Six accomplished alumni were inducted into Ohio Northern University’s 2023 Athletic Hall of Fame during a ceremony and banquet held Friday, Dec. 8, 2023. Inductees included Katie (Weininger) Kuhn, BA ’09; Jackie (Mangola) Price, BS ’12; Stu Levine, BS ’65; Kimi Blewett, BS ’12; J.R. Cipra, BS ’01; and Luke Miller, B.S. ’11.
Katie (Weininger) Kuhn
Kuhn played volleyball at Ohio Northern from 2005 to 2008 and served as head coach of the ONU volleyball program from 2020 to 2022.
As a Polar Bear student-athlete, Kuhn was a four-year letterwinner and three-year team captain. During her playing career, the team posted a 117-30 record, including a 34-2 mark in the OAC, won four OAC regular season titles and three OAC Tournament championships and appeared in the NCAA Tournament four times.
Kuhn, who played outside hitter as a freshman and finished second on the team in kills with 276 in 2005, currently ranks third in program history in assists with 4,680 and led the team in that category in 2006, 2007 and 2008. She was named First Team All-America and Third Team Academic All-America as a senior in 2008 and was an Honorable Mention All-American in 2007.
A three-time All-OAC selection, including twice to the First Team, Kuhn was named OAC Co-Player of the Year in 2008, the same season the Polar Bears reached the NCAA Final Four. She also earned three All-Region honors in her career, including a pair of First Team accolades.
Kuhn later served nine seasons as an assistant coach for the Polar Bear volleyball team and was also an adjunct professor in the Communication Arts Department during that time. As an assistant coach, Kuhn focused on the setters, where she coached All-American Ashley Borchers.
For her efforts on the sidelines, Kuhn was named one of the nation's top 30 volleyball coaches under 30 years of age in 2016 by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.
Kuhn was named head coach of the ONU volleyball team in 2020. In her first season at the helm, she guided ONU to a 13-3 record, a No. 19 national ranking and a third-place finish in the OAC.
She followed that up by leading the Polar Bears to a 22-6 overall record, OAC regular-season and tournament championships and an NCAA Tournament berth in 2021. The team was ranked as high as No. 8 in the AVCA national poll during the season and finished the year at No. 20.
Her team's performance earned her the OAC Coach of the Year and AVCA Region 7 Coach of the Year honors.
During her three seasons as head coach at ONU, Kuhn posted a record of 51-19, a winning percentage of .729, and a 27-7 mark in the OAC.
She is in her first season as the head volleyball coach at Ashland University.
Jackie (Mangola) Price
Price played softball at Ohio Northern from 2009 to 2012 and is currently in her eighth season as head coach of the ONU softball program.
As an ONU student-athlete, Price was a two-time First Team All-American, two-time First Team All-Region, two-time Ohio Athletic Conference Player of the Year and three-time First-Team All-OAC honoree during her ONU playing career. She was named to the NCAA Regional All-Tournament Team in 2009 and 2011, was an All-OAC Tournament selection in 2010 and 2011 and earned three Academic All-OAC accolades. She was Ohio Northern's Clyde Lamb Award recipient in 2012.
Price is the program's all-time leader with 45 career home runs, which includes a school-record 21 during her junior year, and 417 total bases. She also ranks second all-time in RBIs (179) and doubles (44), third in runs scored (172), fourth in hits (222), walks (79) and slugging percentage (.735) and ninth in batting average (.392). Price led the Polar Bears in batting average in 2010 and 2011 and was the team’s home run leader in 2009, 2010 and 2011. She led the team in doubles in 2009 and 2010. Her 138 total bases in 2010 remain a program record for a single season as do her 37 walks and 1.140 slugging percentage from 2011.
The Polar Bears posted a combined 138-41 record, including a 61-10 mark in the OAC during Price’s playing career. That span included four OAC Regular Season championships, one OAC Tournament title and two NCAA Regional championships and NCAA World Series berths.
Price graduated from ONU with a bachelor's degree in health and physical education and went on to serve as an assistant coach at fellow OAC institutions John Carroll University and Muskingum University.
