Park University's Wall of Honor class for 2026 has been announced, and it's full of outstanding teams and players who set and continued the expectations of Park University athletics. The Wall of Honor, created in 2015, inducts individuals/teams that embody everything that Park University stands for and is proud of in its athletics history. The 2026 class includes three teams and one individual player from the Pirates' history. 
   
The evidence is clear about how impactful the 1980 team was for the program and where it is today. The team was forged by the program's first head coach, Don Vandewalle, and in the program's fifth year of existence, the Pirates won the NAIA District 16 Championship. 
 
Not only was this impressive for a young program, but the team only had five student-athletes. Because cross country team scoring depends on the combined efforts of five competitors, every member of this small squad was essential. Park is proud to reminisce over the outstanding achievements of Jackie Hall (1982), Susan Decker (1983), Tracy Luh (1983), Val Rappold (1982), and Julie Duty (1982).

"Together, they met that challenge with determination, resilience, and excellence," Vandewalle said.
This same group would descend upon Salina, Kansas, for the 1980 NAIA Women's Cross Country National Championship, where they took 9^th as a group, and Hall and Luh would finish in the top 25 to capture NAIA All-American Honors. 
But wait, it gets better. There were some historic firsts that the program captured for Park in the process.  

• First women's team in school history to win a NAIA District 16 Championship 

• First women's team to qualify for an NAIA national championship event 

• The second team in Park Athletics history to earn a top 10 NAIA national finish 

• Hall and Luh were the first women in Park history to earn NAIA All-American honors in any sport 
• Jackie was the first African American in the history of the NAIA to be named an NAIA Academic All-American.

 Coach Vandewalle locked in the Ozark Collegiate Conference Coach of the Year honors, as Park's men's cross-country team was also the 1980 District 16 Cross Country Champions. This leads to our next Wall of Honor recipient. 
 
Once the foundations were laid, the Park cross-country and track & field programs hit the ground running with powerhouse-type success for decades to come. A team that demonstrated this dominance is the 1983 men's cross-country team. It's very fitting to have the 50^th anniversary of the program land at a time when Park men's cross-country is the reigning 2025 Heart of America Athletic Conference Champions and NAIA National Championship qualifiers. And looking back, the team of 1983 brought home a championship of their own.

The team was perfect: having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be. It was truly a special year by winning the Ozark Collegiate Conference, NAIA District 16 Championships, and making a trip to the NAIA National Championships. They did not just win the conference and regional events, though; they accomplished this feat with immaculate 15-point scores, meaning that Park's five runners went 1^st through 5^th in these races. 

They left a trail of wins leading up to the NAIA post-season. In fact, they took 1^st place in all seven of their meets. Not only did Park take on NAIA programs, but they surpassed NCAA Division II and Division III competition.  
1^st - Park Hill Invitational 
1^st – MidAmerica Nazarene 
1^st – Grinnell Invitational 
1^st – Bethany Swede Invitational 
1^st – Ozark Collegiate Conference Championship 
1^st – Westminster 
1^st – NAIA District 16 

Like the 1980 women's cross-country program, the men's team also took 9^th in the 1983 NAIA Men's Cross Country National Championship. Park's team was built up with four NAIA Cross Country Academic All-Americans, just shy of a quarter of the 25 awards of its kind given that year. At the time, the Platte County Gazette emphasized that "most of the starting team members held cumulative grade point averages of 3.8+, and team members were pursuing double and even triple majors. 

It's a pleasure to highlight the team members, including Rick Blount (1984), Brad Webber (1985), Brian Hoffman (1986), Jim Springer (1987), John Vest (1987), and Phil Hoffman (1983). 

