Submitted Photo Minot State women’s basketball player Caroline Folven, top left; men’s wrestler Jeffrey Nelson,top center; top right; men’s basketball coach Mike Hultz, top right; men’s basketball player Tyler Rudolph, bottom left; and the 1994 Minot State football team are the newest members of the MSU Athletic Hall of Fame. They will officially be inducted September 12. Photo by MSU Athletics.

The Minot State Athletic Hall of Fame will grow this coming fall with the addition of four former star student-athletes and one more team.

Beaver Athletics is proud to announce that women’s basketball player Caroline Folven, men’s wrestler Jeffrey Nelson, men’s basketball player Tyler Rudolph, along with men’s basketball coach Mike Hultz and the 1994 Minot State football team have been voted in as the newest members of the Minot State Athletic Hall of Fame.

All five will officially be inducted into the Hall of Fame on Friday, Sept. 12, at the Athletics Hall of Fame Banquet at 5 p.m. at the Sleep Inn & Suites. The Class of 2025 will be honored once again as special guests during Saturday’s Homecoming Parade on Sept. 13 starting at 10:30 a.m., and at halftime of the Beavers’ Homecoming football game on Saturday, Sept. 13, against Concordia, St. Paul. Kick-off is scheduled for 2 p.m.

An NAIA All-American and two-time All-Dakota Athletic Conference (DAC) selection, Folven is truly one of the best Minot State women’s basketball players ever as the 6-foot post from Byron, Illinois, is No. 8 all-time in Beaver history in both career points (1,092) and rebounds (515), and shares the all-time Minot State record for games played with 120.

Folven played from 2007-08 through the 2010-11 season and during her career added milestone records as she is No. 2 all-time in offensive rebounds with 227, No. 6 all-time in field-goals made with 428, No. 7 in games started with 77 and No. 10 in free-throws made with 205.

During her time at Minot State, the Beavers compiled a 78-43 overall record and qualified for the NAIA National Tournament twice, advancing to the quarterfinals of the 2007-08 NAIA Division II National Tournament.

Folven graduated in 2011 with a double major in Criminal Justice and Psychology and a 3.79 GPA.

An NAIA All-American on the mats and a two-time conference runner-up champion, Nelson was a four-year letterwinner and three-year team captain for the Minot State men’s wrestling team from 1982-83 through 1985-86.

During his four-year career he compiled a 67-43-4 all-time record and his 67 career wins rank tied for 9th all-time in Beaver history.

During his junior season, the 142-pounder from North Pole, Alaska, finished 7th at the NAIA National Tournament to earn All-American honors, one of his three berths to the NAIA National Tournament.

Following his graduation in 1986 with a degree in Education, he went on to be an impactful teacher in Southern California where he had the opportunity to teach three NFL players in Omar Bolden, who won the Super Bowl with the Denver Broncos, DJ Hackett, who played for the Seattle Seahawks and the Carolina Panthers, and Bobby Wagner, who played for the Seattle Seahawks, Los Angeles Rams and currently plays for the Washington Commanders. He also had the opportunity to teach 2016 Brazil Olympics distance runner Hassan Mead and 2024 Paris Olympics sprinter Kyree King, and NASA astronaut Victor Jerome Glover.

Statistically the greatest men’s basketball player of all-time in Minot State history, Rudolph is a 6-6 NCAA All-American from Bismarck, who was a two-time All-Region player and a three-time All-Conference performer for the Beavers from 2014-25 through 2017-18.

During his time on the hardwood for the Beavers, Rudolph re-wrote the record books scoring an all-time high 1,987 career points and making a career-best 769 field goals. He added an all-time record 921 rebounds and proved prolific all over the court as he ranks No. 2 all-time with 307 made free throws and No. 5 all-time with 142 career 3-pointers.

During his four seasons with the Beavers, Rudolph played in 117 games, starting 89, and helped Minot State to a 63-54 record during that time.

After graduating with his degree in Accounting, Rudolph went overseas to play professional basketball, earning team MVP honors his first year out of college playing in Spain, then leading the NBL1 South division in 2023 in scoring as he played two seasons professionally in Australia.

