Dr. Charles Bertram Alumni of Distinction Award
The GLVC and the University of Southern Indiana lost a great leader, friend, and fan on June 29, 1999. Dr. Charles Bertram, professor and faculty athletics representative at USI and former president of the GLVC, contributed a great deal of time, energy, and effort to the league's success and was instrumental in conference operations for many years.
In remembrance of him, the GLVC established the Dr. Charles Bertram Alumni Award of Distinction in 1999. This year's recipients of the award were honored during halftime of the men's championship game of the Pepsi GLVC Basketball Tournament. This award is based upon academic excellence, athletic ability and achievement, character, and leadership of former GLVC student-athletes who have served their institution with personal distinction since their graduation. Postgraduate public or community service, and/or contributions to athletics at any level, are considered during the voting process.
Recipients must have graduated at least ten years prior to receiving the award. Congratulations are extended to the 2006 recipient of the Dr. Charles Bertram Alumni Award of Distinction.
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2011 Recipients
Keith Bailey, Missouri S&T (1965)
Bailey is the retired Chairman, President and CEO of the Williams Companies and currently serves as the non-executive chair of Cloud Peak Energy. He has been active in numerous civic, industry and charitable organizations on both a local and national level including serving as chairman of the United Way of America’s Board of Directors. Bailey serves on the Board of Trustees for the University of Tulsa and Missouri S&T and is also on the boards of Apco Argentina, Aegis Markwest Energy Partners and Integrys Energy.
A native of Kansas City, Bailey received his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from S&T in 1964 and later was awarded his Professional Master’s in Engineering and Honorary Doctorate in Engineering from the institution.
While a student-athlete for the Miners, Bailey started as a lineman for the football team and played four seasons in the basketball program. He was inducted into the S&T Athletic Hall of Fame in 1991.
He began his career at Continental Pipe Line Company and rose to manager of the company’s eastern operations. In 1973, he was hired by Williams Companies as an assistant to the vice president and nearly two decades later became president of the organization. He was named chairman and chief executive officer of the Tulsa-based company in 1994, the first person outside the Williams family to lead the company.
Bailey led Williams Companies through several energy-related acquisitions and oversaw the adoption of the company’s Core Values and Beliefs.
Bailey has provided numerous financial gifts to his alma mater that have transformed facilities, provided scholarships to scholar-athletes and funded a distinguished chair that brought a world-class mechanical engineering professor to Rolla.
He was among the first to make a gift of more than one million dollars to the S&T campus which assisted in the development of the Miners’ track facility. Bailey only agreed to have his name attached to Allgood-Bailey Sadium if his former coach was recognized first.
Bailey made the lead gift for the new Miner Dome and months later served as the Commencement speaker for the December 2010 graduation ceremony.
Bailey and his wife, Pat, have four married children and 11 grandchildren.
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Deb DiMatteo, Lewis University (1977)
Deb DiMatteo, an Associate Professor of Physical Education at College of DuPage, has dedicated her life to coaching athletes of all ages.
She completed stints in collegiate coaching at MacMurray College, Benedictine College and College of DuPage and retired from coaching after 26 seasons in 2004.
As a volleyball coach, she compiled an overall record of 510-138. DiMatteo’s teams earned 13 consecutive NCAA Tournament bids from 1981-93 and she took Benedictine to a runner-up finish in the NCAA Tournament in 1988.
She compiled a 660-270 overall record as a softball coach which included seven consecutive appearances in the NJCAA World Series and four National Championships (1998, 2000, 2001 and 2004). DiMatteo was named the NJCAA Softball Coach of the Year at DuPage in 2000, 2001 and 2004.
A member of the NJCAA Coaches, Benedictine and Lewis Hall of Fames, DiMatteo coached 97 All-Americans in volleyball and softball at Benedictine and DuPIage.
She founded Straight Down LTD, a sports marketing and management group devoted to youth volleyball competition and instruction and since 2001 has been a sponsor of Chicago’s Mayor Daley Holiday Sports Festival which provides volleyball competition to 3,000 athletes. DiMatteo serves as the Volleyball Chair for the event which attracts 75,000 fans to McCormick Place for a goodwill event. Funds generated from the Festival are given to four collegiate institutions to assist with sports team’s needs.
DiMatteo has been a member and officer of USA Volleyball in the Great Lakes Region since 1985 and has served 12 years on the active board of directors. She mentors junior volleyball clubs and has also developed a “work for tuition” program putting youth to work volunteering at events to earn tuition to play volleyball, an opportunity they otherwise would not be able to afford.
Additionally, DiMatteo is the Head Chairman of the Asics Junior National Championships which is an annual event hosted at Chicago’s Navy Pier that features 6,000 athletes from the United States and Puerto Rico.
