Denison University's Varsity D Association has announced its 2020 Hall of Fame inductees who will be honored as part of the college's annual Big Red Weekend festivities on Friday, October 2, 2020. This year's class consists of Cheryl Bailey (Coach/Administrator), Alex Baruch '08 (Lacrosse), Cam Cowden '04 (Baseball), David Curtis '09 (Swimming), Dr. William Druckemiller '68 (Basketball), Jenny (Lacey) Phelan '06 (Field Hockey), Kristin (Goldthorpe) Richner '97 (Swimming), Robin Sheskey '01 (Softball), and Emma Woodward '05 (Basketball).
Cheryl Bailey served as Denison's women's athletic director from 1983 until 1990 overseeing 12 women's varsity athletic programs. She also served as the first head women's soccer and women's track & field coach at Denison. As the head women's soccer coach she compiled a career record of 86-52-12 and led the Big Red to an NCAC Championship in 1984. She was a three-time NCAC Coach of the Year and in addition to starting the program at Denison, her squad was also the first women's collegiate varsity program in the state of Ohio.Â
Bailey led the Denison women's track & field team from 1981 until 1988. In 1990 she left Denison for the University of Wisconsin where she became Senior Associate Athletic Director for the Badgers from 1990-2005. In 2001, Bailey led the Wisconsin athletic department to gender equity compliance and in 2004 she was named the chair of the NCAA Women's Basketball Committee. After Wisconsin, Bailey was named the General Manager of the United States Women's Soccer National Team in 2007, a position she held until 2011. Under her watch, the United States won gold at the 2008 Olympics and took silver at the 2011 World Cup and bronze at the 2007 World Cup. She was a founder and executive director of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) from 2012-14. Bailey graduated from Slippery Rock in 1977 and went on to earn her master's degree from Ohio State in 1983.
Alex Baruch '08 is a four-year letter winner and All-American men's lacrosse player from 2005-08. Baruch spent all four years in Granville as the starting goalie and in 2008 he was named the NCAA Division III Goalie of the Year by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association. A first-team All-American that season, Baruch was also named the NCAC Player of the Year. He was named to the NCAC 30th Anniversary All-Decade Team in 2014 after earning all-conference accolades, four times. He ranks sixth in career saves and ninth in save percentage at Denison. The Big Red advanced to the NCAA Division III Tournament in all four seasons with Baruch in the cage. In 2006 and again in 2008, Denison advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.   After graduating from Denison, he went on to play professionally for the San Francisco Dragons of Major League Lacrosse.
Cam Cowden '04 enters the Varsity D Association Hall of Fame as one of the greatest pitchers in Denison baseball history. As the ace of the staff during Denison baseball's resurgence in the early 2000s, Cowden was a two-time All-Mid-East Region selection and in 2004 he was named the NCAC Pitcher of the Year. Cowden currently holds five career pitching records at Denison and is the program's all-time leader in wins (32), starts (45), innings pitched (273.2), winning percentage (.762) and strikeouts (206).
The Big Red posted back-to-back 31-win seasons in 2003 and 2004. In each of those seasons, Cowden was named first-team all-conference. In 2004 he fired a no-hitter against Case Western Reserve and in 2014 he was named to the NCAC 30th Anniversary All-Decade Team.
David Curtis '09 is a nine-time national champion and 22-time All-American as a member of the Denison men's swimming & diving team from 2005-09. He captured four individual event national championships and five relay national titles in his career with the Big Red. He is tied as the program's all-time leader in national championships with nine. He remains Denison's varsity record holder in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:37.20. In 2009, he led Denison to the NCAC Championship and in four trips to nationals the Big Red placed second in 2006 and 2007 and took third in 2008 and 2009.
A nine-time conference champion, Curtis was named to the NCAC's 30th Anniversary All-Decade Team in 2014 for his dominance in the 500 freestyle, an event he captured conference titles in for three-straight years (2007-09).
