The 2025 Peru State College Athletic Hall of Fame class has been announced, with four individuals, one team, and a group of early cross country teams set to be enshrined this fall.

    Former men's basketball standout Mike Harmon, former athletic trainer Cindy Plantenga Hoffman, Bobcat football star Ron Shaneyfelt, and the late baseball player Mark Williams will gain induction during ceremonies on campus Oct. 24-25.
    The 1989 Bobcat football team, and men's cross country teams from 1967, '68, '69, '70 and '71 will also gain induction.
    The Peru State Hall of Fame was established in 1986. Selection is made by a volunteer committee of alumni and former student-athletes, coaches, and athletics administrators, noted its coordinator Ted L. Harshbarger of the PSC Foundation. 
    Harshbarger stated, "The Hall of Fame serves to honor individuals and teams who have made significant and lasting contributions to Peru State College while preserving their legacies and inspiring future generations." Continuing, he added, "The current members represent the pinnacle of excellence and dedication, while new inductees reflect the ongoing evolution and achievement with the Bobcat athletic community."
 
Open to Public
 
    The Hall of Fame Banquet will be held on Friday evening, October 24. It is open to the public to attend. Registration can be completed at https://bit.ly/PSCHOF and is due Monday, October 13. 
    The individuals and teams will also be recognized at halftime of Peru State's football game on Saturday, October 25, against Graceland. Game time is scheduled for 1 p.m.
 
Mike Harmon, Men's Basketball
    Mike Harmon was a standout on several powerhouse Bobcat men's basketball teams in the early- to mid-1960s prior to his graduation in 1966. A native of Wood River, Ill., Harmon currently resides there.
    Harmon remains the career rebounding leader in the Bobcat record books with 979. He remains in the school's top 10 in career points scored (1,270) and his average of 14 rebounds per game remains the Bobcat standard. Harmon also has the single-game rebounding mark with 28.
    Ironically, Harmon didn't play high school basketball before joining the late Coach Jack McIntire's Bobcat program in 1963. He led the Bobcats to the NAIA national tournament in the 1965-66 season, when he set school season records for rebounds and was an NAIA honorable mention All-American.
    Harmon was an all-state college first teamer that season in both the Omaha World-Herald and Lincoln Journal-Star; he was all-state the previous year in the Omaha paper.
    The Illinois Basketball Coaches Association inducted Harmon into its Hall of Fame in 2016, capping off more than 40 years in the coaching profession. His coaching career included stops at Central (now Grigsby) Junior High, Civic Memorial, and Roxana.
 
Cindy Plantenga Hoffman, Meritorious Service
    After transferring to Peru State in the late 1970s after having taken courses in athletic and emergency training at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, the former Cindy Plantenga quickly found herself appointed head athletic trainer for Bobcat football.
     The first female athletic trainer at the college, she held the position for three years while taking a full load of classes and teaching youth swimming and gymnastics prior to her graduation in 1982. But her service to Peru State didn't end there and continues to this day.       
    A native of Spring Lake, Mich., Hoffman met Bobcat baseball player Tim Hoffman, and they married in 1983. She then obtained her master's degree from Northwest Missouri State University and returned to teach in the Peru State physical education department.
    The Hoffmans have owned and operated Rixstine Recognition, a full-service awards company in Lincoln, since 1987. They both served on the Peru State College Foundation board of directors from 2011-2024 and have been generous supporters of various Peru State initiatives.
 
Ron Shaneyfelt, Football
    An award-winning kicker on some of Peru State's finest football teams – including the 1989 squad which will be inducted this fall, and the 1990 NAIA national championship team – Ron Shaneyfelt still holds many Bobcat kicking records.
    In '89 he led the NAIA in scoring, averaging 8.22 points per game. He set a single-game kick-scoring record with 15 points (two field goals, nine extra points) that season, and was a first-team NAIA All-American, all-conference and Nebraska small college all-state honoree.
    The next season, during the undefeated Bobcat's march to its only national football title, Shaneyfelt hit a school single-game record four field goals while again earning all-conference and All-American recognition.
    He repeated those honors in the Bobcats' nationally-ranked playoff team in 1991 before graduating the following spring.
    A native of Omaha, Shaneyfelt still lives in Nebraska's largest city.
 
Mark Williams, Baseball
    Tough, focused, and dangerous as a pitcher, infielder and at the plate, Mark Williams was a four-year starter for the Bobcat baseball program and earned postseason honors each of his four seasons from 1983-86.
    In 1984 he led Nebraska's NAIA district with a .430 batting average and was undefeated as a pitcher with a 2.40 earned run average. He was also a GTE Academic All-American that season.
    His senior campaign in 1986 saw him lead the team in doubles, triples, home runs, and fielding percentage, and he tied for the team lead in pitching victories. Williams earned NAIA all-district honors in each of his four seasons and held numerous career records at the time.  
    Williams then spent 27 years with the Nebraska State Patrol, eventually rising to the rank of captain. He spent several years heading the NSP's training center in Grand Island. The Patrol annually awards its Mark Williams Core Values Award to a graduating cadet from its academy.
    Williams, a native of Hastings, passed away in 2015 after battling cancer.
 
1967-71 Men's Cross Country Teams
    For years in the mid-late 1960s and early '70s, Peru State was an NAIA men's cross country powerhouse under a pair of PSC Hall of Fame coaches, Dr. James Pilkington and Jack McIntire.
    The PSC Hall of Fame is inducting the 1967, '68, '69, '70 and '71 teams collectively. Pilkington led the '67 and '68 squads, paced by PSC Hall of Famer and four-time All-American Jack Weyers. Both squads won the NAIA District 11 title and finished seventh and eleventh nationally, respectively.
    McIntire helmed the '69, '70 and '71 teams. The first two continued as NAIA District 11 (Nebraska small colleges) champions and all three squads qualified for the national cross country championship meets. 
    Members of the teams from those years included Dick Zaparanick, Jim Watson, Tim Hendricks, Ron Jones, Dan Trout, Ray Uher, Jack Weyers, Van Allen, Jay Hagerman, Jerry Stukenholtz, Dick Warkins, Dave Hillman, Bob Beach, Tom Bernadt, Mike Cole, Calvin Smith, Duane Koukol, Don Monzingo, C Lang, Gayle Swisegood, Steve Welsh, Randy Hansen, Dave Harris, Dan Zimmerman, Bill Sell, Bud Steffen, Bruce Neeman, D Knoll, Ralph Arnold, and Dennis Brady.
 
1989 Football Team
    The first Bobcat football team to qualify for the national NAIA playoffs, the 1989 Bobcats compiled an 8-2 record and set the stage for its 1990 run to the national title, both under head coach and PSC Hall of Famer Tom Shea.
    The club rose to its highest national ranking at the time – sixth in the final poll – and defeated two other playoff-bound teams in Chadron State College and Missouri Valley College. The 'Cats only regular-season loss came against another playoff qualifier, Nebraska Wesleyan. In its first NAIA playoff appearance, Peru State dropped a heartbreaking 30-27 game to Baker.
     The '89 Bobcats finished second in the nation in scoring (44.7 points per game) and fourth in total offense (490.3 yards per game). 
    Above all, the team established itself as one of the premier football programs in the NAIA and set the stage for its run to the title the following season.