Lawrence University Hall of Famer Don Strutz was presented with the Bob Wurdinger Athletic Service Award earlier this week.
Strutz, from the Class of 1949, was given the award by Wurdinger at the Viking Bench Golf Outing at Royal St. Patrick’s Golf Club in Wrightstown, Wis. The award, established in the 2006-07 academic year, is presented each year to the person or persons who have shown great support to Lawrence athletics.
Strutz was a standout athlete at Lawrence in the years following his service as a B-24 Liberator pilot during World War II. A Midwest Conference golf champion, Strutz also starred in football and basketball for the Vikings. In the years following his graduation, he was an assistant football coach under Bernie Heselton and coached basketball with Johnny Sines. Strutz was inducted into the Lawrence Intercollegiate Athletic Hall of Fame in 2001.
An advocate for Lawrence athletics his entire adult life, Strutz has been a member of the coaching staff for more than a decade. The Appleton native has served as the assistant golf coach for the Vikings and helped guide the team to the 2005 Midwest Conference championship. It was Lawrence’s first conference golf title since Strutz was a player back in 1949. Strutz announced earlier this spring that this would be his final season coaching with the Vikings.
Strutz was vice-president of marketing at Albany International in a 51-year career with the same corporation. He is retired and lives in Appleton.
The award is named for Kaukauna, Wis., native Bob Wurdinger, who served as a Lawrence assistant football coach for decades and continues to be an advocate for Lawrence athletics. He was the first recipient of the award in 2007.
Chuck and Cinny Reff of Appleton won the award in 2008, and Ken and Carole Ebert of New London and Joe, Clyde and Jeanne Kieffer of Appleton were honored in 2009.