A pioneer of Lewis women’s athletics teams in 1973, DiMatteo competed on the basketball, volleyball and track and field teams for the Flyers and spearheaded the formation of the first Flyers’ softball team in 1976. Following graduation, she obtained a master’s degree from Western Illinois University in 1978.
DiMatteo and husband George, the current head softball coach at Lewis, have three children, Jamie, Justin and Jonathan.
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2010 Recipient
Dr. Alex Lentsch, Northern Kentucky University (1991)
The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) has named Dr. Alex Lentsch the 2010 recipient of the Dr. Charles Bertram Alumni Award of Distinction. Lentsch is a 1991 graduate of Northern Kentucky University and currently a Professor and Vice Chairman of Research in the Department of Surgery at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. He will be presented the Dr. Charles Bertram Alumni Award of Distinction at the Enterprise Rent-A-Car GLVC Spring Banquet in St. Louis on Tuesday, May 25.
Lentsch earned a bachelor’s degree at Northern Kentucky University in Biological Sciences while also competing as a top pitcher for the Norse baseball team. He was an All-Great Lakes Valley Conference selection in 1988 and 1990 and also earned NCAA All-Region honors in 1989 and 1990. The Norse posted a 134-54 record during Lentsch’s four years as a student-athlete.
Following graduation at NKU, Lentsch obtained his Ph.D from the University of Louisville in Physiology and Biophysics and was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Pathology at the University of Michigan Medical School. Lentsh returned to the University of Louisville as an Associate in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics and as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery in 1998. He also served as a research scientist for the Veterans Affairs Medical Center while in Louisville.
He became an Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in 2002 and was granted tenure in 2007. In addition to serving as Vice Chairman of Research, Lentsch is also the Director of the Division of Research and the Director of the Trauma, Sepsis & Inflammation Research Group in the Department of Surgery. He also currently serves as a Research Scientist at the Shriners Hospitals for Children – Cincinnati Unit.
Lentsch was awarded the Hugh C. Williams Scientific Advancement Award by the University of Louisville Department of Surgery in 2001 and the Professional Achievement Award by the Northern Kentucky University Alumni Association in 2002.
He currently serves on numerous committees at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and has lectured and presented throughout the medical research community. In addition, Lentsch has served as a mentor for 14 research trainees over the past 12 years.
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2009 Recipient
Dr. Sandra Magnus, Missouri Univresity of Science & Technology (1986)
The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) has named Dr. Sandra (Hall) Magnus the 2009 recipient of the Dr. Charles Bertram Alumni of Distinction Award. Magnus is a 1986 graduate of Missouri S&T, and following a tremendous career as a soccer student-athlete for the Miners, recently completed her second space mission as an astronaut for the NASA space program. She will be presented the Dr. Charles Bertram Alumni of Distinction Award at the Enterprise Rent-A-Car GLVC Spring Banquet in St. Louis on Tuesday, May 19.
Magnus, a mission specialist with NASA, earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from Missouri S&T in 1986 and a master’s degree in electrical engineering in 1990. She earned a Ph.D. from the School of Material Science and Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology in 1996 before joining NASA.
While at Missouri S&T, Magnus was one of the top defenders on the women’s soccer team. She was a four-year letterwinner and helped guide the Miners to a 31-27-2 record during the program’s first four years. Magnus, who was inducted into the Missouri S&T Athletics Hall of Fame in 2003, anchored a defense that allowed just over a goal per game during her four years, including just 14 during the 1983 season when the Lady Miners posted a 10-5 record.
Upon graduating from Missouri S&T, Magnus worked for McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Company for five years as a stealth engineer, working on internal research and development studying the effectiveness of RADAR signature reduction techniques. She was also assigned to the United States Navy’s A-12 Attack Aircraft program, working on the propulsion system.
Magnus received the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award in 1994 and 1996 while at Georgia Tech and completed her thesis work involving investigations on materials of interest for “Scandate” thermionic cathodes.
Following receipt of her doctorate from Georgia Tech, Magnus joined NASA and completed two years of training and evaluation qualifying her for flight assignment as a mission specialist.
From 1998-2000, Magnus traveled to Russia to help cosmonauts train for trips to the space station.
She served as a capsule communicator in Mission Control at Houston’s Johnson Space Center in 2000 and Magnus made her first space mission in October of 2002, logging 11 days in space. While on the 11-day mission, Magnus drove the spacewalk mission and operated Space Shuttle Atlantis’ robotic arm.
