Bowling Green State University Athletics
Six to Join BGSU Athletics Hall of Fame on Oct. 7
September 28, 2005 | General
Sept. 28, 2005
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University Athletics Hall of Fame will welcome six new members on Oct. 7. The 2005 class will be inducted during a formal dinner on the BGSU campus.
The class of 2005 will include football and men's track & field standout Ron Heard, hockey great Brian Holzinger, women's track & field great Nikki Lessig '95, men's tennis standout Tom Lightvoet '73, multi-sport great Ford Murray '35 (football, basketball, baseball and track), and wrestler and wrestling/football coach Bill Regnier '64.
The official induction ceremony will take place Friday, Oct. 7, in the grand ballroom of BGSU's Bowen-Thompson Student Union. The social hour begins at 6:00 p.m., with dinner served at 7:00 p.m. and the program starting shortly thereafter.
In addition, the class will be introduced at halftime of the Oct. 8 BGSU-Ohio football game at Doyt Perry Stadium. The game begins at 6:00 p.m., and is designated as Hall of Fame Night.
Tickets for the Oct. 7 dinner are $35 ($30 for Varsity BG members), and advanced reservations are required. Tickets can be reserved by calling the Falcon Club office at (419) 372-7063. Football game tickets can be purchased through the ticket office by phone, at 1-877-BGSUTICKET, or on the web at www.BGSUFalcons.com.
The public is invited to attend the induction dinner.
Brief biographical sketches on each of the six inductees follows:
 Ron Heard  |
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Heard, a native of Detroit, Mich., earned First-Team All-MAC honors as a senior in 1989. He caught 51 passes that year, for a total of 916 yards and seven touchdowns. That concluded a BGSU career in which Heard caught at least 25 passes in each of his four years.
Heard, named an honorable mention All-American by The Sporting News in his senior year, was part of a pass-catching tandem (along with Reggie Thornton) that made MAC history, as each player reached the 2,000-yard mark in career receiving. At the time of Heard's departure from BGSU, he ranked second in MAC history in career receiving yards (2,491) and ninth in career receptions (139), and the latter total was third-best in school history at that time. He left BG ranked fourth in school history with 16 touchdowns.
Heard led the MAC in receiving in his final year, with 4.6 catches per game, and his 916 receiving yards that fall ranked him second on the school seasonal record list. He had five 100-yard receiving games in that 1989 season, and was named the team's MVP. Also a track standout, Heard was the 1988 MAC Champion in the long jump, and finished second in the 100 and third in the 200. He set a school record in the latter event (:21.14).
Heard was drafted by the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers in the sixth round of the 1990 draft. He was released by the Steelers, but was picked up by the San Diego Chargers. He signed as a free agent with the New England Patriots in 1992, playing one season there before spending a year in the World League. Currently, Heard works as a Senior Loan Analyst for Quicken Loans, the number-one online mortgage lending company in Michigan.
 Brian Holzinger |
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Holzinger, a native of Parma, Ohio, capped a stellar BGSU career by being named the 1995 recipient of the Hobey Baker Award, given to the top player in the entire country. The second BG icer to win the Hobey, Holzinger also was named to the Academic All-America Men's At-Large First Team, becoming only the third Falcon hockey player to earn first-team honors to that squad. Holzinger's long list of accolades also includes the 1994-95 CCHA Player-of-the-Year award.
Holzinger was a First-Team Titan West All American that senior season, after finishing third in the nation with 69 points. He was the national runner-up with 35 goals that winter. Holzinger's total of 37 points as a junior included a team-leading 22 goals. He finished his career seventh in school history with 102 goals, and ranked 15th in BG annals with 185 total points.
A three-time academic all-CCHA choice, he also earned Academic All-District honors. He was a unanimous First-Team All-CCHA pick as a senior, and was an all-league second-team selection as a sophomore, after scoring 57 points to lead the team. Holzinger also paced BG in goals that year, with 31, after scoring a total of 22 points as a freshman en route to honorable mention on the league's all-rookie team.
Holzinger, a sixth-round selection by the Buffalo Sabres in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft, has played 10 seasons in the NHL. Following his four years at BGSU, Holzinger played professional hockey for Buffalo, Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh and Columbus in the NHL, most recently with the Penguins and Blue Jackets in the 2003-04 season. In 547 career NHL games, he has totals of 93 goals and 145 assists.
In 2001, Holzinger was named to the CCHA's All-Decade Team for the 1990s. He currently resides in the Cleveland area with his wife, Lori, and daughters Alyssa (6), Kassie (4) and Molly (2).
 Nikki Lessig |
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A native of Westerville, Ohio (Westerville North HS), Lessig was the first BGSU female ever to earn a spot in two events at the NCAA meet. She finished seventh in the shot put at the 1994 NCAA indoor meet, becoming the first female NCAA indoor track A-A in school history, and followed that up by again finishing seventh in the country at the 1995 meet.
