APPLETON, Wis. — The Lawrence University Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) is sponsoring a pair of events in conjunction with NCAA Division III Week, which runs April 4-10.
Members of Lawrence’s athletics teams will head to Richmond Elementary School near Alexander Gymnasium to read to students on Tuesday (April 5). In support of National Reading Month, Lawrence student-athletes also will be donating books to organizations including Richmond Elementary and the Boys and Girls Club.
Lawrence student-athletes, who have been mentoring students at Richmond Elementary for more than a decade, are also supporting the Midwest Conference SAAC Reads Initiative. Lawrence President Mark Burstein has donated to the cause, and his donation has been matched by the Midwest Conference.
Lawrence’s SAAC also is sponsoring motivational speaker Mark Speckman, who will talk Thursday (April 7) in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel at 8:30 p.m. The talk is free and open to the public.
Speckman, who joined the Lawrence football staff as the offensive coordinator in 2015, is a sought-after football theory and motivational speaker. Speckman drew media attention as a player decades ago. Born without hands, Speckman played linebacker at Menlo College and later at Azusa Pacific University and was a NAIA All-American. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Azusa Pacific in 1977 and picked up a master’s degree in health and human services from Columbia Pacific University in 1994.
Speckman, along with W. Jason Niedermeyer, authored the book, Figure It Out: How I Learned To Live In A Digital World Without Digits. His talk on Thursday will focus on figuring out how to balance life while playing sports, despite the challenges that life may present.
Speckman was a head coach at the collegiate level for 15 seasons, including 14 at Willamette University. Speckman coached Willamette 1998-2011 and compiled a record of 83-59. The Bearcats won the Northwest Conference in 1999 and 2008 and made appearances in the NCAA Division III playoffs in 1999, 2004 and 2008.
Speckman’s 2008 team finished with an 11-1 record and was ranked as high as fourth nationally. Speckman was a finalist for the Liberty Mutual National Coach of the Year and was named American Football Coaches Association West Region Coach of the Year in 2008.
Speckman, who has been named a conference Coach of the Year 10 times, also served as the head coach at Menlo College in 2012 before going to the Canadian Football League. He spent two seasons as the running backs and tight ends coach of the Montreal Alouettes before coming to Lawrence.
One of the game’s experts on the “Fly” offense, Speckman has served as a consultant to high-powered college football programs like Wisconsin, Oregon and Stanford and also has worked with the staffs of the Green Bay Packers, San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks.
The NCAA Division III Week is part of the Division III Identity Initiative, which was introduced in 2010 to sharpen the division’s identity and to enable schools and conferences to more effectively explain why they prefer to compete in Division III. The initiative has been guided by a strategic-positioning platform, describing Division III as a place where student-athletes can “follow your passions and develop your potential,” within an approach that combines rigorous academics, competitive sports and an opportunity to pursue other interests.