A Century of Scots

*Also known as the Blue and White, Couriers, Highlanders, Flying Scots, Highlassies, Plaidmen, Scotsmen and Battling Blue

The story of Gordon Athletics is, of course, one of steadily improved performance, equipment and facilities over the span of 100 years. But it’s also a story of steadfast, Christ-centered, championship-driven, character-building competition. “Whoever played basketball in 1921 when they started was just as competitive, just as driven, just as Christ-centered as our athletes are now,” says Director of Athletics Jon Tymann ’83. “A game will end, win or loss, and our team will go out to the middle of the court or the middle of the field and pray. I can think of many times where opposing teams would come out and join us. That’s the focus of what we do. It’s all about an audience of one.”

One purpose. One hundred years.

1920s

1928 Boys' Basketball team

1929 Girls' Basketball team

“The prestige of a college is advanced by the kind of men it produces. Its standing is measured not by the marks the students make in scholastic pursuits, but by the places they take in the community, or in other words, what they are worth in the life of the world. Athletic activities draw to themselves, and seem to foster those characteristics of leadership which the world demands. There is an incessant call for men of activity, of keenness in thought, and of vigor.” —Hypernikon, 1923

Two years prior to this first recorded mention of Gordon Athletics, seven men and seven women don uniforms and assemble in Boston’s Huntington Avenue YMCA and Ruggles Street Baptist Church gymnasiums, one mile from Gordon’s campus on the Fenway, as the first Men’s and Women’s (then called Boys’ and Girls’) Basketball teams. It is 1921—a period of prosperity, technological advancements and rising interest in entertainment and sports.

Exercise courses had long been part of the curriculum to address the necessary physical skills to “bear the burdens and cares of a needy world,” according to an early Hypernikon yearbook, but competitive sports soon weave their way into the life of the College. In 1922, the Gordon Athletic Association is founded to support and promote varsity and intramural sports. Following the first varsity Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams are varsity Tennis and Volleyball. With each new team comes the need for practice and competition space—so, students build them. By 1924, they level the ground and build tennis and volleyball courts next to the new Frost Hall on Evans Way.

Athletic Association participation more than doubles by the second year and again by the third. “It is our desire that each member of the College shall have some opportunity for physical activity of one sort or another, in order that he or she may be built up physically for participation in the great game of life,” cites the Hypernikon.

By the mid ’20s, Men’s Basketball has made a name for itself among competition, which includes both secondary school and university level teams (and later churches, too): Nazarene College, Rivers Preparatory School, Anchor Class, Boston University Freshmen and Thompson’s Island.

Though the fan base is already strong in the early years, in 1928 a cheerleading squad is established. The following year, as newly minted members of the Inter-Seminary Athletic Association, Men’s Basketball has its most successful season to date, with only a single loss to Yale Divinity School.

The decade closes out with strong Athletic Association membership and participation, successful varsity competition, and the birth of the “G” Club comprised of athletes who had been awarded the prized letters for their varsity jackets.

In the Scotlight

Frank A. Tobey ’29

During his time at Gordon, Frank A. Tobey was a point guard on the Men’s Basketball team where he learned to assess and develop the strengths of his teammates. This proved to be a useful skill in the Army where Tobey was a chaplain for more than 20 years. In that period, he went from first lieutenant in the Army Reserves to the 10 th Chief of Chaplains in the Army with an office in the Pentagon. As the Chief of Chaplains from 1958 to 1962, Major General Tobey was the spiritual leader for 1,100 Army chaplains and their soldiers. Then, soldiers from religious minorities were seen as rule breakers and were tried in military court for actions such as wearing turbans or observing the Sabbath. In response to one such “infraction,” Tobey urged his colleagues to remember the spirit—not the technicalities—of the Army’s policies, writing, “A commissioned officer is not expected to blindly follow the letter of regulations as a limitation to judgment. He is expected to use existing regulations as a guide to determine action in similar, though not identical cases.”

Air Force Chief of Chaplains Terence Finnegan, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Army Chief of Chaplains Frank Tobey. Dated March 31, 1959—commemorating the moment when Tobey and Finnegan presented Eisenhower with a copy of the new armed forces hymnal, which is in Eisenhower’s hand.

1930s

1930 Women's Basketball team

1930 Men's Basketball team

A decade after competitive sports entered the scene at Gordon, the Athletic Association continues recruiting new members, with a primary focus on exercise as a way of improving the academic experience. “Weary brains are thoroughly aired by morning jaunts in the Fenway and by brisk hikes down Ruggles Street,” notes a 1930 Hypernikon.

