Alumni Association
Six Inducted into Athletics Hall of Fame
Six individuals were inducted into the 2007 Western Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame during a dinner and induction ceremony in September in the University Union Grand Ballroom.
Inductees to this year's class include:
• Alfred D. Boyer '72 (contributor)
• Ronald L. Cook ‘46 MS '47 (track, football, basketball, 1938-41, 1945-46)
• Greg Lee '83 (football, 1973-76)
• Phil Lorenc '63 (cross country and track & field, 1959-63)
• Kathy Veroni (head softball coach, 1971-2005)
• Melanie Orsi Williamson '85 (field hockey, 1981-84)
Al Boyer
The 2004 WIU Distinguished Alumni Award recipient, Al Boyer has significantly supported and impacted his alma mater in multiple capacities.
Boyer, an international financier, recently donated $150,000 as the lead gift for the Alfred D. Boyer Baseball Stadium, which opened in 2006.
Previously, he made a charitable estate gift of $1 million to the University, contributed $150,000 for new lights on Hanson Field, and has supported scholarships and other areas of athletics. He has been a frequent speaker for business classes, and has served on the Foundation Board of Directors and the College of Business and Technology Advisory Board.
In 1972, Boyer joined Price Waterhouse where he worked for 10 years as a certified public accountant in Peoria, Chicago and Los Angeles. In 1982, he became the executive vice president and chief financial officer of the California-based, multi-bank holding Central Pacific Corporation. Boyer is credited for his work in restructuring and recapitalizing this financial institution, which later merged into Wells Fargo Corporation.
In 1986, Boyer joined Industrial Equity Pacific Limited, a subsidiary of the Brierley Investment Group, a worldwide investment company headquartered in Australia and New Zealand. Boyer and a partner opened a new office in La Jolla, Calif., to concentrate on investment activities in North America.
From 1986 to 1993, Boyer was involved in the investment of more than $800 million in 80 companies that included leveraged buyouts, joint ventures, private placements and a variety of merger-related transactions.
He formed his own investment company in 1993 to pursue opportunities including leveraged buyouts and other equity-related transactions.
In 1995, Boyer and his business partner, Gary Wilson, developed the idea and provided the financial engineering plan for Chrysler Corporation's value maximization prior to merging with Daimler Benz of Germany (now Daimler-Chrysler).
Boyer's financial support goes well beyond Western Illinois University. He has set up a private foundation that focuses on educational programs, and he continues to commit funds to schools near Nauvoo and Carthage in western Illinois.
Ronald L. Cook
Ronald L. Cook was a three-sport student-athlete at Western Illinois, lettering twice in football (1938-39), four times in track (1939-41, 1946) and three times in basketball (1938-39, 1946). He played halfback in football and was a team captain and conference MVP as a guard in basketball.
As a trackster, Cook qualified for the NCAA nationals at Milwaukee in 1940 in both the hurdles and the pole vault.
After a two-year stint in the U.S. Coast Guard, where he played basketball, Cook returned to the Macomb campus to complete his bachelor's degree in 1946 and his master's degree in chemistry in 1947.
He became a football, basketball and track coach and junior high science teacher at the Western Academy, then continued to coach and teach in several high schools before joining the Illinois State University faculty as a chemistry professor in 1962—a position he held until his retirement in 1977.
He was on the Illinois Curriculum Council, State Superintendent's Office, from 1949-79. He received the Freedom Foundation of Valley Forge Outstanding Educator Award in 1961, and received an Alumni Achievement Award from Western in 1976. In 1999 he was inducted into the Morrison Community High School Athletic Hall of Fame as a basketball coach.
Greg Lee
One of the most talented cornerbacks ever to wear a Leatherneck football uniform, Greg Lee was an all-American who established several school records during his three-year career as a Leatherneck, one of which still stands today.
