Published December 11, 2018
Dodge City Community College honored three distinguished individuals who have made lasting contributions to the college at the DC3 Hall of Fame induction ceremony Saturday.
During the ceremony, held in the DC3 ballroom in front of nearly 100 guests, the college inducted DC3 alum and local businessman Greg Goff for Outstanding Volunteer Service, former Conquistador coach and athlete Ron Prince for Outstanding Career Achievement, and longtime Ag professor Lee Lancaster for Outstanding Service.
Introduced by longtime friend and Fidelity State Bank President Ben Zimmerman III, and DC3 Foundation Director Christina Haselhorst, Goff spoke about how his parents modeled the importance of gratitude and passion. As he reflected on old teammates and coaches, he expressed his gratitude to the college and the community for a large measure of his success.
He also spoke of being blessed by the passionate people in his life – his own parents and his in-laws the Burke Family, including brothers Richard and Larry Burke who were for decades pillars of education and leadership at Dodge City Community College, and best friends and teammates from Dodge City High School. Surrounded by these examples Goff discussed approaching all of his civic and business endeavors with passion – including his service to the college and the Foundation.
“I’m the turbo-charged guy still running around,” Goff, who is also the DC3 Foundation Major Gifts Chairman, said. “I retired five years ago but I was bored and needed to be busy. I love this college and this community, and I love giving back and being busy… and trust me, my wife needed me to be busy and out of the house.”
Introduced by Dave McCollum, professor of animal science and ag business at DC3, Lee Lancaster reminisced on his early days as an ag instructor, and the positive response he received and cooperation he received from the area’s agriculture industry, from local veterinarians to ag chemical producers and several local feed yards.
“Those people were just so willing to come to my class and serve as guest speakers,” Lancaster said. “I realized I had a lot of resources in this community.”
Lancaster also noted the work he and others did during his 30-plus year career, ensuring that the role of DC3 and community colleges remains relevant by continuing to press for and raise awareness of the transferability of community college credits to state universities.
Lancaster noted the cooperation among many departments of the college to coordinate with their counterparts at four-year schools throughout Kansas and throughout the region to make sure course content was acceptable and transferable – a key component in recruitment and basic viability of a community college.
“We worked diligently to make sure these things work for our students,” Lancaster said.
Prince was unable to attend the ceremony due to another outstanding career achievement. Just a day before Saturday’s induction ceremony Prince was named as head football coach for Howard University in Washington D.C., so he was immediately obligated to press conferences and recruiting commitments.
After assistant coaching stints at several Division I schools, including two years at Kansas State, as well as NFL coaching stops, Prince had been serving as an Offensive Analyst this year for the Michigan Wolverines prior to being hired by the Bison.
By Scott Edger