Competitions always begin with prayer, and a high value is placed on sportsmanship. As a 1933 Hypernikon explains, “We have met with victories and defeats, successes and disappointments, but through it all true sportsmanship and fair play have held high the name of Gordon.”

Donning new uniforms and with part-time help from a Harvard coach, the Men’s Basketball team wins the Inter-Seminary Athletic Association that year despite many tight games. In 1932, we see the first recorded—and twice victorious—competitions with Providence Bible Institute (P.B.I., which would later become Barrington College and merge with Gordon in 1985). The Men’s Basketball team also beats them in 1936 and 1937. Less is recorded for the Women’s Basketball team, although have a more winning record than the men’s team in 1934 and function under the motto “Win, or die in the attempt.” Competition against P.B.I. commences at end of the decade for the women’s team.

Interclass basketball games become a tradition in the ’30s. Inviting both varsity and recreational athletes, the games attract dozens of players. Winners have their class numerals placed on a large banner in the “Game Room,” a recreation hub housed in a new addition to Frost Hall.

In 1933, a relay track team is assembled and competes against Brown University, Tufts University and Boston University at the Boston Garden. The following year, a social chairman is added to the Athletic Association leadership team to promote more events and organized activities, including a field day and a trip to P.B.I.

Hiking, chess and baseball all enter the scene in the ’30s. “Basketball held the limelight all winter but we must not fail to mention the fact that the lightning moves of our chess masters and the skillful activity of our ping pong experts came in for their share of attention,” notes the Hypernikon.

In the Scotlight

Isabella Taylor Ravenell ’35

The College Archives don’t reveal much about Isabella Taylor Ravenell’s basketball-playing years at Gordon, but articles from The Boston Globe paint a picture of the life she had after college—when she returned to her hometown of Dorchester, MA, to help her new husband lead the community at Ebenezer Baptist Church. After two decades of raising children and pouring herself into the church, Ravenell got a master’s degree in education from Boston State College. She began her teaching career in 1959 and later became a respected principal throughout the Dorchester region and beyond. In 1979, Ravenell was awarded the Sojourner Truth Award by the City of Boston, and the mayor dedicated a whole day to her in “recognition of her contributions to the community in the areas of interracial goodwill and cultural activities.” For years, she’d strived to make local officials aware of the racial inequality that existed in Boston’s public school system. In 1969, she was one of the teachers chosen to fill the gaps in a history curriculum that overlooked important aspects of the Black experience in the United States. The history guides she helped create were used by 350 local schoolteachers and 13,000 junior high and high school students each year.

1940s

Robert Baggs in 1941

Gordon Athletics stays strong during the war years despite rationing, routine blackouts and students taking leaves to serve in the military. Basketball continues to be a focal point; students who play all four years earn a gold basketball in addition to their varsity letter. The men’s team becomes the “undisputed seminary champions of this section of the country” in 1943, according Gordon’s The College Bulletin publication, and again in 1945. Games in the Ruggles Street Baptist Church gymnasium begin drawing significant crowds.

By the mid 1940s, seminaries in the Greater Boston area organize into their own league, which includes Gordon, Boston University School of Theology, Andover Newton and Episcopal Seminary. Led by captain Eddie Olson ’45, “one of the greatest players to ever wear the Gordon colors,” according to The College Bulletin, Gordon is runner-up to Boston University School of Theology for the championship in its first year.

In 1945, the Women’s Basketball team defeats P.B.I.—a “most outstanding accomplishment,” according to a May issue of Gordon’s The Challenger publication.

In 1948, Men’s Basketball sees their most successful season to date, led by high-scoring captain Dave Hamilton ’50, who averages 18 points per game.

That year and the following, the “hoopsters” or “basket shooters,” as they are commonly referred to in game write-ups, play at the Boston Garden, where the fledging Boston Celtics are still getting their sea legs in their third-ever season.

Though the number of varsity sports remains small, Athletics has so worked its way into the fabric of college life that by the late 1940s all students and faculty are assigned to intramural teams. The “G Club” continues to welcome new members (though graduate students, who played regularly, do not qualify for the honor).

With a more established athletic program comes a growing interest among the student body for a unifying athletic identity. “The Gordon Herald wants you to think up a name, such as the Gordon Preachers,” states a December 1949 issue of the student newspaper. “The names will be voted upon by the student body. You may have the honor to giving the names to the greatest basketball teams Gordon has ever seen.”

