Jared Shlensky
Most fans of North Central College football know which player’s to keep an eye out for during each game. One in particular is senior captain strong safety Shane Dierking, who stands at just 5 feet 8 inches and just over 170 pounds.
Dierking snatched his ninth career interception last week against UW-LaCrosse, moving the senior safety into eighth place on the all-time NCC record for career interceptions.
Dierking, who was had at least three interceptions in each of the past two seasons, is just seven interceptions away from breaking Norman Robinson’s record of 15 career interceptions, a record that head coach John Thorne hopes Dierking can break.
“I sure hope so because there isn’t a player that I’ve ever coached that deserves it anymore,” said Thorne. “He’s too short, he’s not supposed to be big enough to play football and shouldn’t be good enough to do what he does. But he does it all on sheer hard work, courage and confidence.”
But Dierking, a double major in management and entrepreneurship, really isn’t too focused on breaking individual accolades.
“To be at the top of any list is a great honor,” said Dierking. “We’ll see how it works out, but right now I’m just focused on winning football games.”
However, what some may not know about Dierking is that both his dad and brother have had just as much success as him on the gridiron too.
Shane’s brother, Dan Dierking, was a four year contributor as a running back at Purdue from 2007-2010 along with being named to ESPN.com’s 2010 All-Senior team.
Dierking, a 2010 Purdue graduate, also participated in Bears summer training camp during the 2011 season after being cut right before the start of the preseason.
Their dad, Scott Dierking, was the New York Jets fourth-round draft pick in 1977 and played a total of eight seasons in the NFL.
While Dierking has had learned so much about the game of football from his father, he appreciates the life lessons his father has given both him and his brother even more so.
“My father always stressed humility to my brother and I and that is something we kept with us as we’ve grown older,” Dierking. “It has been an incredible experience to learn from two outstanding football players and role models.”
