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Morningside College inducted former standout athletes Larry Bolanos, Brittany Carper, Megan (Cloud) Ganz, Clarence “Bud” Mounts, and the 1954 football team into the M-Club Hall of Fame as part of its Homecoming 2012 festivities on Saturday, Oct. 13.
In addition to the Hall of Fame inductees, Jason Kleis was recognized as the 2012 M-Club Coach of the Year.
Bolanos, a 1973 Morningside graduate who resides in Sioux City, was a standout competitor for the college’s wrestling team. Bolanos won 41 matches in his two-year Morningside career for the fifth highest total in school history at the time of his graduation. He came to Morningside after a two-year career at Eastern Iowa Community College, where he was a junior college state champion and a two-time junior college national qualifier.
As a junior at Morningside, Bolanos finished second in the 126 lb. division of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) National Tournament and was the North Central Conference (NCC) 127 lb. runner-up. Bolanos was the NAIA District 15 126 lb. champion and a NAIA national qualifier as a senior.
Bolanos is already a member of the Fort Madison High School Athletic Hall of Fame. Bolanos became the first state champion in Fort Madison history when he captured the Class AA 127 lb. state crown in 1968. His wrestling coach at Fort Madison was Mick Pickford, a 1954 Morningside graduate and member of the M-Club Hall of Fame.
Carper, a 2005 graduate who resides in Kenosha, Wis., and Ganz, a 2005 graduate who resides in Sioux City, provided the driving force that led Morningside to back-to-back NAIA Division II Women’s Basketball National Championships in 2004 and 2005.
Carper, a two-time NAIA All-American and two-time first-team All-Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) performer, is the third leading scorer and 10th leading rebounder in Morningside history with 2,183 career points and 719 career rebounds, respectively. She graduated as Morningside’s all-time career leader with 734 assists, 359 steals, and 542 made free throws. Carper averaged 16.3 points, 5.5 assists, 5.4 rebounds, and 2.7 steals per game over her Morningside career and was a four-year starter.
Carper was named the 2004 NAIA Division II National Player of the Year, the GPAC Player of the Year, and was a NAIA II first-team All-American as a junior when she led the nation in assists with an average of 7.2 per game and ranked third nationally in steals and fifth in scoring with averages of 4.0 steals and 21.5 points per game. She was the Mustangs’ second leading rebounder with an average of 5.8 caroms per game. That season she set Morningside single-season records with 818 points, 272 assists, 151 steals, and 407 made free throws and broke school single-game records with 45 points and 13 assists in separate games against Northwestern College.
Carper earned second-team NAIA II All-America honors as a senior despite being hampered by a knee injury for much of the season. She still averaged 14.7 points and 5.1 rebounds per game and led the Mustangs with 217 assists for an average of 5.9 per game.
Ganz made a school-record 317 3-point field goals during her career and earned a reputation as one of the best “big game” performers in Morningside history when she was named the Most Valuable Player at both the 2004 and 2005 NAIA II National Tournaments. She is the second leading scorer in Morningside history with 2,209 career points to go along with career totals of 606 rebounds, 466 assists, and 352 steals. Ganz had career averages of 16.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 2.6 steals per game as a four-year starter.
Ganz earned second-team All-GPAC honors as a junior when she averaged 18.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. Ganz played perhaps the greatest game of her Morningside career in the 2004 NAIA II National Championship Game when she scored 34 points behind an eight-for-11 shooting performance from beyond the 3-point arc to lead the Mustangs to an 87-74 victory against Cedarville University.
As a senior, Ganz was the 2005 NAIA II National Player of the Year, the GPAC Player of the Year, and a NAIA II first-team All-American after she led the Mustangs in scoring and rebounding with averages of 19.6 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. She also topped the team with 125 steals for an average of 3.3 per game and tied a school record by making 25 consecutive free throw attempts. Ganz was the Mustangs’ leading scorer in 25 of their 38 games, including all five of their national tournament contests. She scored a game-high 28 points to lead the Mustangs to a 75-65 win against Cedarville in the NAIA II National Championship Game.
