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2009 Middletown Journal ArticleMUM Inductees speak from the heartThe four athletes honored by the MUM Athletic Hall of Fame reflect on how the school influenced who they are now. By Skip Weaver That can be said of the third annual Miami University Middletown Athletic Hall of Fame banquet, which inducted its four newest members Saturday night, Jan. 24, in the Campus Community Center in Johnston Hall. Dave Hortman, Janet (Turner) Fennel, Jennifer (Whitley) Updyke and Paul McMillan all had basketball in common during their time at MUM, and all reflected on the influences their teammates, coaches and families had in their lives. But the four inductees took it one step further and talked about how those influences taught them to give back. "As I got older, I appreciate the little things Coach (Jim) Sliger taught us," said Fennel, who starred at MUM in the mid-1980s. She was a three-sport athlete, but excelled on the basketball court where she helped lead the MUM women to the Ohio Regional Campus Conference state championship in 1987. "Sliger was good at recognizing everyone's contributions," said Fennel, who now tries to give back by doing the same thing in her job and with the Madison girls eighth-grade basketball team she coaches. McMillan played just one year at MUM, but went on to play two more seasons at the University of Loyola-Chicago, a Division I school. He now gives back by working with young males at Aiken High School, where he once played. "There would be no Paul McMillan without certain people in my life," he said. "All my experiences have made me who I am, and I can take all those positives that came from mistakes in my life and relate them to these young kids. "I lived in the same situations they do," he continued. "I understand what they are going through, and they can see that if I can make it, then maybe they can too." Hortman, who was a two-time All-ORCC first-team selection for MUM, is an assistant softball coach at Kings High School, and offers this advice to his players. "You have to find a place where you are comfortable and love to go to school," he said. "For me, that place was MUM. (Going here) gave me my life, and I will take that with me to my grave." Updyke, the last MUM women's player to be named the ORCC's Most Valuable Player, echoed similar advice for her's and other children. "Follow your heart and do what you love," she said. "I had offers to play at other schools, but I wanted to live at home and go to MUM. I'm glad I did."
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