NWC to honor former athletes Feb. 5

The Northwestern College Red Raider Club will induct two alumni into its Athletic Hall of Fame and recognize its 2010 co-coaches of the year and Barnabas Award recipient on Saturday, Feb. 5. They will be honored at the Athletic Recognition Luncheon at 11:30 a.m. in the Vermeer Dining Room and at halftime of the men’s basketball game against Hastings College, which starts at 4 p.m.

Ben Gerleman of Rock Rapids and Kirk Maasdam of Orange City will bring the number of Hall of Famers to 94. Jay McKinstrey of Pella, Iowa, and Orange City’s Chris Yaw will receive Red Raider Club Coach of the Year honors. The Rev. Michael Hardeman of Alton will receive the Barnabas Award.

Gerleman, a 2001 Northwestern graduate, earned NAIA All-American second team honors in basketball in 2000 after averaging 19.6 points. A senior captain on the squad that won the NAIA Div. II national championship in 2001, Gerleman averaged 16.5 points and was named to the all-tourney team. He is the ninth leading scorer in school history with 1,691 points, third in career three-point field goals with 250, and 20th in assists with 231.

A 1997 graduate of Creston High School, Gerleman teaches middle school math and serves as the head high school basketball coach for the Central Lyon School District. He previously coached at George-Little Rock High School, where he led the Mustangs to the Class 1A state title in 2006 and second place in 2008.

Maasdam, a 1991 alumnus, is the second-leading passer in Northwestern football history, throwing for 7,016 yards. In addition, his 62 career touchdown passes rank fourth. As quarterback for the 1988 team that reached the NAIA quarterfinals and finished with a 12-1 record, he threw for 3,091 yards and 31 touchdowns, both second in the Raiders’ all-time single-season records.  

A 1987 graduate of Lynnville-Sully High School, Maasdam works for Orange City’s water department and has been an assistant coach for the Northwestern football team since 2004.

Jay McKinstrey, a 1986 Northwestern graduate, has been the head football coach at Pella High School for 14 years, with his teams compiling a 111-41 record. He was named the Iowa Sports Connection’s Class 3A Co-Coach of the Year in 2010 after leading the Dutch to a 12-1 record, falling in the semifinals to eventual state champion Solon. He received the Iowa Football Coaches Association’s 2009 Coach of the Year recognition after his squad finished as state runner-up. McKinstrey also was named regional coach of the year in 2008 and district coach of the year twice.

A first team All-American quarterback for the Raiders in 1985, he graduated from Maurice-Orange City High School in 1982. He also teaches business courses at Pella High.

Chris Yaw, a 1992 alumnus, is in his seventh season as an assistant coach for Northwestern College’s women’s basketball team, which won the NAIA Div. II national championship in 2010 and 2008. The Raiders compiled a record of 165-40 in his six previous years on the coaching staff. In charge of the team’s defensive play, Yaw has established Northwestern as one of the top defensive teams in the conference.

A two-year starter for the men’s basketball team, Yaw served as a captain on the 1992 NAIA Div. II national runner-up squad. A 1988 graduate of Harris-Lake Park High School, he teaches math at MOC-Floyd Valley Middle School. He previously served as the middle school principal in Spencer, Iowa, and an assistant women’s basketball coach at Wayne State College. He also directed the 2001 MOC-Floyd Valley High School girls’ basketball team to a state berth and served as the head coach for four years.

Michael Hardeman, who graduated from Northwestern in 2000, will receive the Barnabas Award, which is bestowed upon former Raiders who encouraged others to strive for their best performance athletically, academically and personally, and who used their sport as a way to bring others to a knowledge of Jesus Christ. He was manager of the men’s basketball team during his years at Northwestern and received the squad’s Most Inspirational Award as a senior. Hardeman was also a finalist for the 1999–2000 Sears Director’s Cup Postgraduate Scholarship.

Hardeman, a native of Leighton, Iowa, is a 1996 graduate of Pella Christian High School. He and his wife, Elizabeth, are co-pastors of Alton Reformed Church. In March they will begin their new role as co-pastors of the Reformed Church in Plano, Texas.

The public is invited to attend the Athletic Recognition Luncheon. For more information, contact Karen Vander Pol in Northwestern’s athletic department, 712-707-7280 or karen@nwciowa.edu.