January 27, 2011 - The Hillsdale College Athletic Hall of Fame will welcome three new members at its upcoming induction ceremony on Saturday, April 9.

Gordon Sanders '84, Warren Spragg '57, and Lance Bowles '93 make up the hall of fame class of 2011. This year, several current Hillsdale College student-athletes will also be incorporated into the ceremony, recognizing their achievements both in the classroom and on the field of play.

This year's class is highlighted by two outstanding track athletes, and one of the top players on Muddy Waters' early Dales football teams, teams that helped put the school on the national athletic map.

Sanders was one of the elite NAIA distance runners in the nation throughout his career in the early 1980s. During his career, he set new school records in the two-mile run, the 5,000 meter run and the 10,000 meter run. After graduating from Hillsdale in 1984, he went on to become a nationally known distance runner, recording the fourth-fastest time of any runner in the country in the 10,000 meter run in 1991. He was a two-time qualifier for the Olympic Trials, and was ranked as high as 29th in the world in the 10,000 meter event by magazines that cover the sport of running.

Sanders is currently the head cross country coach at the University of Tennessee-Martin.

Spragg was an important part of the ascension of the Hillsdale College football program in the 1950s. A defensive lineman, Spragg was named All-MIAA three times and was co-captain of the undefeated 1956 Dales team. He was an NAIA All-American and was a draft pick of the NFL's Los Angeles Rams in 1957. However, an injury cut his pro career short, and he returned to Hillsdale to be the defensive line coach for Waters from 1967-71.

Spragg went on to a career in education, where he worked as a coach, teacher, principal and assistant superintendent at various communities in the state of Michigan.

Bowles was a groundbreaking middle distance runner for the Chargers under head coach Bill Lundberg. He was the 1991 NAIA national champion in the 600 yard run in 1991, and in 1992, became the first athlete in program history to qualify for the national championships in indoor track at both the NAIA level and NCAA Division II level.

Bowles won GLIAC championships 10 different times and held six different school records at Hillsdale, several of them standing for more than a decade.