Minot State’s all-time winningest men’s basketball coach Mike Hultz also joins the Hall of Fame after 12 seasons and 194 career wins as the Beavers head coach.

A product of Notus, Idaho who earned degrees from the College of Idaho and Northern State, Hultz took over the Minot State men’s basketball program in 1998-99 and over the next dozen years racked up an all-time career record of 194-159, the most wins by any Minot State men’s basketball head coach.

Hultz’s success includes winning the 2004-05 DAC regular season and tournament Championships, being named 2004-05 DAC Coach of the Year, and earning Minot State’s first NAIA National Tournament berth since 1995 that season. The trip to the NAIA Division II National Tournament was the first of two for the Hultz-led Beavers who returned to Nationals following the 2007-08 season, as well, Minot State’s fifth and final trip to the NAIA National Tournament in team history.

The final inductee is the 1994 Minot State football team that went 8-3 and qualified for the NAIA National Playoffs for the fourth consecutive year and fifth time in school history. The 1994 Beavers earned a first-round home playoff game, the second time in program history, and Minot State’s 20-13 victory over Sioux Falls is the lone home national playoff win in program history.

The Beavers advanced to the national quarterfinals that fall where their postseason run ended on a last-season field goal with a 28-26 loss at Northwestern (Iowa).

The 1994 Minot State team thrived on a power running game and a stingy defense as the Beavers won defensive NAIA statistical national titles as the No. 1 run defense in the nation and for allowing a nation’s lowest 13.5 points per game.

Along with team accolades, offensive lineman Sheldon Warawa, defensive lineman Chad Petschke, linebacker Jason Obenauer, and kicker/punter Cory Stevens were named NAIA All-Americans. Warawa, Obenauer, Perschke, Stevens, offensive lineman Derek Gackle, defensive lineman Jay Balkar, linebacker Terry Brossard, tight end Mike Upton, and running back Scott Deibert all earned All-North Dakota College Athletic Conference (NDCAC) honors, as well.

The 1994 Minot State team set single-season records on offense running the ball that lasted until this past season, rushing for 2,449 yards and 30 touchdowns on 550 carries. The 2024 Minot State team tied that single-season rushing touchdown record (30), and with 2,693 yards on the ground on 586 carries, moved the 1994 team to No. 2 all-time in a single season in those categories.

Members of the 1994 Minot State football team are: Steve Alford, Gus Anchondo, Mike Anderson, Trevor Bakken, Jay Balkar, Tom Ball, Reiss Barnett, Steve Bartz, Matt Bays, Dan Beck, David Benjestorf, Chad Bjornson, Taan Borhot, Terry Brossard, Dave Butterfield, Ken Campbell, Jeff Carew, Chad Chalmers, Brian Cook, Kelvin Daniels, Cameron Deschamp, Scott Deibert, Anthony Diaz, Josh Duhamel, Milo Epling, Alex Etta, Josh Fordyce, Pat Free, Daniel Fry, Derek Gackle, Geoff Gerlitz, Adam Gillespey, Steve Gilpin, Mike Hampton, Brad Handel, Tom Hansen, Scott Hauge, Joel Huberdeau, Rich Kadrlik, Chris Kelly, Mike Kennedy, T.J. Kinchen, Jr., Trevor Kittelson, David Lavigne, Darwin Maasjo, Scott Mayer, Brian McIntosh, Ryan Munson, Corey Nieuwsma, Jason Obenauer, Derek Olean, Ed Parise, Chris Perkes, Mark Perkes, Chad Petschke, Brian Prestholdt, Russ Reder, Brian Robb, Aaron Roed, Mike Schmidt, Jason Smith, Scott Sorg, Bill Spitler, Cory Stevens, Donovan Swinnerton, Mike Upton, Travis Vannatta, Sheldon Warawa and Jeremy Weller.

The coaching staff for the Beavers was: head coach Dave Hendrickson and assistant coaches Dean Bachmeier, Joel Gullickson, Ryck Hale and Steve Kissel, student coaches Aaron Bayer, Bill Gackenheimer, Todd Lindstrom, Jerry Obenauer and Dennis Rekedal and manager Scott Dillenburg.