Mounts, a 1957 graduate who resides in San Antonio, Texas, was a standout football player who played on two of the three NCC championship football teams in Morningside history. As a sophomore in 1954, Mounts’ play as a lineman helped lead Morningside to the NCC co-championship with South Dakota State. Mounts earned first-team All-NCC honors as a tackle in his 1956 senior campaign when Morningside captured the NCC crown outright with a 4-1-1 league record.
By the time he was a senior, Mounts was listed at 6-1, 220 lbs., and was well known in the NCC circles for his dominant play in the trenches. Aside from his play in the line, Mounts was also the team’s placekicker during the 1956 campaign. Mounts kicked one field goal during the season and was successful on 13 of 16 PAT attempts.
Aside from being named to the All-NCC team as a senior, Mounts received the high distinction of being voted Morningside’s Most Valuable Player by his teammates.
Morningside’s1954 football team overcame a 1-3 start to finish the season with a 5-3 record, including a 5-1 mark in the NCC to share the conference championship with South Dakota State and end a 30-year drought since the college’s only prior NCC football title in 1923. The team opened the campaign on the road in Wichita Falls, Texas, and suffered a 28-6 loss against Midwestern University. Following a 45-0 loss against Omaha University, the Maroons opened their NCC slate with a 28-21 victory against previously unbeaten North Dakota University before they suffered their only conference loss with a 41-27 setback against North Dakota State. From there the Maroons ran the table with a 27-0 shutout of Augustana College, a 41-7 Homecoming trouncing of the University of South Dakota, a 20-12 triumph against Iowa State Teachers College, and a 39-34 victory on the road against defending NCC champion South Dakota State. The win against Iowa State Teachers was Morningside’s first triumph since 1938 against the college that would eventually become the University of Northern Iowa.
The head coach of Morningside’s 1954 team was Clayton Droullard, who guided the Maroons to a share of the conference title with a team that returned only five seniors from a cast that had finished with a 3-5 record the year before. The Maroons lined up in a split-T formation, but usually shifted into a single wing with an unbalanced line to the right.
The Maroons had three players selected to the All-NCC team in guard Kermit Isaacson, end Bob Miller, and quarterback Dwaine “Buck” Miller, while four others – Ray Clark, Maurice “Red” Getting, Jim Welton, and Vern Weyland earned All-NCC honors the next season.
The team’s standout was Buck Miller, who was named to the NAIA and Little All-America Teams and shared the NCC’s Most Valuable Player award with South Dakota State’s Jerry Welck. Miller finished second in the NCC with 926 yards total offense. He completed 46 of 90 pass attempts (51.1 percent) for 717 yards and nine touchdowns, plus averaged 37 yards as the team’s punter.
Darold Puff led the team in scoring with four touchdowns and one PAT for 25 points, while Getting and Cliff Hinrichs were right behind with four touchdowns and 24 points.
Kleis, a 1996 graduate who resides in North Sioux City, S.D., has been the head boy’s basketball coach at Dakota Valley High School for the past five seasons. This past year he led the Panthers to their greatest season in school history with a 22-4 record and a runner-up finish at South Dakota’s Class A state tournament.
Dakota Valley punched last year’s state tournament ticket with a 72-49 victory against Tea Area in the Class A regional final. Dakota Valley edged Clark/Willow Lake 52-50 in the state tournament quarterfinals and defeated Aberdeen Roncalli 67-59 in the semifinals before it lost 63-56 against defending champion St. Thomas More in the state championship game.
Kleis has a 71-42 career record in his five seasons at Dakota Valley and has guided the team to four consecutive winning seasons. His 2010-11 team finished 17-6 and finished one victory shy of a state tournament berth when it lost in the substate finals.
In high school, Kleis was an all-state basketball player for Maurice-Orange City High School teams that won back-to-back Class 1A state championships in 1988 and 1989. Kleis scored 1,072 points during his Morningside career and was a starter on the college’s 1994-95 team that posted a 24-8 record and reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Division II Tournament.
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