As a junior in 1975, the Minneapolis, Minn., native recorded 63 total tackles and led the team with five interceptions, playing more plays than any other Leatherneck on defense.
Also one of the fastest kick returners in the country, Lee ranked second in all of Division II with a season average of 30.1 yards per return and landed a spot on the All-Illinois First Team.
His senior season brought another team-high five interceptions and another top-10 ranking among the nation's kick returners. He capped his career with All-Illinois First Team selections at both return specialist and defensive back, and added to his resume a spot on the Associated Press All-America First Team.
At the end of his career, Lee held school records for the most kick return yards in a game (112 vs. South Dakota in 1976), the highest kick return average in a season (30.1 ypr in 1975) and the highest average in a career (26.2 ypr), the last of which still stands today.
Once described by defensive backs coach Larry Mortier '70 MS-ED '71 as “the greatest all-around football athlete Western has ever seen,” Lee was drafted by the NFL's St. Louis Cardinals in the 11th round of the 1977 draft. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1983 in sociology and currently lives in the Minneapolis area.
Phil Lorenc
Phil Lorenc earned a total of 12 varsity letters throughout four years of cross country and track and field. Even as a sophomore co-captain, Lorenc left an impression on his team, once breaking his ankle in the first mile of a cross country race but pressing on to finish third and helping his team go on to an 11-0 season.
During his junior year as a captain, he again helped the Leathernecks to an 11-0 record, and their first state of Illinois cross country title since 1926. He placed sixth at the NAIA national cross country meet that year, and finished second as a senior.
In 1962, Lorenc set a school record at the Drake Relays with a two-mile run time of 9:10.6. As a senior, he ran a record mile of 4:17.8 at the State College of Iowa Relays, and later that season established a school record and won the NAIA national steeplechase title with a time of 9:29.7. After his senior season, he was named the Rock Hanson Athlete of the Year at Western Illinois.
Lorenc earned a bachelor's degree in 1963 in education, and followed with a master's degree from Eastern Illinois in 1964.
After his collegiate career, Lorenc won the 1966 Southern California Cross Country Championships, broke the nine-minute barrier in the two-mile run in 1967, and ran his lifetime best mile at Central College of California in 1967 with a time of 4:02.1.
Kathy Veroni
Kathy Veroni led the Westerwinds to 869 victories, 11 conference championships, five AIAW national tournaments and three NCAA tournaments during her 34 years as head softball coach, from 1971-2005.
One of the winningest coaches in NCAA softball history, Veroni compiled an 869-631-3 (.579) record with the Westerwinds. She ended her career ranked among the top-15 winningest coaches in NCAA history. As head coach for Western Illinois softball, field hockey and the Macomb Magic, a nationally competitive summer ASA team from 1979-85, Veroni coached approximately 2,200 games.
Well-respected among her peers as a coach, clinician and author of three books (“Coaching Fastpitch Softball Successfully,” “Off the Bench” and “The Softball Bible”), Veroni has been president of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association and chairperson of the NCAA Softball Rules Committee. She is also a member of the Illinois State University, Illinois Amateur Softball Association and National Fastpitch Coaches Association Halls of Fame.
Melanie Orsi Williamson
Melanie Orsi Williamson was a four-year starter on Western's 1981-84 field hockey teams, playing her first two years as a fullback and her last two years at center halfback.
Throughout her career she was named team captain and team MVP, and she was a member of the all-Gateway Conference first team. In 1992, seven years after graduating from Western with a degree in mass communications (1985), she was named the Gateway Conference's Field Hockey MVP of the Decade.
Professionally, Williamson has been successfully involved with Women in Flavor and Fragrance Commerce, serving as past president, treasurer, secretary and chairperson of the public relations committee. She was named the organization's woman of the year in 1998 and is currently the editor of the 350-member organization's newsletter.
Alumni Association
1 University Circle, Macomb, IL 61455
E-mail: a-association@wiu.edu
Phone: 309/298-1914