In the Scotlight

Rev. Gilbert “Gil” Dodds ’45

The world knew “Gil” Dodds as “The Flying Parson” and “The Iron Deacon” for he was both an ordained minister and the best American miler of his time. In the 1940s, he was virtually unbeatable, winning 21 straight races for the indoor mile and breaking the world record for that same race three times (twice while he was a Gordon Divinity School student). His career best of 4:05.3 stayed in the world record book for six years. It also earned him a spot in the 1,500-meter race at the 1948 Olympic Trials— although an injury to his Achilles tendon prevented him from competing in the qualifying meet. Shortly after, Dodd retired from competitive running. For the rest of his life, he worked as an evangelist, a track and cross country coach for Wheaton College and a high school guidance counselor. In addition to his legacy as “The Flying Parson,” Dodd is remembered for giving running demonstrations and sharing his testimony as part of the early Youth for Christ rallies—and for never racing on Sundays.

1950s

The baseball team in 1951

Gordon mascot

It will be several more years before a unified identity solidifies, but that doesn’t deter growth. Fans are coming out in droves, especially to Gordon versus P.B.I games, and a Pep Rally is in the works. At one Women’s Basketball game, The Gordon Herald reports “the cheering was so boisterous on both sides that it was difficult at times to hear the referee’s whistle.” Another attracts so many fans that there is concern “that the track, that hangs over the gym, wouldn’t hold up because of the weight.”

The games themselves aren’t the only entertainment. At halftime during a March 16, 1950, basketball game, “The professors brought many howls from the crowd by their entrance on the basketball floor. All had donned choir gowns, all had books in hand and were serenated as they marched in by twos, to the tune of the graduation march. Their warm-up suits were pajamas. What an evening!”

Though national interest in baseball drops during the 1950s, a scrappy team begins forming at Gordon. Donning uniforms purchased from earnings on a magic show the players hosted at a local high school, the Baseball team makes its debut in April of 1951. They lose to Suffolk due to, according to the Gordon Herald, “a great deal of nervousness on the part of Gordon’s fielders.” Within a few years, though, the Baseball team has a field of its own (and more wins in its record). Like the tennis and volleyball courts at Evans Way, students build it. Named for the first baseball coach and key Athletics organizer Rev. William Gavin, Gavin Field’s first game is a victory.

As Gordon’s Baseball team tallies more wins, they welcome a pro to campus. George Kell, White Sox third baseman, is the principal speaker before a capacity audience during the College’s first annual sports banquet, held in the cafeteria one year after the College’s 1955 move from the Fenway in Boston to the Princemere Estate in Wenham, Massachusetts. The Women’s Basketball team is undefeated in 1956 (and again in 1958) and Ivan “Buzzy” Smith ’56 nabs the new Men’s Basketball season record with 531 points in 1956.

1957 marks the addition of a touch Football team and rifle club as well as the first Homecoming and the first step toward a swimming team (the Physical Education Department sponsors Peter Terletzky ’57 in a YMCA competition where he places third in the 600-yard freestyle and leads his team to victory in a 40-yard freestyle sprint).

But most memorably, 1957 also marks the official launch of the Fighting Scots moniker and Scottish lion rampant mascot. Articles in the Gordon Herald that year make a strong case, including this one from April 12: “Yale has a bulldog, Princeton a tiger, and even P.B.B.C. [Providence-Barrington Bible College] has a warrior. What does Gordon have? A courier, or is it a fisher, or is either any good, or who cares? The effect of a good school spirit, shown in such things as athletic traditions, athletic nicknames, athletic mascots, and a student body proud of these things, would improve the entire sports picture at Gordon.” In December, the Student Council votes, and the identity is solidified—and with it, strong momentum for school spirit and traditions.

It’s no coincidence that the following year is a winning year for Gordon Athletics. In 1958, Women’s Basketball is undefeated, and all teams celebrate winning seasons, including the new (though shortlived) six-man Football team. In their second and final season, 1959, they are undefeated North Atlantic Christian Conference (NACC) champions.

PRO STATUS

In the early 1950s, Don Whitehouse ’54 was wrapping up a stint with the Reynolds Club, defending state champions in a semiprofessional basketball organization, and joining Gordon’s Men’s Basketball team. By 1954, he had broken Dave Hamilton’s individual scoring record, with 474 season points.

In the Scotlight

Bill “Whitey” Davis ’61

After he left the Marines, Bill “Whitey” Davis came to Gordon with a dream of becoming a missionary. But he didn’t know his mission field would include an actual athletic field. As an undergraduate, Davis was a formidable pitcher on the Baseball team with light brown hair that was bleached blonde by the summer sun (hence his nickname “Whitey”). He had an offer to play minor league ball in Canada but turned it down to continue in academia, teach history and coach varsity sports. When he was interviewed by the College after being hired to coach Men’s Basketball in 1975, he said, “As a Christian I believe that athletics, like all other fields of human endeavor, should be done to the glory of God.”

