Alumni Accomplishments

Fr. Richard Hadel, SJ, ’52 celebrated his 70th anniversary since joining the Jesuits - a calling that he had while a senior at Rockhurst High School. He entered the Society of Jesus on Aug. 17, 1952, one week shy of his 17th birthday. Fr. Hadel notes that gratitude is the theme that runs throughout his life.

Jack Newman ’66 and his wife, Kathy, were the honorees at the 51st annual Benedictine College Scholarship Ball on Feb. 25, 2023. They were presented with the Cross of the Order of St. Benedict, a prestigious award established in 1969 to recognize alumni and friends who have supported charitable institutions, provided civic or religious leadership, and demonstrated professional excellence.

Bill Fagan ’70 announced his retirement from Design Mechanical, where he was a Customer Account Manager for eight-plus years. Prior to that, Fagan served as the Executive Vice President/Partner at The Fagan Co. Mechanical Contractors for 39 years.

Brad Budde ’76 had the opportunity to announce the Kansas City Chiefs’ 2nd Round pick at the NFL Draft on April 28. He and his dad, Ed, both played for the Chiefs and are the only father/son duo in NFL history to be drafted in the 1st Round by the same team at the same position.

Mark Teahan ’78 was part of the 197980 Rockhurst College Men’s Basketball Team that was inducted to the Rockhurst University Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2023. Teahan was a three-time Honorable Mention All-American at Rockhurst College and in 2021 was one of 15 players named to the program’s All-Century Team.

Steve Adams ’81 was re-elected as the Vice Chairman of the Republican Party of Duval County, FL. Adams is a retired U.S. Navy Commander and current Professor of Aviation Science at Florida State College at Jacksonville. Last year, Adams co- published a textbook that is used in college aviation programs across the country.

Bill Conway ’88 co-created a new experiential MBA course at Rockhurst University. The goal is to give students hands-on exposure to startup formation, scaling revenues, raising VC/PE capital, and ultimately exit/M&A. For more than 14 years, Conway has served as the Managing Director of CC Capital Advisors.

Chris Newman ’90 was named the first Chief Operating and Financial Officer at St. Teresa’s Academy. His prior position was General Manager & Senior Director of Netsmart Technologies in Overland Park, KS. His career also included senior management positions at HNTB, H&R Block, and (Oracle) Cerner Corporation.

Ryan Metzler ’92 started Metzler Legal Strategies, LLC, dedicated to providing clients with practical and creative business solutions, meeting their transactional needs, while creating and maximizing value. The focus is on transactional corporate law for small to medium-sized businesses, on matters involving the entire life cycle of the business, including entity formation, corporate governance, commercial contracts, capital infusions, exit strategies, and other general business issues.

Angelo Trozzolo ’93 facilitated a partnership between Marquette University’s College of Communication and Trozzolo Communications Group (TCG) in Kansas City to create a firm in Milwaukee with professionals working alongside students. Trozzolo has served as the president of TCG since 2008 and the president and CEO since 2014.

Dr. Nathan Brummel ’95 and Dr. Alex Arreguin ’14 worked together caring for patients in the medical ICU at the Ohio State University Medical Center in Columbus. Dr. Brummel is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Dr. Arreguin is completing his first year as a medical resident.

David Van Noy ’99 established his own real estate brokerage, Van Noy Real Estate. Van Noy was one of Kansas City’s top-producing agents with ReeceNichols Real Estate for 20 years. He closed $45 million in deals in 2022 and over $500 million in his career. He signed on six additional sales agents and four full-time staff members and is still looking to add more experienced agents.

Kevin Ward ’00 earned a spot in the final qualifying for the U.S. Open Championship. Ward was a three-time All-State golfer for Rockhurst from 1998-2000, helping the Hawklets win State all three years. He then played at the University of Kansas and turned pro in 2005. Ward is the founder of The Golf Stable in Prairie Village.

Jeff Angold ’02 and Patrick Roth ’05 created The Angold Roth Wealth Management Group at Morgan Stanley. Forbes’ named Roth a Top Next Gen Wealth Advisor in 2021 and 2022; and in 2022, they ranked him #1 in Missouri and #83 in the country. Angold has also received numerous industry recognitions, including being named a Forbes’ Top Next Gen Wealth Advisor in 2021 and 2022.

Nick Goellner ’02 is the Executive Chef and co-owner of The Antler Room in Kansas City, and has been nominated for the third time as a James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef: Midwest.

Kevin Kane ’02 has been named the new Defensive Coordinator at Purdue University. Most recently, Kane served as the DC at Illinois for two seasons; during that time, Illinois had one of the best defensive turnarounds in the nation in 2021. Prior to Illinois, Kane was the DC and Linebackers Coach at SMU, DC (and multiple other capacities) at Northern Illinois, and Linebackers Coach at Kansas.

