IPFW Director of Athletics Kelley Hartley Hutton is pleased to announce the addition of four former Mastodon standouts into the IPFW Athletics Hall of Fame: Amy Gearlds, Claire Jackson, David Simon, and Zach Wilson.
"We are incredibly excited to induct a class of this magnitude into the IPFW Athletics Hall of Fame," said Hartley Hutton. "Each of these four deserving former student-athletes made an impact while at IPFW on and off of the court and their accomplishments as professionals continue to make us proud."
Gearlds, who played for IPFW from 2000 until 2004 was named the 2003-04 NCAA Division I Independent Co-Player of the Year, and was a three-time Independent First Team honoree. She averaged in double-figures during all four seasons with the Mastodons, including averaging 17.6 per game as a senior.
The Beach Grove, Indiana native stands second in career steals (224) in IPFW history, third in career three-point field goals (239), sixth in career points (1,572), and eighth in career field goals made (524). She also has the sixth-most single-season steals and seventh-most single-season three-point field goals made in school history.
Jackson, one of the top blockers in IPFW women’s volleyball history, was the school’s first-ever NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Recipient, and was a CoSIDA Academic All-American, the second in school history.
On the court she stands second in career blocks (491) and blocks per set (1.18) in school history, and has the fourth, sixth, and seventh-highest single-season block totals in school history. She was also a four-year Student-Athlete Leadership Team (SALT) member, and was the team’s Vice President in 2005-06 and President in 2006-07.
Simon, who is currently playing professional basketball in South Korea, was a two-time selection to the NCAA Division I Independent First Team, and was the 2005 Lindy’s Basketball Magazine 2005 Preseason Independent Player of the Year. He was the first player in program history to play in the NBA Summer League, when he suited up for the Minnesota Timberwolves, participated in the 2005 New Jersey Nets Training Camp, and was drafted into the Continental Basketball Association by the Idaho Stampede with the 21st overall pick.
He stands first in IPFW career history in blocked shots (141), and second in rebounds (623). He has the second, fourth, and eighth-highest single-season block totals in school history, and the third-highest single-season rebounding total with 275 from 2003-04. He has played each of the last five seasons overseas, where he has averaged over 10 points a game in every season.
Zach Wilson, who played baseball at IPFW in 1999 and 2000, has worked in professional baseball for the last 14 seasons, and is currently the Senior Director of Player Development with the Major League Baseball team.
A native of Fort Wayne where he attended Northside High School, Wilson has also spent time as the Assistant Director of Player Development, Assistant Director of Scouting, and Manager of Scouting. During his time at IPFW he batted .329 in 1999 with a dozen doubles and four home runs, and has a career batting average of .309 despite playing during a wooden-bat era of the Great Lakes Valley Conference.
The quartet of former standouts will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in a ceremony on February 19 in the International Ballroom of the IPFW Athletics Center. Tickets for the event, which will begin at 5 p.m., can be purchased by calling Assistant Athletic Director Ron Clark at 260-481-6617 or emailing him directly at clark.