1960s

The fledgling Hockey team

With ample space for practice on the former polo fields of the Princemere property that is now the College’s home, soccer moves into the limelight. Men’s Soccer is established in 1961, led by Divinity School student Cliff “Nubby” McCrath (Gordon College and Gordon Divinity School are becoming separate but linked institutions at this time). In 1964, 1966, 1967 and 1968, the team is Colonial Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (CIAC) champions. In 1966 they also win the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) championship against Husson College. A Student Times article notes that “it’s natural that Gordon’s most successful team should be soccer, or football as it is called as the national sport of Scotland.”

The basketball teams continue to play on borrowed space in local elementary and secondary school gyms (and continue with an annual game at the Boston Garden). They wouldn’t have a home court for another 10 years but manage to keep winning— under longtime coach Hal Murdoch, the men’s team is NACC champions in 1960, 1961 and 1962, and Seaboard Athletic Conference champions in 1968; and captained by Sybil (Wry) Coleman ’64 and Norma “Beetle” Bailey ’62, the women’s team, still clad in dresses, has undefeated seasons in 1962 and 1963. Bob Hoaglander ’61 sets a record 52 points against Babson in 1961. The following year, Gene Fitzgerald ’62 is the first to make the 1,000-point club with 1,297 career points.

Men’s Ice Hockey also enters the scene under professor and coach Harry Leith in 1960. It’s played at the North Shore Sports Center in Lynn until an on-campus outdoor skating rink is completed in 1965. Women’s Volleyball wins league championships in 1962 and 1963; mixed Volleyball wins a league title in 1965. Field Hockey and Cross Country begin in 1963, the same year that the newly minted Softball team sets a record with a five-year undefeated streak. Club bowling also makes an appearance.

The King’s Tournament is a popular competition during this era. Dozens of students from several colleges convene at King’s College in New York for a multi-day competition that includes “basketball, cheerleading, barbershop harmonizing, ping pong, bowling and volleyball,” according to the Boston Traveler newspaper. Schools win individual competitions, but a trophy goes to the school that earns the most points in all six competitions. Gordon cheerleaders win their event at least seven years, and Gordon wins the full tournament in 1966. “Our victory was made secure through the gracious help of Barrington College,” notes The Tartan, who defeated rival Eastern Mennonite. “We screamed until our voices were hoarse and our faces were blue and then we screamed some more,” the article continues, “We are the mighty Scotsmen, we are the fighting Scotsmen.”

The ’60s is a banner decade for basketball, softball and baseball—but balancing athletic competition with academic commitment remains a priority. If any student’s average drops below a C, they are automatically removed from the team for two weeks to focus on improving their grades. Also a priority: plans for the first athletic building in Gordon’s history.

PRO STATUS

Men’s Soccer high scorer Paul Sideropolous ’67 still holds the records for season goals (41 in 1967), season points (97 in 1967), career assists (41), career goals (108) and career points (257). He made first team NAIA All-American in 1967. After graduating, Sideropolous signed to play professional soccer with the Boston Beacons of the North American Soccer League and was selected to the U.S. National Team in 1970.

In the Scotlight

Sybil (Wry) Coleman ’64

Sybil Coleman was a three-sport varsity athlete at Gordon before Ruth Bader Ginsburg won her first gender discrimination case and before Title IX went into effect. In the ’60s, one in every 27 girls played a sport (now that ratio is two out of every five) and female college athletes received only two percent of overall athletic budgets. With limited resources, Coleman and her teammates had to line their own fields and find rides to and from their games. But none of this changed how Coleman felt about sports. She loved the thrill of full-court fast breaks, fielding balls and setting hitters up for a good spike—and that was reflected on the scoreboard. For two years in a row, the Women’s Basketball team never lost a game and the Volleyball team became league champions. After graduation, the Gordon community would come to know Coleman as a coach, women’s athletic director and, later, professor. She says that her years in Athletics served as a perfect forerunner to a 24-year-long career in social work (prior to becoming a professor). “As a student-athlete,” she says, “I learned I couldn’t maximize all values simultaneously. I was an athlete, a musician, a student, an employee. I had to figure out seasonally and even almost weekly where my attentions had to be. That was a wonderful lesson to carry into social work. There are times when working with families, you want to preserve the family, but you want to protect the child. At times, you can’t do both, so you do the least harmful thing, which is to take the child out of the home for their protection.”

