Former Bluejays greats John Franz and Colleen Ratzlaff Squires were inducted into the Tabor College Athletics Hall of Fame at the annual Tabor College Hall of Fame Banquet, held Saturday May 16th at the Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church.
Franz participated in soccer, basketball, baseball, tennis, and track and field while at Tabor College. A 1961 graduate who lives in Buhler, Kan., Franz played and lettered all four years in soccer, basketball, and track and field. He lettered three years in baseball and once in tennis.
Franz was named the soccer team?s ?Most Valuable Player? as a senior, leading the team to eight wins and one tie. Tabor won third place at the NAIA Tournament, where the Bluejays represented the Midwest on the basis of their superior record.
Franz held the school?s javelin record during all four of his years with the Tabor track and field program.
Colleen (Ratzlaff) Squires, a 1990 graduate who lives in Kansas City, Mo., was a four-year letter winner in basketball while at Tabor College. She was selected Most Valuable Player and named to the KCAC All-Conference first team her sophomore, junior, and senior years. Colleen was chosen to the NAIA All-District 10 team and the National Christian College Athletic Association All-District 6 team her junior and senior years.
During her senior year, she was named to the NCCAA All-American First Team, and the NCCAA National All-Tournament Team. Colleen also was honored as Tabor College’s Most Valuable Female Athlete her junior and senior years, 1988-89 and 1989-90.
Vice President for Athletics Rusty Allen called the evening ?a huge success.
?We were pleased with the results of our silent auction, the meal was outstanding, we had wide representation from our current athletes and coaches,? he said. ?I was struck by both Colleen and John’s enthusiasm and humility in regard to their respective experiences as athletes at Tabor College.?
The Bluejays also honored seniors Silas Hibbs and Breanna Wray and junior Jessica Burden.
Hibbs, an all-KCAC soccer player and two-time conference champion pole vaulter from Hays, was named ?Male Athlete of the Year.? Hibbs was elected team captain and earned three awards with the soccer team: all-KCAC men’s soccer team, academic all-conference, and NAIA Academic All-American.
Burden, a soccer player and hurdle champion from Little Elm, Texas, was named ?Female Athlete of the Year.? Burden has lettered for three years in soccer and two years in track and field. She was team captain and was selected to the all-KCAC women’s soccer team. She was twice named KCAC ?Player of the Week,? and once named NAIA ?National Player of the Week.?
Wray is an academic all-conference winner the last three years and an NAIA all-America Scholar Athlete the last two years.
She is a four-year track and field letter winner, an all-KCAC track and field performer, and a five-time NAIA national qualifier in track and field.
Burden will compete in the 100 meter hurdles and the 4×100 meter relay at the NAIA National Track and Field Championships this week in St. Louis, Mo.
