Susan G. Hittle Hiner, class of 1974, has been inducted into the Franklin College Athletic Hall of Fame as a player.
During her athletic career at Franklin, Hiner played all four varsity sports available to women at the time; field hockey, volleyball, basketball, and softball. In 1974 she received the David C. Naile Award.
From 1966 until she graduated from Franklin, Hiner was a member of the Sparkettes, which was part of an amateur fast-pitch softball league in Indianapolis. After graduating cum laude with a teaching degree in physical education and health (K-12), she played for the Marion-Kay Peppers, a member of the same league. Hiner played for the Missouri-St. Louis Hummers, a professional women’s fast-pitch softball league, from 1977 to 1979.
Hiner earned her master’s degree in education from Indiana University in 1980. She was also named to the Indianapolis ASA Softball Hall of Fame in 1986.
From 1974-76, Hiner taught physical education at Wanamaker Elementary School. She also coached volleyball and basketball at Franklin Township Junior High School.
In 1976, she began teaching at the Franklin Township Middle School and again coached volleyball and basketball. Also during those years, ending in 1977, Hiner officiated volleyball and basketball at the high school level and basketball at the college level. In 1976, she officiated the first IHSAA girls’ state basketball tournament in the sectional, regional, and semi state rounds.
Hiner retired in 1989 to live on a sailboat and travel the Bahamian Islands. Since 1993, she has lived in Indianapolis, with a winter home in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.
Kathy J. Stricker, class of 1978, has been inducted into the Franklin College Athletic Hall of Fame as a player.
Stricker was the first woman at Franklin College to receive an athletic scholarship. She participated in field hockey, women’s basketball and softball from 1974-78 and was a member of the volleyball team from 1974-77. In 1978, she received the David C. Naile Award.
While at Franklin, Stricker was a member of Zeta Tau Alpha sorority. She graduated with a physical education and a health teaching degree (K-12). Stricker began her teaching career in the Greenfield-Central School Corporation at Maxwell Middle School, where she taught physical education and science. While at Maxwell she coached girls basketball and girls track and field. She also was assistant girls basketball coach at Greenfield- Central High School.
In 1979, Stricker began teaching physical education and health and coaching at Franklin Central High School. She received a master’s degree with an emphasis in physical education from Indiana University in 1985.
During her career, Stricker has coached volleyball, freshman girls basketball and softball. As head coach since 1979, she has taken her team to six sectional titles, three regional titles, five Central Suburban Athletic Conference championships and one Marion County title. Stricker has been named conference coach of the year six times and Marion County coach of the year once. In 1997, she was elected to the Who’s Who of American Teachers.
A resident of Indianapolis, Stricker is a member of the Indiana State Teachers Association, the National Education Association, the Franklin Township Education Association, the Indiana Coaches of Girls Sports Association, the Marion County Coaches of Girls’ Sports and the Indiana Sports Equity Group.
Stricker continues to play softball competitively and has been named to several all-tournament teams and has been named to All-American teams four times. She also continues to play basketball in leagues.
Mark D. Elliott, class of 1979, has been inducted into the Franklin College Athletic Hall of Fame as a player.
During his athletic career at Franklin, Elliott played football and wrestled all four years of his college career. He threw the javelin for two years for the track and field team. He earned four varsity letters for football and won the Defensive Stars Award in 1979.
Elliott won four more letters for wrestling and was co- or tri- captain for three years. In 1979 he was an NAIA All-American, placing sixth. He was a four-time national qualifier and two-time Little State Champion. He won 10 tournament titles and in 1975 had 22 consecutive match victories. In 1976, he finished third at the Olympic trials.
Elliott graduated from Franklin in 1979 before earning his master’s degree in educational administration from the University of Dayton in 1991.
Elliott has spent his career teaching in Ohio and has more recently switched to an administrative career in the Ohio schools. He has taught junior high school physical education and health, freshman biology, sex education, career development and he has taught children with learning disabilities and behavioral disorders.
In more recent years, Elliott has been an assistant principal and a principal at two different schools. He is currently the principal at McConnelsville Elementary School and is a member of the Ohio Association of Elementary School Administrators and the Association of curriculum and Supervision Development.
In his coaching career, Elliott has coached junior high football and was the defensive coordinator for Tri-West Junior-Senior High School from 1980-82. He was an assistant varsity coach of the Northeastern High School football team from 1986-90. Elliott was head coach of the Tri-West wrestling team from 1980-82 and was the head coach of the Northeastern High School wrestling team from 1986-91. He was the Springfield News-Sun Coach of the Year in 1990.
Elliott resides in Stockport, Ohio with his wife, Ann.
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Lisa Heath Fisher, class of 1979, has been inducted into the Franklin College Athletic Hall of Fame as a player.
During her athletic career at Franklin, Fisher played basketball for three years and volleyball and softball for four years. She remains among the top basketball career leader at Franklin in rebounding. Fisher also was a varsity assistant coach for the girls basketball team at Triton Central High School during her senior year at Franklin.
Fisher received the David C. Naile Award in 1979.
Since graduating from Franklin with a degree in physical education-secondary education (with a U.S. history and health minor), Fisher has taught and coached at Triton Central Middle School from 1979 to the present. She received her master’s degree in secondary education in 1985 from Indiana University- Purdue University at Indianapolis.
Fisher has coached girls basketball for nine years and girls volleyball at the middle school level for the last 18 years. She has been the student council sponsor for eight years, a member of the Triton Central Teachers Association for 18 years, the Discussable Team for TCTA for seven years and the building representative for six years.
She also is coaching T-ball for the Triton Youth Athletic League.
Fisher currently resides in Fairland with her husband, David. They have two sons, Eric and John.
Thomas R. Hodge, professor of chemistry at Franklin College, has been inducted into the Franklin College Athletic Hall of Fame as a friend of athletics.
Hodge has been a part of Franklin since 1958 when he was hired by the college as an assistant professor of chemistry. Since then he has attended nearly all home basketball and football games and has been a member of the Goaltenders basketball club almost from its beginning.
Between running the clock for the men’s basketball games since 1962 and the clock for the football games since 1969, Hodge also served as the college’s faculty athletic representative to the Hoosier Conference and the Indiana Intercollegiate Athletic Association from 1962 to 1970.
Hodge was a member of the committee that helped organize the Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference in 1987 and was the league’s first president. He served two terms as the president of the conference and since 1983 has served as the college’s representative to the NAIA, the NCAA and is now the representative to the renamed Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference.
After earning his bachelor’s degree at Monmouth College, Hodge received his master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1958. In 1963, Hodge was promoted from assistant to associate professor of chemistry and was again promoted in 1975 to professor. He has served on the faculty admissions, curriculum and athletics committees.
Hodge has received several awards for his teaching. In 1981, he was awarded the Roger Douglas Branigin Award for Excellence in Teaching. In 1990, he was given the Faculty Distinguished Service Award. He was again honored in 1995 with the Faculty Teaching Excellence Award.
Hodge resides in Franklin and is a member of First Presbyterian Church, where he has served as both a deacon and an elder.