1970s

Field Hockey on the quad in 1979

By 1971, the Fighting Scots finally have a place to call home: The Rhodes Gymnasium, named for longtime board member Edgar L. Rhodes. Though the Fighting Scots are no longer playing annual games at the Boston Garden, the Celtics come to campus for their training camps in the early ’70s.

The 1970s may have ushered in lengthier hair styles, but not so for Gordon athletes. Behavioral standards indicate that “sideburns no longer than the bottom of the ear-lobe (no mutton chops); hair shall not exceed the Continental style with no long hair permitted. Athletes are expected to be clean shaven.”

Following a national uptick in recreational running and road races, cross country gains momentum at Gordon. In 1970, Dan Biebel x’74 breaks two course records and Gordon’s school record in his very first season. But then comes Edward Burgess ’80, who, to this day, still owns the College’s 8K record of 25:05 and 10K record of 33:21 (set at the 1979 Pop Crowell invitational, named for longtime Barrington coach and administrator Ray “Pop” Crowell, who was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Honor in 2021).

In 1975, Field Hockey has an undefeated season. Men’s Soccer has another winning streak under coach David Macmillan, making it to the NAIA District Tournament in 1973 and winning the Seaboard Conference championship the following three years. Intramural couples bowling comes onto the scene in the ’70s.

PRO STATUS

Dr. Richard Gross, who served as president of Gordon College in 1976 to 1992, got his career start with the NBA. He was drafted by the Rochester Royals (now Sacramento Kings) in 1953 before being drafted into the U.S. Army, where he was captain of the team that won the All-Army Basketball Championship in 1956. He participated in the Olympic basketball tryouts that same year.

In the Scotlight

Edward Burgess ’80

Edward Burgess was the first student-athlete at Gordon to ever make nationals. He qualified for the NCAA Division III cross country championship three years in a row and was the eighth fastest cross country athlete at a Division III school in 1979, earning All-American honors. One historic moment from his long career as a high school science teacher and cross country coach was the year his team outran the best team in the nation and ranked third in the nation by the end of the season. Even though Burgess often goes to great lengths to prepare his athletes for competition, he takes care not to overwork them. “When I was a cross country athlete in high school,” remembers Burgess, “we ran hard every single day. By the end of the season, most of us were either injured or underperforming.” That changed when Burgess became a Fighting Scot. “At Gordon,” recalls Burgess. “I started doing better because I had more rest.” Forty years later, his favorite run is still the route from Gordon to Singing Beach, with an ocean swim in the middle.

1980s

Men’s Soccer kicks off with another winning streak, now under awardwinning coach Marc Whitehouse, who served in a number of athletic roles for 34 years. They take the district championship in 1980 and win back-toback NAIA titles in 1983 and 1984. While domestic travel has become a norm (championship games are played in Texas and California), in the late 1980s teams begin adding international travel into the mix. In 1987, Men’s Soccer team embarks on a playing-mission tour of four cities in India.

Field Hockey and Volleyball also earn championship titles. In 1982, Field Hockey is the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) Eastern Regional champion under coach Liz Ruhl and in 1984, they win NAIA District V championships. Women’s Volleyball win NAIA New England Championships in 1986 and 1987 and play in national tournaments.

In the final decade before basketball shorts lengthen by several inches, three more men join the 1,000-point club: Doug Lindland ’82 with 1,645; Steve Heintz ’87 with 1,545 and Tim Kehoe ’88 with 1,397. Heintz, a top foul shooter in all of intercollegiate basketball, is named an NAIA All-American. The first two women also join the 1,000-point club: Barrie (Twyon) Daigneault ’88 with 1,277 and Karen (Martin) List ’89 with 1,301. Daigneault is named NAIA All New England three times.

Intramural sports are encouraged for all of campus, and both students and faculty join. Teams now include basketball, flag football, ice hockey, soccer, indoor soccer, softball, tennis, volleyball, power volleyball, broom hockey, ultimate frisbee, chess and pin bowling. The addition of a Men’s Lacrosse team in 1988 brings the varsity total to 12: Men’s Baseball, Basketball, Cross Country, Soccer, Tennis and Lacrosse; and Women’s Basketball, Cross Country, Field Hockey, Softball, Tennis and Volleyball.

In 1988, Gordon leaves the NAIA and becomes—and still is—a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), Division III.

A Scots Alma Mater

We are the Mighty Scots

We are the Fighting Scotsmen

We’re marching ever onward to victory

Blue and White—colors!

We’re proud of our fellows

They’re always there fighting

For you and me.

Gordon is the name

That will bring us fame

Where e’re we go from shore to shore.

We are the Mighty Scots

We are the Fighting Scotsmen

We’re marching ever onward to victory—Hey!

