University of Dayton - Athletic Hall of Fame
Gene Westendorf (1969) and Jerry Westendorf (1970) are members of the University of Dayton Athletic Hall of Fame.  The following are the program covers and stories as they appeared years ago.
GENE WESTENDORF
From scrub games at Bomberger Park to San Francisco and New York and contests with St. Mary's and St. John's is a long jump, but Gene Westendorf had the determination and ability to make it. From 1939 to 1941 Westendorf earned eight varsity D's; two in football, three in basketball, and three in baseball.  At the same time he was compiling these letters Gene also was able to accumulate a 3.+ average in the School of Engineering.
Although Westendorf came to the University of Dayton primarily to play basketball and baseball, he decided to give football a try.  He lettered his junior year and was a standout both offensively, as a quarterback, and defensively as a halfback, in his senior year.  Westendorf played under Harry Baujan and his Notre Dame offense which requires the quarterback to be a blocker and a receiver.  Despite his lack of any football background Gene became a skillful and vicious executor of the downfield block and a fine pass receiver.  At the close of his last football season with Dayton he was picked as the year's Most Valuable Player and was named Honorable Mention to the All-Ohio team as a quarterback.
On the basketball court Westendorf proved to be not only a high scorer, but a spark plug of the team.  During the times when forty points would win a basketball game, Gene averaged over 10 points per outing and was the team's second leading scorer.  The appreciation of Gene's efforts in leading the Flyers to three successful basketball seasons was shown by his teammates when they picked him as the team's honorary captain.  Westendorf was also named to the All-Ohio first team as a guard.
In the spring when a young man's fancy turns to the heart of a pretty girl and more pleasant things, Gene would turn to the outfield and head for right field, where he excelled as a fielder and a hitter.  In his senior year he hit over .500 which is quite an accomplishment in itself.
In 1941 Westendorf was picked as the Athlete of the Year.  Based upon his high academic rating and his great athletic ability, Westendorf was also picked to receive the Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Athletics.  This last award is the most important award in his collection for it exemplifies both aspect of the personality and talent of this great University of Dayton product.  Gene lives in Dayton and is working as a Sales Engineer for the General Electric Company.  He and his wife, the former Betty Neff, have four sons and two daughters.
JERRY WESTENDORF
"One of the finest athletes ever to attend the University of Dayton-an athlete with character, personality, leadership and scholarship." These words were used by coaches Harry Baujan and Jim Carter in describing Jerry Westendorf.  He earned seven letters and if baseball had not been discontinued in his junior year, he would have left the hilltop campus with nine monograms.  Jerry's excellence on the gridiron, the hardwood and the baseball field was exceeded only by his ability in the classroom.  A cumulative grade point average of 2.3 out of a possible 3 easily explains the preceding statement.  Upon completion of his senior year Jerry's list of accomplishments included: football captain, basketball captain, president of the monogram club, president of the senior class, president of the ROTC officers club and a two year listing on "Who's Who of American Universities".
Jerry came to the University of Dayton in 1939 via Chaminade High School.  In his first year of varsity competition he lettered in all three major sports.  He was an end in football, a guard-forward in basketball and an outfielder in baseball.  Jerry was not an immediate starter on the football team as a sophomore, but it took Coach Harry Baujan only a couple games to see that it would be impossible to keep him out of the starting line-up.  Westendorf was a hard blocking offensive end who "really loved to stick his nose in there and crack his opponent." His fondest memory as a sophomore was the Ohio Wesleyan game.  In this game both he and his brother Gene, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame last year, scored touchdowns and were dubbed by a local newspaper as the "Touchdown Twins." After football was over Jerry jumped right into basketball where he was an immediate starter for Coach Jim Carter.  Westendorf, who was 5'11", played forward and guard on a team known as the "Giant killers." In his first year he was one of the top three scorers on the team.  In the spring of his sophomore year Jerry already had two varsity monograms.  His third came in baseball where he was a hard-hitting outfielder.
In 1941, his junior year, there was a vacancy at quarterback on the football team.  As Coach Harry Baujan looked over his squad he saw Jerry Westendorf, the younger brother of the past year's starting quarterback.  Harry decided to convert this player from an end to a quarterback.  There was one problem-Jerry had never played quarterback in his life.  For Jerry this was a rather insignificant factor and with the aid of backfield Coach Jim Carter, Westendorf became the quarterback for the 1941 varsity football team.  He led this team to a 7-3 record.  As soon as Jerry took off his football cleats, Jim Carter handed him a pair of gym shoes.  The basketball team at Dayton in the 1941-42 season compiled a 12-6 record.  That year Jerry moved from the top three to the top two in scoring.  His consistent scoring and outstanding floor play earned him the praises of all his teammates and the local press.
The 1942 football season started off with Westendorf at quarterback calling signals.  Jerry was also voted captain of the team.  After a couple of weeks he was switched back to his favorite position of offensive end but was still signal caller and captain.
After the football season had ended Jerry was approached by a newspaper man and asked what the biggest thrill of his senior year was.  His answer was typical of his personality; he noted his greatest thrill was the Chattanooga game where he threw a block to spring a long touchdown which won the game for the Flyers.  The modest offensive end failed to tell of his being named to the All-Ohio College Squad as an end.  Jerry only had a brief time to savor his All-Ohio choice because he had to prepare for basketball again.  He was named as captain of the basketball team in his senior year.  This honor gave Jerry a great deal of incentive and despite a broken nose, he played most of the season.
Jerry Westendorf ended his athletic career at the University of Dayton with seven monograms, the honor of being captain of both the football and basketball teams in his senior year and a berth on the All-Ohio College team.  This was not bad for a 5'11" kid from Dayton Chaminade who when asked what his favorite sport was answered, "Well that depends on the season of the year."
Jerry and his wife, the former Pauline Zink, reside in Dayton with their family of seven.  Along with being a Certified Public Accountant, Jerry is also the President of UD's National Alumni Association.


This page, maintained by Thomas J. Westendorf, was last modified on . Please send any corrections or comments to twestend@udayton.edu