After graduating from Denison, Curtis went on to receive his MBA from Eastern Michigan University.
Dr. William Druckemiller '68 is a four-year letter winner in men's basketball from 1964-68.  The all-around threat averaged 13.3 points per game and 13.5 rebounds per game for his career while playing for some of Denison's best teams in the late 1960s. As a junior in 1966-67, Druckemiller posted career-highs in points per game (18.9) and rebounds per game (16.1) while ranking 10th in the nation in field goal percentage at 60.7. A two-time first-team All-Ohio Athletic Conference pick, Druckemiller was a star in the classroom as well.
The Academic All-America award and the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship have become two of hallmark awards that can be obtained by a Denison student-athlete. Druckemiller holds the distinction of being Denison's very first recipient of both prestigious awards. Since 1967, Denison has gone on to produce 98 Academic All-Americans and 51 NCAA Postgraduate Scholars, ranking them among Division III's elite in both categories.
After Denison, Druckemiller attended Yale Medical School and has been practicing neurosurgeon for over 40 years in Hartford, Connecticut.
Jenny (Lacey) Phelan '06 is a four-year letter winner and All-American who played field hockey from 2002 until 2005. Phelan broke through as a freshman by winning the NCAC Newcomer of the Year Award. She placed a capstone on her outstanding career by being named the NCAC Player of the Year as a senior. Phelan ranks third in career goals at Denison with 44 and is fourth in career points with 97. She started all 73 games in her career and logged 11 game-winning goals during her time with the Big Red.
Phelan was named first-team all-region and first-team all-conference in all four seasons. A two-year team captain, Phelan was the recipient of Denison's Distinguished Leadership Award as a senior. After Denison, she earned a master's degree in education from The College of William & Mary.
Kristin (Goldthorpe) Richner '97 is a four-year letter winner and 18-time All-American as a swimmer from 1993-97. A star in the classroom and in the pool, Richner was the recipient of the prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship and as a senior, she was named the Academic All-America Team Member of the Year.
In the pool, Richner logged six individual All-American performances and was a part of 12 All-American relay teams. She helped Denison to four consecutive top-5 national finishes, highlighted by a third-place team showing in 1996. She was a three-time NCAC Champion and a two-time team captain.
As a senior, she received the Denison President's Medal and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. After Denison, she graduated from UCLA School of Law and was later inducted into the Order of the Coif, an honor society for United States law school graduates.
Robin Sheskey '01 is a four-year letter winner and one of the top pitchers in Denison softball history. Sheskey began her career in Denison's second year as a varsity program and by her senior year, the Big Red were NCAC Champions and playing in the NCAA Tournament for the first time.
Sheskey is the career leader in ERA at 1.58 and is the single-season record holder in complete games with 19. She is a three-time first-team all-conference pick and in 1999 she was named the NCAC Pitcher of the Year. As a team captain in 2001, that squad finished the year 33-7 and Sheskey was second on the team in wins with a 12-4 record and a 1.43 ERA. Denison hosted the NCAA Regional Tournament that season and she fired a complete game one-hitter in a victory over Emory University. In 2004, she was one of four pitchers named to the NCAC 20th Anniversary All-Decade Team.
Emma Woodward '05 is a four-year letter winner and 2005 NCAC Player of the Year as a member of the Big Red women's basketball team, Woodward ranks 11th in career scoring at Denison with 1,075 points. She was named to the All-NCAC first team as a junior and a senior and in 2005, she led Denison to its second NCAC Tournament championship and its first NCAA Division III Tournament victory as she scored a game-high 17 points in the Big Red's first-round upset over Baldwin Wallace.
Woodward was named to the Great Lakes all-region team as a senior and she currently ranks fourth in career free throw percentage (78.5) at Denison. In 2014 Woodward was one of 10 players named to the NCAC 30th Anniversary All-Decade Team. Since graduating from Denison, Woodward has received law degrees from Capital University and Georgetown University and has served as a tax attorney for the US Department of Treasury.
