BUTLER TWP — For a two-year institution, Butler County Community College creates lasting memories.

Golfing great Stefan Carlsson, former BC3 president Dr. Thomas TenHoeve and longtime golf and basketball coaches Bill Miller and Dick Hartung said as much during their inductions into the Charles W. Dunaway Pioneer Hall of Fame Saturday at the BC3 Field House.

Dr. TenHoeve was inducted as an administrator, but could not attend the ceremony. He was BC3 president from 1970 through 1984. The college’s current president, Dr. Nick Neupauer, presented and represented TenHoeve.

“He put BC3 on the map,” Neupauer said. “He was the right president for this college at the right time. He strongly believes in the athletic program here.

“It broke his heart to see BC3 teams having to play home games at local high schools and he did something about it.”

TenHoeve was instrumental in raising funds for the construction of BC3’s Field House.

“This was his creation,” Neupauer said of the building.

TenHoeve made sure the college administration received a softball, autographed by the team after a 9-0 win on April 28, 1976, as a memento. That softball was presented to his late wife following that game.

TenHoeve sent a message to be read during the inductions stating how he “enjoyed watching all of the student-athletes play at the gyms, courses and fields, and that it was important they had a place to call home.”

Longtime Pioneer golf coach Miller presented Carlsson, a 2021 inductee who couldn’t make the ceremony that year. Carlsson became a two-time All-American at BC3, placing eighth and 10th, respectively, out of more than 100 golfers at the NJCAA Championship Tournament in New York.

Carlsson came to BC3 after spending a semester at Allegheny College in Meadville.

“As soon as I got the phone call he was coming, I knew our program, would be elevated,” Miller said. “Then Stefan exceeded my expectations.”

“This school did so much for me,” Carlsson said “Coach Miller was the best golf coach I ever had. There’s a reason why this place has been named the No. 1 (community) college in Pennsylvania eight years in a row.”

Former BC3 athlete John Stuper — who pitched in the World Series for the St. Louis Cardinals and coached baseball at Yale University for 30 years — presented Miller. The two were backcourt mates for the Pioneers during the first basketball game ever played in the Field House.

“Bill’s been my best friend for 40 years,“ Stuper said. ”He’s a BC3 lifer and there’s no better place than that.“

Miller made a BC3-record 15 consecutive free throws in a game. He was the basketball team’s point guard, served as an assistant basketball coach for 20 years and has been the Pioneers’ golf coach since 2003, guiding five All-Americans, eight WPCC championship teams and qualifying five teams for the national tournament.

His son, Austin, broke his free throw record by sinking 16 straight in December of 2015.

“I’ve presented four individuals for this Hall of Fame,” Miller said. “This is a little bit different.

“I remember talking to (then BC3 basketball coach) Tom Beckett my senior year at Butler. He wanted me to be his point guard. Then I finished my degree at La Roche College and Chuck Dunaway called me, asking me to come and coach for a year.

“I’ve stayed for 37. And as an administrator, I was still able to coach. Chuck Dunaway and I coached together. BC3 athletics are the envy of our conferencdes and that’s a tribute to him,” Miller added.

Dunaway, who died in November, was a longtime BC3 athletic director who founded the school’s sports program.

Miller also thanked his family, particularly his wife.

“Golf is a long sport with long tournamernts, some overnights,” he said. “My wife has always been supportive. I’ve always appreciated that.”

Hartung — who tallied 402 combined wins coaching men's and women’s basketball while being an assistant professor at BC3 — was presented by his son, Noah. He won eight WPCC titles.

“I had an amazing childhood,” Noah Hartung said. “I remember coming to this gym all the time ... it was only a mile away ... and the 15-passenger blue vans they took to all of those games on the road.

“My dad would run here, ride a bicycle here ... He loved being here.”

Harting wouldn’t deny that.

“Best job I’ve had in my life,” he said. “The importance of sports in our lives, the coaching, the teaching, the relationships, it’s unbelievable.

“I grew up in Butler. It’s a true blessing I had so many good friends and a caring, loving family.”

Hartung had numerous assistant coaches “who had one common trait. Loyalty. They were loyal to me. And Walter J. (longtime scorekeeper Fitzpatrick), none of this would have happened without him.

“Gratitude is the building block of all other virtues — and I am grateful for this,” Hartung added.

BC3 also honored its four NJCAA All-Americans from the past year: Grove City graduate Troy Loughry in golf, Knoch graduate and Moniteau graduate Aslyn Pry in volleyball, Bishop Canevin graduate Kevaughn Price in basketball.

There are now 21 members in the Charles W. Dunaway Pioneer Hall of Fame.

“Chuck would be so proud of how far this has come,” ceremony host Rob Snyder said.