After a beneficiant dedication by Wolverine Mutual Insurance coverage Co., Southwestern Michigan Faculty introduced immediately that the principle hallway within the Charles O. Zollar Constructing will probably be renamed “Wolverine Mutual Insurance coverage Corridor of Champions.”
Bruce Laing, Chairman, and Dave Moran, Vice President of Advertising and marketing, representing Wolverine Mutual, offered Dr. Joe Odenwald, SMC President, with a verify for $10,000 on Monday, Jan. 31. This present, plus an earlier donation from the corporate, will probably be used to finish the brand new 40-foot-long glass case on the west aspect of the Corridor, which incorporates dozens of SMC championship trophies, together with the 1973, 1974 and 1975 NJCAA cross nation nationwide championship {hardware}. The school will even set up a everlasting plaque honoring not solely Wolverine Mutual, but additionally the entire different 44 donors.
Future Wolverine presents will assist fund transforming of the east aspect of the Corridor to honor SMC’s wealthy athletics legacy, which incorporates 10 NJCAA nationwide championships; 58 All-People who competed in cross nation, volleyball, basketball, baseball and wrestling; and 4 Nationwide Corridor of Fame athletes and coaches.
Laing, who served as SMC’s Head Golf Coach from 1975 by 1979 and led the golf staff to a 1978 state championship, commented, “After all we wish to be part of this athletics rebirth. SMC has so many thrilling issues occurring proper now that will probably be helpful for the scholars and the neighborhood. It’s nice to see.”
“We very a lot recognize Wolverine Mutual Insurance coverage, and particularly Bruce and Jim Laing, in not solely honoring the legacy of SMC Athletics, however supporting our future student-athletes,” mentioned Odenwald. “It’s one other instance of an area firm, actually proper throughout the street from campus, understanding the affect that this athletics revival may have and leaping in to assist, and we’re grateful. We predict this Corridor of Champions will carry alumni again to city to look at video games and reconnect with the optimistic experiences they’d right here.”
Following the return of nationally-ranked cross nation groups to competitors final fall, the SMC Board of Trustees in Could approved the return of NJCAA males’s and ladies’s basketball, ladies’s volleyball and males’s wrestling for Fall 2022. SMC can also be beginning a ladies’s aggressive dance staff, a collegiate bass-fishing staff and a pep band to deepen scholar engagement.
Wolverine Mutual Insurance coverage was based in 1917 in Dowagiac, and for over 100 years has offered car, dwelling and different private property safety for generations of consumers in Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin. The corporate is constantly acknowledged by impartial brokers as a “High 5” service for customer support, declare dealing with, accessibility and consistency.
