Six former University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point athletes are being inducted into the school's athletics Hall of Fame Saturday. The ceremony is in conjunction with the university's homecoming celebration this weekend.
The six honorees are: Bob Berceau, who was a two-time All-American wrestler before graduating in 1991; Jerry Lawetzki, who led the men's basketball team in scoring for three straight years and graduated in 1967; Beth Mears, a six-time women's track All-American and 1990 NCAA Division III shot put champion, who graduated in 1992; George Rivers, a 1965 graduate who was a two-time All-Conference running back for the football team; Debbi Shane Smith, who was an All-Conference standout in both basketball and softball, graduating in 1990; and Don Solin, an eight-time letterwinner in football and baseball who graduated in 1978.
Berceau was the first two-time All-American and first National Champion wrestler at UW-SP. He is also a member of the Pointer wrestling All-History team at 134 pounds. Berceau finished with a career record of 94-31 with 21 career pins and captured his NCAA Division III title at 134 pounds in 1989.
Berceau is taking over the head wrestling coach position at Luxemberg-Casco High School this winter from Emil Kuhn, who retired after coaching for decades at the school.
Lawetzki was a four-year letterwinner for the UW-SP men's basketball team. He led the Pointers in scoring three seasons in a row, capping off his streak with a 20.9 points per game average as a senior. His average that year is impressive because a severe hamstring injury limited him to just 12 points a game during the first half of the season. He then averaged more than 27 points per game the second half of the season.
Mears was a NCAA Division III All-American and National Champion, but almost didn't even compete for the Pointers. She was not recruited for track and field but chose UW-SP because of its biology program and called coach Len Hill in the fall of 1987 to ask if she could compete on the track team.
Mears qualified for the NCAA Division III meet seven times in the shot put and was an All-American six times. She captured the National Championship in the indoor shot put in 1990 before finishing second in the national outdoor meet.
Rivers was among the top rushers in the Wisconsin State University Conference during his four years with the Pointers, averaging almost five yards a carry during his career. He was an All-Conference selection in 1961 and 1964.
After earning his Bachelor's Degree in Education at UW-SP in 1965, he earned his Master's Degree in social work at the University of Iowa in 1969. Rivers died in September 1972 at the age of 30.
Shane Smith was a member of the UW-SP women's basketball National Championship team in 1986-87. She scored 20 points in the championship game against Concordia-Moorhead (Minn.) and was named to the NCAA-All-Tournament team as a freshman. Shane Smith was a First-team All-Conference performer in 1988 and earned honorable mention honors in 1989.
She also was an All-Conference performer for the softball team. Shane Smith earned All-Conference honors in 1898 and 1990 and was named to the First-Team All-Midwest Region team in 1990 as a shortstop.
Solin was a three-year starter at linebacker for the UW-SP football team and a four-year starter on the Pointers' baseball team. He was a three-time captain in football and started at first and third base for the baseball team. In 1977, he received All-District honors in baseball.
Following graduation, he has competed in logging competitions and finished second in the 1995 national competition.