NCC’s Cardinal Hall of Fame standouts

Baseball: Ed Mathey, ‘86; Inducted in 2021

The Cardinals won three CCIW (College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) regular-season championships and two conference tournament titles during Mathey’s time as a player. He earned First Team All-CCIW honors as a pitcher in his junior season. Following his playing career, he became an assistant coach for the program before being named head coach at the start of the 1994 season. He led the Cardinals to regular-season and tournament titles that spring. The program did the same in 1996 and 1998, winning 205 games in Mathey’s nine years as head coach before he departed to coach for Northern Illinois University. Returning to coach at his alma mater again in 2015, North Central has won six consecutive conference regular-season titles and three tournament championships. The Cardinals advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA Division III College World Series in 2017, the program’s highest national finish to date.

Softball: Brandy Valentine, ‘96; Inducted in 2010

The outfielder was a First Team All-CCIW selection and the CCIW’s Player of the Year as a freshman in 1993, establishing a single-season school record for doubles (19) and helping lead the Cardinals to a CCIW championship. She ended her Cardinal career with four First Team All-CCIW and two All-Region selections. The Cardinals’ record book is filled with Valentine’s name. She graduated as North Central’s all-time leader in hits (206), RBIs (113) and batting average (.417). She still holds career records for runs scored (193), doubles (58), triples (20) and home runs (13). The single-season school record for home runs (8 in 1996), doubles (19 in 1993) and triples (10 in 1995) also belongs to Valentine, to go along with a school-record 23-game hitting streak in 1993.

Men’s Basketball: Alonzo Alexander, ‘93; Inducted in 2013

After barely playing his freshman year during the 1988-89 season, Alexander flourished in his sophomore campaign. He averaged 13.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game, earning First Team All-CCIW honors. That year, the Cardinals went 21-6 and won the CCIW title. An injury forced Alexander to sit out his junior season, but he returned the following year to average a career-high 21.8 points and 7.7 rebounds while shooting 60.4 percent from the floor. That shooting percentage record would stand for 14 years. That same season, he became the second NCC player to earn the CCIW’s Player of the Year Award. Alexander finished his career ranked fifth in the Cardinals’ history in career scoring with 1,372 points, while also ranking in the program’s career top 10 in field goals made, field-goal percentage, rebounds and assists. He was the sixth player in NCC history to earn All-CCIW honors three times.

Women’s Basketball: Brenda Sanders, ‘83; Inducted in 2004

As a co-captain of the Cardinals’ national champion 1983 basketball team, the starting forward scored 24 points along with being named the MVP of the championship game. She is NCC’s all-time leading rebounder (1,590, 13.5 per game) and is second in career scoring (1,986), field goals made (829); field goal attempts. Sanders also holds the top two single-season records for rebounds (397 in 1979-80, 1980-81). Sanders was the first woman in college history to reach one thousand career points, amassing a 16.8 point average with 17.7 rebounds per game played. 

Football: Lenny Radtke, ‘06; Inducted in 2017

Radtke earned three straight First Team All-CCIW selections, including the 2004 CCIW Defensive Player of the Year award along with All-American recognition from four different organizations. He helped lead the Cardinals to 29 wins over his career, the best four-year total in the program’s history to that point. Playing under the legendary head coach Jim Thorne, he racked up an all-time program record of 466 total tackles, highlighted by a single-season record of 152 tackles his senior season. Helping turn the program around, he led the Cardinals to the NCAA Division III Football Playoffs for the first time during his senior season.