Price returned to her alma mater in 2017 after a two-year stint as the head softball coach at Hiram during the 2015 and 2016 seasons. In 2018, she led Northern to a 32-11 record and guided the Polar Bears to their first OAC Tournament championship since 2009 and their first NCAA Tournament berth since 2012. For her efforts in 2018, Price became the only coach in ONU history to be named both the OAC Player of the Year and OAC Coach of the Year at Ohio Northern. She was named the OAC Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons in 2010 and 2011.
She and her staff were also named the OAC Coaching Staff of the Year in 2022.
In seven seasons at ONU, Price has led Ohio Northern to a 154-92-1 overall record, three OAC Tournament titles and a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances.
She owns 175 career victories, which includes her 21 wins at Hiram.
Stu Levine
Levine played baseball at Ohio Northern in 1964 and 1965 and still holds the school’s all-time record for career batting average at .429. He also ranks sixth all-time in slugging percentage (.579).
His .433 batting average in the 1964 season ranked ninth in the country that year and is tied for sixth all-time for a single season at ONU. He led the Polar Bears in batting average, slugging percentage and stolen bases in 1964 and 1965 and was the team leader in runs scored and doubles in 1965.
While at ONU, Levine served as president of Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity and was a member of the Interfraternity Council. He was named Greek Man of the Year in 1965.
A Cleveland native, Levine graduated from ONU with a bachelor’s degree in education and went on to teach elementary physical education for five years.
Later, he worked in the janitorial supply business for 35 years, 30 of which he spent as owner of Kinzua Environmental Inc.
Levine earned multiple athletic accolades after graduating from ONU. He was inducted into the JRC Hall of Fame in 1969. Additionally, he was named 1st Team All-City multiple times when Cleveland was the hotbed of slo-pitch softball and was inducted into the Greater Cleveland Slo-Pitch Hall of Fame in 2000. He played in five Amateur Softball Association Slo-Pitch World Tournaments and was named 1st Team All-World in 1966 after hitting .762 in the event.
Kimi Blewett
Blewett played softball at Ohio Northern from 2009 to 2012, and her accomplishments remain scattered throughout the ONU record book.
Blewett’s 65 RBIs from 2011 remain a program record for a single season, and she holds the second and eighth spots on that list with 64 in 2010 and 45 in 2012, respectively. She led the team in home runs and doubles in 2010, was the team leader in doubles in 2011 and was best on the team in home runs, slugging percentage and walks in 2012. Her 31 walks from 2012 rank second in program history for a single season.
Blewett currently holds the ONU record for career RBIs (210) and doubles (50) and ranks second all-time in home runs (42) and total bases (400). She also ranks third all-time in hits (224), fifth in walks (72) and slugging percentage (.705) and seventh in batting average (.395). Blewett was a four-time First Team All-OAC selection and four-time All-Region pick, including three times on the First Team. She was also a three-time All-Region Tournament Team honoree in her career and was selected as a Second Team All-American in 2010.
The Polar Bears posted a combined 138-41 record, including a 61-10 mark in the OAC during Blewett’s playing career. That span included four OAC Regular Season championships, one OAC Tournament title and two NCAA Regional championships and NCAA World Series berths.
During her playing career, Blewett was known for her competitive spirit and was highly respected by her teammates thanks in part to her get-it-done mentality and the selflessness she displayed in her excitement for others’ successes.
Blewett graduated with a bachelor’s degree in exercise physiology and earned a master’s degree in health promotion and kinesiology from the University of Kentucky in 2014.
She coached collegiately at Transylvania University in Lexington, Ky., for several seasons before moving to Louisville in 2019. She now works for Crothall Healthcare at North Audubon Hospital as the director of environmental services.
J.R. Cipra
Cipra played football at Ohio Northern from 1997 to 2000 and remains the school’s all-time career leader in kicking points (218) and extra points made (161) among his 23 program records. He also ranks third all-time in field goals made (19) and fifth in scoring (220 points).
Cipra scored a program record 80 points on kicks during the 2000 season and made a record 54 extra points in 1998. His nine field goals in 2000 rank third all-time at ONU for a single season.