In April, Magnus completed a three-month mission to the International Space Station as an Expedition 18 flight engineer and NASA Science officer. She flew to the space station aboard Space Shuttle Endeavor and upon docking with the International Space Station assisted with the implementation of equipment that will allow the space station to support a six-man crew.
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2008 Recipient
Pat White, University of Wisconsin-Parkside (1995)
 The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) has named Pat White the 2008 recipient of the Dr. Charles Bertram Alumni of Distinction Award. White is a 1995 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, and following a tremendous career as a student-athlete, has made his mark both professionally and within the community. He will be presented the award at the Enterprise Rent-A-Car GLVC Spring Banquet in St. Louis on Tuesday, May 20.
White, a two-time All-American soccer player while at UW-Parkside, went on to play professional soccer with the Milwaukee Wave for 10 years and captured two championship rings. In addition, he played for the US National Futsal Team and has been “capped” eight times while representing his country.
He appeared in the 1996 USA Gold Medal winning CONCACAF Cup team in Guatamala and also played with Team USA in 2004. After winning the gold medal, he went on to play in the FIFA Futsal Championship in Chinese Taipei in December of 2004.
In addition to playing professional indoor soccer with the Wave, White played professionally outdoors for the Milwaukee Rampage “A” League and the Chicago Stingers of the PDSL.
Pat has been a non-stop ambassador for soccer on and off the pitch. He has made hundreds of volunteer personal appearances visiting children in hospitals, at autograph signings, in shopping malls, schools, camps, and many other venues. In the last 10 years, White has visited over 100 schools to share his message about staying in shape, staying away from drugs and staying in school. Some of the charities White has assisted with include the March of Dimes, Boys and Girls Club, YMCA, Make-a-Wish, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Cystic Fybrosis of Milwaukee and United Cerebral Palsey of Milwaukee.
He currently works as a director for youth soccer and runs the business out of his home.
While at UW-Parkside, White set the school’s career mark for assists (51) and established single-season marks for goals (26) and assists (23). He also posted the Rangers’ record for assists in a game with five. In addition, White holds the single-season (59) and career (165) record for points.
In 1993, White’s assists total of 23 is the second-highest total in NCAA Division II history. He also ranks 11th all-time in NCAA Division II in career assists and 22nd all-time in points scored.
White was an All-American selection in 1994 and 1995 and was selected to play in the 1995 ISAA Senior Bowl. He was the 1995 GLVC Player of the Year and is a member of the UW-Parkside Hall of Fame. White’s teams posted an overall record of 69-14-4.
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2006 Recipient
Dennis Reinbold, University of Indianapolis (1983)
 The fourteen NCAA Division II member institutions of the Great Lakes Valley Conference have selected Dennis Reinbold as the recipient of the 2005 Dr. Charles Bertram Alumni Award of Distinction. Reinbold is a 1983 graduate of the University of Indianapolis where he was a baseball student-athlete.
An Indianapolis native, Reinbold grew up less than a mile from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Having spent his entire career in automotive retail, he is the principal of Indianapolis-based Dreyer & Reinbold, Inc., which owns six BMW, Volkswagen, and Infiniti dealerships in Indianapolis and Greenwood. The operations enjoy one of the highest customer loyalty rates in the country and are among the highest in BMW market penetration in the country.
Fulfilling his love for driving racing cars, he founded Dreyer and Reinbold Racing in the Indy Racing League in 1998, which he co-owns with driver Robbie Buhl, and employs the league’s three-time most popular driver, Sarah Fisher.
A member of the 500 Festival Committee, he serves on several national and international business advisory committees. A former pitcher for Indianapolis, Reinbold continues his love of sports as a Little League baseball and basketball coach for his children. He also plays in adult baseball leagues in Indianapolis, and his wife, Jennifer, is a professional tennis player.
Reinbold was a familiar voice on WICR in 2003 when he did a radio spot to promote the Lilly Endowment challenge at the University of Indianapolis. The spot was played during Greyhound basketball games as he reminded alumni to follow his lead in making a gift to the University of Indianapolis. The challenge was that if alumni raised three million dollars by December 31, 2003, the Lilly Endowment would match the funds dollar for dollar. The campaign was a success.
The Bertram award is based upon academic excellence, athletic ability and achievement, character, and leadership of former GLVC student-athletes who have served their institution with personal distinction since their graduation. Dr. Charles Bertram, who was a professor and faculty athletics representative at the University of Southern Indiana and former president of the GLVC, contributed a great deal of time, energy, and effort to the league’s success and was instrumental in conference operations for many years. The award was created in his honor after his death in 1999.
The Bertram Award will be presented to Mr. Reinbold on Sunday, March 5, 2006 during halftime of the GLVC men’s basketball championship game at Roberts Stadium in Evansville, Ind.
