1977 Recipients
Lawrence A. Gregory
Class Year: 1951
Outstanding Alumni Award Winner 1977
Lawrence Gregory, now a Life Trustee of North Central College, has been involved with every major capital improvement on campus in the last three decades. In 1975, he led a team of volunteers that installed lights on Kroehler Field. In 1976, he assumed a leadership role in the renovation of North Central’s outdoor athletic facilities, a project named the “$18,000 Miracle in Naperville” by the Chicago Tribune. In 1977, Gregory became a trustee and North Central honored him and his wife Char, in 1987 with the dedication of Gregory Arena in Merner Field House in gratitude for their generosity to the College. A successful entrepreneur, Gregory founded Gregory Electric, Inc., in 1954, and built it into a leading electrical contractor in the city. Over the years, Gregory was honored for his contributions to the City of Naperville by the Naperville Riverwalk and Safety Town, and in 1993, the College awarded him the Gael D. Swing Award for Meritorious Service.
Milford D. Schulz
Class Year: 1931
Outstanding Alumni Award Winner 1977
Dr. Milford Schulz was chief radiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, specializing in radiation therapy. He served as a radiologist at Huntington Memorial Hospital at Harvard University and an associate clinical professor of radiology at the Harvard University Medical School. Dr. Schulz was also a consultant to the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Clinic in Radio Therapy. A pioneer researcher who set up radiology situations in Europe, he was one of the first to use the 1,000,000-volt treatment machine for cancer. He was the first professor of radiation therapy at Harvard University Medical School.
Donald Deetjen
Class Year: 1966
Outstanding Alumni Award Winner 1977
A few years after graduating from North Central, Don Deetjen established Deetjen Industrial Concrete Inc. After many years in the building and heavy construction business, he now provides construction consulting services to owners, developers, contractors and construction managers. He currently serves as an officer and director for the Concrete Contractors Association of Greater Chicago and in that capacity is a management trustee on Taft-Hartley benefit funds. Deetjen, along with other college supporters and fellow alumni Larry Gregory ’51 and Dick Wehrli ’56, performed what the Chicago Tribune called “the $18,000 Miracle in Naperville,” giving the College a brand new football stadium, an all-weather running track, lights and paved parking. Deetjen served on the College’s Board of Trustees from 1984-87.
Richard F. Wehrli
Class Year: 1956
Outstanding Alumni Award Winner 1977
Richard Wehrli has been a North Central College Trustee since 1981. While a student, he was a four-year letter winner in basketball, one of the team’s top scorers in 1955-56 and served as co-captain his senior year. In 1960, he established Naperville Ready Mix, a firm that supplies concrete to the Chicago market. Over the years he has established or revitalized several other related businesses, including Naperville Excavating, Easy Street Construction, Mustang Construction and DuKane Precast Company. In 1999, Wehrli was a co-recipient of North Central’s Gael D. Swing Award for Meritorious Service, which recognizes alumni, trustees and friends whose service to the College exemplifies the quality and integrity that were hallmarks of Gael D. Swing’s tenure as president. Wehrli and fellow alumnus, Al Benedetti ’48, were instrumental in heading a major fund drive to rebuild the College’s stadium after a devastating flood in July 1996. The state-of-the-art complex holds 5,500 spectator seats, a modern press box, track and field facilities, athletic training rooms, and new classrooms and offices for several college departments. In 2003, Cardinal Stadium was renamed Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium in honor of these alumni.