Lawrence Today magazine, Fall 2003
Scott Reppert, ’83, was a one-of-a-kind football player at Lawrence, but now he really stands in a class by himself.
Reppert became Lawrence’s
first inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame when he was enshrined
in South Bend, Ind., in August. An Appleton native,
Reppert now lives in Belvidere, Ill., and was one of six players and three
coaches in the divisional class of inductees, which includes NCAA Divisions
I-AA, II, III, and NAIA.
“I was just floored,” Reppert says. “That was definitely the first reaction, trying to pick myself up off the floor.”
Reppert, the first player from the Midwest Conference to be enshrined in South Bend, starred for the Vikings from 1979-82. He finished his career with 807 rushes for 4,442 yards, a 5.5-yard per carry average.
A three-time first-team All-American, he set a high standard on the field. The 5-foot-8, 185-pound dynamo led the nation in rushing for three consecutive seasons from 1980-82. He is one of only four players in NCAA history to accomplish that feat and the only Division III player to have done it.
Reppert, a charter member of the Lawrence Intercollegiate Athletic Hall of Fame and one of only two players to have his number retired, was a star in one of the truly great eras of Lawrence football. During his four seasons, the Vikings went 33-5, won three Midwest Conference championships, and reached the semifinals of the NCAA Division III playoffs.
President Richard Warch recalls getting a glimpse of what was to come during Reppert’s freshman season. A backup to another All-American, Bruce Barkwill, ’80, Reppert got a chance to show his ample ability in the second half of a Lawrence blowout. Warch recalls that Reppert got in the game and proceeded to run for more than 100 yards in the half.
“I went up to him after the game and said, ‘This is going to be a terrific four years,’ and it turned out to be,” Warch says. “I remember him ducking in behind the linemen, finding an opening, and taking off like a shot. He was a first-rate, modest young man but just a bulldog when it came to running the football.”
Associate Director of Public Affairs Rick Peterson was the Lawrence sports information director during Reppert’s playing days and notes that Reppert had a rare combination of skills.
“He had sprinter’s speed to run away from defenders, as well as the brute power to carry two and three tacklers with him,” Peterson says. “There was always a buzz in the Banta Bowl when Scott was on the field, because you knew he had the potential to turn every carry into a touchdown.”
Reppert, who majored in psychology at Lawrence and was an Academic All-American in 1981, is now general manager of Aramark Uniform Services in Rockford, Ill. jva