Barton Community College will induct Joe Burger, Caley Carter-Knudsen, and Ray Seib to its Sports Hall of Fame at a 3:00 p.m. induction ceremony to be held this coming Saturday, February 6, in the Kirkman Activity Center located on the Barton Campus. Induction ceremony is free and open to the public. Public attendance also encouraged in honoring the inductees in between the women’s and men’s basketball games versus Dodge City Community College later that evening.
Burger and Seib are former coaches for the Cougars credited with the elevation of the men’s soccer and track and field teams to nationally competitive levels respectively, while Carter-Knudsen dots the historical performance charts for the Great Bend native’s play on the volleyball court from 1999-2001 before competing professionally.
Schedule of Events – Saturday, February 6, 2016 at Barton Community College
3:00 p.m. – Induction Ceremony located on lower level of the Kirkman Activity Center on the Barton campus. Admission is free and public is encouraged to attend. *Live web streaming will also be available.
5:30 p.m. – Barton women’s basketball versus Dodge City Community College
*7:20 p.m. – *Approximate time. Inductees will be presented with Hall of Fame plaques in a brief ceremony between the women and men’s basketball contests.
7:30 p.m. – Barton men’s basketball versus Dodge City Community College
Joe Burger
Considered “The Godfather” of Barton soccer, Joe Burger began the Cougar soccer programs in the fall of 2001 leading both the women’s and men’s teams.
For five years at the helm, Burger’s teams ruled the Jayhawk going 39-8-4 winning over 65 percent of their games going 62-30-12. His tenure included three Jayhawk conference titles, two national rankings, and a seventh place national tournament finish in just the program’s second year of competition. Burger also started the women’s program in 2001, taking the Lady Cougars to the Region VI semifinals in their first season.
Even with a startup program in his first season, Burger immediately made an impact earning the first of his two Region VI Coach of the Year honors leading the 2001 Cougars to an 8-8-3 season that came to an end in a shootout in the Region VI title game.
Taking the program into the national spotlight in just his second season, the Midwest Regional Coach of the Year led the Cougars to a 14-6-4 season in 2002, earning its first trip to the NJCAA Tournament where the Cougars lost to the eventual national runner-up.
Along with the two Region VI and Midwest Regional coaching honors, Burger coached five NJCAA All-Americans; two Region VI and Jayhawk Conference Player of the Year award winners; three NSCAA/Adidas All-South Region members; two Academic All-Americans, and 24 players earning a combined 55 All-Region VI and All-Jayhawk Conference team honors.
Having seven years of collegiate coaching experience under his belt from the University of Missouri at Kansas City and Missouri State University prior to Barton, Burger returned to the four-year level in 2006 spending six years as an assistant coach at Drake University, a stint that included an NCAA Tournament Elite Eight run in 2009. Burger then oversaw the introduction of soccer at South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, leading the Hardrockers for three seasons. Burger returned to the Missouri Valley Conference in 2015 as an assistant coach at Bradley University.
Success began during Burger’s collegiate playing days at Baker University, continued to UMKC and has followed throughout every step of his coaching career. Burger’s collegiate teams have enjoyed success on and off the playing field. Burger himself has also excelled off the field, continuing his leadership and organizational skills by serving on various national committees and associations. During his time at Barton, Burger served as the president of the conference, Region VI, and NJCAA coaches associations.
Caley (Carter) Knudsen
Caley (Carter) Knudsen was a two-sport star at Barton excelling in both volleyball and track and field. She not only turned in some great individual accomplishments but was part of some of the most successful volleyball and track and field seasons in school history.
A graduate of Great Bend High School, Carter made a big splash her freshman season for the ’99 volleyball team with a then third best single season performance of 516 kills. Surpassing the mark in the ’00 season with 643, Carter left Great Bend atop the single season and career charts helping lead her team to consecutive national tournament berths compiling an outstanding 98-14 record while earning all-conference and all-region in both of her two seasons. Bumped to second place on the career kills chart by her sophomore year teammate Juliana Escobar, Caley’s single season performances still rank second and seventh today, while also placing within the top ten in service aces.
Carter was not only a volleyball court sensation, she also helped the women’s track and field team to three national titles while earning a combined five all-american performances at the national championships, two coming in the discus and three coming in the shot put. Even today, through the many years of Barton Track and Field excellence, some of Carter’s shot put and discus throws are on the top-10 chart in school history.
Moving on to Nicholls State University, Carter was a team captain earning Southland All-Conference Newcomer of the Year and First Team selection as well as being named Conference Player of the Year and Conference Tournament most valuable player.
Carter continued her playing career overseas for six years in Europe leading the Odense Women’s Professional team to seven championship gold medals, two silver medals and one bronze at the Danish Cup and Danish Nationals Championships. A team captain on back-to-back championship teams, Carter was a two-time Danish Team of the Year Outside Hitter and was runner-up for Danish Player of the Year twice. If her volleyball experience wasn’t enough, Carter also continued competing in track and field winning the 2009 Danish National Championship in the outdoor shot put.
Leaving her playing days behind in 2010, Carter has been in the coaching ranks most recently wrapping up her third season as head coach at Centenary College of Louisiana in Shreveport residing with her husband BT whom she married in 2006.
Ray Seib
Ray Seib’s time at Barton was short but his impact was profound reverberating throughout the history of Cougar Track and Field. Leading the program for three years from 1976-1979, Seib took the program to a new level and catapulted the Cougars into the national spotlight leading to the capturing of the College’s first two of fifty-four track and field team national championships.
Seib left his successful career at Syracuse High School of nine years into Barton’s rising track and field expectations left by hall of famer Jack Bowman. An active and aggressive recruiter, Seib took Bowman’s foundation and expanded the program in not only quantity of athletes but attracting the top regional talent to Great Bend.
Each year Seib’s program made the climb to new levels of greatness and respectability on the national stage. Having three all-americans in his first season, Seib’s impact led to over forty all-american honors and seven individual championships.
Leaving the program in July of 1979 to pursue career and family interests, Seib didn’t get to fully experience the fruits of his labor that blossomed in the spring 2000 season. Having recruited the entire eight woman team, the Lady Cougars captured both the indoor and outdoor national titles making school history with the first ever team national championships.
A native of Cheyenne Wells, Colorado, Seib was a two-sport athlete at Adams State College as a member of the basketball team while excelling in the track and field realm as an accomplished javelin and pole vaulter.
Seib and his wife Connie have made Hoisington, Kansas, their home since his Barton days, raising their two children Brad and Heather.
