Four named distinguished ESU Alumni
Dirk McBratney, Emporia Sate University
Monday, October 13, 2008
Emporia State University’s 2008 Distinguished Alumni, Louis Burns, Lonnie Clark, Tom Fincken, and Ben R. Leedle Jr., will be recognized at the 2008 Alumni Awards banquet on Oct. 24. The event begins with a 6:15 p.m. reception in the Memorial Union’s Kanza Room, followed by the 7 p.m. dinner in the Memorial Union Ballroom. The public and members of the media are invited to attend. The cost is $25 a person. To make a reservation, call the alumni office at 341-5440 or e-mail alumni@emporia.edu.
The Distinguished Alumni award is the highest honor that can be granted by the ESU Alumni Association, awarded each fall during Homecoming to recognize ESU’s finest graduates. Candidates are nominated for the Distinguished Alumni award by alumni and current and retired ESU faculty. A maximum of five alumni can receive the award in a given year, and since 1960, more than 200 alumni have received the award.
Louis Burns
Louis Burns (BSE 1949, MS 1951), of Fallbrook, Calif., was featured in Marquis Who’s Who in the West, America and the World. He was nominated to the Kansas Academy of Arts & Sciences and was named to Oklahoma’s Historians Hall of Fame.
Burns is an Osage Nation Delegate who is involved in a cultural exchange with the Occatain people of Tarn et Garoone, France. He was appointed Osage Tribal Representative by President Chief Tillman and is involved in several other organizations associated with the Osage Indian culture. Burns founded the Shawnee Mission Gem and Mineral Society, serves as a member of the first Cub Pack in the United States, and is president of the Santa Ana Teachers Association.
In addition, he has donated more than 5,000 books, documents, photos, and maps of and pertaining to the Osage to the White Hair Memorial in Oklahoma. Sculptures of his Osage drawings have been displayed in France. Burns has committed his life to preserving the history and heritage of the Osage Indians and sharing valuable information with others.
In the past, Burns has been the editor of Ciga Press, an instructor at Kansas State Teachers College (now ESU) and Santa Ana Community College in California, as well as a teacher at Shawnee Mission High School, in Shawnee Mission, and Valley Senior High and Saddleback Senior High in California. He has led seminars at state parks, Oklahoma schools, the University of Kansas, and historical societies, and served as editor of the local and county Teachers Association newspaper.
Lonnie Clark
Lonnie Clark (BSE 1971) of Birmingham, Ala., started his career as a student athletic trainer for Kansas State Teachers College (now ESU) in 1968, then went on to work at the Kansas City Chiefs training camp from 1970-1971. Clark earned a master’s degree from Drake University in 1975, where he served as an associate professor and head athletic trainer.
Clark has been appointed to many medical and athletic training positions for international sporting events, such as the World Swimming Championships in Australia, the World University Games in Great Britain, and the Arena Festival swimming competition in Germany. In 1992, Clark served as head athletic trainer for the U.S. swimming team at the games of the XXV Olympiad in Barcelona, Spain. He has also held several positions for the former HealthSouth Corp., including the vice president of operations, and served as director of Iowa Methodist Medical Center Sports Medicine.
Clark has coordinated many conferences and workshops pertaining to his expertise in athletic training and knowledge of the care and prevention of sports injuries and been a staff member at conventions in Missouri, Iowa and Minnesota and at the NCAA Regional tournament. He also serves as a member of the Resistol Relief Fund Board of Directors.
Tom Fincken
Tom Fincken (BSE 1961) of Arvada, Colo., recognized in ESU’s Athletics Hall of Honor, is one of Colorado’s top athletic officials as well as a teacher and administrator. He has refereed three different sports nationally and in Colorado for almost thirty years. He has officiated basketball for 27 years, track for 24 years, and football for 16 years.
Fincken officiated the 1986 Final Four tournament and the Super Bowl in 1995, 1997 and 2000, being one of only two people to ever officiate both. He has officiated eight NCAA playoffs, and officiated in the Western Athletic Conference and the Big West Conference. As president of the Colorado Basketball Officials, Fincken instituted a valued evaluation program reiterating the rules, mechanics, and importance of professionalism and ethics.
In 2006, Fincken was inducted into the Colorado High School Activities Association Hall of Fame, one of only eight referees ever to receive the honor. Mr. Fincken received the IAABO Board No. 4 Al Schalge Award in 2004 and was the 2004 recipient of the Art McNally Award for his service, leadership, dedication and professionalism.
Ben Leedle Jr.
Ben R. Leedle, Jr. (MS 1985) of Brentwood, Tenn., is the president and CEO of American Healthways, a Fortune Small Business Top 100 Company. American Healthways helps health insurers manage patients who suffer from chronic illnesses, such as osteoporosis, fibromyalgia and Hepatitis C. It is currently the country’s fastest-growing small public company. Leedle led the design, development, sales and operations of Healthways, with many promotions along the way. He started his career as an exercise physiologist and certified diabetes educator, and was promoted to program manager for the Diabetes Center of Excellence. He then became a member of the corporate management team before becoming chief operating officer, then president, and finally chief executive officer.
Previously the senior vice president of Diabetes Treatment Centers, Leedle is active in the American Diabetes Association. He is a member of the Health Care Management Education Advisory Board and was elected to the Board of Directors in 2003. Leedle also served as Peer Reviewer for the ADA National Recognition process.
Leedle earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Central College, turned to ESU for his master’s, and completed the Harvard Business School’s Executive Education Advancement Management program in 2002.
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