In the Scotlight

Steve Heintz ’87

Steve Heintz’s first collegiate basketball game coincided with his first flight. Traveling to Ohio on a travel squad, the 1987 grad was welcomed by an icy landing, which, given his fear of heights, “frightened me to no end.” Though his basketball career began in a distressing manner, Heintz now embraces the unexpected benefits of an uncomfortable environment.

As a basketball coach who has led teams at Gordon, Lexington Christian Academy and now Masconomet Regional High School, Heintz encourages his players to pursue excellence by pushing themselves to achieve new boundaries of success. “I don’t think we change lives when we just go through with an average level of effort,” says Heintz. “We have to be uncomfortable in order to grow.”

The 2018 Athletics Hall of Honor inductee inspires his teams to approach basketball with a competitive mindset. But ultimately, he views coaching as a form of ministry, helping athletes realize their potential to impact their environments in powerful and meaningful ways.

“Effort is paramount in any walk of life—certainly in athletics—but that effort can translate into other aspects of life,” he says. “Win or lose, or less than our best, we’re still loved, forgiven and embraced by a Lord and Savior. I think that young people need to be driven toward an ethic, but they also need eternal hope.”

1990s

Women’s Soccer in 1990

Following their pattern from prior decades, Men’s Soccer enters the ’90s with a winning streak, claiming the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) championship in 1990 and 1992. Both Men’s and Women’s Soccer are CCC champions in 1993, and Women’s Soccer carries that title in 1994 as well.

In 1995, Jaimee (Smith) Eldred ’95, Softball, sets the record for 35 RBIs in a season, which marks Smith an “NCAA statistical champ” and remains a Gordon record to this day. Five more men and six more women from the basketball teams join the 1,000-point club. Jim Petty ’95 tops the men’s list with 1,902 points, and Amy (McMechen) Bowen ’97 takes the lead for women with 1,440.

In 1996, the Fighting Scots’ new home, the Bennett Athletic Center, opens thanks to the generosity of George and Helen Bennett, parents of longtime Chairman of the Board Peter C. Bennett. It wins Athletic Business magazine’s Top Ten New Facilities Award for design and usability. Rhodes Gymnasium eventually becomes Barrington Center for the Arts.

That same year, Field Hockey enters an eight-year streak of CCC Championship appearances— winning the title three times. And in the final academic year of the century, 1998–99, the Fighting Scots claim four CCC Championships: Field Hockey, Men’s and Women’s Cross Country and Women’s Soccer.

In the Scotlight

Sara (Baker) Lake ’01

For athletes like Sara Lake, sports feel as natural as basic instinct. Athleticism is ingrained in the multisport athlete, who you might have seen performing a goalie dive to catch a softball.

Today, Lake is diving to catch her children from falling off bouncy houses instead of fielding a pop fly. As a wife and mother, direction from the formative experience of being a soccer, basketball and softball athlete at Gordon have new outlets. “Athletics gave me a home,” says Lake, recalling the camaraderie of championship victories, spring break tournaments to Myrtle Beach, playing basketball and softball alongside her late sister Juliana (Baker) Elliott ’03 and even spirited professors cancelling class to cheer the extended overtime and penalty kicks of a tournament win on the quad.

After graduating, moving to unfamiliar locations then becoming a mom, Lake admits, “It’s easy to feel lost out here in the world.” But recalling the close-knit communities in Gordon Athletics, Lake and her husband, Tom ’01 (a cross country standout), prioritized making connections in the local church and their neighborhood. Lake says, “It was easy to recognize the beauty of those relationships and to want it to be part of it because of my history of being in athletics and feeling close to a group.”

2000s

Men’s Lacrosse players in 2004

When the world doesn’t end with Y2K, the Fighting Scots resume play. The turn of the century marks another era of championships for Gordon Athletics. During the 2001–02 academic year, Gordon again claims four CCC Championships, this time all by women’s teams: Tennis, Volleyball, Field Hockey and Lacrosse (the latter two were coached by Cory Ward). Women’s Lacrosse also wins the CCC championship in 2003 and 2005.

In 2001, Women’s Tennis is undefeated. In 2002, Women’s Volleyball sets a record with 35 wins in a season. And in 2003, Men’s Soccer wins their fourth CCC championship. Five more men and three more women join the 1,000-point club for basketball, with Sarah DeLuca ’05 now taking the women’s lead with 1,956 points.

Men’s Lacrosse makes three CCC championship appearances in the early ’00s, winning the title in 2002 and 2003. And two Chapman brothers, Tim ’01 and Matt ’02, take Men’s Lacrosse records by storm. Matt, along with five other athletes from previous years, were the inaugural inductees in the Hall of Honor in 2007. Since then, 50 more athletes (many of whom are named in this issue) have been inducted.

