Sprecher, Zigler, Wagoner highlight 2021 Hall of Fame Class

Induction ceremony set for Saturday

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (10/18/2021) — An All-American pole vaulter, a trail-blazing head coach and an All-American linebacker will be the newest Fighting Scots inducted into the Monmouth College M Club Hall of Fame Saturday as part of the college's Homecoming weekend festivities.

Pole vaulting national champion Peter Sprecher, conference-winning coach Kathy Wagoner and the Scots all-time leading tackler Justin Zigler are slated to become the 37th class to be inducted into the college's athletic Hall of Fame. The 8:30 a.m. ceremony on Oct. 23 will be held in the Huff Athletic Center fieldhouse. The inductees will then be recognized during pregame festivities and coin toss ceremony before the Scots' football team hosts Cornell College in a special 2 p.m. kickoff at April Zorn Memorial Stadium.

Peter Sprecher - Class of 2008

Peter Sprecher and his talented teammates - including one who excelled in the same event - helped vault Fighting Scots track and field into national prominence in the first decade of the 21st century.

Monmouth recorded back-to-back top-three NCAA finishes, starting at the 2007 Division III outdoor meet, when Sprecher captured the national title in the pole vault and the 10 team points that went with it as the Scots placed third.

In the following indoor season in 2008, Monmouth placed second in the NCAA. Sprecher was one of four Scots to post a top-five individual finish, with another being fellow pole vaulter Jonny Henkins, who won the title.

In all, Sprecher was a four-time All-American and six-time national qualifier. He also won the Midwest Conference pole vault title six times. At the time of his induction, his best vaults of 17'4-1/2 outdoors and 17'1-1/2 indoors were No. 2 on Monmouth's all-time list.

Kathy Wagoner - Head Coach

The first chapter in the history of women's intercollegiate athletics at Monmouth College is the decade following the passing of Title IX in 1972.

The second chapter is a boom period in the 1980s, authored by championship-winning coach Kathy Wagoner.

Wagoner took over the volleyball program in 1981 and led the spikers to back-to-back conference titles in her first two seasons. The Scots posted 20 or more victories in four of her six seasons, going 110-51.

In softball, Wagoner saved her best seasons for the end of her six-year tenure, winning South Division titles in 1985 and 1987 and claiming the conference title in her final campaign. Her teams went 94-62-1.

Wagoner also coached basketball and tennis, leading four varsity sports in all.

At the time of her induction, Wagoner had Monmouth's top winning percentage in volleyball and softball. She also coached both sports at Knox College, retiring from there after 35 years in higher education.

Justin Zigler - Class of 2006

Led by a Hall of Fame quarterback and running back, Monmouth churned out 44 points per game in the 2005 regular season. But in order to post a then-record 10 victories, the Fighting Scots still had to stop their opponents. No one did that better that season or since than All-American linebacker Justin Zigler.

In his senior season, Zigler made a then-record 115 tackles, including a record 23 behind the line of scrimmage. That pushed his career total to 361, which led the Scots' all-time category by a wide margin at the time of his induction.

The honors rolled in for his special season, as Zigler was named to the Football Gazette All-American First Team and was the organization's West Region Linebacker of the Year. Zigler made the D3football.com All-West Region Third Team and was named the Midwest Conference's Defensive Player of the Year, one of his three All-MWC selections as linebacker.

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