2023 Athletic Hall of Fame Class

Basketball, Football, Soccer, Cross Country/Track & Field Represented

Friday, August 11, 2023

Benedictine College has announced the 2023 Class for the school’s Raven Athletic Hall of Fame, with the induction ceremony set for Saturday, Oct. 21, during the school’s Homecoming Weekend. Truman Ashby ’08, Abigail Winder ’09, Coach Rex Lane (posthumously), and the 1963 Men’s Soccer Team will be recognized during halftime of the afternoon football game and will be inducted at an evening banquet.

Truman Ashby ’08 played center for the Raven football squad from 2004 to 2007, anchoring an offensive line that rarely let a defender reach the quarterback. In 2005, the team averaged only one sack per game over the entire season. In 2007 he won the Rimington Award as the most outstanding center in NAIA football, the first Raven in history to receive the honor. He finished his career as a three-time first-team All-Heart Conference offensive lineman and two-time AFCA-NAIA All-American offensive lineman.

Abigail “Abby” Winder ’09 played Women's Basketball for the Ravens from 2005 to 2009. She was a prolific scorer, finishing her career with the second highest point total in program history (1,439 points), which still ranks as Number 4 in all-time scoring today. She is also Number 2 in career free-throw percentage (81.5 %). She collected a lot of honors, including First-Team All-Heart Conference twice, Daktronics-NAIA Scholar Athlete twice, Second Team All-Heart conference, NAIA All-America Third Team, and NAIA All-America Honorable Mention.

Rex Lane served Benedictine College as a Cross Country and Track & Field coach for 20 years, retiring in 2018. The programs saw a lot of success under his leadership. He coached over 50 All-Heart Cross Country student-athletes, a combined 450 All-Heart selections between indoor and outdoor track, and 54 Daktronics-NAIA Scholar Athletes. He was named Heart Conference Cross Country Coach of the Year six times. His Women’s Cross Country teams earned 11 straight NAIA Scholar Team awards and Men’s Cross Country earned seven straight NAIA Scholar Team awards. He also coached the 2016 Women’s Indoor 4x800 relay team to the 2016 NAIA National Championship. He passed away earlier this year.

The 1963 Men’s Soccer Team became the first varsity soccer team at the college, rising up from what had previously been a club sport. Richard Wittmann, a humanities professor at St. Benedict’s College (now Benedictine College), was instrumental in bringing soccer and soccer players to Atchison. He was from St. Louis and created a pipeline of high-quality players from that area to the school. He helped build the club program to the point where it was ready to become a varsity sport in 1963. The fledgling varsity team was coached by Bill Samuels, who led the group to an undefeated season and an invitation to the NAIA National Championship Tournament. However, the college had just dropped its football program due to financial difficulties and would not allow the soccer team to travel to Maryland for the championship. During the course of the season, the team beat archrival Rockhurst University twice and also defeated Kansas State University. The highly talented team outscored opponents by more than 2:1, putting 40 goals in the back of the net for the season versus allowing only 18. This year, the group is celebrating its 60th anniversary as the pioneers of men’s varsity soccer at Benedictine College.

Founded in 1858, Benedictine College is a Catholic, Benedictine, residential, liberal arts college located on the bluffs above the Missouri River in Atchison, Kansas. The school is honored to have been named one of America’s Best Colleges by U.S. News & World Report, the best private college in Kansas by The Wall Street Journal, and one of the top Catholic colleges in the nation by First Things magazine and the Newman Guide. It prides itself on outstanding academics, extraordinary faith life, strong athletic programs, and an exceptional sense of community and belonging. It has a mission to educate men and women within a community of faith and scholarship.