Important as they are, championship titles aren’t the only CCC accolades to Gordon’s name. In the first two decades of the 21 st century, Gordon’s varsity teams accumulate 88 CCC Sportsmanship Awards, a dozen of which belong to Men’s Tennis. Service continues to weave more intentionally into athletic programming, and mission trips—to places like Taiwan, Guatemala, El Salvador and Argentina—become more regular.

Thanks again to the generosity of the Bennett family, the Brigham Athletic Complex opens in 2005, honoring Helen Bennett’s maiden name. The following year, Gordon hosts its first CCC track invitational there.

PRO STATUS

In 2009, Tod Murphy became the 33 rd coach of Gordon Men’s Basketball. He previously played four years in the NBA—for the Minnesota Timberwolves, Los Angeles Clippers, Houston Rockets and Detroit Pistons.

In the Scotlight

Amy Dodd ’07

When Amy Dodd read a book in middle school about Christian female athletes, she promised to share her testimony through sports, too—if God ever made her a professional athlete.

When she became a member of Women’s Basketball at Gordon and attended Fellowship of Christian Athletes trips to Guatemala and El Salvador, Dodd realized didn’t need to be famous to accomplish her goal. Though torn between a career in physical therapy versus sports ministry, she felt a clear message that the Lord would use her in either arena.

So, Dodd got involved with Athletes in Action, where she has spent 12 years trying to reach collegiate athletes and coaches with the gospel. From playing a game of pickup basketball to hosting a Bible study, Dodd says, “The natural language of sports gives you a segue in to sharing your faith. Sports reveal so much of who you are and your character and your personality.”

Recalling the pivotal moments of college, Dodd values ministering to students who are encountering questions of values and faith. She says, “The best part of the job is when the gospel clicks with a student and to see the joy of salvation on their face—the joy of like starting a relationship with Christ.”

2010s

“When you go to the basketball game Saturday you will see about twenty of your classmates—guys in white shirts and plaid ties, girls in white blouses,” notes a 1965 Tartan article, “ringing cow-bells, beating kettles with brush handles, or blowing trumpets loudly enough to tumble the walls of Jericho.” White-clad noisemakers have returned, now filling sections of seating in Bennett and Brigham. They’ve replaced cow-bells with car key jingling and updated the former Racket-teers moniker to The PIT, but this much remains: “Their number-one motive is to create school spirit and to make enough noise to let the team know that the school is really behind them.”

This latest incarnation of Scots fandom cheers at fewer championships than the ’60s version, but CCC victories are sprinkled throughout the decade: Men’s Basketball in 2010 and 2014, Field Hockey in 2013, and Men’s Soccer in 2015 and 2018. In 2019, Softball has a record number of wins (20) in a season.

During the middle stretch of the decade, Dean Drukker ’17 and Dan Fauber ’16 slash Men’s Swimming records, and Zach Hall ’16 and Mason Casady ’18 do the same for Men’s Tennis. One woman and seven men make the 1,000-point club, with a new name topping the men’s list: Garrisson Duvivier ’19 at 1,935.

Then, in 2015, a small group of students led by Maddie Hopkins ’18 make a splash with a big idea: a Gordon College rowing team. What starts out as a student club grows into one of the more successful collegiate sculling programs in the U.S. Within a few months, they are competing in elite races like Head of the Charles in Boston. And within a few years, they are winning—taking home silver in the Jefferson Dad Vail Regatta in 2019. Thanks to a generous gift, the Rowing team has a boathouse to call home on nearby Chebacco Lake, one of the only suitable freshwater locations for crew training in Massachusetts.

In the Scotlight

Maddie Hopkins ’18

A young Maddie Hopkins spent countless afternoons on New York’s Mohawk River. Bundled in a snowsuit and curled up at the base of a boat with a carton of hot water to keep her hands warm, the rowing coaches’ daughter grew up listening to the swish of paddles and calls of a coxswain.

It was Hopkins’ turn to pull the oars at age six, and before long she was competing against much older rowers. Her youthful ambition persisted through college—Hopkins’ admissions counselor noted that Gordon didn’t offer rowing, but she confidently replied, “There will be rowing at Gordon by the time I’m done.”

When her first semester without the sport proved that she couldn’t bear to stay away for long, Hopkins kickstarted a rowing club at Gordon and competed once again. For three years Hopkins often rowed alone, but the experience that eventually equipped her to become an inspiring head coach when Gordon launched varsity Rowing. “I understand what you have to do to motivate yourself,” she says.

