Shoup Scholarship and Leadership Award

In 1962, the first full year of CLC’s existence, the first college president hired the first-ever football coach for the first student body—because “if CLC was going to be a real college and later a real university, it had to have a strong football team.” That first football coach was Robert F. “Bob” Shoup. Although he had little to work with in the early years, he lived up to others’ expectations. By his second year as coach, CLC had a winning football program, and by its ninth year, the team had won the NAIA Division II National Championship.

In many ways, Bob Shoup was a jack-of-all-trades, at least athletically speaking. As a college student at University of California, Santa Barbara, he made his mark as a leader and standout student athlete, roles that led him into the coaching profession. At CLC he served as baseball coach, golf coach, tennis coach, student recruiter and even tour director for the Kingsmen Quartet. He also helped to secure CLU’s long-standing relationship with the Dallas Cowboys, who used the campus as a training camp during summers from 1968 to 1989. Bob received recognition for these achievements when he was inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame in January 2009.

Bob and Helen Shoup were a solid team of a different kind. Their home was always open to students and coaches alike and at any time of day. As a faculty spouse Helen lent her support to many of the early women’s promotional activities. The Shoups shared a strong Christian faith. The entire family—including their son and daughter—was active at Ascension Lutheran Church, and Bob was never shy about sharing his faith and his values with his players and coaching staff. Mentoring students just came naturally to both Bob and Helen.

Because leadership had been a personal goal all through Bob’s life, he and Helen chose it as the main focus of the Shoup Scholarship and Leadership Award. Involvement in CLU co-curricular activities was another. Bob left his position as CLU’s head football coach in 1989. The award remains a tribute to the many contributions of the Shoups to the development of CLU’s institutional character.