This award celebrates those who have brought honor to Wittenberg by their exceptional and continual dedication to Wittenberg's ideals. Any Alumnus/a shall be eligible for the citation on the basis of exceptional professional accomplishments and service to humanity ahead of personal recognition or gain.
He has also been a tireless volunteer for Wittenberg throughout the years, including organizing the largest grass roots scholarship campaign in the college’s history, to create a scholarship in honor of fraternity brother Robert Horn ’64, who is battling Lou Gehrig’s disease.
The first award, in 1980, came the same year he was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame on the heels of his 19-year career as a star quarterback in the Canadian Football League (CFL).
He has since built a spectacular career as the head coach of the Hamilton Tiger Cats.
A writer and composer, Rieder produced hundreds of articles on music and on religious and inspirational topics, including several songs and operettas for grade-school children.
A long-time member of Wittenberg’s Benjamin Prince Society, she has also established a scholarship fund to benefit students studying music education or church music.
As a Wittenberg volunteer, Trompeter has taken a number of leadership roles in the Alumni Association, in fund raising and in student recruitment.
He was also nominated to the Hall of Fame of the American Wholesale Marketing Association in Washington D.C.
As a missionary, educator and evangelist, Uhl served as president of the Lutheran Church in India. He was founder of the Lutheran higher education mission in India, including personally founding a high school and a college.
In gratitude, he was awarded the Coronation Memorial Medal by the Indian Government in 1911. But in spite of 50 years of living and working in India, Uhl still regarded Springfield as his home. He is buried in Ferncliff Cemetery