Central State Inducts Three into Athletics Hall of Fame
October 17, 2003
This past weekend during Homecoming ceremonies Central State University inducted three former athletes into its Athletics Hall of Fame.
Norman Ward, Sr., a Xenia, Ohio native was inducted posthumously for his contributions and achievements as an athlete and coach which encompassed over thirty years at Central State. After serving in the Marines during WWII, Ward returned home to Xenia and enrolled at CSU and when he graduated in 1950 had been a star athlete in Football, Basketball and Track. He later returned to his alma mater and was Director of the Student Union which is named in his honor. He also helped coach football, basketball and swimming and was the assistant coach for the two NAIA Men's National Basketball Championship teams. He was a head coach only once, when he filled in for Coach William Lucas during the 1971-72 season, when Lucas was ill. He was the epitome of the assistant coach always loyal to the head coach and the program.
Hamilton Lipscomb was honored for his track accomplishments. He was an outstanding quarter-miler and intermediate hurdler. He set many records during his time at Central State and was a member of a mile relay team that was one of the tops in the nation. In 1963 he was a member of a indoor mile relay team that ran faster than the world record for an indoor board track. However, since the Central State team came in second in the race nobody really paid attention to them. Lipscomb is now retire after a career with the New York State Residential Treatment Centers as a teacher, principal and administrator.
Marieme Lo was the third inductee. No one in Central State basketball history has done more to rewrite the record books and to help establish the Lady Marauders as one of the premier small college programs in the nation. Lo finished her career with 2580 points, the Central State basketball record, along with grabbing 1268 rebounds. She was a three time WBCA/Kodak All-American, the NAIA Great Lakes Player of the Year in 1996-97-98, NAIA Mid-South Player of the Year in 1995, Regional Player of the Week 10 times during her career and National Player of the Week three times in her career. Amazingly she scored in double figures in 120 out of 123 games during her career and in over 60 games had ten or more rebounds. Twice she was named a NAIA Scholar-Athlete. She was the Central State Athletics' Athlete of the Year in 1998. And the NAIA honored her as the Women's Division I Player of the Year in 1998. During her career the Lady Marauders had a record of 94-25 and went to the NAIA National Tournament all four years, twice reaching the Elite-Eight. Lo graduated in 1998 with a 3.91 GPA in Computer Science.