 
 
 
Park University's 2018 women's volleyball team can be described as one of the best teams Park University athletics has ever seen. Compiling a record of 36-1, the team featured the NAIA player of the year in Nada Meawad, NAIA first-team All-American Danna Gomes, and three additional AMC All-Conference players: Celina Montiero, Noura Meawad, and Paula de Oliveira. The team went on to win its third consecutive AMC regular-season title, broke countless records, and lost just nine sets in the regular season. 
The 2018 squad was nearly perfect. The only loss of their season came in the AMC volleyball conference tournament championship against the team they would later beat for the second NAIA National volleyball title in Park's history, Columbia College (Mo.).  
Park would claim decisive victories against Morningside University (3-0), Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) (3-0), Westmont (3-0), College of Idaho (3-1), Southern Oregon (3-1), and Midland (3-1) on the way to the NAIA national title match against a familiar foe.
On a snowy night in Sioux City, Iowa, one of the greatest NAIA volleyball matches was played. The championship match between #3 Columbia College (Mo.) and #2 Park University went into five sets, with the fifth set going into extra points. After a back-and-forth match, Park would get a kill from sophomore phenom Nada Meawad to win the fifth set (16-14) and claim Park's second women's volleyball title in five years.  
Nada Meawad would win NAIA National Tournament Player of the Year, Celina Montiero won NAIA National Tournament Defensive Player of the Year, and Danna Gomes and Maren Roper would also make the all-tournament team.  
The 2014 and 2018 women's volleyball seasons sit at the top of many terrific seasons for Park's women's volleyball program, and now they both sit in the Wall of Honor, highlighting the excellence of what the players and coaching staff accomplished for years to come.  
When you take a deep look into the Park Women's Volleyball record books, right at the top of almost every important career stat, you'll see the name Nada Meawad. Nada Meawad was awarded her first American Midwest Conference Player of the Year award as a freshman in 2017 and never let it be awarded to another player during her entire five-year career at Park. She won AMC Conference Player of the Year in 2017, 2018, and 2019, and continued her reign when Park moved to the Heart of America Conference in 2020, winning the Heart Conference Player of the Year award in 2020 and 2021.
One of the greatest Park University athletes of all time, she leads Park in kills (2,375), with the next closest athlete having 1,456, service aces (186), attack attempts (5,578), and single-season kills per set (5.57), and has had at least 400 kills in all 5 of her seasons at Park University from 2017-2021.
Nada left Park University with the NAIA National Championship title in 2018, another trip to the national title game in 2021, and a 156-13 record over her five years as a lethal outside hitter.
A dominant force for Park University, she also played beside her sister, Noura Meawad, another outstanding volleyball player in Park University's history.
Nada was one of the best players to set foot at Park University, and she left a legacy and winning culture that still thrives at Park today. Now, she sits on Park University's Wall of Honor to ensure she will always be remembered for her dominant career and undoubted leadership.
  Park University will host a Wall of Honor Celebration during Homecoming weekend at 3 pm on Friday, September 18 at the Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel. That same evening, after a women's volleyball match in the Breckon Sports Center against Graceland University at 7 p.m., the unveiling of the Wall of Honor plaques will follow the award ceremony at the 6^th Street entrance to the Park University underground academic plaza, with an awardee reception to follow. The next day, on Saturday, September 19, the Wall of Honor inductees will be recognized between the women's and men's soccer games at approximately 2:15 p.m on Julian Field against Mount Mercy University. 

Beginning in 2015, this is the 11^th year that Park has made inductions into the Wall of Honor. The Wall of Honor is comprised of 50 individuals/teams that embody everything that Park University stands for and is proud of in its athletics history. This year, the Park University Athletic Department welcomes the addition of the 1980 Women's Cross Country Team, the 1983 Men's Cross Country Team, Nada Meawad, and the 2018 Women's Volleyball Team, whose worthiness for this recognition has been confirmed by the success they have brought to our institution and the excellent conduct and character they live by.  

2026 Park Wall of Honor and Alumni Awards Live-Stream 
Learn More About the Wall of Honor 
Nominate an Individual or Team to the Wall of Honor 
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