Her infectious enthusiasm sparked Gordon Rowing to grow like wildfire, and the team of 30 goes head-to-head with (and defeats) Ivy Leagues.

“There’s something really attractive about being around people who work as hard as you,” says Hopkins. “That time in a single boat allowed me to create that culture later because I know what it takes. I’m so much better equipped to create the space that these students need.”

2020s

COVID-19 isn’t the first pandemic to interrupt Athletics (the 1957–58 “Asian flu” pandemic cancelled a handful of games), but it does wreak havoc on competition in 2020 and 2021. Gordon’s new Golf team enters its second season, and the still fledgling Rowing teams excel. The Men’s and Women’s Lightweight teams join the Intercollegiate Rowing Association, placing them among the ranks of Harvard, Columbia and Stanford. Grant Veurink ’21 and Stephen Kaelin ’24 earn the title of national champions in May of 2021 after winning gold in the Jefferson Dad Vail Regatta.

In 2020, three basketball players make national headlines with stats that place them at the top of NCAA basketball: At 33.5 points per game, Eric Demers ’20 is the top point-maker in all of college basketball, even over players at top teams like Duke and Louisiana State University; with 24.4 points per game, Meghan Foley ’20 is the top scorer in CCC Women’s Basketball and second in NCAA DIII; and with 13.8 rebounds per game, Sarah (Gibbs) Haworth ’20 leads the CCC and is third in DIII. Demers and Foley join the 1,000-point basketball club—Demers earning the men’s top spot with 2,553.

Athletics Rising, an arm of the College’s highly successful Faith Rising comprehensive campaign, concludes in the spring of 2021, raising $5 million to support Gordon Athletics. A portion of these funds go to significant upgrades in the Bennett Athletic Center and Brigham Athletic Complex, including the new Kanas Court gymnasium, indoor softball and baseball facilities and a new track and turf. The Marc Whitehouse Broadcast Booth, named for the longtime Athletics coach and administrator, and the Juliana Baker Elliott Scoreboard, named for former softball player Juliana “Jill” (Baker) Elliott ’03, are both dedicated at Homecoming and Family Weekend 2021.

Today, 28 percent of the student body now participates in varsity or club Athletics—fostering, as the Hypernikon aptly stated a century ago—“the characteristics of leadership which the world demands.” 100 years of Christcentered, championship-driven, character-building competition, and many more to come.

2021 CCC Champions

Men’s and Women’s Soccer rang in Athletics’ 100th anniversary year by winning the CCC Championship this past fall. Siblings Nathan Talesnick ’22 andTaylor Talesnick ’24 hold the trophies.

In the Scotlight

Eric Demers ’20

As a child, Eric Demers arrived at TD Garden early to watch the Boston Celtics warm up before games. Last summer playing for San Antonio Spurs’ 2021 NBA Summer League squad, Demers saw the faces of enthralled children there early to see him.

“It was a flashback to being a little kid dreaming of something like this,” he says.

And now he takes the court as a pro with the Maine Celtics, an NBA G League team. While most NBA players come from NCAA Division I and II backgrounds, Demers says his Gordon career provided distinct advantages. Ample playing time developed Demers’ skills; becoming a Division III standout garnered national recognition; and close relationships developed him both as an athlete and as a person.

Those connections carry over into his latest endeavors even beyond basketball. Teammates stood beside him as he married Lauren (Edwards) Demers ’20 and traveled to watch him play in the NBA Summer League. “I try to remind myself that at the end of the day, the hoop is the same height, the basketball is the same, and I’ve been doing this for a very long time,” he says. “I’m trying to believe in myself that I am ready and embracing the opportunity.”

Follow the future of the Fighting Scots

See game schedules, live broadcasts, competition write-ups, athlete spotlights and more at athletics.gordon.edu

Instagram: gordonathletics Facebook: GordonCollegeAthletics Twitter: gordonathletics

Special thanks to:

Director of Athletics Jon Tymann ’83 and Sports Information Director Kendall Bukuras ’14 for generously lending their time and knowledge for this issue.

The Gordon Archives team for their extensive knowledge of institutional history and their quick, thorough research: Archivist Sarah St. Germain ’17, Archival Attendant Edward Ballock and student intern Anna Wertenberger ’22.

Two College centennial books—Thomas A. and Jean M. Askew’s A Faithful Past, An Expectant Future and Shaping a Heritage (Ann Ferguson, editor)—which proved to be invaluable resources.

The many, many authors of Gordon’s student publications over the years, whose candid and consistent coverage of Athletics helped weave together this story.