Lessig set the school shot put records - both indoor (51-4 1/2) and outdoor (50-1 /34) - in 1994, and was a two-time indoor All-American in the shot. She set the BGSU indoor mark at the NCAA meet in '94. Lessig finished 10th in the discus in the 1994 NCAA meet, and was 11th in the shot. She also qualified in the discus as a senior, placing 10th at the national outdoor meet. Lessig increased her own school record in four consecutive indoor meets in the 1994 campaign. She is the niece of former BGSU athletics director Jim Lessig.
Following graduation, Lessig spent seven years as the youth program director for a domestic violence agency. She is currently the manager of a logistics company and resides in Columbus.
 Tom Lightvoet |
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A native of Kalamazoo, Mich., Lightvoet was the only BG men's tennis player ever to win the number-one singles title in the MAC Tournament, capturing the crown in 1973. A four-year letterwinner for the Falcons, he went on to play in the NCAA Tournament where he won his first-round match and advanced to the second round. Lightvoet was the only BG player in history to win a match in the NCAA tourney.
Lightvoet won that MAC title despite suffering from ulcerative colitis, an illness that hurt his effectiveness over his final two seasons. He had entered BGSU in the fall of 1969, the first year that freshmen were eligible to play varsity tennis. In that first season, he teamed with senior Dennis Cavanaugh to win the #1 doubles title in 1970. In that freshman campaign, Lightvoet was the runner up in singles in the third flight at the league championships. He was runner up at the top singles flight at the 1971 MAC Championships. Lightvoet went undefeated with doubles partner Bill Oudsema in the 1972 MAC dual play, before the duo was upset in the MAC Tournament.
At BG, Lightvoet had a career record of 41-20 in singles, and was 36-19 in doubles. Following his graduation in 1973, he worked for Campus Crusade for Christ - Athletes in Action for three years, and was a tennis professional for five years. For the last quarter-century, Lightvoet has been an investment consultant to corporate and public pension plans, and he is currently a Sr. Investment Consultant and Principal with Mercer Investment Consulting in Los Angeles, Calif.
Lightvoet, still active in tennis, has been nationally ranked in various age divisions, and achieved a #1 national ranking in 1995. He resides in Costa Mesa, Calif., with his wife of 31 years, Holly (also a BGSU alum). The couple has three grown children, Heidi, Tom and B.J. Heidi is married to Dustin DeMaio, and they have two children, Trenton and Katelyn.
 Ford Murray |
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Murray, a graduate of Liberty Center H.S., earned a total of nine letters in the sports of track (1931), football (1931-32-33), basketball (1932-33-34) and baseball (1933-34). He helped the BG track team to the Northwestern Ohio Intercollegiate Athletic Association title, running the dashes (100, 220, 400) and the mile relay.
Murray spent his sophomore season in football as a running back in a backfield that featured Doyt Perry as the quarterback. He moved into the quarterback slot as a junior, earning team MVP and third-team All-Ohio honors, and also punted for the Falcons.
He also earned monograms as a member of the Falcon basketball team as well as in a relief pitching role in baseball. Away from the field/court/diamond/track, Murray served as class president during his sophomore year, and was also vice-president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.
After graduation, he served as terminal manager for Interstate Motor Freight Systems in Toledo. Following military duty, he worked for the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, then began a 21-year relationship with Muskegon Business College and Baker College in Flint, Mich. During his tenure at the colleges, Murray served as an instructor, placement director, counselor, admissions officer and Dean of the Business Administration department.
From 1966 until his retirement in 1976, Murray served on the Board of Directors and was the Vice-President at Baker. He received a Master's degree from Western Michigan in 1966. Upon retirement, he and his wife, Virginia, relocated to Naples, Fla. Murray passed away in November of 1995.
 Bill Regnier |
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A graduate of Toledo Whitmer H.S., Regnier earned two letters in wrestling at BGSU, where he was third in the MAC meet at 147 pounds at both a junior and senior. He also won one letter in football for the Falcons. Regnier earned a bachelor's degree in 1964, and received his master's in 1966 from BGSU.
Immediately after earning his master's, Regnier began his coaching career at Bedford (Mich.) High School, beginning a 41-year career at the school that continues to this day. Regnier's tenure includes 30 years as head wrestling coach, 31 coaching football and the last 10 as the school's Director of Athletics.
Regnier's wrestling teams have won 500 dual matches during his tenure, and he has built a program that has captured nine state titles and produced over 25 individual state champions. Regnier and the Mules put together a string of 25 consecutive Great Lakes League championships. In 1992, he was named the National Wrestling Coach of the Year by the National Federation of Interscholastic Coaches Association, and is currently a member of the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Regnier also became the head football coach after serving as an assistant for 22 years, and guided the Mules to an 8-2 record and a state playoff berth in 1993. That year, the team won the GLL football title for the first time since 1966.
Regnier and his wife, Carol (also a BG grad), have been married for 41 years. The couple has a son, Michael, and a daughter, Lori, and four grandchildren.
The 2005 class of inductees, the 42nd class in history, brings membership in the Athletic Hall of Fame to 190. The 1983-84 national championship hockey team is also in the Hall of Fame.
