Football | September 27, 2019

It seems like virtually every athlete has one of those career-changing moments.

Former Western Michigan University running back Shawn Faulkner is no different.

Faulkner, along with David Gennero (men's tennis 1993-96), Frederika Girsang (women's tennis 2000-04), Bill Horn (ice hockey 1985-89), Shaylen Jackson (volleyball 2002-05) and Jeff Zylstra (men's track and field/cross country 1975-79), will be inducted into the WMU Athletics Hall of Fame this weekend.

"It was my freshman year in practice, and the play was for the guard to pull and I was to fill the guard's spot," Faulkner said. "Allen Hughes (All-MAC defensive lineman in 1980 and 1981) was over the guard, and I'm thinking (sarcastically), 'This is going to be great.'

"When the guard pulled, I hit Allen in the thigh pads and knocked him down, then he knocked me down," Faulkner continued. "When the play ended, he started heading my way. He tapped me on the helmet, grabbed my shoulder pads and told me that it was a good block and I was going to be OK."

Really, Faulkner would turn out to be more than just OK. The Port Huron Central High School product was the nation's second-leading rusher in NCAA Division I in 1983, his senior season, gaining 1,668 yards and scoring seven touchdowns. In his WMU career, he gained 3,341 yards on 761 attempts (4.4 yards per carry) and scored 15 touchdowns.

As a senior in high school, Faulkner didn't know if he would have a chance to be a college running back. His only other Division 1 offer was from Central Michigan, and the coach there wanted him to be a defensive back. Faulkner wanted to be a running back.

Then there was the shock of coming to a large university.

"I came from a Class B (around 700 students) school, and when I came to Western for orientation, I ran into all these guys who were 5-star recruits and high school All-Americans," he said. "I hadn't ever been outside of my little home town. It was hard to believe at the time."

Faulkner played on the scout team for much of his freshman year, but was also used on the special teams. In games, he did have six carries for 62 yards and one touchdown his first year.

"After practice in my freshman year, one of the guys told me to keep up the good work and that I reminded him of Jarvis Redwine (All-America from Nebraska), but I didn't know who that was, so I just ran hard and practiced hard," he said.

Faulkner had his shot at a lot of playing time in his junior year as a host of injuries to senior running backs Craig Morrow, Larry Caper and Rob Stickels sent that trio to the sidelines.  After having a good sophomore season with 701 yards rushing on 155 carries, Faulkner broke loose for 910 yards on 206 carries and 11 touchdowns.

"After my junior season, coach [Jack] Harbaugh told me he believed I could be a 1,500-yard back, and I wasn't quite sure," Faulkner said. "The coaching staff wanted me to stay in the Kalamazoo area during the summer to work out and work on some skill drills. Larry Caper unselfishly opened up his home and I stayed with Larry and his family in Battle Creek. We would work in an upholstery shop during the day, then go to a nearby football field. Larry was a little bowling ball, strong and fast, and he helped my strength."

Earlier in his WMU career, Faulkner also got a good piece of advice from Jerome Persell, who was the Mid-American Conference player of the year for three straight years (1976-78, WMU Hall of Fame inductee in 1999).

"He told me I should work on my lateral movement and asked if I had ever played handball or racquetball, which I hadn't," Faulkner said. "I started playing those two games, with older fellows, and they would run me all over the court, but that helped me on the football field."

The plaques for the Hall of Fame are on a wall in Read Fieldhouse, where there is a track which goes around University Arena. Current Western Michigan football head coach Tim Lester, who was inducted into the WMU Hall of Fame in 2011, remembered how he had an up close and personal look at those plaques.

''When I think of our WMU Hall, I think of 5 a.m. runs, sprinting around the track where you are flying full speed on the inside lane, leaning into the curve and all those plaques would be like three inches from your head,'' he said with a smile. ''It was a great feeling of accomplishment when I got the call, and when I came for the dinner, I was shocked at all my former teammates who came back for the induction."
 
Shaylen Jackson (middle blocker, 2002-05)
Jackson didn't even think she was going to play in her freshman season. Coming out of Kalamazoo Central, she thought she would redshirt, gain experience, then hit the court the next season.

Head coach Cathy George had other ideas.

"The day of the first match, Cathy said that I was going to start," she said. "From that point on, it was basically trying to catch up with the speed of the game, really paying attention to the coaching staff and trying to go from the high school game to the college game. My high school coaches did a phenomenal job because I was very, very raw and they got me up to speed on the game."

It worked out very well for Jackson, who made the MAC All-Freshman team, was honorable mention all-league her sophomore year and All-MAC first team her junior and senior seasons. Jackson holds the WMU record for total career blocks (563) and career block assists (459) and is third in career attack percentage (.332).

"I brought more defense to the team in my freshman year, then I was able to diversify and add more to the team in the last three seasons,'' Jackson said.

Her fondest memories of her four years include being around her teammates and how hard they all worked.

''It was the amazing players on our team I remember the most,'' she said. ''The fun we had, how hard we worked, running the stadium stairs and how we sacrificed to become our best.''
 
David Gennero (1993-96)
Gennero (Warren Mott High School) was a two-time MAC indoor singles champion in 1995 and 1996 and he also made the All-MAC team three times, including being named the conference's player of the year in 1996. In that season he was also named the sportsman of the year.

Gennero and doubles partner Kevin Reed won the MAC No. 1 doubles title in 1996.

His 180 wins were fourth all-time when he graduated.
 
Frederika Girsang (2000-04)
The three-time first team All-MAC player (2001, 2003-04), who also earned second team honors in 2002, was named the league's freshman of the year. In 2003, she was named the MAC's player of the year, the first time a Western Michigan player had earned that honor.

She finished with 195 victories, which was a Western Michigan career record at the time of her graduation and which is now fifth all-time.
 
Bill Horn (1985-89)
Horn was a brick wall as a goaltender for the Broncos, earning second team All-American honors in 1985-86. He was named the 1986 Central Collegiate Hockey Association tournament MVP in leading Western Michigan to the program's first tournament championship.

He still holds a number of WMU records, including the winningest goaltender (71 victories), single seasons wins (25, 1985-86), minutes played in net (7,933:28) and single season winning percentage (.833).
 
Jeff Zylstra (1975-79)
The Grandville, Mich., product was an outstanding distance runner for WMU's legendary coach, Jack Shaw. Zylstra was the MAC champion in the 10,000 as well as the steeplechase in 1978, being named the league championship's outstanding performer. Zylstra repeated as the MAC steeplechase champ in 1979.

In 1976, Zylstra ran on the MAC's cross country championship team. He qualified for the NCAA Track and Field Championships in the steeplechase in 1978 and 1979, making the finals in 1979. His time of 8:42.6 in the 1979 Penn Relays steeplechase race earned him a second place and the program's second-best time in history.
 
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