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2005 Recipient
Dr. David James Porta, Bellarmine University (1988)
Dr. David James Porta is a 1988 graduate of Bellarmine University, where he currently serves as an associate professor of biology.
From 1984-88, Dr. Porta was a pitcher for Bellarmine’s baseball team and served as team captain during his senior year. During his sophomore season in 1985, he went 6-1 on the mound to help the Knights compile a record of 33-16, just one win shy of the school record for most wins in a season.
Academically, Dr. Porta compiled a 3.37 overall GPA and received several awards for his accomplishments in the classroom, including the Raymond J. Treece Senior Merit Award in 1988.
Upon graduating from Bellarmine with majors in Premedical Biology and Business Administration, he earned his Ph.D. at the University of Louisville (U of L) Medical School, studying in the Department of Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology.
Beyond his associate professorship at Bellarmine, Dr. Porta serves as an adjunct assistant professor for Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology at U of L’s medical school. He is also a research anatomist for the Engineering Institute for Trauma and Injury Prevention at the University of Tennessee.
Dr. Porta resides in Louisville with his wife Nancy and two daughters, Layne (13) and Emily (6).
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2004 Recipients
Dr. Steven Giles, Northern Kentucky University (1993)
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Julie Fruendt, Lewis University (1985)
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2003 Recipients
Dr. Jane Weaver, University of Southern Indiana (1988)
Dr. Jane Weaver has parlayed an outstanding academic and athletic career at the University of Southern Indiana (USI), into a rewarding professional life as a surgical physician in Ecuador. Dr. Weaver graduated Summa Cum Laude from USI in only three and a half years, and was a regular member of the Dean's List. She went on to attend the Indiana University School of Medicine, where she earned her Doctor of Medicine in May 1993.
A member of the Screaming Eagles basketball team from 1985-88, Jane was a two-time GLVC Academic All-Conference selection. The Screaming Eagle Basketball Award winner in 1986, Jane served as team captain during the 1987-88 season. The Jane Weaver Recognition Award was established by the University of Southern Indiana in 1989, which was established to award scholarship aid to a student-athlete to continue their education in graduate or professional school. A highly decorated student at the IU School of Medicine, Dr. Weaver has received countless awards and recognition throughout her academic career. In addition, she has published four articles.
Dr. Weaver first became interested in mission work near the end of her five-year surgical residency in Louisville, KY. She intended to spend six months working in Latin America and then return to the United States to enter private practice. She ended up in Shell, Ecuador, working in a mission hospital at the edge of the jungle run by HCJB World Radio. She spent six months taking care of both the local Ecuadorian population as well as members of the various Indian groups that live in the eastern jungles. After returning home and practicing for two years with Indiana Surgical Specialists in Fort Wayne, IN, Dr. Weaver became convinced that God was leading her back to Ecuador for full-time mission work.
She is currently a full-time missionary with HCJB World Radio and is completing her rural year of medicine. Once she completes her residency requirement and acquires her Ecuadorian license, she will be able to work in the mission's healthcare facilities. One of her priorities will be the clinic in San Lorenzo, Ecuador, located on the coast of the northern part of the country approximately 8-10 miles from the Colombian border. San Lorenzo is one of the poorest areas in Ecuador and most of the people who live there make less than a dollar per day. Currently there are no adequate healthcare facilities in San Lorenzo, and it is difficult to find physicians willing to work there on a permanent basis because the town has become increasingly more dangerous from both violence from within the town itself and the increasing number of Colombian guerillas crossing the border.
Jane was born in Fort Wayne, IN.
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| Jim Vargo, Bellarmine University (1983)
The GLVC is pleased to recognize a gentleman who excelled in the classroom and on the track while a student-athlete at Bellarmine University. Jim Vargo has spent his life teaching and coaching at the college level, while at the same time assisting the blind and disabled to compete in world-class competition.
Jim enjoyed an outstanding cross country and track career at Bellarmine. He graduated from BU in 1983 with degree in mathematics while boasting a 3.95 cumulative grade point average. He went on to the University of Tennessee where he earned his masters in mathematics, and was awarded the Dryzer Fellowship in 1983.
A four-year member of the Knights cross country and track teams, Jim was a two-time GTE CoSIDA Academic All-America selection. The 1980 GLVC outdoor track 10,000 meter champion, he qualified for the NCAA National Cross Country Championships in 1980 and 1982. He was inducted into the Bellarmine University Athletic Hall of Fame in 2000, and was the school's first inductee into the Omnicron Delta Kappa Society.
