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NMU immortals: 7 inductees in 6 sports named to Northern Michigan University Sports Hall of Fame

These are the seven seniors, including new Northern Michigan University Sports Hall of Fame inductee Dean Antos, front right, who led the Wildcats to their 1991 national championship. They also led NMU to its only WCHA regular-season title and are shown here moments after winning the McNaughton Cup by beating Michigan Tech 6-2 on Feb. 16, 1991. In the front row from left are Dave Shyiak, Brad Werenka and Antos. Top row, Bill Pye, Darryl Plandowksi, Ed Ward and Kevin Scott. Werenka, Pye and Plandowski have already been inducted into the NMU hall. (Photo courtesy NMU)

MARQUETTE — Seven inductees covering a half-dozen sports make up the 2023 class for the Northern Michigan University Sports Hall of Fame.

Five of the inductees are individual athletes and will be joined by back-to-back seasons of the men’s basketball team going back more than four decades.

A ceremony to honor the inductees will be held on Friday, Sept. 15, on campus at the Northern Center, while the group will also be recognized the following day during halftime of the Wildcats’ football game against Wisconsin-La Crosse in the Superior Dome.

The men’s hoops teams are the 1979-80 and 1980-81 squads, both with head coach Glenn Brown.

The individuals are, alphabetically, Dean Antos in hockey, Kameron Burmeister in cross country and track and field, Jovan Dewitt in football, Robert Fehrs in wrestling and Halvor Maartmann in nordic skiing.

Northern Michigan University’s Kameron Burmeister crosses the finish line in fifth place overall, first for NMU, during the women's cross country GLIAC Championships held Oct. 21, 2017, at Gentz's Homestead Golf Course in Chocolay Township. (Journal file photo)

A link on the NMU Athletics website to the hall of fame is at https://nmuwildcats.com/honors/hall-of-fame.

Here is a brief sketch about this year’s inductees:

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Dean Antos — He was a four-year letterwinner for the hockey ‘Cats from 1987-91 and is a member of the Class of 1991. He played in 162 games for NMU, scoring 75 goals to go with 95 assists for 170 points, a total that included 33 power play goals.

Antos was captain of NMU’s NCAA national championship team in ’91 that defeated Boston University 8-7 in triple overtime in St. Paul, Minnesota. In that game, he scored the opening goal and assisted on the winner in the third OT.

Jovan Dewitt

He was a 1989 and 1991 All-WCHA honorable mention selection and is still in the top 10 in program history in games played (fifth place), goals (10th) and points (10th) as well as 14th in Northern history in assists.

Antos now resides in Viking, Alberta, Canada.

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Kameron Burmeister — She was a four-year letterwinner from 2014-18, dominating in cross country from the start when she won five of the team’s six meets and being named MVP as a freshman.

She became Northern’s first cross country All-American in more than a decade when she earned the honor in 2016 and repeated it in ’17.

This is the Northern Michigan University men's basketball team from 1976 that won the GLIAC cochampionship. While this team isn't being inducted into the NMU Sports Hall of Fame this year, two members shown here were instrumental in the '79-;'80 and '80-'81 teams that were this year. They are head coach Glenn Brown, middle row far right, and assistant coach Tom Izzo, who as an NMU player is in the front row, second from left. The entire set of team members from '76 are, front row from left, Bill Uelmen, Tom Izzo, Mike Garland and Ed Megli. Middle row from left, Tom Brodzik, Robb Moodie, Scott Paulsen, Dino Conley and head coach Glenn Brown. Top row from left, Charlie Hawes, Kurt Ekberg, Gary Hubka and Paul Withey. (Photo courtesy NMU)

Burmeister was an indoor track and field All-American in 2017 and outdoor track All-American in ’17 and ’18, specializing in long distances. She was also named to the all-region team and All-GLIAC First Team all four years in cross country, while also winning the GLIAC Commissioner’s Award in 2017. And she was all-region in 2018 and All-GLIAC from ’16-’18 in track.

She holds seven school records between the two sports.

Burmeister resides in Ann Arbor.

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Jovan Dewitt — A linebacker in football from 1993-96, he was named NMU’s Most Valuable Linebacker in 1995 and ’96 and a Dr. C.M. Frank Honorable Mention All-American in 1995.

Steve Mariucci, left, and Tom Izzo, right, talk to golfers and wish them good luck before they tee off on the first hole during the Mariucci Family Foundation Celebrity Golf Classic for Beacon House on June 28, 2012, at Greywalls Golf Course in Marquette. Both were sports stars and are graduates from Northern Michigan University, having grown up together in Iron Mountain. Izzo was an assistant coach on the 1979-80 and 1980-81 NMU men's basketball teams that are being inducted this year into the NMU Sports Hall of Fame. (Journal file photo)

Dewitt was recognized on the All-Midwest Intercollegiate Football Conference Defense First Team and NCAA All-Northeast Second Team Defense in 1995, then earned All-MIFC Defense First Team and NCAA Division II All-Northeast Second Team in 1996. Also in 1996, he was selected MIFC Defensive Back of the Year.

He then served as a Wildcats’ student assistant coach in 1997 and graduate assistant in 2000 and ’01.

Dewitt now resides in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

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Robert Fehrs — The head coach of the Northern men’s wrestling team from 1975-78 compiled a sterling win-loss record of 36-8 and coached 22 All-Americans, including a pair of NCAA Division I All-Americans and two Division II national champions, recruiting several wrestlers who are now in the NMU Sports Hall of Fame. Each of his four NMU teams finished in the top 20 in NCAA Division II.

As an athlete, Fehrs wrestled for the University of Michigan, going 67-5-1.

He is a member of the Pennsylvania Wrestling Hall of Fame, Central Penn All-Sports Hall of Fame and National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

Fehrs now resides in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania.

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Halvor Maartmann — This member of the Wildcats’ men’s nordic ski team, Class of 1977, skied at NMU from 1975-77 and was a three-time All-American, finishing second at the NCAA Championships in 1976. He was also fourth in ’77 and seventh in ’75.

He was a three-year NCAA regional champion and graduated in three years with a degree in computer science-mathematics.

Maartmann resides in Oslo, Norway.

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1979-80 and 1980-81 men’s basketball teams — These teams have star power with head coach Glenn Brown and assistant coach Tom Izzo, who has gone on to fame with a national championship and 25 consecutive NCAA Division I tournament appearances at Michigan State University. And the latter team’s student assistant coach was future longtime NMU men’s head coach Dean Ellis.

Brown earned the Mid-Continent Conference Coach of the Year in 1980 as NMU went 24-6 in ’79-’80 and 21-9 in ’80-’81, making it to the NCAA Division II tournament quarterfinals each year.

Team members Mark Mindeman and Ernie Montgomery were named Mid-Continent First Team in each of these years, while Eric Posey earned Second Team in ’81. Mindeman and Montgomery also won All-National Association of Basketball Coaches District Second Team All-American status in ’81.

Here are other members of each team:

1979-80 — Players: Jeff Jahn, Jon Jennings, Andy Kaufman, Randy Maki, Pete Marana, Dave Meinert, Eric Posey, Jim Sobolewski, Gregg Upton, Scott Upton, Chuck Vercoe, Paul Waldvogel and Immanuel West. Graduate assistant: Len Iwinski.

1980-81 — Players: Jeff Buelow, Alphonso Carroll, Todd Dickinson, Matthew Johnson, Andy Kaufman, Pete Marana, Dave Meinert, Jim Sobolewski, Brian Summers, Gregg Upton and Kirk Wyers.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.

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