Three to receive CSC Distinguished Alumni Awards

Also being honored posthumously is Dave Sanders, the Chadron State graduate who was killed in the Columbine High School tragedy on April 20, 1999.

The presentations will be made during a luncheon in the Student Center on Saturday. Additional recognition will take place during halftime of the Eagles’ football game that afternoon.

Sanders was a native of Indiana who attended Chadron State after graduating from Western Nebraska Community College in Scottsbluff in 1971. He played basketball at both schools. He earned degrees from CSC in both 1973 and ’74.

He spent his entire professional career teaching and coaching at Columbine High.

Sanders was the only Columbine teacher to die in the tragedy, which took the lives of 14 students, including the two perpetrators, who committed suicide.

News accounts credited him for saving at least 100 lives, maybe 200.

The Rocky Mountain News reported that Sanders was outside the lunchroom when he saw the gunmen and their arsenal. He dashed into the cafeteria and warned students, who had just begun eating. By the time the assailants arrived, the cafeteria was virtually empty.

Sanders then went to the next floor, warned more students and shepherded a number of them into a science classroom, where he was fatally shot.

After hearing that Sanders had been killed, former Chadron State teammates noted he was always the ultimate team player and they were not surprised that he put his life on the line to save students.

Among the awards presented in Sanders’ memory was the prestigious ESPY Arthur Ashe Award for Courage that his family received on Valentine's Day, 2000 in Las Vegas.

The family will be represented at homecoming by Kathy Loring of Imperial. She and Sanders were married while he attended Chadron State. Following his death, she and his widow, Linda, worked together to promote a book, “Dave Sanders, Columbine Teacher, Coach, Hero” that was written about his life.

Bauer was a student leader and outstanding scholar-athlete while attending Chadron State in the early 1970s. He was a member of Blue Key National Honor Society and was selected for Who’s Who Among American University and College Students.

As a senior in 1973, he set the school record that still stands by intercepting 10 passes for the football team. He was named to the all-conference and all-NAIA District 11 teams that season and earned honorable mention All-American. In addition, he was an Academic All-American. He was inducted into the CSC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994.

After graduating in 1974, Bauer worked at Chadron State for nine years, the last five as director of admissions. During the past 23 years, he has been a State Farm Insurance agent in Chadron, receiving the National Quality Award from the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors eight times.

Bauer has been president of the Eagles Booster Club for 19 years, was the color commentator for CSC football radio broadcasts for 16 years and has been a member of the Chadron State Foundation Board of Directors since 2003. He is vice president of the foundation and chair of the Development Committee.

In addition, Bauer has served on the Chadron Civil Service Commission 23 years, is past president of the Chadron Rotary Club, has been a scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 201 and is active in St. Patrick’s Church.

Bauer is married to the former Lorrie Johnson, a 1975 CSC graduate and a teacher in the Chadron Schools. They have three sons.

Retzlaff earned her bachelor’s degree from Chadron State in 1980 and her master’s degree from CSC in 2005. She has been a teacher and guidance counselor in the Gordon-Rushville schools since 1988. Prior to that, she taught in Sheridan County rural schools 17 years.

In 2005, Retzlaff was selected as both the local and Nebraska Wal-Mart and American Legion Teacher of the Year awards.

Previously, Retzlaff had received the Nebraska Juvenile Justice Service to Youth Award , a Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben Ike Friedman Teacher Leader Award and the Nebraska State Education Association’s Award for Teaching Excellence. She also was one of five finalists for the National Education Association’s Award in 2004.

This past year, she received the Nebraska TeamMates Program Award.

She also has been a 4-H and Girl Scouts leader, a Dollar for Scholars director, a Nebraska TeamMates director, a Sunday school superintendent and a leader in two drug prevention programs.

Retzlaff and her husband Kerry have two daughters.