Jim is the Assistant Athletic Director/Director of Track and Cross Country/ and head track coach at Bellarmine, and also serves as the University's Director of Athletic Recruiting. Active with many on-campus committees, he is also on the Board of Directors for the Greater Louisville Sports Commission and the Sunny Side Striders Running Club. He also served as the meet director for the 2001 GLVC Cross Country Championships in Louisville.
Jim has been the head track and field coach for the U.S. Association of Blind Athletes since 2000, after serving as the association's head distance coach since 1992. He was the head coach for the 1998 USA World Championship Marathon Team for the Blind. Jim served as a guide runner for both the USA Paralympic Track Team in 1992 and 1996, and USA World Championships for the Disabled in 1994 and 1998. He guided the Paralympic Torch Bearer into Olympic Stadium for the Opening Ceremonies of the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games and the Barcelona Paralympic Games in 1992. Jim was also a participant in the 1994 Winter Olympic Torch Bearer's Relay in Oslo, Norway.
Jim was profiled on CBS Television for his work with 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games, and was invited to meet and run with President Bill Clinton in1994, and invited back to the White House again in 2000.
He is a member of the U.S. Association of Blind Athletes, U.S. Track & Field Association, U.S. Track Coaches Association, U.S. Olympic Committee on Coaching the Disabled, and is the Chair for Disabled Athletics of the Kentucky Track and Field Association. Jim is single and resides in Clarksville, IN.
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2002 Recipients
LuAnn Humphrey, University of Indianapolis (1984)
LuAnn was a two-sport standout (basketball & softball) at the University of Indianapolis from 1980-84. She graduated cum laude from Indianapolis in 1984, earning her bachelor of arts degree in political science and an associate of science degree in business. She went on to attend the Indiana University School of Law, where she earned her Doctor of Jurisprudence.
Ranked in the school's top ten in both rebounding (No. 3 with 819) and scoring (No. 10 with 1,092 points), LuAnn helped lead the Greyhounds to a mark of 73-24 during her career. She was a first-team All-GLVC selection in 1984, the only season Indy competed in the conference during her career.
LuAnn was voted team MVP for three straight years, and helped lead the Hounds to a record of 20-3 in 1983-84. A starter at shortstop for the Indianapolis softball team, she was inducted into the University's Athletic Hall of Fame last February.
She is currently employed by the NCAA as a Basketball Certification Representative. In her position, she is responsible for the certification and monitoring of summer basketball events, as well as investigating amateurism, gambling, and agents issues. Prior to assuming her current position this January, LuAnn was on the NCAA Enforcement staff, where she was responsible for evaluating, investigating, and processing information concerning self-reported alleged violations of NCAA rules. She has been with the NCAA since 1999, and has over 12 years of experience in the legal profession. Prior to her work at the NCAA, LuAnn was in private law practice in Indianapolis from 1992-99. She also held the position of judge advocate general for the United States Air Force.
LuAnn's career also includes teaching and coaching. She was an adjunct professor at Chapman University in Orange, Calif., and coached basketball at Martinsville H.S. and St. Joan Catholic School in Indianapolis.
LuAnn is single and resides in Indianapolis.
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Dr. Paul Michael Bernier, University of Southern Indiana (1983)
Michael enjoyed an outstanding soccer career at the University of Southern Indiana and graduated in 1983 with a degree in psychology, boasting a 3.52 grade point average.
He went to the University of Missouri-St. Louis School of Optometry, where he earned his Doctor of Optometry in 1987. A Beta Sigma Kappa Honor Student, Dr. Bernier sported a 3.73 GPA and won the American Optometric Foundation Award for outstanding paper in the field of Optometric Administration.
A four-year starter on the Screaming Eagles soccer team, Michael was voted the team's most valuable defender in 1982. He helped lead USI to GLVC soccer championships in 1980, 1981, and 1982. The 1982 team was ranked No. 7 nationally, and earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
Michael is President/CEO of the Chippewa Eye Centre, Inc., in St. Louis, Mo. A Beta Sigma Kappa Noteworthy Practitioner, he was appointed instructor in Clinical Ophthalmology at Washington University School of Medicine. He also served as president of Managed Care Professionals, Inc., from 1995-1999.
Michael is the low vision specialist for the St. Louis Society for the Blind and Visually Impaired. He has participated in "American Promise: The Alliance for Youth Program," and also serves as a youth soccer and baseball coach.
Michael and his wife, Shelly, are the parents of Derek (9), Gabrielle (7), and Allee (4), and Matthew Michael, who was born on March 13 of this year. They reside in St. Louis, Mo.
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2001 Recipients
Lois Taurman, Bellarmine University (1983)
Larry Tucker, Lewis University (1982)
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