2005 Distinguished Alumni
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Duane Banks
Diploma
Mesa College, 1959
After 28 years as the Univerity of Iowa’s head baseball coach,
Duane Banks retired from coaching in 1997. His record at Iowa
was 810-575-4, where he won more games than any other Hawkeye
coach, coaching Iowa to 21 consecutive winning seasons. Banks
coached 30 seasons overall, compiling a career record of 901-585-4.
He led Iowa to its only College World Series appearance in
1972, a Big Ten co-championship in 1974, a district playoff
berth in 1975, and the winningest (44) season in school history
in 1981. He became Iowa’s all-time winningest coach in
1985. The 1990 squad won a record 22 Big Ten games and placed
a record-tying five players on the all-Big Ten team. For his
efforts, Banks was named both Big Ten Conference and District
Coach of the Year. 57 of his former players earned pro contracts,
and five Hawkeyes made it to the major leagues. Banks is currently
serving as a volunteer assistant baseball coach at Mesa State
College in Grand Junction.
Banks is a past president of the American Baseball Coaches
Association and has held a number of other administrative
posts in the ABCA. A member of the Hall of Fame and Legislative
Issues committees and member of the ABCA Board of Directors,
he at one time served as chairman of the NCAA Division I Coaches
and held a position on the advisory board to the Iowa High
School Baseball Coaches Association. Banks was active in international
baseball through the US Baseball Federation. Duane was all-league
and all-district three times in baseball at Northern Colorado,
where he earned his BA, and played one year of professional
baseball with the Atlanta Braves organization in 1964. Banks
received his MA degree from Colorado State in 1969.
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Gary Burke
Associate of Arts
Mesa College, 1962
Burke has led a twin career for nearly 40 years, as a teacher
and coach for 35 years, and he is currently in his 37th year
as Sports Editor of the Delta County Independent. In both
positions he has served young people, something of which he
is proud. He earned his BA and MA in Social Studies at Western
State College of Colorado. He accepted his first teaching
position at Fowler, Colorado High School in 1965, and following
two years there, moved to Delta where he taught and coached
at Delta Middle School for 33 years, retiring in 2000. Primarily
a history instructor,
Burke proved popular with his students and achieved consistently
excellent evaluations from administrators. Several student
projects he sponsored were covered by statewide and national
educational publications. He coached 20 years of football
and wrestling at Delta Middle, and was a Delta High School
baseball coach. Burke's newspaper career started in 1968.
Recognition awarded for his work as DCI Sports Editor include
the 1992 “National Sportswriter of the Year,” by
Wrestling USA; the 1994 Colorado Athletic Directors’
Media Award; the 1995 Colorado High School Coaches Association
(CHSCA) Lloyd Gaskill Friend of High School Sports Award;
the
1998 CHSCA Media Award; as well as Colorado Press Association
awards. Burke and his wife Pat live in Delta, and enjoy travel,
boating, and pending time with their three children and spouses,
and six grandchildren.
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Joel Dulaigh
Bachelor of Science in Nursing
Mesa State College, 1993
Dulaigh has spent most of his adult life in the military.
He was a member of the Colorado Army National Guard for over
seven years. After graduating from Mesa State College, he
worked for two years as a nurse before entering active duty
with the United States Navy in 1995. He earned his Masters
of Science in Nursing from the University of Texas Houston
Health Science Center in 2000. After spending two years serving
in Guam, he was assigned to the White House Medical Unit in
Washington, D.C. Dulaigh spent three years at the White House,
serving in a capacity not often realized by a Navy Nurse Corps
officer. As a member of this medical team, his duties included
advanced travel and contingency planning for the President
and Vice President as well as accompanying them on trips,
both domestic and foreign. Dulaigh also served as the Vice
President's nurse during this time. After serving ten years
on active duty, Dulaigh has returned to the Grand Valley,
where he grew up. He has been married to his wife, Susan for
14 years and has two children, Jacquelyn (8) and David (5).
He is currently employed at Saint Mary's Hospital where he
is the clinical nurse manager for critical care, and will
continue to serve his country as a Lieutenant Commander in
the US Naval Reserve.
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April Heinrichs
Attended
Mesa College, 1982
Heinrichs, a pioneer of the US Women's National Soccer Team,
was head coach from 2000 to 2005, the first female, in its
20-year history. In 2004, Heinrichs lead the USA to a gold
medal at the Olympics Games in Athens. The USA finished 2004
setting a record for most wins in a year and for highest winning
percentage in a year. Heinrichs was captain of the 1991 US
squad that won the first-ever Women's World Cup, scoring four
goals. Her all-time goals scored to games-played ratio is
second in US history. She won US Soccer's Chevrolet Female
Athlete of the Year award twice, and she was voted female
player of the 1980s by Soccer America magazine. In 1998, she
became the first female player inducted into the US Soccer
Hall of Fame. She played four years at the University of North
Carolina and was three-time First-Team All-American. UNC captured
three NCAA championships during that time and finished as
runner-up once. Heinrichs completed her career at UNC as the
all-time NCAA leader in points scored and was the first women's
soccer player in Tar Heel history to have her jersey retired.
Heinrichs was named the women's head coach at the University
of Virginia in the 1996 season and led them to four NCAA playoff
berths. Heinrichs also served as head women's soccer coach
at Princeton, and at the University of Maryland where she
earned ACC Coach of the Year honors. In 2000, she was named
as the inaugural recipient of the NSCAA Women's Committee
Award of Excellence for her outstanding service and advancement
of women's soccer in the United States. In 2001, she instituted
the April Heinrichs/Nike Coaching Education Scholarship Awards
to aid the growth and development of young female athletes
through coaching.
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Bill Orr
Attended
Mesa College, 1949-51
A third-generation Grand Junction native, Orr's journalism
studies at Mesa College served him well in a career that spanned
over five decades, from 1948 until his death in 2004. From
his first job as a 17-year-old DJ at KEXO until the final
broadcast of his long running "Reporter's Notebook" on KNZZ
at age 73, Orr constantly strove to "give the listeners more."
His professional life took him on a lifelong search for knowledge
as he worked in radio, television and newspaper in Colorado,
Wyoming, and Alaska. The list of dignitaries he interviewed
includes the legendary Duke Ellington and Presidents John
F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon. Serving on the Grand Junction
City Council in the late 1950's, Orr was elected as the City's
youngest mayor at the age of 23. He was active in the Masonic
Lodge, VFW, Rotary, Salvation Army, and many other community
organizations. As a much sought-after public speaker for groups
all over Colorado West, Orr claimed he was "not a historian,
just a reporter who missed a few deadlines." His legions of
fans would disagree. Bill was indeed a wonderful historian.
His program on KKGM in the 1990's generated an unprecedented
amount of fan mail, as did his "Reporter's Notebook." Orr
truly loved Colorado, Grand Junction, and especially Mesa
State College.
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