Archive for category: News & Notes

By Sports Information Director Mike Gibbons

This winter, change came to the Martin Luther College men’s basketball program, as Greg Holzhueter ’10 took over for Jim Unke DMLC ’83, who had served in that role for 19 seasons.

 

It marked the end of a 34-year coaching career for Unke that started at East Fork Lutheran High School in 1980, and included stops at St. Paul-New Ulm, Lakeside LHS, and MLC. During that 34-year career, Unke compiled 380 wins.

His MLC resume includes 164 wins (96 in UMAC play), three UMAC Coach of the Year Awards, two regular season conference championships, and one UMAC Tournament title. His high school coaching career included one state championship, three conference championships, and three Coach of the Year awards.

During the 2015-16 season, Unke decided he would step out of his role as men’s basketball coach at the end of the season to put a greater focus on his job as the athletic director at MLC, a job he has held since 1997. It was a difficult decision, but one he felt necessary.

“I absolutely love coaching,” Unke said. “I really hate to see it end, but with the responsibilities as the AD growing, something had to give.”

During his tenure as the athletic director, Unke has helped the Knights remain competitive in 16 varsity sports and has also played a pivotal role in the expansion of the school’s athletic facilities, including the opening of the school’s new soccer facility and baseball field in the last ten years.

One year into his retirement from coaching, Unke is very thankful for the chance he had to impact the lives of so many young men throughout his career. “It was a privilege to coach here for 19 years. The mission of our college puts athletics in a different perspective compared to many we compete against, but also creates an environment for competition that is unique and unmatched anywhere else. I am very thankful to all the young men I’ve had the opportunity to coach.”

Holzhueter, a former player under Unke who still holds the MLC records for assists (370) and steals (170), took over the men’s basketball program this season after three seasons at the helm of the Bethany Lutheran College men’s basketball program. The challenge of replacing his former coach is one he looks forward to in the coming years.

“Taking over for my coach at MLC, Coach Jim Unke, is an honor and a privilege,” Holzhueter said. “I have the utmost respect for him as a coach and a person. Taking over the program is also a responsibility I don’t take lightly, because I have a very clear understanding of what Coach Unke built over the last 19 years as head coach of MLC’s men’s basketball program.

“My understanding comes from having played for Coach Unke for four years and having coached against him for a total of five years,” he continued. “His teams had a reputation of playing with intensity, heart, and toughness. He taught his players, including me, the value of hard work and competition without ever having to say a word about it. My biggest priority in taking over for Coach Unke is maintaining the culture that he built during his 19-year tenure, because that culture is what has made MLC men’s basketball so special.

 

Dr. Carl Schalk, noted Lutheran composer, author, and lecturer, gave a lecture in the Wittenberg Auditorium before the MLC Christmas concert December 3. In honor of the Reformation anniversary, Schalk presented “Luther on Music After 500 Years: Paradigms of Praise Revisited.”

Dr. Schalk taught church music at Concordia-River Forest (now Concordia University Chicago, or CUC) from 1965 to 2004, guiding the development of the university’s Master of Church Music degree program and helping establish the Center for Church Music, which holds many manuscripts of 20th-century composers of Lutheran church music.

He is well known for his own numerous choral compositions, several books, and more than 100 hymn tunes and carols published in Christian hymnals. The MLC choirs sang three Schalk compositions as part of their Christmas concert program that weekend.

• “Where Shepherds Lately Knelt” (text: Jaroslav Vajda)
• “There Is No Rose of Such Virtue” (text: anonymous)
• “Before the Marvel of This Night” (text: Jaroslav Vajda)

Dr. Schalk has had a major influence on WELS worship in many ways. The director of the WELS Commission on Worship, Bryan Gerlach WLS ’83, studied with him while earning his master’s degree in church music at Concordia, and seven MLC music professors can claim the same honor: Professors David Bauer DMLC ’78, Grace Hennig DMLC ’88, Edward Meyer (emeritus) DMLC ’58, Kermit Moldenhauer DMLC ’71, John Nolte (emeritus) DMLC ’68, Joyce Schubkegel (emeritus), and Ronald Shilling (emeritus) DMLC ’64.

Professor Joyce Schubkegel taught with Schalk at Concordia, and Professors Hennig and Moldenhauer were Dr. Schalk’s advisees.

Professor Hennig, who arranged the talk, spoke about the centrality of Christ in Schalk’s music and ministry: “At the heart of everything Dr. Schalk teaches about Lutheran worship is the phrase Viva vox evangelii—the living voice of the gospel. For Luther, this is the message that must be beautifully proclaimed and beautifully received.”

Hennig mused that perhaps a young MLC student in the audience would have heard Dr. Schalk for the first time that day and then been motivated “to take up the torch, and do the digging and thinking and asking about Martin Luther and music.”

11th Annual Thalassa Prize: Martin Luther College has now begun accepting submissions for the 11th annual Thalassa Prize. This $1000 award is given to the best photo-and-essay submission from an MLC student or graduate who has served in an international ministry.

More than 100 entries have been submitted during the last decade, with the Thalassa Prize awarded to these ten: Kristina Wessel, Dominican Republic (2007); Rachel Kionka, Malawi (2008); Rachel Meyer, Southeast Asia (2009); Gretchen Schmiege, Southeast Asia (2010); Amber Schlomer, Southeast Asia (2011); Paul Kelm, Czech Republic (2012); Maria Reese, Malawi (2013); Chris Pluger, Zambia (2014); Sara Schmeling, Russia (2015); and Johannah Crass, Antigua (2016).

Might you be the winner for 2017?

Submission guidelines: mlc-wels.edu/thalassa
Deadline: April 30, 2017

 

See all the winning entries plus additional photos in the special anniversary publication, Martin Luther College Thalassa Prize 2007-2016, at mlc-wels.edu/go/thalassa-10.

The MLC Ladies’ Auxiliary held their annual fall meeting October 15. This year they pledged more than $30,000 for two dozen projects—in addition to their standing projects:
MLC scholarships, Daylight USA, and the MLC library.

To learn more about this active organization, visit mlc-wels.edu/ladies-auxiliary.