Every year since 2008, Wittenberg has given financial awards in honor of the late Dave Maurer, a legendary Wittenberg University coach, athletics administrator, professor, and National College Football Hall of Famer.
Now in its second decade of awarding, the Dave Maurer Honorary Endowed Scholarship will be presented to four Wittenberg students during the 2021-22 academic year. Recipients were selected from a large pool of applicants and include: Julio Novarini, class of 2022, from West Palm Beach, Florida, who is a communications major; Aloysious Kamara, class of 2024, from Columbus, Ohio, who is undecided about a major; Braeden Meier, class of 2022 from Owatonna, Minnesota, who is a marketing major;and Jeremaih Mensah, class of 2022 from Lehigh Acres, Florida, who is an exercise science major.
The Dave Maurer Honorary Endowed Scholarship is awarded to a sophomore, junior or senior male student with financial need who has demonstrated such qualities as self-discipline, teamwork, cooperation, self-confidence, pride in accomplishment, competitive spirit, and the ability to deal with adversity. The tuition scholarship may be renewable on an annual basis or may be rotated, per the discretion of the selection committee.
Maurer, who would’ve celebrated his birthday today, remains one of the most beloved Wittenberg leaders and mentors in the illustrious history of the University's intercollegiate athletics program, especially among the student-athletes he guided on and off the field during his 40 years (1955-95) as an athletics administrator, professor and coach of the Tiger football, swimming, track and field, and golf teams.
After more than a decade as an assistant football coach, Maurer took the reins in 1969 from fellow National College Football Hall of Famer, Bill Edwards. Maurer posted a career record of 129-23-3, good for an astounding .842 winning percentage, best among active coaches at that time. His Tiger teams went undefeated three times and won seven Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) championships in his 15 seasons as head coach, to go along with seven OAC crowns during his years as an assistant coach.
Maurer led the Tigers to two NCAA Division III football national championships as a head coach, in addition to a West Region title in 1969. In addition, the 1978 and 1979 squads finished second in the NCAA Division III Tournament, and he served as assistant coach for two other national title teams in the 1960s. Maurer earned national coach of the year honors twice, district coach of the year four times and conference coach of the year five times. His career culminated with induction into the National College Football Hall of Fame in 1991, the first "true" NCAA Division III coach to garner such recognition.
