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Jen Jacobs earned a roster spot on the softball team as a walk-on in 1996, – today, the scholarship she’s established helps other student-athletes to persevere as she did.

   In 1996, Jen Jacobs realized a dream when she earned a roster
spot on the Bulldog softball team as a walk-on.
   Eight years later, the former infielder has created an opportunity for others to follow in her footsteps with the formation of the Jen Jacobs Scholarship. The annual scholarship will be presented to a walk-on student-athlete who solidifies, like Jacobs, her position on the softball squad through perseverance.
   Jacobs is just one of several former Bulldogs who have recently made generous donations to help out student-athletes following in their footsteps.

Raindrops on Roses…and Slapshots on Goalies
   “Hockey is still one of my favorite things,” says Robert Bishop. “I have a son growing up and hopefully he will play college hockey someday.”
   Bishop, a two-time (1977-78 and 1978-79) Ferris State varsity hockey letter winner, along with his wife, Sue, have helped further that favorite thing by establishing the Robert Bishop Hockey Scholarship Endowment Fund, which will directly benefit Ferris State’s Ice Hockey program with the creation of a student-athlete scholarship.
   While many superstar athletes grab headlines for multi-million-dollar contracts and self-aggrandizing statements, many of the former Bulldogs who are helping the next generation of student-athletes do so with a sense of modesty they share along with happy memories of competition.
   “I hope this will help some other people with their college careers,” says Bishop. “Ferris State was a good school for me and provided me with a good opportunity. I just want to show my appreciation and give back a little bit.”
   With the financial help from its alumni, the Athletics program is striving to ensure the University’s tradition of producing student-athletes who excel both on and off the ice.
   “I believe Robert Bishop’s support will spread to our younger hockey alumnus and is a prime measure of how past generations of Ferris players are proud to be an integral part of the Bulldog hockey family,” says Bob Daniels, head coach for Bulldog Hockey.
   The hockey program also has recently been bolstered by the establishment of another scholarship endowment fund.
   The Kenneth and Sueann Walz Hockey Scholarship Fund will provide hockey scholarships for full-time students who are dedicated to the success of the hockey program and who are in good academic standing in their program.
   “We are happy to support Ferris and student-athletes. We hope this new endowment fund will play a part in strengthening Ferris’ great hockey program and easing the financial burden for athletes,” says Sueann, an assistant vice president and manager for Independent Bank in Big Rapids. Kenneth Walz is a Big Rapids attorney with the firm of Walz & Warba.
   In addition to helping the hockey program through the scholarship fund, Sueann has served as co-chair of the fundraiser for Ferris’ Bulldog Hockey Locker Room. She also has worked to promote the University through her 14 years of service on the Executive Board of the Friends of Ferris, and by serving on the Ferris Foundation Board of Directors.

The Link Between Course and Classroom
   Former Bulldog golfers Scott Seifferlein and Jim Lusk apparently didn’t get tired of teaming up on the golf course in the late 1990s. Now the two have joined to create the annual Seifferlein and Lusk Men’s Golf Scholarship.
   To receive a Seifferlein and Lusk Scholarship, a member of the men’s golf team must be enrolled as a full-time student who has earned a minimum 2.70 grade point average. Making the criteria truly a combination of the athletic and scholarly achievement, scholarships will be awarded only those years that the team advances to regional competition.
   During those years, the player’s lowest scoring average at the end of the season based on participating in a minimum 75 percent of tournament rounds will be awarded $1,000 per academic year to be applied directly to the recipient’s university account.
   “This scholarship provides an added incentive at the end of each season for our guys to perform at their best,” says head coach Brad Bedortha.

University Advancement and Marketing Vice President (and former hockey coach) Rick Duffett (L) and President David Eisler flank hockey scholarship endowment donors Sue and Robert Bishop.

   Seifferlein, a four-year letter winner (1997-00), was a member of the 1999-00 team, which tied for eighth at the NCAA Division II Championships. Seifferlein is presently an assistant golf professional at the Middle Bay Country Club in Oceanside, N.Y.
   Lusk competed at Ferris from 1996-99 and was honored as the 1999 GLIAC Men’s Golf “Athlete of the Year.” He helped guide the Bulldogs to four straight appearances in the NCAA-II National Championship Tournament. Lusk also qualified for the PGA Tour’s Buick Classic in June 1999 after completing his collegiate career. He currently is employed at the Muttontown Country Club in East Norwich, N.Y., as an assistant golf professional.
   “It’s great to have two of our alumni show their appreciation in this way,” says Bedortha. “They both had a great experience at Ferris State and wanted to further enhance the opportunities for future men’s golf student-athletes at the University.”

The Ultimate Thank You
   “This scholarship is something that just feels like the right thing to do, says Jen Jacobs. “I’ve always had this in the back of my mind. I’ve always wanted to give something back because the University and the whole community have all given so much to me.”
   The Big Rapids native Jacobs returned home from Washington, D.C., where she currently works, to present the inaugural Jen Jacobs Scholarship to outfielder Jessica Jaroniewski, who says finding out that she was getting an extended walk-on tryout period, making the Bulldog squad and playing her first collegiate game “was the most thrilling sports moment of my life.”
   For Jacobs, the most thrilling moment was perhaps helping the Bulldogs to a third-place finish in the NCAA-II National Championship Tournament in 1998 - at the time the Dawgs highest ever finish for a Ferris State women’s athletic team. (See this issue’s “Bulldog Bites” for Women’s Golf achievements.)
   A sure-handed infielder, Jacobs concluded her collegiate career with a .273 batting average in 122 contests. She totaled 83 base hits, 30 runs scored, 15 runs batted in, 13 doubles, two triples and one home run while registering a .901 fielding percentage. A starter in 110 games primarily at third base, Jacobs batted .307 during her senior year with 23 hits, six doubles, two triples and 15 RBI. As a sophomore in 1998, she was honored with the team’s Diamond Dawg Award for spirit and determination.
   “As a coach, when players leave your program you don’t want the program to leave your players,” says softball head coach Keri Becker. “The program doesn’t stop caring about the player after four years, and the player doesn’t stop caring about the program after four years. I think it says a lot about the people involved in our program that they want to stay involved. As a coach, that means a lot to you. It’s the ultimate thank you when players leave your program, but they still feel as if they’re a part of it.”