Matt Weglarz ’02 started a new position as Chief Strategy Officer at Triad Partners in Lawrence, KS. Prior to his role at Triad, Weglarz held positions that included the

Managing Director of Advisor Solutions at Mariner Wealth Advisors and the Director of Performance, Analytics, and Data Services at Tortoise Capital Advisors.

James Eftink ’03 was appointed as Associate Circuit Judge for Cass County in the 17th Judicial Circuit. Eftink is a partner at Eftink Law, P.C. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Saint Louis University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Missouri.

Brian Kelly ’03 was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army. Lt. Col. Kelly currently serves as a Logistics Operations Officer for the U.S. Special Operations Command in Tampa, FL.

Jason Sabaugh ’03 was recognized by the Orange County Business Journal as a Distinguished Leader in Wealth Management. Sabaugh has worked for UBS for nine years, and is the First Vice President of Wealth Management, USA.

Mike Kelly ’04 was sworn in as the Chair of the Johnson County Board of Commissioners on Jan. 9, 2023. He was the Mayor of Roeland Park through 2022, is still the Chairman of Climate Action KC, and was selected as a 2023 Ingram’s Magazine 40 Under Forty honoree.

Tony Temple ’04 was inducted into the Cotton Bowl Classic Hall of Fame on May 11, 2023. Following his unmatched high school career at Rockhurst, Temple went on to play running back at the University of Missouri. In the 2008 Cotton Bowl against Arkansas, he rushed for 281 yards and four touchdowns. Temple was inducted into the Rockhurst Sports Hall of Fame in 2021.

Jack Faerber ’09 started a new role as Kavar Capital Partners, LLC as a Wealth Advisor in Leawood. Faerber earned his MBA from UMKC and has his CFP designation. He previously spent nearly five years as a Financial Planner at Creative Planning Inc. in Overland Park.

Nate Scheelhaase ’09 has been named the new Offensive Coordinator at Iowa State University. He is noted as one of the “rising stars” in the college football coaching circles. Scheelhaase has been on staff at Iowa State since 2018, having great success working with running backs and wide receivers.

Collin Thompson ’12 joined Country Club Bank in Kansas City as its Vice President of Corporate Administration. His professional experience prior to joining Country Club Bank included FORVIS and BKD CPAs & Advisors.

Henry Weiler ’13 was named to Ingram’s Magazine’s 20 in Their Twenties list. Following four years as a commercial real estate broker a tJLL, Weiler co-founded FWI (Fischer Weiler Industrial) in 2021, a full-service commercial real estate company focused on the KC industrial market.

Timothy Bishop, SJ, ’15 is a Jesuit scholastic finishing degrees in psychology and philosophy in Chicago. One of the ways he celebrates his faith is through music. In February, Bishop released a new song about how we do our best with what we’re given and Jesus is there to do the rest. It’s called “Wounded Hands”: a song about Christ’s Love.

Mark Zimmerman ’15 was promoted to an Account Executive with the Kansas City Royals after leading the Sales Academy in total revenue during the 2022 summer. Zimmerman began working at Kauffman Stadium as a Rockhurst senior in 2014 as a snow cone and cotton candy vendor, and continued as a vendor throughout college. He officially started in the Sales Academy front office in January 2022.

AJ Taylor ’16 released Bankrupt, a fastpaced card game where players race to collect all of the assets needed to build a business - with sabotage and risk at every corner. Following a successful college football career at the University of Wisconsin, Taylor returned to Rockhurst as a multimedia teacher in 2021-22, and has now turned his focus to running his own small business.

Jacob Sykes ’18 finished his graduate season at UCLA following an impressive college football career at Harvard and UCLA. He earned 1st Team All-Ivy League honors while at Harvard. Sykes was featured in the LA Times for his performance on the field, as well as his amazing academic background and passion. Following the 2023 NFL Draft, Sykes signed a free agent contract with the Seattle Seahawks.

Joe Kelly ’19 was selected to the 2022 All-Ivy League Football 2nd Team. Kelly is an offensive lineman at Cornell University. He is a two-year starter on an offensive line that led the league in fewest sacks allowed and set a school record (9) in 2021.

Grant Auman ’20 and Will Wooden ’22 were recognized by the Beta Theta Pi Chapter at the University of Nebraska. Auman was elected president of the fraternity and Wooden finished first (based on grades, service to the community, etc.) over the course of the 2022 fall semester in his pledge class of 32 members.

Evan Highfill ’20 founded “Visuals By Evan,” which helps clients turn their ideas into visual stories. He runs this business while attending William Jewell College.

Evan Verhulst ’21 and his Apex Legends eSports team, TSM, traveled to London to compete in the 40-team Apex Legends Split 1 Playoffs against the best teams in the world. They qualified for and then dominated the finals in front of more than one million online viewers. TSM took home the grand prize of $1,000,000.