor 5000 (1990-91).
Every’s efforts helped the Rams claim both indoor and outdoor Midwest Conference team championships during the 1988 and 1989 seasons. He remains the school-record holder in the 3000 (8:32.50), 2-mile (9:35.81), 5000 (14:39.21) and 10000 (30:22.20). Every was voted Cornell’s Paul K. Scott Senior Male Athlete of the Year and also recipient of the Paul Maaske Award.
Upon graduation, Every continued to compete a handful of years with the All-Army track and field team and USA Military World Cross Country Team. He was crowned Armed Forces 10000-meter champion in 1994.
Wagner, of Barrington, Ill., was a three-time individual champion in golf, only the second men’s player to accomplish that feat in Midwest Conference history. He competed in the 1992 NCAA Division III Championships his senior season, carrying a 75.8-stroke average. Wagner finished 47th at the national meet, seven strokes shy of gaining all-America honors.
Wagner won conference titles in 1989, 1991 and 1992. He was runner-up by one stroke during the rain-shortened 1990 tournament his sophomore year. Wagner posted convincing conference wins by eight shots in 1991 and six shots in 1992.
Behind Wagner’s leadership, Cornell posted four consecutive top-three team finishes in the Midwest Conference. The Rams took runner-up three years in a row from 1990-92. Wagner was named Cornell’s Freshman Male Athlete of the Year in 1989.