Press Release

Oct. 15, 2008

Northwest 'M' Club Hall of Fame Induction Set For Friday

David Alvey	David Imonite	Mary Beth (Bishop) Steele
Steve Hansley	Tom Franke	Russ Northup

MARYVILLE, Mo.-Northwest Missouri State athletics will hold its annual 'M' Club Hall of Fame banquet and induction ceremony at 6:30 p.m. Oct 17 in the J.W. Jones Student Union Ballroom.

The banquet falls on the evening prior to the Northwest football homecoming contest against Fort Hays State. Tickets for the event are $17 and can be purchased by calling Michele Steinmeyer at (660) 562-1977.

The 2008 induction class will include David Alvey (basketball), David Imonite (tennis), Mary Beth (Bishop) Steele (volleyball), Steve Hansley (football), Tom Franke (baseball) and Russ Northup (meritorious service).

With the 2008 class, the 'M' Club Hall of Fame includes 89 individuals and 35 teams. The first year for individual inductions was 1980, and teams were inducted beginning in 1989.

A brief description of each inductee follows:

• David Alvey - Alvey is the second-leading scorer in Northwest men's basketball history, totaling 1,747 points during a four-year career spanning 1973-77. He was a two-time NCAA District All-American and a three-time all-conference selection. He was his team's most valuable player all three seasons.
  
  Since his graduation, Alvey has lived in his native Indiana where he has served as an educator and was recognized as the Perry County Teacher of the Year in 2000. Last year his math team won the Indiana state title.
  
  
• David Imonite - Imonite is the only men's tennis player in program history to earn All-America honors. He won four MIAA singles championships and three MIAA doubles titles during his career, which spanned 1972-75. He advanced to the national quarterfinals in singles play in both 1973 and 1975.
  
  Imonite, a native of Nigeria, now resides in Houston, Texas, where he's started a number of new churches. He also remains an active and effective instructor of tennis.
  
  
• Mary Beth (Bishop) Steele - Steele posted 569 kills on the volleyball team in her senior year of 1984, a record that still stands in 2008. She was named the MIAA's Most Valuable Player that year and is one of two Northwest players in program history to earn that distinction. Steele totaled 1,299 kills from 1981-84 and her career attack percentage of .307 remains a program record.
  
  Steele resides with her family in Omaha where she serves as a Membership Volunteer Coordinator for a nature center.
  
  
• Steve Hansley - Hansley was a two-time All-America wide receiver and three-time all-MIAA performer from 1983-85. He ranks third in Northwest football history in both receiving yards (3,118) and receiving touchdowns (26) and fifth in receptions (196). He holds program records for catches in a game with 14 and for receiving yards in a game with 220 set against Nebraska-Omaha in 1984.
  
  Hansley currently resides in Kansas City where he's employed by the Kansas City School District.
  
  
• Tom Franke - With 25 career wins, Franke is the all-time winningest pitcher in Northwest history. His 255 innings pitched from 1977-80 remain a program record. He also ranks second in career strikeouts with 153. As a sophomore in 1978, Franke was 7-0 in eight starts with a school-record ERA of 1.36, which ranked third in the nation that season.
  
  Franke and the Bearcats won MIAA Division or Conference titles in 1978, 1979 and 1980 and appeared in the NCAA regional tournament all three seasons.
  
  Following his career at Northwest, Franke had a brief stint in professional baseball in the Baltimore Oriole organization. He now lives in Eureka, Mo., where he is a sales manager.
  
  
• Russ Northup - Northup, a graduate of Northwest in the 1960s, served a 28-year career in the United State Navy as an officer on active duty or in the naval reserves. Following his naval career, he moved to Mound City, Mo., where he was involved in a number of business opportunities including ownership of a nursing home and a car dealership.
  
  Northup joined the Marketing, Management faculty at Northwest in 1990. He was appointed the University's Faculty Athletics Representative in 1994 where he served until he retired in 2004. He returned as Interim Director of Compliance in 2005.