The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Wenzler’s spirit will live on at JCU | Opinion
The laste Chris Wenzler, a 1990 graduate of JCU, worked tirelessly to promote JCU and its sports teams.
On Nov. 12, 2016, at about 6 p.m., yours truly was driving home from Alliance after witnessing one of the most memorable games I’ve ever covered for The News-Herald.
Hours earlier, the John Carroll football team pulled off an upset for the ages when it defeated No. 1-ranked Mount Union, 31-28. The game had just about everything — exciting plays, huge momentum shifts, an electric crowd and an exciting end. The only thing missing was Chris Wenzler.
The longtime JCU sports information director and assistant athletic director was with the Blue Streaks’ women’s soccer team, which was playing an NCAA tournament game that day in Virginia.
That’s the life in D-III sports. He helped set up facilities for games and events. He took photos. He kept stats. He answered every and all questions. As sports information director, Wenzler did just about everything, and he did it well. But he couldn’t be in two places at once. No matter what, he always had a smile and time for a handshake or hug.
The last two-plus years, however, were difficult for Wenzler. He was diagnosed with cancer in 2018, and June 23 that battle ended when his wife Melissa announced he passed away at age 52 just before 6 p.m.
Wenzler was Mr. John Carroll. Following graduation, he never left University Heights and spent 30 years helping promote all of the school’s sports teams. It goes way beyond that.
He also created a huge network of students — many who became longtime friends — who worked in the sports communications department. They came and went over the years, but the influence he had on those young men and women came to the forefront during his battle with cancer.
When news of his initial diagnosis hit the JCU circle, those same young men and women — who called themselves “Wenzler’s Warriors” — and others came to help. A Gofundme account was created to help Wenzler and his family offset the cost of treatment. It raised thousands.
Then there was JCU alum Mike Scanlan — the school’s executive director of strategic communications since 2018. Scanlan credits Wenzler for giving him the confidence to apply for an internship for his hometown Buffalo Bills. He got that gig, and it helped him pave the way to a career that led him back to JCU.
Scanlan decided to give back to Wenzler as a way to say thanks. He began raising money for the family, and to cap off that pursuit in May he ran from the Wenzler family home near the JCU campus to the Scanlan home in Bay Village. Scanlan raised thousands for the family. That’s the impact he had. Wenzler was universally loved.
In return, Wenzler, a 1990 graduate of JCU, worked tirelessly to promote JCU and its sports teams.
When he took over the sports information office Sept. 15, 1990, the staff consisted of three students
and the office equipment included one computer, a dot matrix printer, a typewriter and a phone. In his 30 years, he built an office that now boasts of 40 student employees, a graduate assistant and the latest in multimedia and equipment.
I never heard anyone say a bad word about Chris, and certainly never from a fellow media member. That’s because Wenzler always delivered.
He loved his alma mater. No doubt, it loved him back.
A few testimonials: Former JCU quarterback Anthony Moeglin, who also worked as a radio voice for other Blue Streaks games >> “He was just a guy who had an incredible heart. He loved what he did, loved his family and loved John Carroll, and he loved the young adults who worked for him.”
JCU men’s basketball coach Pete Moran of Willoughby, who also played and graduated from the school >> “Chris was a true Carroll guy in every sense of the imagination. He devoted his life to our university.”
David Vitatoe, JCU executive director of alumni
relations and former JCU football player >> “He impacted countless lives and colleagues around him. He devoted his life to telling the stories of others.”
Lake Catholic football coach Marty Gibbons, who played football and graduated from JCU >> “Nobody strived to serve young people like him … we could all use half the spirit and fight Chris brought to us.”
JCU student Kyle Kelly, who serves as a play-by-play announcer for JCU football and is one of countless others who worked under Wenzler >> “Chris touched so many lives, and I’m truly blessed to be one of those lives.”
Which brings us back to that early-evening drive from Alliance back to Northeast Ohio on Nov. 12, 2016. I was thinking about Wenzler, and how much he would have enjoyed JCU’s historic win over the Purple Raiders to win the outright Ohio Athletic Conference title. It has to go down as the biggest victory in the history of JCU football.
A while later during that drive, Wenzler texted me. I can’t remember the exact contents of that message, but I thought to myself if
anyone deserved to enjoy that moment in person, it was him.
So I texted him back, “Yeah, but you were there in spirit.”
I believed that then, and I believe it today.
That was it. When you thought about John Carroll and Blue Streaks sports, it was impossible not to think about Wenzler, who would have begun his 31st year at the university this fall. He was a behind-the-scenes JCU icon and all-around great guy.
A huge honor came his way on Oct. 4, 2019 — the night he was officially inducted into the JCU Athletics Hall of Fame. It was an honor Wenzler did not feel comfortable accepting. Over the years, many nominated him for the JCU Hall.
“I felt like it was a better award when I was retired,” Wenzler told JCU’s student newspaper, The Carroll News.
All who knew him will attest JCU was a better place with Wenzler involved in it. His spirit will always live on there.