H-Club to Present "Hope for Humanity"

          HOLLAND -- The alumni H-Club at Hope College will
  present its "Hope for Humanity Award" to the Rev. Jack
  Klunder of Hopkins on Saturday, Oct. 18.
          The award, first presented in 1990, recognizes
  Hope athlete alumni for service to others, transformation of
  Christian values and consistency of commitment.  The H-Club
  will recognize Klunder during its annual Homecoming
  luncheon, which will be held in the Haworth Conference and
  Learning Center.
          Klunder is pastor of Hopkins Community Reformed
  Church, where he has served for four years.  He has also
  been head boys' varsity basketball coach at Hopkins High
  School for two years.
          "I think that he makes a great candidate for the
  award because he embodies in three areas of his life what
  we'd like Hope alumni to be," said Russell DeVette of
  Holland, a professor emeritus of physical education at Hope,
  who coached Klunder on the college's varsity men's
  basketball team, and will be presenting the award on
  Saturday.  DeVette singled out Klunder's commitment as a
  parent, service as a pastor and perspective as a coach.
          Prior to coming to Hopkins, Klunder was founding
  pastor of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Franklin, Tenn.
  He also held pastorates at Mason County Reformed Church near
  Ludington, Metuchen Reformed Church in New Jersey and Palos
  Heights Reformed Church in Illinois.
          He served on the Reformed Church in America's
  Commission on Church History and Christian Action Commission
  for six years, and is a board member for Habitat for
  Humanity.  He co-edited "Servant Gadfly," a festshrift for
  John W. Beardslee III which is part of the Reformed Church
  in America Historical Series.
          During his first year as coach, the Hopkins boys'
  basketball team advanced to the state high school Class C
  semifinals.  During his second year, the team won its
  league's title with an 18-2 record.  He was a 1997 nominee
  for MHSAA Class C "Coach of the Year."
          Klunder graduated from Hope with a bachelor's
  degree in biology.  He played basketball during all four of
  his years at the college, three on the men's varsity team.
          He holds a master of divinity from Western
  Theological Seminary, and a doctorate from Westminster
  Theological Seminary.
          Klunder and his wife Mary, who is also a 1974 Hope
  graduate, have four children:  Jennifer, Kristin, Jack and
  Bethany.  Jennifer is a senior at Hope, and is a fifth
  generation Hope student.
          The Hope College Alumni H-Club consists of Hope
  alumni who were athletic letter winners and other honorary
  letter winners as approved by the H-Club's Board of
  Directors, and currently has more than 2,800 members.  The
  previous recipients of the "Hope for Humanity Award" were:
  Ekdal J. Buys of Holland, a 1937 Hope graduate (1994);
  Robert N. DeYoung of Holland, a 1956 Hope graduate (1995);
  Mary Dykema of Holland, a 1973 Hope graduate (1992); the
  late Herman Laug of Coopersville, a 1929 Hope graduate
  (1990); George Moger of Fort Gratiot, a 1978 Hope graduate
  (1991); and Ross Nykamp of Fennville, a 1980 Hope graduate
  (1993).
                                 -30-