Recent
Ohio Wesleyan University graduate J. David Gatz (Delaware,
OH/Hayes) has been named the winner of the 2010 North
Coast Athletic Conference Don Hunsinger Award.
Gatz
starred for the Battling Bishop men’s swimming & diving
team for four years, serving as team captain as a junior and a
senior. A four-time North Coast Athletic Conference champion, and
five-time All-NCAC performer, he won both the 100-yard and 200-yard
breaststrokes in 2008 and 2009. Gatz qualified for the NCAA
Division III Championships three times, and earned five All-America
certificates. He was the Battling Bishops’ team MVP all four
years, holds the conference record in the 200 breast, and holds the
OWU mark in both the 100 and 200 breast.
In
the classroom, he posted a 3.91 grade-point average in
pre-medicine, biochemistry and pre-professional zoology. He was a
three-time ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District IV and ESPN The
Magazine Academic All-America. Selected to Phi Beta Kappa, Gatz is
a Rhodes Scholarship Semifinalist, an NCAA Post-Graduate
scholarship recipient, and was twice named OWU’s Dale J.
Bruce Presidential Scholar Athlete of the Year. Among his numerous
university awards are those for academic excellence in chemistry,
mathematics and zoology.
Gatz
is an active volunteer, having raised money for the Pakistani
branch of Doctors Without Borders, Circle K, political campaigns
and Relay for Life. He coaches youth swimmers and served as chair
of OWU’s Chemistry Department Student Board.
He
plans to attend medical school with the intention of becoming a
pediatrician.
Gatz
was one of five outstanding nominees considered by the selection
committee. The candidates were:
•
Andrew Clair, football, basketball, Kenyon
College
• Justin Keener, soccer, The College of
Wooster
• Peter Shorten, soccer, Denison
University
• Ted Winders, lacrosse, Wittenberg
University
This
award commemorates former Oberlin administrator and coach
Don Hunsinger, who had a far-reaching influence on
the athletes he coached in a wide variety of sports. Over more than
three decades, Hunsinger served Oberlin as athletic director,
chairman of the department of physical education, had stints as
head coach for Yeoman football, baseball, and men’s and
women’s tennis, and assisted with the men’s and
women’s basketball programs. Four times he earned NCAC Coach
of the Year recognition, twice in men’s tennis and twice in
women’s. Hunsinger, who retired from the College in 2008,
continues to serve the conference as Director of Tennis and assists
in the administration of the conference’s swimming &
diving championship.
The
award recognizes one male senior student-athlete who has
distinguished himself throughout his collegiate career in the areas
of academic achievement, athletics excellence, service and
leadership. Each conference institution can nominate a
distinguished male student-athlete for the honor. A committee of
North Coast Athletic Conference administrators, in conjunction with
the conference office, makes the selection.
NCAC Don Hunsinger Award
Winners
2010 - J. David Gatz, Ohio Wesleyan
2009 - Kyle Holliday, Ohio Wesleyan