Four join the Whitman Athletic Hall of Fame

The 2008 class of the Whitman Athletics Hall of Fame represents the three most prolific scorers in the history of Whitman College basketball and a three-sport star from the 1950s.

The new members were inducted April 26 at a banquet on campus.

Don Woodworth ’68

He is still the all-time career scoring leader in Whitman men’s basketball with 2,109 points to his name. As a senior, the 6-foot-5 forward scored a single season school-record 652 points in 25 games, a 26.1-point average that topped the Northwest college ranks for that season. He was top scorer in the Northwest as a junior, too, racking up 571 points. Woodworth also led Whitman in rebounds as a senior with 286, averaging 11.4 per game.

Woodworth is a senior deputy prosecutor in King County (Wash.). He and his wife, Antonia, live in Bellevue, Wash. They have two grown children and a son in high school.

Katie Rubenser Wooldridge ’94

She is the all-time leading scorer for Whitman women’s basketball with 1,693 points. As a 5-foot-9 forward, she holds the school records for most steals in a career (310) and in a single season (96), and she ranks second in career rebounds with 824. In her first year at Whitman, she led the Northwest Conference in steals, was second in scoring and fourth in rebounding. She earned All-Conference and All-District (NAIA) First Team honors in her final three seasons.

Wooldridge teaches fifth- through eighth-graders and coaches in Starbuck, Wash. She and her husband, Tony, have two children.

Jennifer McClure Spurgeon ’94

She holds Whitman women’s basketball records for most career rebounds (902), most career blocked shots (311) and most blocked shots in a season (95). The 6-foot-3 post player led the Northwest Conference in blocked shots in each of her final three seasons and ranks second in all-time scoring at Whitman with 1,639 points. She capped her career as the first Whitman women’s player to earn NAIA All-American (second team) honors.

Spurgeon operates a real estate business with her husband, Dave, in Weston, Ore. They have three children.

Robert “Bob” Becker ’58

He was a baseball, football and basketball standout who won the Borleske Trophy in 1958 as Whitman’s top male athlete. In baseball, he was named to the All-Northwest Conference First Team all four years. In basketball, he scored 1,255 career points, still ranks eighth on the college’s all-time scoring list and was on the All-NWC First Team his junior year. Becker played varsity football for two seasons, and as a defensive back led the NWC in interceptions (13) his junior year.

Becker taught and coached at Redmond (Wash.) High School until retirement. He and his wife, Leslee, live in Walla Walla. They have two grown children.