2016 Class of Elkhart County Sports Hall of Fame
Congratulations to the 2016 inductees! Click on the following link for the full article:
Goshen Inductees:
NATALIE NEWELL-Goshen (2011) Top vote getter in our district during senior year for “Miss Softball” honors in Indiana. GHS softball – Four-year varsity pitcher and infielder, four-time team MVP and all-NLC, all-district and All-State pitcher, led Goshen to sectional title in 2011. Goshen career records of 1,101 strikeouts, 56 wins, 103 RBI, 52 doubles, 15 homers, 168 hits and .411 average. Single-season marks of 340 strikeouts, 0.35 ERA and 22 wins. Basketball – Four years on varsity, three-time captain, 805 career points, Barb Zook mental attitude award, 485 career rebounds, school record for 3s in a season with 55 and career with 101, academic All-State honorable mention, all-NLC as a senior. College – Four years of varsity softball at Bethel. Four times all conference and three times “Pitcher of the Year.” Second team All-American 2012, NCCAA All American first team 2013, Newcomer of the Year in 2012, academic All-American second team twice. First in Bethel career strikeouts, tied for first in career shutouts, third in wins, sixth in doubles, ninth in ERA. Received Ron Paulsen Memorial Award grant. Now residing in Goshen.
DAVID MILLER-Goshen (1998) Played for the Cologne Centurions in 2003, Detroit Lions in 2003-04, Chicago Bears in 2004 and New York Giants in 2005. Football – Lettered three years at Goshen High School and was on an offensive line that helped the team set school rushing records that still stand. All-Northern Lakes Conference twice and first team All-State as a senior. Ranked among the top 50 players in Indiana by coaches and the Bloomington newspaper. North All-Star team captain 1997. Played for Goshen’s 1996 regional champions. College – Four-year starter at Ball State University. Team captain in 2002 and all-MAC second team in 2002. Coaching – Assistant at Ball State 2005-06, assistant at Columbus East High from 2006 to present. East won a Class 4A state championship in 2013. Resides in Columbus, Ind.
TOM L SOVINE-Goshen High School (Coach) Bunker Hill High School (1924). Tom, who is deceased, fashioned one of the more remarkable coaching records in Elkhart County history. As Goshen High School boys tennis coach from 1949-69, his teams posted a 135-38 overall record when GHS was the smallest school in the Northern Indiana Conference. The Sovine Era included five undefeated NIC championship teams, a winning record against all league rivals and a record of 70-5 during the decade of the 1960s. After graduating from Ball State, Sovine was a teacher-coach at Shipshewana High School from 1928-37 with his baseball teams winning several LaGrange County championships. He then was on the Middlebury High School faculty for a few years. Tom moved to Goshen High in 1945 and was a history teacher, along with tennis coach. Sovine was clerk of the course 25 years for the boys track and field Goshen Relays and honorary referee of the classic in 1980. He also supervised summer park and rec programs in Goshen for 17 years, was an American Legion baseball coach and among organizers for GYRAB, a popular Goshen youth center. Mr. Sovine died in November 1985.