A D3football.com Third Team All-American in 2000, Cipra was a First Team All-OAC selection in 1999 and 2000.
During Cipra’s playing career, the Polar Bears went a combined 35-10, including 29-7 in the OAC, and made a pair of NCAA Playoff appearances, advancing to the quarterfinals in 1999 and the round of 16 in 2000.
Cipra graduated from ONU with a bachelor’s degree in physical education and went on to earn a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of Phoenix in 2005.
After graduating from ONU, Cipra began a professional football career that spanned from 2002 to 2014.
His professional career began with the Peoria Pirates of Arena Football 2, and the team won the league championship that season. He signed with the American Indoor Football Association’s Erie Freeze in 2005 and went on to lead the league in scoring for all positions. He was named to the 2005 AIFL All-Star Team and was runner-up for league MVP as the Freeze finished as runners-up that year.
Cipra played for the AIFL’s Canton Legends in 2006 and helped lead the team to the championship that season. He led all kickers in points that year, was named MVP of the championship game and was an All-Star selection.
He re-signed with the Erie Freeze in 2007 and proceeded to lead all kickers in points that season en route to being named to the AIFL All-Star Team.
In 2008, he signed with the AIFA’s Erie River Rats and again led all kickers in points en route to an All-Star nod.
Cipra signed with the AIFA’s Baltimore Mariners in 2009 and was named to the All-Star Team that year. In 2010, still with the Mariners, he scored a league-high 225 points and set the record for kicking points in one game with 21. The Mariners won the championship that season, and he was named to the All-Star Team.
Cipra played for the Southern Indoor Football League’s Harrisburg Stampede in 2011 and broke his own record for kicking points in a game, reaching 23.
He went on to sign with the Ultimate Indoor Football League’s Erie Explosion in 2012 before re-signing with the Baltimore Mariners in 2014 en route to winning another championship and being named Special Teams Player of the Year before retiring from professional football.
Cipra has worked for the past nine years as a physical education teacher and coach for Cleveland Metro City Schools where he is known for his generosity toward his students. He spent 10 years working for Baltimore City Schools in Maryland.
Luke Miller
Miller wrestled at Ohio Northern for four seasons from 2007-08 to 2010-11 and was the NCAA Division III national champion at 157 pounds as a junior in 2010.
Miller was 133-29 overall in his ONU career and became the third Polar Bear to win a national title, capping that 2010 season with a 39-4 record. He also placed third at 165 pounds at the 2011 NCAA Championships and fourth at 157 pounds at the 2009 NCAA Championships and is one of just three ONU wrestlers to be a three-time All-American. He was also a three-time National Wrestling Coaches Association Scholar All-American, earning the accolade in 2009, 2010 and 2011, and was ONU’s Clyde Lamb Award recipient in 2011.
Miller was 33-11 as a freshman, 32-9 as a sophomore and 29-5 as a senior, and he is tied for third all-time at ONU in career victories. His .821 winning percentage ranks ninth in program history.
Miller was the OAC champion at 157 pounds as a sophomore and junior and won the conference title at 165 pounds as a senior. He was named OAC Most Valuable Wrestler in each of his final three seasons and closed his career 17-4 in OAC duals and 9-1 in the OAC Tournament for a 26-5 record against conference competition. He was also a two-time champion in the Midwest Classic and ONU Invitational and finished with 24 career pins.
Miller graduated from ONU with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, boasting a 3.93 GPA. He went on to earn an MBA in management and leadership from Tiffin University in 2016, graduating with a 4.0 GPA. He is a registered professional engineer in the state of Ohio.
Miller has worked for Marathon Petroleum Corporation in various roles over the past 12 years and is currently the damage prevention and geospatial technology supervisor for the company.
Since graduating from ONU, Miller has remained involved in wrestling. He served as a volunteer assistant wrestling coach at ONU for six years before moving to Texas and has been a USA Wrestling Club coach in Findlay the past two years after returning to Ohio.
(In attached photo, pictured from left: Katie (Weininger) Kuhn, Kimi Blewett, Jackie (Mangola) Price, Stu Levine, J.R. Cipra and Luke Miller.)
